An oasis is a lush green garden in a desert or wasteland. Here Oasis symbolizes both the sufi journey and the path. In the arid desert the oasis carries the water of life, spring gushes up from the heart of the earth that delights the soul. In this series we wish to engage with contemporary seekers who are drawn to that Quest. We hope to know them, connect with them, share their beautiful journey in the spirit of what sufis call Sohbet.
In the Series of In Quest of My Oasis, our guest in this episode is Dominique Dubrule (born Feb 17, 1964) an initiated seeker of the Sufi Path and artist who is in quest of the Great Artist, may Allah bless his journey. Originally from Charleroi in the French speaking part of Belgium, he currently lives in the Netherlands.
In his art work, Dominique aims to achieve a balance between his inner and his outer world. He expresses his personal feelings by painting, writing poetry and playing music on the ney, the oriental flute, and the setar, an Iranian string instrument. Displayed on this site, are paintings by Dominique that have been produced by intuitive methods. These expressive works envisage internal processes sometimes completely abstract and at other times containing some figurative elements always typified by the spontaneous, dynamic and flowing character of his style.
Dominique has been very generous in agreeing to give us a glimpse of his personal spiritual journey. To him: 'Sufism is a Path of Knight, not of clowns or false messiah.' He reminds us of the utterance of Jesus, "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." Just as the Tariqa of Christ was the Path of Knight, so it continues in the mystic chivalry and nobility of Tawawwuf (Way of Purification, otherwise known as Sufism) and its carriers are the Sufi mystics.
God bestowing, may your own path be blessed and inspired through this sohbet.
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| Dervish D D: Collage by Sadiq |
Sadiq: Who is Dominique Dubrule? Those who don't know you, how would you like to introduce your earthly identity?
Dominique: ...Today...earthly...I do not exist...two points are well recognized by the world...said I am an artist (paintings) and poet...indeed I paint (dub-art.com) but no management... it has been and still is a meeting with The Great Artist... poetry,... sufi theme... because of a prolonged illness, my professional and social life disappeared.
S: If someone would ask you to write a brief 'spiritual resume', how would that read?
D: Years ago... after a long way in the darkness of the world... I have quit the milieu in which once I was walking to seek answers to basic questions... (who am I?...where am I coming from?...etc...)... did travel to get the answers ... traveled to Africa, America, Europe... trip in several directions and traditions (zen... orientalism... shamanism... etc)... I became Muslim... religious path for 4 years, intensively... meeting with a Sufi master... beholding the path!
S: One of your favorite quote is by Hazrat Inayat Khan that says, "When you are alone, you are actually in good company ... and this company will last forever." How was Inayat Khan's influence on your journey?
D: It has come from French translation of several books of Hazrat Khan... it has come to me before really meeting the Sufism... the fragrance of these writings spoke to my heart... it was before my conversion to Islam... a part of the baggage... Inayat Khan did inspire me but did not represent what I was searching... Himself, perhaps well... but he was already gone... and the form of his school today was not my way...
S: Regarding the quote from Hazrat Inayat Khan ("When you are alone, you are actually in good company ... and this company will last forever."), how important you see for seekers to spend solitary time and how can one cultivate such moments, alone with the Alone?
D: Your question implicate a self choice for solitude... and in this one the possible meeting and embracing of The Friend... in a cadre of a discipline, it must be done, regularly, in a form of meditative exercise guided as possible by a real master, for the connection and guidance...we all know the multiple possibilities of wandering...
... in my case.. I did not choose.. well the exercise... but when I speak of solitude...it mean solitude.. not a moment here and there...a station! ... it’s chosen for you... and to be worked out and integrated... a desert of Love to cross without feet... a solitude of companionship... a solitude in a excellent company WHO STAY FOREVER!!!
S: Have you been initiated in the Sufi Path officially (taken bayah)? If so, please tell us about that auspicious opening?
D: ... I have been initiated years ago... passing by a sufi house by curiosity... I met a master who did put me in... I still don't know how it has happened... perfect... GOD knows!
A kind of expression is telling it is the master who find you...it is! ...in my case... it has been fire... wine... craziness... storm...THE WAY BACK, and God know how far I was... the path of Love is the greatest BUT the most difficult!!!...
The sufi is the partisan of union, not disunion. When you create a bond of Love with someone, do not break it for it is not the way of the sufi to break such a bond : this is infidelity in the creed of lovers. If you do not want your Beloved to break the bond of Love with you, take care not to break the bond of your affection with others; nor should you turn away from those who have turned away from you. Preserve the Love of others, so that God may preserve your own... ~ Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh
S: Who is your most favorite and contemporary Sufi Master and why?D: ...My master is Djavad Nurbakhsh who passed away few years ago... he was ...is...my Shams!!!
Why???...ask to your heart!... Hu Haqq Pir Madaad...
S: You live in the heart of Europe. How do you see the Message of Sufism being relevant for Europeans?
