In the Company of Friends: Dreamwork Within a Sufi Group by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

In the Company of Friends: Dreamwork Within a Sufi Group by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

Author:Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee [Vaughan-Lee, Llewellyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: The Golden Sufi Center
Published: 1994-07-01T04:00:00+00:00


THE FEMININE MYSTERIES OF LOVE

Longing is the feminine side of love, the cup waiting to be filled. Longing is a highly dynamic state and yet at the same time it is a state of receptivity. Because our culture has for so long rejected the feminine we have lost touch with many of the subtleties of the feminine qualities of love. While we understand the instinctual nurturing of the mother, we have dismissed the attitude of receptivity which is needed in order to be responsive to another’s needs. Just as this aspect of love is needed to nurture an outer child, it is also necessary for nurturing the child of the Self. We wait for the Beloved and in waiting we attune ourself to love’s needs.

Love needs to be listened to with an attentive inner ear. This is not a state of passivity but of giving oneself to the needs of another. If we listen with our whole self we give ourself. We surrender to the mystery of our own heart and allow something greater than the ego to be born into consciousness. It is through this state of surrender that we are taken into the inner arena of love where we are transformed, where we are opened to the beyond.

A human relationship is often a wonderful opportunity to begin to learn to listen to love. If two people love each other there is a connection from heart to heart, from soul to soul. This is not to be confused with attachment or codependency. The difference is that in love there is space. When there is love between two people there is space and it is in that space that one can become familiar with the ways of love. In The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran writes:

Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it be rather a moving sea between the shores of your soul.

In the space between two souls love flows; there is out-breathing and in-breathing, time to be together and time to be alone. It is in the space between two people that the real magic of a relationship takes place, because it is in space that the eternal unfolds into time. This vital space where hearts meet is the sacred space of any relationship; without it there are only the dynamics of projection and desire. Sadly, this sacred space is often unrecognized and overshadowed by the more visible demands of the ego, the fear of aloneness, and the complex patterns of our conditioning. Yet if we give ourself to the love dynamic of a relationship rather than just to our own needs and desires we can discover this place of real meeting.

Sufis say that just as playing with dolls prepares young girls to become mothers one day, so do human relationships prepare us for the real love affair with the Beloved. In the meeting place of human lovers the thread of a deeper love affair is hidden, and through listening and being receptive to another’s heart, we become familiar with the “moving sea” of love.



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