Sufi teacher Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee explores the connection between spiritual practice and our ecological crisis through the lens of his own spiritual journey.
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee has followed the Naqshbandi Sufi path since he was 19 years old. In 1991, he became the successor of his teacher, Irina Tweedie, who brought this particular Indian branch of Sufism to the West. He is an extensive lecturer, author of several books, and the founder of The Golden Sufi Center. Learn more about Llewellyn and The Golden Sufi Center.
An Awakening Consciousness of Oneness
Llewellyn introduces his talk, Threads of Love, which explores the connection between spiritual practice and our ecological crisis from a very personal perspective, that of his own spiritual journey. He shares a bit about his experience of an awakening consciousness of oneness, and how he feels connected to the story of Ram Dass.
“I became aware of the need to bring this awareness into our collective consciousness, not just as an individual experience. And this is, of course, vitally important ecologically, to recognize how we are part of one interconnected, interdependent, living wholeness we call the Earth, and how we need this primary awareness, what I call a deep ecology of consciousness, if we are to turn to a life sustaining way of being, rather than this self destructive journey of ecocide that humanity is at present following.” – Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
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Threads of Love (7:12)
The first part of this talk details the threads of love that have been woven into Llewellyn’s life. He talks about the experience of meeting his teacher, Irina Tweedie, and how he was awakened to divine love. He explores how Sufi masters discovered different chambers of the spiritual heart, how we are part of a living tapestry of oneness, and why everything is an expression of love.
“We live from this place of divine oneness within the heart and within the consciousness of the world, in which we experience nearness with God and discover our true self and our divine nature, and through which we are able to see things as they truly are. We reconnect with life’s essential oneness, the unity of being that underlies all of existence.” – Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
A New Tapestry (17:36)
Llewellyn shares how our spiritual consciousness has a pivotal part to play when it comes to climate change; real change will only happen when we truly fall in love with our planet. He talks about how we need to reconnect to the ancient wisdom of the Earth, and learn to live in harmony with it as our ancestors once did. We can weave our threads of love into a new tapestry for the coming generations.
“We need a new story, a story that reconnects us to the Earth and her sacred nature, and knows how we are interconnected. And this primary connection is love.” – Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
