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I went to my library the other day and checked out three books that caught my eye. The books were Complete Works of St. Teresa, The Practice of Zen, and Tales from the Land of the Sufis. Why would I read these books, you might ask. They help keep my heart open and my mind quiet.

And although these books are very different from each other by the fact that they are about different spiritual traditions, they are also very similar. They all focus on inner awareness and the essence of being. I love to see the parallels of different paths. I remember Thomas Merton once saying that at a religious conference in Thailand, the Catholic monks and the Buddhist monks understood each other because they shared the same inner experiences. But the priests of the two religions did not understand each other because they were only focused on the surface of their respective religions.

So far I have only had the chance to read from Tales from the Land of the Sufis. The section I read was about a Sufi Perfect Master from the 11th century, Abu Sa’id. I had previously read only one paragraph about him in a footnote 29 years ago so this was a real treat.

What’s a Perfect Master? It is someone who has traversed through all the planes of consciousness to realize God consciously. It is perfection personified. It means gaining the attributes of infinite power, infinite knowledge, and infinite bliss. It‘s a fusion of perfect humanness and perfect Godhood. It’s the ultimate goal of the spiritual path.

The stories about Abu Sa’id as a little boy, and then later as a spiritual seeker were heart-warming. The stories of him after he became a Perfect Master were awe inspiring.

Here are a couple little anecdotes from the book that are as pertinent today as ever:

A dervish was sweeping the courtyard of the Khanukah (spiritual center). Abu Sa’id saw him and said, “Be like the dust ball that rolls before the broom, and not like the rock left behind.” With these words the shaykh (Master) showed the young disciple that to advance on the path, one must be like the dust, which has no will of its own but goes wherever the broom (spiritual master) commands — and must not be like the rock (the ego), which asserts its own will and resists the direction of the perfect guide.

and

One day a man asked Abu Sa’id about the ways of reaching God. “The ways to God,” he replied,” are as many as there are created beings. But the shortest and easiest is to serve others, not to bother others, and to make others happy.”

The truth behind these two anecdotes can be applied to any spiritual path — ways to break free from the patterns of self-indulgence that make so many people feel so unhappy. See my post, Escaping from the Prison of Patterns.

I mentioned that I had read only one paragraph about Abu Sa’id previously. It was a footnote in a book entitled Stay with God, by the Australian poet, Francis Brabazon. Here is what Brabazon wrote about Abu Sa’id.

Abu Sa’id: a Perfect Master in the eleventh century. He said, “During my novitiate there came a time when people clamored to get sight of me and even followed me out into the country when I rode out. And then one day a Voice said to me, ‘Am I not enough?’ Then later on, they despised me and from the gallery in the Mosque voided their filth on me. And again the Voice said to me, ‘Am I not enough?’” He also said that one is not advanced on the Path until people hate one and drive one out as a madman.

Even though I read that one paragraph 29 years ago, I have never forgotten it. In fact, at low points in my life I would often imagine hearing that voice say to me, “Am I not enough?” That gave me comfort. It was sort of my ace in the hole that I would fall back on.

That voice is the voice of infinity. It is with everyone of us. When we can quiet our minds and sit still in silence, we can enjoy the presence of that voice. That voice is the solace of the heart on the spiritual journey to know oneself, the real self behind the layers of self-deception that we have become far too accustomed to.

If you are someone who questions what mysticism is, this is it — enjoying the enoughness of that Presence.