1.
To meet You I look at face after face,
appearances after appearances..
To see Your face
I pass by
like the morning wind.
- Al-Hallaj
2.
The Master of Gnosis, Blessed Muhammad Mustafa spoke truth when he transmitted, Maan 'arafa nafsahu fa-qad 'arafa Rabbah, "One who knows one's self, knows the Lord."
And our individual life journey on one level is about knowing our "self". But how do we know ourselves?
To see our own face, even in physical world we need a mirror that can behold the reflection of our physical face, only then we can see. Our own face, which is part of our corporal identity - even that needs a surface that can reflect it back to us. The Sufis say we have an inner faculty of perception where haqq or truth is reflected and that faculty of perception is called qalb or the inner heart. And in order to reflect, just as physical mirror has a polished surface and the degree of its fineness determine how true the reflection will be - so it is likened with the inner heart. The parable is not far from truth that when our heart mirror is not polished, we are unable to see things and phenomena as they truly are. Hence the gnostic master used to teach his disciples to pray saying, "God please show us things as they truly are."
Your eye has not strength enough to gaze at the burning sun, but you can see its brilliant light by watching its reflection mirrored in the water.
So the reflection of Absolute Being can be viewed in this mirror of Not-Being, for non-existence, being opposite Reality, instantly catches its reflection.
Know the world from end to end is a mirror; in each atom a hundred suns are concealed. If you pierce the heart of a single drop of water, from it will flow a hundred clear oceans; if you look intently at each speck of dust, in it you will see a thousand beings. In the heart of a barley-corn is stored an hundred harvests, a heaven is concealed in the pupil of an eye, the core in the centre of the heart is small, yet the Lord of both worlds will enter there.
- from Mahmud Shabistari's Secret Rose Garden
translated by Florence Lederer
3.
Human beings are made of body, mind and spirit. Of these, spirit is primary, for it connects us to the source of everything, the eternal field of consciousness.
Each of us is here to discover our true Self... that essentially we are spiritual beings who have taken manifestation in physical form... that we're not human beings that have occasional spiritual experiences that we're spiritual beings that have occasional human experiences.
Each of us is here to discover our true Self... that essentially we are spiritual beings who have taken manifestation in physical form... that we're not human beings that have occasional spiritual experiences that we're spiritual beings that have occasional human experiences.
- Deepak Chopra
Letting the soul speak with the silent articulation of a face
My friend Roya Ma, in collaboration with me, is offering a particular work titled as Spirit Collage. She is someone who is very attuned to spirit, a spiritual seeker herself and has the gift of artistic expression who create wonderful and beautiful collages using photographs of individuals. This is a sacred activism on the part of a Sweet Thing, the good ideas & communication collective. A Sweet Thing among other works will include projects related to information visualization, content, social justice projects, creative projects and inspiring publications.
The inspiration of Spirit Collage came when she made a collage of a friend of her through which articulate how she feel about the friend, what her true spiritual nature feels like. So once that collage was shared, it generated great interest among friends and others also wanted to have their spirit collage made. So we are putting out this service for anyone who might be interested for their own Spirit Collage.
As Rumi invites us: "Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth." Like that Spirit Collage is an invitation to capture your spiritual nature, unfolding your own truth, so unbelievable in reality that it almost mythical. At times I also create such collages, using photographs and incorporating elements which communicate in a way that is not of the body and form alone, but of spirit and symbols.
How it works?
You send us a photograph of yourself or the person you want to have the collage for. We ask you some questions and get to work. A few days later your spirit collage arrives.
Your personal spirit collage will be delivered to you digitally, 1024x832 pixels in format (landscape or portrait), in 300dpi for high quality print outs.
Your personal spirit collage will be delivered to you digitally, 1024x832 pixels in format (landscape or portrait), in 300dpi for high quality print outs.
The Spirit Collage is intended to be a service to Beauty and Truth and also intend to generate fund raising towards Truth Work / Sacred Activism. Such activism involves supporting kids who suffer from sexual abuse in UK as well as streetkids in Bangladesh. If you are interested to have a Spirit Collage of yourself made or your loved ones, please visit Sweet Spirit Collage website for details.
We hope and pray that this service will be of use to you and bring much joy to you and your loved ones.
We hope and pray that this service will be of use to you and bring much joy to you and your loved ones.
You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.
- Buddha
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