In the Tradition of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi & Hasan Lutfï Shushud
By Nevit O. Ergin
Published by Inner Traditions
Review by Mac Graham
Nevit O. Ergin mingles his cryptic contemporary Sufi short stories with sayings of master Hasan Lutfï Shushud and the immortal verses of Rumi to reveal the barest essence of the Itlak Sufi path.
Our perceptions are based on a lifetime’s accumulation of conditioned habit, primarily in eating and breathing, we learn. Manipulation of these two functions through fasting and zikr (breath/control), along with a steady, slow acknowledgement of life’s suffering and illusion, brings release from dualistic perception, annihilation of the self, and revelation of essence beyond God—that “we are the beloved; God is the lover.”
Dualistic perception can be an obstacle to Itlak’s deep and slippery truth. Such mysteries require an oblique and indirect approach to revoke the placebos of religion and philosophy. We can only approach our truest nature and meaning through annihilation of even those institutions that intend to guide us. Prepare to grapple with your most basic assumptions in this sweet, simple and completely annihilating adventure.
Like much mid-eastern religion and mysticism, Itlak Sufism seems couched in suffering and denial. However, the goal—nothingness, absence—transcends any such negation. With annihilation of the self, essence expresses its hidden eternal being, allowing one to “die before one’s chronological death,” or die to the illusory world. Otherwise, as Rumi notes, we are just “a morsel for the ground.”
** Other stories on spiritual subjects that you might enjoy:
~ Into the Fire of the Sweat Lodge
~ Book: The Joyous Cosmology
