Pir Zia Inayat Khan > Quotes

“For Sufis, the primary zikr, or practice of divine remembrance, is La ilaha illa'Llah, which means in Arabic, "no god but God." Azar Kayvan taught his disciples to recite Nist hasti magar Yazdan, which means in Persian "no existence but God." (p. 93)”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, Mingled Waters : Sufism and the Mystical Unity of Religions

“The Messenger said, "The human heart is the House of the All-Merciful." (p. 249)”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, Mingled Waters : Sufism and the Mystical Unity of Religions

“Anyone who investigates the revealed religions with an open mind and a discerning heart is bound to discover the truth in all of them. Of course, there are notable differences between them. Each faith is distinguished by the personality of its messenger and the circumstances of its revelation. With the passing of time, faith traditions are also subject to the proliferation of distorted interpretations. Nonetheless, to seeing eyes it is plain to see that all of the world‘s great faiths harbor at their core the same message of love […] Through whichever channel Providence pours it out to the thirsty, the divine love that flows through revelation is from first to last a single substance. All fields are watered with one water. (p. 255)”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, Mingled Waters : Sufism and the Mystical Unity of Religions

“The journey to God has an end, but the journey in God is endless. (p. 39)”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, Mingled Waters : Sufism and the Mystical Unity of Religions

“gnosis”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, The Seven Pillars Journey Toward Wisdom

“Everybody wondered why they took the bluestones a hundred and sixty miles from South Wales to Salisbury Plain where Stonehenge stands, and now we think there’s a sonic connection.”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, The Seven Pillars Journey Toward Wisdom

“Journey of Life would be traveling from the intellectual sphere, from the mind space, into the heart space. That’s really the journey, for wisdom is to be found in the heart, and this is the place, I think, where the Journey of Life really can culminate, can really find itself.”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, The Seven Pillars Journey Toward Wisdom

“that when we go back to our source through nature, including through our mother’s genealogy, and remember who we are, what do we find”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, The Seven Pillars Journey Toward Wisdom

“There is a way of living through what you are experiencing now that will bring you closer to God.”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, The Seven Pillars Journey Toward Wisdom

“But others, for various reasons, are called to choose their spiritual path, to discover and create their own sacred heritage.”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, The Seven Pillars Journey Toward Wisdom

“ineluctably”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, The Seven Pillars Journey Toward Wisdom

“about how actually this life is an effort to give birth to oneself completely before leaving.”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, The Seven Pillars Journey Toward Wisdom

“Knowledge of the Supreme brings immortality. "The wise one - He is not born, He does not die." For one who has died before death, the death of the body is merely a formality. To live in God is to live an endless Life. (p. 38)”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, Mingled Waters : Sufism and the Mystical Unity of Religions

“There is so much that is beyond our control, so much that can overwhelm us and challenge us ferociously. And yet we also are able to think, to feel, to act, to love, to discover, and, in large measure, to shape our destiny by our choices.”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, The Seven Pillars Journey Toward Wisdom

“It is a beautiful expression of our need to develop that we seek to make meaning of our lives and to discover”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, The Seven Pillars Journey Toward Wisdom

“So ever since that time in 1963, I’ve been working with life histories and looking at the choices that people make in their lives as essentially artistic or aesthetic choices, fitting various elements together and trying to find a graceful and satisfying harmony as they face different challenges in the process of aging and moving through the stages of life.”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, The Seven Pillars Journey Toward Wisdom

“All of the prophets and prophetesses of the world have given one message, and the essence of that message is a call to remembrance, a call to remember that we are not here for ourselves. That we are here to serve, and remember, and glorify the one being.”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan

“Rabbi Olivier: I really like what Mary Catherine is saying. What comes up for me when I listen to you explaining that wisdom is available and manifest at every stage of life and every age, is that it reminds me of the principles of Kabbalah, where wisdom, which is one of the highest levels of consciousness as expressed through the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, finds itself beyond knowing and beyond understanding. So the quality of wisdom is not something that requires years and years of learning and understanding. It is prior to that, in fact, and it is at a different level of consciousness. There is innate wisdom, inherent wisdom.”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, The Seven Pillars Journey Toward Wisdom

