Humility and Water: True knowledge is acquired only in humility. To make one’s way towards it is to imitate someone who wants to drink from a stream: he must bend down. Water always seeks the lowest place. To receive it, we must become like it.
The Divine Law (Shari’a): The prescriptions of the Law are like the wax of the stopper: they keep the nectar from spilling. A vessel with a pierced bottom holds nothing, whatever efforts are made to fill it. Such is the disciple who neglects the Law: he wears himself out drawing water he cannot keep.
Immanence: Nothing is outside God. He encompasses all things. This certainty is not obtained through analysis, but through realisation. The outward sciences, accustomed to weighing and measuring, stop at the threshold of this mystery. Whoever crosses this threshold no longer knows doubt.
The Living Master: To seek one’s way solely in the writings of Ibn Arabi or of past masters is to follow only their “djellabas”. One stays on the surface. Methods evolve with the times. Only a living master holds the keys to progress today.
Absolute Longing: At a certain level, the need for God becomes the cry of a drowning man. This desperate call consumes every other desire.
The Well of Wisdom: Wisdom resides in the heart. To find water, one must dig without respite. The more one digs, the more abundant the spring. Never believe you have reached the bottom, for this well is in the image of the Infinite: without limit.
Practice and Inner Vigilance
The Guardian of the Heart: Watch over your heart. Reject every unwholesome suggestion and open yourselves to the Graces. When faced with negative thoughts, correct your ego: “If I see a fault in another, it is because it is in me. Otherwise, I would not recognise it.”
The Dhikr and the Wild Beasts: Invoke until you are taken for a madman. Regular dhikr drives away impure thoughts as gunshots drive away wild beasts. If the hunter returns every morning, the animals end up deserting the forest.
The Spiritual State (Hâl): The spiritual state is the drawing of one’s whole being towards the Spirit. If the body trembles or reacts, it is because the heart is not yet accustomed to the radiance of the Divine Light. States vary, but the source is one: “The water is one, the flowers are many.”
The Opening (Fath): The opening is the sudden unveiling of Reality. Imagine a snowball thrown into the ocean. The snow is the ego (nafs): hardened water, illusorily separate. In the divine ocean, it becomes liquid again. There has only ever been one water, in different states.
Love, Brotherhood and Conduct
Love and Detachment: One cannot lay claim to Divine Love with a heart cluttered with possessions. True love is measured by generosity. Like that man tested by the angel, whoever gives even his last garment proves that his claim is sincere.
The Spiritual Bond (Sirr): Love between disciples and towards the master is the driving force of the Way. This spiritual Secret abolishes cultures and distances. It is the mount that carries the spirit towards knowledge. Under its sway, trials become joys.
The Gaze of Compassion: Love every creature, for each is in the place where God has placed it. Do not criticise. A sick man cannot reproach another for his sickness. See your brothers as perfect through their bond to the Way, and soon you will see perfection in all things.
The Middle Way: Our Way avoids extremes. It asks us to reconcile the service of God, family duties and professional obligations. Dhikr will give you the intuition needed to balance these three pillars.
The Adornment of God: When God loves His servant, He clothes him in His own Qualities. Like a king who would dress a destitute guest in his own silks to make him worthy of his palace.
Ultimate Wisdom
The Antidote: Each disciple is a remedy for his brother. The strength of one makes up for the weakness of the other.
The Divine Honey: The divine Secret is like a bee: it settles only in a clean and fragrant hive. If the heart is pure, the Secret dwells there and produces a heavenly honey.
The Luminous Mind: Beware of reason alone. The sensory mind is limited. It becomes “luminous” only when it is transfigured by the light of the heart and by keeping company with the people of God.
Shadow and Light: The ego is a husk that blocks the Light. When it bursts, the inner light joins the Light of God. Then one sees nothing but His Face. The world is but a fleeting shadow. The true “Knowers” no longer cast a shadow: they have become pure transparency.
Unity: “La ilaha illa Allah”. There is no other reality than the Divine Reality. Gratitude is the bond that binds Grace.
