The 40 rules and the three first Silver Rules

Suluk is a very special academy - created by Pir Zia, the grandson of Pir O Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan . For me, and I think for many other students, this academy gives the deepest and most complete introduction to spirituality in general, and to sufism in particular. And it is a journey of deep inner transformation.

In April the Parvana class graduated after two years on the path of Love, Harmony and Beauty, and as a gift to Suluk, we produced a notebook with the rules translated to all our different languages.

We will travel on the endless path together, and as humans we will behave truthfully - with dignity, and with a deep respect for the sacredness of all living beings. My conscientious self: Consider duty as sacred as religion, use tact on all occasions, and remember to place people rightly in your estimation :-)))

“Thy beauty do we worship”
Armaiti – Beloved Earth!
Let me recognize Thy Generosity and Power to create
Thy Strength, Integrity and unbounded Humility
…appreciating Thy Exuberance and multitude of Beings

Teach me to walk on earth with caution
Let me use my senses in gratitude and joy
knowing that I am forever Your beloved earth child

“To Thee do we give willing surrender”
Anahita – Streams of love
running through my veins – leaving me speechless and breathless
You throw yourself over the steepest cliffs
and turn against the sharpest rocks
In safe assurance that You are received by Ocean Love

Teach me Thy Devotion and Thy Flexibility!
Let me unite with The One
And surrender to Love that carries my little complaining self
back to Thy endless Ocean Home

“Use us for the purpose that Thy Wisdom chooses”
Atar – Power of Truth
Let all that I am not, that I don’t need, that I cannot digest
be consumed by Thy eternal burning Flame

Raise me so I may meet this world with Faith and Conviction
Uncompromising and passionately pursuing The only Truth:
“Thy Light is in all forms – Thy Love in all beings”
God is One and I am a shimmering ray of Her Eternal Sun

“Raise us from the denseness of the earth”
Vaiu – Freedom from boundaries
Blow through my skin and bones
Blow through my mind
Let all that I am
dissolve in a vaporous cloud of nothingness

and if it is Your Will – Beloved
let me wake again
free from self centred slavery
ready to be whatever life asks me to be
Ready to live Thy life Eternally
 

Copper rule 10: Prove trustworthy in all your dealings

I used to be an anarchist... believed that if we only had freedom of action, the world would be perfect...What I did not think about is, that this kind of freedom in a community of people must build on trust, and all participants must be trustworthy...
Today I seek inner freedom, but also here trust is important. To be trustworthy is for me a possibility to live with a clean conscience -
"You can fool others, but you cannot fool yourself"
Going deeper into my concientious self

Copper rule no 9: Be prejudiced against no one

I meet all kinds of people at work.
In these times of transition, there are more and more people coming from other parts of the world to our community. Part of my job is to create meeting places between "etnic norwegians" and our new citizens. It is a huge task to remove the prejudices that exist on both sides; to remove the consciousness of separation - that "they" and "we" are different human beings. Of course we have different cultural expressions, but we are not different!
The sufi path of removing  the barriers between "me" and "you" makes it easier to embrace all kinds of cultural expressions. When I meet with prejudices of some kind - in myself or in others, I try to respond with a smile and these words:
An indian smile is as beautiful as a norwegian smile. :-)

Picture: From The Sufi Saint School in Ajmer. You may read more about the support for this school in SufiNews from Europe on Kinship here:  www.sufi.no

Influence no one to do wrong

I suppose a sufi seldom consciously wants to influence anybody to do wrong. But I suppose wrongdoing starts by influencing the thoughts and attitudes of another?
To watch my words in every situation - even when I am so frustrated that I feel I could explode, is a good beginning :-))

The chinese say that the words that come out of your mouth, enter the ears of another. And every word spoken must finish its task, says Murshid...

Next time I will explode very silently - behind the closed door at my office.

Bear no malice against your worst enemy

15 years ago they went through a painful divorce. We say: "On the other side of love one sometimes find hatred"......

He couldn't understand why she left. Instead of being his beloved wife, she became a terrifying devil. No common sense could reach him, and he despised their love. 
His love turned to hate - Her love was put on a hard trial....
 
Finally she realized that she could only connect to his spiritual being. Every day she offered the same prayer: Let us be friends instead of foes, and let your hate again turn into love!
Slowly the conditions started to change, and after 15 years and many sufferings, he was finally ready to turn hatred to love.

Do not judge another by your own law

Last year - at Suluk, Pir Zia presented this rule and asked us to contemplate it... I am still contemplating....
Life is so full of difficult situations  - and as long as we do not take full responsibility for our own life and the lives of others, we need laws...
But at Suluk, I realized, that at the age of 60, this is no longer my main challenge... it is gradually changing to... how can I meet life's challenges with a neutral mind ? "What if things are not as they appear to be?" (Pir Vilayat)
How is it possible to live a life without preconcieved ideas or laws to guide me? I started my adult life as an anarchist, and was drawn to the sufi path out of a longing for spiritual freedom.... I want freedom  - for me, and for all living creatures - freedom, freedom, freedom

Do not look down upon the one who looks up to you

I grew up,  in Oslo, the capitol of Norway, a small town... but still the CAPITAL !!. , but we spent most of our vacations in the countryside, on the farm where my mother was born.
I remember looking down upon the people living there.. they spoke with dialect, their clothes were not so modern as mine ... and so forth...
Now I live outside Oslo myself and would never change it for a stressful citylife. Often I notice how the busy city people show the same attitude that I had .. the city attitude - could be interpreted as snobbery, I suppose, but I recognize and recall the feeling of separateness
Towards The One - forever and ever