Omid Safi shares a conversation with Kate Green Tripp, from 1440 Multiversity, about engaging in mysticism and the path of love in the 21st century.
Links from this episode: Illuminated Tours: Educational Tours to Morocco and Turkey
Geeking out on God
Omid shares his experience as a scholar (or a nerd as Omid calls it) of mysticism and the tradition of love. He speaks about the legacy of these traditions and talks about finding a tradition of our own, regardless of our own background.
“The work that each of us is called to do with this life, it begins with ourselves and it begins at home. We can’t offer a cup to somebody else if the cup of our own hearts is dirty. I think the task of purification of one’s own heart is the first step of trying to be an agent of goodness in this world. That is why I see the inner work as part of the same process as the outer work.” – Dr. Omid Safi
Mysticism in the Modern Age (10:00)
What does it mean to be prophetic in the 21st century? Omid looks at mysticism as it exists today. Particularly, how does mysticism address the despair that so many people experience in today’s world?
“There are guiding lights through the centuries. Not just Rumi, but the whole tradition of love that produced Rumi. One of the most important communities of that, as we get into the 20th and 21st century, is the prophetic black church. The legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., Vincent Harding, Desmond Tutu, Rev. Barber, and Cornell West and those folks.” – Dr. Omid Safi
Turning up the Volume on Love (20:40)
In difficult social discourse, fear and condemnation are the loudest voices to be heard. How can the mystic tradition allow us to cut through this noise? Omid and Kate talk about the first step, finding love for ourselves.
“How do we intentionally create moments, spaces and communities in which we can sit together. Where beauty and love and tenderness and compassion are real again.” – Dr. Omid Safi
Love and Justice (32:15)
For someone who has become America’s bestselling poet, Rumi has not quite become a household name. But he probably should be. Omid reflects on the incredible draw that Rumi had in his own day, as well as why his teachings have endured today. Kate and Omid talk about how injustice is approached by the tradition of radical love that Rumi belongs to.
