The Sun At Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries Of The Ahlul Bayt Sufis QUOTES

1 " We fear what is uncontrollable. This 'control' attitude results in an 'order fetish.' People become obsessed with mowing and grooming their lawns and obsessed with neatness. People living in contemporary society are split beings divided against themselves. Our Eurocentric society is wounded. Society does not want to feel pain. Therefore, society denies history, and hides its collective head in the sand. We must reintegrate what we have taken apart and love the thing we fear. "

― Laurence Galian , The Sun At Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries Of The Ahlul Bayt Sufis

2 " There was a time when love filled his heart, but no more. Once Sam had sought enlightenment and thought he'd found its path on an Ashram outside Los Angeles. Once Sam had a teacher in whom he believed without reservation, who had helped him discover the inner resonances of the divine within himself. Sam had read that one could become a completely God-realized being and was awed and inspired by this perfection he saw in his teacher. As Sam progressed, his guru became more than his teacher, he became his beloved friend. Sam grew in stature and recognition in the community of spiritual seekers gathered about the guru. Sam's utter admiration made the truth more painful still when he discovered that advancement within the order was not by merit alone but that several of the higher ranking members had been conferred their status in exchange for sexual favors and that the donations made to the center went first and foremost toward the material enrichment of the leader. Life for Sam then lost its reason. He had no faith in any human being not even himself. He certainly had no faith left for the merciful and benevolent God that allowed his loving devotee to fall into the hands of such a charlatan. Sam was deeply disillusioned and heartbroken. He walked out of the center that day with no possessions, no money, no beliefs. His great spiritual quest had brought him here to New York, a homeless man living in a makeshift shanty under the overpass of the Long Island Expressway. Sam was numb inside. He did not think about his guru; he could not bear to think about the guru. Therefore, he hid his great pain deep inside himself. "

― Laurence Galian , The Sun At Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries Of The Ahlul Bayt Sufis

3 " To think about our bodies as horses to be ridden or even temples to be occupied, is to create a duality between our thinking and our body. It is like a tourist who arrives in a wild forest in his or her Recreation Vehicle. We have all see those campers with their televisions, and so on. Are they experiencing the nature around them? They have an insular experience, that is, camping without getting their hands dirty. "

― Laurence Galian , The Sun At Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries Of The Ahlul Bayt Sufis

4 " The 'man' from 'Sarman' relates to heredity, or a particular family. It also refers to the receptacle of an heirloom. The 'Sar' of 'Sarman' is defined as 'head.' In this sense, the 'head' is meant both literally as a part of the body, and in the meaning of elder one or master. Therefore, we may tentatively conclude that 'Sarman' means 'The Sovereign Receptacle of the Sacred.' Or, an alternative reading would be 'Those Whose Heads are Priceless. "

― Laurence Galian , The Sun At Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries Of The Ahlul Bayt Sufis

5 " Instead of worrying about evil, worry about losing the power to do good! "

― Laurence Galian , The Sun At Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries Of The Ahlul Bayt Sufis

6 " The Hidden Light of the Night softens the wheat and the fruit, making it sweet. "

― Laurence Galian , The Sun At Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries Of The Ahlul Bayt Sufis

7 " The Murid, to reach Proximity, must pass through the mystical desert of the Abyss. "

― Laurence Galian , The Sun At Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries Of The Ahlul Bayt Sufis

8 " The identity of Shaitan of the Islamic tradition is crucial. By the time Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was reciting the Qur'an, they were calling Shaitan 'the Old Serpent (Dragon)' and 'Lord of the Abyss.' The Old Serpent or Old Dragon is, according to experts such as E.A. Budge and S.N. Kramer, Leviathan. Leviathan is Lotan. Lotan traces to Tietan. Tietan, the authorities in Near Eastern mythology tell us, is a later form of Tiamat. According to the experts, the Dragon of the Abyss called Shaitan is the same Dragon of the Abyss named Tiamat. Scholars specializing in Near Eastern mythology have stated this repeatedly. "