“The Messenger said, „Love is fire. When it befalls the heart it burns away all but the Beloved.“ (p. 117)”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, Mingled Waters : Sufism and the Mystical Unity of Religions

“Our challenge, both individually and collectively, is to seek an integration that honors the past and animates the present with deep respect for all traditions, while always remaining open to the discovery of other points”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, The Seven Pillars Journey Toward Wisdom

“encompassing a broad array of people without bounds of geography or social position, while maintaining the dedicated milieu needed to cultivate a wisdom stream for our time. It is”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, The Seven Pillars Journey Toward Wisdom

“Our own divinity, which is the Star People in my parlance, the first woman that came to the Earth in the blue ball of flames. Who is she but our own sacredness? There’s a lot of talk about recovering our divinity, but oh, there’s nothing like the experience of even a flash of it. And I feel that what you’re each saying is if we keep going, that’s where we’ll end up.”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, The Seven Pillars Journey Toward Wisdom

“invitation to explore self, community, and world to better align ourselves with both the voices of wisdom around us and our own deepest knowing. It is offered in the trust that curiosity leads to discovery, which leads to understanding, which leads to benevolent acts. What the world needs now! Your exploration will be both personal and communal, for while we experience the journey as individuals, it naturally connects us to the wider world of relationships, shared community, and global concerns in which we are all embedded. This book is meant as a guide for the journey of discovery ahead. It is based”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, The Seven Pillars Journey Toward Wisdom

“To attain the reality of unity, the believer must undergo deeper and deeper self-forgetting in the remembrance of God. There is no god but God now comes to mean, "there is no existing thing but God." Someone asked Sa'd ad-din Hamuya, "What is God?" He answered, "That which exists is God." The questioner asked, "What is the world?" He answered, "Nothing exists but God." (p. 225)”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, Mingled Waters : Sufism and the Mystical Unity of Religions

“Erikson speaks of the development of different ego strengths at different stages of the life cycle, and he uses the word wisdom to refer to the strength of old age.”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, The Seven Pillars Journey Toward Wisdom

“We may sense in the swirl of life that there is some deeper field of meaning and purpose hidden beneath its surface.”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, The Seven Pillars Journey Toward Wisdom

“Through our own gifts we’re actualizing the purpose of our soul, which then supports the unfolding of the universe.”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, The Seven Pillars Journey Toward Wisdom

“There’s something about being absolutely present in the moment—and maybe that’s another term for love, in some ways—that I was really struck by.”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, The Seven Pillars Journey Toward Wisdom

“Himmel und Hölle sind keine weit entfernten Reiche. Der mit glühender Kohle gepflasterte Weg der Hölle beginnt ebenso wie der Spaziergang durch den Garten des Himmels auf der Erde. Auf deinem Lebenspfad wirst du Bewohnern des Höllenschlunds und Stammgästen des Paradieses begegnen. Und du wirst sehr viele treffen, die mit einem Bein in der Hölle und mit dem anderen im Paradies stehen. Die Leute des Feuers brennen ungern allein. Sie werden deshalb versuchen, dich mit ins Feuer zu ziehen. Sie werden dich mit verlockenden Angeboten in Versuchung führen, damit du dich zu ihnen gesellst. Weist du sie ab, werden sie Hohn und Spott über dich ausgießen, bis dein Zorn entflammt ist. Gib ihnen nicht nach! Beantworte ihre Beschimpfungen nicht mit deiner Schmähung, denn sonst fällst du selbst in den Abgrund. Rufe Allah (den einen Gott, Schöpfer des Himmels und der Erde) an, der uns erhebt, der alles Schlechte von uns abwendet. Bleibe im Zustand der Ruhe, dann wirst du keinen Schaden erleiden. Selbst wenn ein Feind die Macht erlangt hat, deinen Körper zu verletzen, so kann er doch deinen Geist, dein Herz und deine Seele nicht berühren. (S. 77)”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, Ritterliche Tugenden Im Alten Orient: Edelmut, Tapferkeit und mystische Suche

“Perhaps a message will be revealed, gently urging you forward to recognize your unique gifts and to bring them into the community of life.”
― Pir Zia Inayat Khan, The Seven Pillars Journey Toward Wisdom