That day, Theophile the Elder came with his friend Malik, whom he wanted to introduce to Theophile the Younger.
The Elder – Meet my young friend Theophile, who is very interested in spiritual research, and who would like to go deeper into the issue of extinguishment, as recommended in your Sufi Way. Would you mind sharing with us that beautiful notion?
Malik – Such an essential issue cannot be approached through reasoning. Here, the intellect should not interfere.
Then, slowly and in a low voice, he went on:
Since God is Nothing,
Then He is Everything.
He is Nothing and All.
This is God’s Completeness.
Theo, who is sensitive and has been trained long enough, immediately perceived the transmission supporting the words. So, keeping his eyes open, he entered a meditative mode.
Malik – Allâh Hwu!, he exclaimed, letting the call spring out from the depth of his heart.
Theo’s eyes closed over instantly. His Spirit had identified the Divine Word, its vibration. The sound was pervading his entire being. Each one of his cells got in tune with the sacred sound the mysterious friend had emitted.
The invocation was pursued silently. Theo could feel the waves it prompted. Light carried him along into another dimension of the being.
Malik fixed his gaze on the young man and explained:
– This is the best method I found to share with you what Sufism amounts to.
Theo. – Can you tell me how a Sufi lives? We know so little about that way!
Malik – A Sufi applies himself to living for God, in God’s Presence, and strives to live in complete dependence of God’s Will.
– Just as the Christians do, as a matter of fact, Theo said defiantly.
Malik started chanting in a soft voice:
There is no God but God.
That is the way a Sufi will pray, daily, thus evoking the Divine.
Theo. – What evidence will ensue?
Malik – Love, compassion and mercy, in the image of God. Peace and blessings pour forth over those of the people around who can feel it. In our Way, the balance between materiality and spirituality is very important. It results from maturity, from practice, combined with experience. A perfect balance will come over time. Our soul craves for an impossible perfection, but being made of clay and spirit, we have a double challenge. The Earth, Nature, have their own laws, just as the spirit and the spiritual have theirs. The whole art consists in reconciling both aspects of the being. Our Sufi Masters are perfectly able to do it. They guide their disciples step by step onto the Path that leads to Truth.
Man is a link
between the light and the dark,
between good and evil,
between heaven and earth.
The Way is there to encourage balance and moderation, striking the right balance. The humans being imbued with duality, they must first work at regaining their Oneness.
Theo. – How can we do that?
Malik – Naturally, since the human being already holds that Oneness. God gave it to him when He created him. The Koran says that God has made a pact with man within whom He placed a sacred trust, the “Fitrah”, which constitutes his original nature. Situated at the core of the being, this original nature will help him build his individuality, whose prime principle is unity. This is the secret of our own existence, and we must accede it.
Theo. – What does this original trust contain?
Malik – The whole Creation, the entire Universe.
Theo. – Which means?
Malik – In the Adamic tradition, it is said that God gave Adam the 99 Divine names. Those names correspond to all His attributes and to all His qualities.
Theo. – I thought God had no name, no mind and no attribute.
Malik – That’s right. The Ultimate Name, the Centre, the hundredth Name, is the one we do not know. It can’t be pronounced. It is revealed to us only at the moment of our merging with the un-created God. Here, it means the God Creator, He who gave us life. Adam represents Him. He is the Universal Man. The 99 Divine Names correspond to all the qualities he holds and that each human being has inherited through him.
Theo. – Is that the Quest for the Universal Man the Kabbalah refers to?
Malik – The Kabbalah, the Koran, and the Vedas …. are all about the quest for the Ultimate.
Theo. – How can I figure out that original nature you call ‘Fitrah’?
Malik – It is like a seed that contains the whole Divine, all the knowledge, all information and the whole will and ability of the being. It lies deep within each and every one, pristine. That is where equality among all resides. It is a genuine brotherhood.
Theophile closed his eyes. He looked deep into the core of his being in order to get intimately in touch with his original nature.
After a long introspective meditation, Theo turned towards the Elder and said:
– We have overloaded our original nature with shadows and lights, with complexities. We have veiled our conscience. Now I can understand why it is essential to purify ourselves and rediscover who we really are.
The Elder nodded, saying nothing.
Malik – As you had imagined, we have a huge potential. That ‘trust’ is divine in essence.
It is the original state everybody consciously or unconsciously aspires to regain. Its light gives us access to God, to Life within life.
That knowledge was directly transmitted to Theopjle’s heart as Malik started chanting in a soft voice:
Man’s journey towards God ends up in the Infinite Ocean of His Love.
The soul’s journey goes on in the Infinite of His Eternity.
Then the three friends were deeply absorbed into a profound silence.
Theophile the Elder
An excerpt from Dialogs with Theophile the Elder
Theophile the Younger’s initiation