― Laurence Galian , The Sun At Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries Of The Ahlul Bayt Sufis

9 " You must give the aggressive and hostile aspects of yourself constructive ways of expression through assertiveness, determination, self-assuredness, boldness, mental toughness, decisiveness, learning how to articulate one's feelings, speaking directly, forcefulness, and sport. "

― Laurence Galian , The Sun At Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries Of The Ahlul Bayt Sufis

10 " Oh, our brothers and sisters of the Way, Sufism is the most delicate and dangerous of paths, for the dervish dares to storm the gates of heaven itself. "

― Laurence Galian , The Sun At Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries Of The Ahlul Bayt Sufis

11 " Be aware of the All-Pervasive Reality of Existence as It is manifesting to you now. "

― Laurence Galian , The Sun At Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries Of The Ahlul Bayt Sufis

12 " It is not your job in life to instruct everyone as to what his or her proper opinion or conduct should be. "

― Laurence Galian , The Sun At Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries Of The Ahlul Bayt Sufis

13 " Unfortunately, the two hemispheres of our brain have become separated and no longer function as a holistic gestalt. "

― Laurence Galian , The Sun At Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries Of The Ahlul Bayt Sufis

14 " We suggest that you consistently work throughout your lifetime on the creation of a coherent and integral spirit body. If your mind never turns to the spiritual in life, why do you think it will turn to the spirit in death? If you are not 'at home' with things spiritual, why do you think you will be able to orient yourself when you are thrust into the spirit world? At best, you will be disoriented and uncomfortable. "

― Laurence Galian , The Sun At Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries Of The Ahlul Bayt Sufis

15 " Allah does not always open Its Jamal. The Murid's assignment is to unite the Jalal and the Jamal. These two are projected from, and absorbed back into, the black nothingness called Allah's Kamal - a state of invisible, neuter, annihilation. Jalal is Allah's power, force and strength. It often manifests as trials and tests for the Murid. Jamal is Allah's sweetness, compassion, understanding, and forgiveness. Kamal is the whispered breath of nonexistence. "

― Laurence Galian , The Sun At Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries Of The Ahlul Bayt Sufis

16 " Therefore, humanity's unconsciousness of its identity, is the Shadow of the Supreme Reality. "

― Laurence Galian , The Sun At Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries Of The Ahlul Bayt Sufis

17 " It is stated that the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was taken up into heaven (while he was still alive) and saw angels dwelling on various heavenly levels performing specific movements. This should be a profound sign of the spiritual significance and importance of the body and its motions. It is one indication of the sacredness of the body and the truly profound meaning of certain motions and gestures of that body. "

― Laurence Galian , The Sun At Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries Of The Ahlul Bayt Sufis

18 " When you allow your self to travel freely, the self will unerringly move and bring to you exactly those experiences, people and things that you need. A New World will be born from out of your Unicity. "

― Laurence Galian , The Sun At Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries Of The Ahlul Bayt Sufis

19 " The reality of the dualistic nature of the world will not change for those who are still lost in duality. However, your orientation toward that reality will change. You are just allowing that reality to arise within the TOTALITY of your being, rather than fragmenting your being by making value judgments. You will not be buying into choosing sides. In addition, when you allow your self to travel freely, the self will unerringly move and bring to you exactly those experiences, people and things that you need. A New World will be born from out of your Unicity. "

― Laurence Galian , The Sun At Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries Of The Ahlul Bayt Sufis

20 " Beware of becoming too sure of your beliefs, because you run the risk of dissociation, or losing touch with parts of yourself. That is why the irrational and spontaneous are so precious to the Sufi. The 'irrational' circumnavigates the rational mind and by that allows the unconscious to manifest. The spontaneous and flexible person, who is not afraid of non-rational impulses, unorthodox behaviors, poetry, and dreams, in other words, the totality of being, acquires a unitive nature. "

― Laurence Galian , The Sun At Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries Of The Ahlul Bayt Sufis