The Signs of God explores the importance of mystical consciousness at this time of global transition. In the depths of the heart is hidden the secret purpose of creation, which is the key to our present time of transformation. The work of the mystic is to make this key accessible to humanity, and so open the doors of revelation. The possibilities of the future are present but veiled, the joy of life is waiting to return. The mystic can help us to awaken to the oneness that is essential to life, and to recognize the signs of God that will guide us and reveal our true purpose. Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee is a Sufi teacher specializing in the area of dreamwork. The Signs of God By Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee The Golden Sufi Center Copyright © 2001 The Golden Sufi Center All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-890350-04-8 Contents 1. Lover and Beloved, 2. Living the Moment of the Soul, 3. Spiritual Responsibility, 4. The Power of Forgetfulness, 5. Effort and Grace, 6. Completeness, 7. Recognizing the Signs of God, Appendix: Dreamwork, Notes, Bibliography, Index, Acknowledgements, CHAPTER 1 Lover and Beloved Man is my secret and I am his secret. The inner knowledge of the spiritual essence is a secret of my secrets. hadîth THE SECRET SUBSTANCE OF DIVINE LOVE The mystical relationship of lover and Beloved is one of mankind's greatest secrets. It embraces all of creation and yet takes place within the human heart. The soul's love affair with God is a passion that transforms the whole human being and reveals the hidden face of the world. The mystical journey is an unfolding of this love affair, a giving of oneself to God through love. Because this love belongs to oneness, it takes us back to oneness. The wayfarer is brought home from a life of separation to an experience of being merged into Him. This journey is only possible because of a substance within the heart, which the Sufis call sirr. Without this substance there would be no journey and no spiritual awareness, no knowledge of union. Sirr is a gift of God to those who love Him, and is given for the sake of realizing the truth and then being in service to truth. Sirr means secret and belongs to the mystery of divine love, of the relationship of lover and Beloved that takes place within the innermost chamber of the heart, the heart of hearts as it is called by the Sufis. This substance is the secret of the universe and the essence of His love for us. Hidden from the world because it does not belong to the world, sirr reveals to us the essential oneness of our relationship with Him. Much of the work of the path is a process of preparation, an inner purification to enable the heart of the lover to contain His secret without its being contaminated by the ego or lower nature, the nafs. When the disciple is ready, then the sirr is given from heart to heart, usually through the presence of a living master, a sat guru. This substance of divine love is infused into the heart of the lover and activated by divine love. In the words of the tenth-century mystic al-Hakîm at-Tirmidhî: Within the heart God placed the Knowledge of Him and He lit it with the Divine Light. ... By this light He gave the heart eyes to see. The secret substance within the heart is the organ of divine consciousness, a consciousness of the oneness of God. A mystic is one who is able to bear this secret, to live His oneness. The path prepares us, but His gift is always an act of grace, given with love by love. And it brings with it the responsibilities of the heart, to be in service and to live according to the ways of love and not the ways of the mind or the ego. Love demands that we sacrifice ourself, because, in the words of the great lover al-Hallâj, "When truth has taken hold of a heart she empties it of all but herself." In order for His secret to be infused into our heart we have to give our heart to God. Then our heart is "held between the two fingers of God, and He turns it as He wills." A mystic is someone who is born to do this work, "who was intoxicated by wine before the creation of the vine." Before we are born we are branded by love; we come into th Used Book in Good Condition