D: The Message of Sufism is fitting to Europe... based on freedom, love, and reform of the nafs ... and society... the bridge between person like Meister Eckhart ...Theresa d Ávilla... La Croix etc... Christian mystic...was easy...in the Unity of the journey to God, Sufism can blossom easily... from another hand... the risk that this practice become a kind of hobby... as Yoga, Taichi...is very big... perhaps it is due to the corruption of European culture who did made from all satisfaction of primary and animal instinct a right in the name of "freedom". ... European got the tendency to lights... but as said the quote: "even though all light are from God... all lights are not divine!!!"
S: If any one who thirst after the Real, the Truth without any compromise and still in the process of taking the fragrance of Sufism only from outside, what is your practical advice? Where should they begin, what could better prepare them for the dive into the Ocean of Love? Say if that person is someone with very little familiarity with the Path.
D: ... to learn "silence"...the one of Shams...a full speaking singing drinking silence!
... to act in place of speak...
... to please GOD and be pleased with His contentment...
... to be aware of the tricks of the nafs... searching refuge in humility and self-effacement...
... to follow the heart...passionately...and to let the false intellect go...
... to be very close to his own practice (dhikr, salaat, koran, good acts, etc.) and become "nothing!"
... to prefer the words of saints and sage and prophet instead to go with our own words... to stay safe of corruption by our illusory importance...etc...
O Sufi! The Sufi’s only real miracle is non-being. To claim miraculous powers is to express ‘being’, and on the Path this is unbelief. The master of the Path is an idol-breaker not an idol maker. With this in mind, be sure to distinguish between commercial Sufism and true Sufism, so that you will recognize the false pretenders who only set traps.
O Sufi! Where there is talk of “I and you” and miraculous powers, Sufism doesn’t exist. Where pretension and self-existence are expressed Truth doesn’t exist. The criterion of being a Sufi is selflessness. The more selfless you are, the more a Sufi you become. ~ Nur Ali Shah Kermani
S: What is the most important life lesson you've learned and that came to your way once you're on the Path?
D: ...wow... the first: "There is nothing... but HU!"
...as for the second... "To live... die!!!"
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| Dervish Dominique Dubrule: Collage by Sadiq |
S: Can every lover of God become a Sufi? How?
D: Every real...REAL...lover of GOD is sufi...the real question is "what is a sufi?"..."Nothing!!!"...a real Lover disappear in His Beloved...following this idea, lot of Lovers are sufi... and sometimes you got sufi who are not Lover (...but Khoda is the guide to Him)... all is perfect!
How to become a sufi... it remind me the story of this man going to a master to get GOD... the master take him by the air and pull him to the river, pushing his head under water and letting him drawn... nearly out of breath, the master take him out of water... ask him... when you were in water,what do you wanted the most??? ...' air!'... 'air' ... answers the man... SO... when you will want God as you wanted the air, come back to see me!
We need to be thirsty!!! ...and this thirst come by the effort of the search often... and sometimes by His grace... by accident... in ONE word... as HE wants!!!
Following my own path... we got to cross the human path... the religious path... to achieve the journey on the mystical path...and then islam... imaan... ihsan... and finally, to attach himself to a real master... and to become as our Mawlana a MURID... my master did say, 'each century got a shams, but a murid as RUMI is unique!!!'
To conclude... I want to express in short that these time are very confused and dangerous, ...in comparison with our ancestor Sufis, we have fallen in superficiality and conditionality ...so far from our `I`... and today... thanks to the cyber world...illusion in the illusion itself is lost in illusion, we got artificiality... the one who want to go to GOD must die to himself.
The rule of the ancient master is back: "...be crazy ....be drunk ...be a dervish."
S: Who is a Dervish?
D: A dervish is nothing... he is melted in His Beloved... he is HIM... and HE is him... he is drunk and crazy, lost in His ALL... in the words of PIR NURBAKHSH..."I am Nurbakhsh... NO! Who am I ??? ... nothing... What was I ?? .... A shadow... What did I become ?? ...Obliterated ... Searching for Whom ?? ... For the giver of tranquility to my heart !!!"
be LOVE!!! YAAAAAAAAAAA HAQQ dom Haqq Hu!
Further:
* Official Website of Sufi Artist Dominique Dubrule
* Art of Dominique Dubrule
* Connect with Dominique Dubrule via Facebook
Sohbet Series:
1) Amatullah J. Armstrong - In Quest of My Oasis
2) Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore - Quest in the Province of Ecstatic Exchange
3) Noor-Malika Chishti - When Dreams Begin Our Quest
4) Brenda Wentworth - Quest of a Dusty Traveler
5) Sohbet with Mansur Johnson
6) Sohbet with Hilary Hart | Author of The Unknown She
Interviews with Sufis on their journey, work and the Path:
* Reb Zalman Scachter-Shalomi | on Mystic Experience and Mysticism for a New Humanity
* Reb Zalman Scachter-Shalomi | Why Religious Reform is Necessary
* Denise Sati | Painting with a Sufi Master
* Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee | When the world is burning, the important thing to ask is what is being born?
* Stewart Bitkoff | On Mysticism and Mystery School, On Traveling the Sufi Path
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