Omid Safi – Sufi Heart – Ep. 4 – Welcoming the Tranquil Soul Back to the Divine

Omid Safi - Sufi Heart - Ep. 4 - Welcoming the Tranquil Soul Back to the Divine

This week, Omid looks at how mystics of the Sufi tradition understood the path of love as something that brings us together into fellowship with one another, into communion with nature and unites us with the Divine.

Show Notes

Gems of the Quran (Opening) – Omid examines the way in which the mystics of antiquity read and understood spiritual scripture and our relationship to the Divine.

“The Quran has some verses that are more social and ritual in nature, then it has a number of verses which are jewels. These are the gems of the Quran and these are the verses that all of these love mystics come back to again and again and again.” – Dr. Omid Safi  

Re-entering the Garden (10:40) – We learn about how the Quran is traditionally read and how Sufi mystics might have chosen to deliver the wisdom from scripture to an audience. Omid shares a passage from the Quran which emphasizes the return to God that comes in the soul’s cycle of life and death.

“O peaceful soul, return to your cherishing lord. Come back to the One, come back to the Lord who nourishes you and guides you. You are pleased with God, God is pleased with you. Enter in my devotees and enter into my garden.” – Al-Fajr 89:27-30

Tendencies of the Soul (16:40) – Omid looks at the systems of psychology used by early Sufi mystics which reflect the layers of our soul that extend from our smallest self upwards to our divine origin. He explores the different approaches we can take when reading the Quran, each of which reveals more and more about the mysteries of ourselves and the universe.

Explore notions of the self and ego with Ram Dass and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche on Ep. 112 of the Here and Now Podcast

Ocean of Tranquility (32:35) – How do we experience the state of peace and tranquility that is spoken about in Sufi mysticism? Omid reflects on the deep waters of the ocean of tranquility that each of us holds inside and how we can return to the place of stilness.

“You are the ocean, you are the waves. You can stand in a part of the ocean where there is a depth in you, and in that depth, there will be no waves. To live the mystical life is to discover all of a sudden that you can swim in the ocean. You can be one with the ocean and there is a part of the ocean that is tranquil, that is peaceful, and in that state the waves are not knocking you down anymore.” – Dr. Omid Safi   

Omid Safi - Sufi Heart - Ep. 4 - Welcoming the Tranquil Soul Back to the Divine

Images via Welcome Collection and Moda