Podcasts about sufis

 In the spiritual scene, people think that we can break the ego… And if we have broken the ego, we get enlightenment… The Psychologists don't think that it is possible to break the ego permanently and they can prove that. What is the ego?In the spiritual/religious scene, we define the ego as the root of all sorrow or as the collection of our negative feelings, thoughts, and habits. Actually, this is not true!Our ego is the collection of all of our habits, feelings, and thoughts.Everything that we have learned is part of our ego, be it our skills, habits, bad temper, and even our diseases. When we had been a baby, we had inside of us the divine and our animal mind that is part of the ego. We grew up and lost the connection to the divine, and our ego was formed through our environment, parents, and so on. Actually, our ego helps us to survive. For that reason, the Psychologists are not against the ego.Through spiritual, religious contemplation, we increase the divine inside of us. So that we get reconnected to the divine and can feel the divine as love, or bliss or calmness of the mind or as a Satori or Samadhi. Many of the holy saints or gurus are teaching us that we have to get rid totally of our ego to become divine, egoless, or enlightenment. And these gurus proclaim that they are egoless.  The history tells us rather more that these so divine gurus have cheated us… We all lose our ego during our sleep. And when we wake up, our ego is back. After we experience a Samadhi or Satori, we are again in our ego. We can only lose our ego for a specific time and never permanently. If we break our ego permanently we will die… Because our ego is so intervened in our body and mind. We can't live without our ego. The great Guru Ramakrishna said we can't break our ego, we can only make our ego a servant of God or of the people… Instead, to build up more and more our selfish Ego, we can become step by step a servant of God. And this part is following the Christian, Sufis, Yogis, and Buddhists. And it starts that we try our best to serve our family, coworkers, clients, customer, God… If we combine it with spiritual and religious contemplation, we connect with God and experience the divine….  My Video: How to break the ego? https://youtu.be/Bp-c1ZkcGWkMy Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast.B/How-to-break-the-ego.mp3

Spirit Switchboard Episode #108 May 16th, 2025 Topic: Light Language Activation Guest: The Light Mother: Sal Ma - This week on Spirit Switchboard we're joined by the incredible Sal Ma - the Light Mother. An energy helaer, multidimensional guide and light language activator, Sal Ma shared powerful insights on awakening, divine multi-dimensional connections, and living with purpose. Ready to raise your vibration? Tune in and let the Light Mother illuminate your path! Guest Bio: ABOUT Sal Ma In her 3D identity, Sal Ma is a certified alternative practitioner for psychotherapy, mental trainer and spiritual consultant. She studied different therapeutic, coaching and healing methods from worldwide leading teachers. Based on that, Sal Ma created her own method which she calls NeuroSomaTrans (NST)™ as she uses different techniques in her approach. Furthermore, Sal Ma also learned different energy healing techniques such as reiki, pranic, matrix up to master level and created her own energy technique blended with wisdoms of the Sufis. This enables her to offer her clients a holistic approach to their transformational journey. Sal Ma works with individuals as well as groups in areas such as sports, rehabilitation or business who she has been guiding, supporting and training in more than ten years now. Sal Ma is German with roots to Egypt through her mother and works with different cultures, age groups and a diversity of topics. Unfolding the Star Mother Being a star mother in her galactic dimension, Sal Ma carries the codes of divine child activation in human DNA. This means that she is able to, amongst other abilities, activate the light language in and for others. Before she met that mysterious woman in the desert of her second home country Egypt, Sal Ma did not only know about this part of her soul identity, she was not even looking for anything but what she was and still is in 3D. It was at the feet of the Hathor Temple, in the Cerabit Desert Camp on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, her second home country, when Sal Ma met her teacher for the first time in her life. This woman spoke to her in a language and way that was both foreign and weird to Sal Ma. She was far from taking this woman seriously. But Sal Ma's curiosity was awaken when this woman told her things about her that she possibly could not know. Moreover, she told Sal Ma who she was in her Galactic Dimension and which role she would need to play on earth. And this was the beginning of a 2-years searching, learning, resisting, activating, doubting, blocking, integrating and embodying her Galactic Dimension. Due to her very strong mind, Sal Ma was torn between her logic and 3D way of thinking and existing and the 5D connection she was trying to rediscover during that time. She was already very spiritual and religious. But what she encountered ever since she started working with her teacher opened her to e new level of being, to an existence beyond the conditioning of the human mind, the limitations of the physical world as well as the collective consciousness of the 3D. Eventually, her heart was stronger and Sal Ma could fully emerge with her Cosmic Identity. Guest Links: WEBSITE: http://www.salmazone.com http://www.salmawellbeing.com YouTube: Sal Ma@SalMa_4yoursoul TikToK: Sal Ma Host links: http://www.kerrilynnshellhorn.com https://linktr.ee/kerrilynn.shellhorn

Discussing his new book, The Intimate Way of Zen, Nondual spiritualist James Ishmael Ford joins Raghu for an exploration of our relationship to all things. Mindrolling is brought to you by Reunion. Reunion is offering $250 off any stay to the Love, Serve, Remember community. Simply use the code “BeHere250” when booking. Disconnect from the world so you can reconnect with yourself at Reunion. Hotel | www.reunionhotelandwellness.com Retreats | www.reunionexperience.orgThis time on Mindrolling, Raghu and James explore:James' upbringing and how his maternal grandmother was the spiritual orientation for his familyHaving an intimate relationship with all thingsThe goal of discovering what this life truly is Spiritual friendship which is deep, profound, and life-changing Unconditional love and considering our judgment of others Trying to see others as trees, as Ram Dass taught Combining Bhakti Yoga with the wisdom of Buddhism Flirting with nihilism, cynicism, and new-ageism Exploring the work of Carl Jung and James HillmanThe resurgence of psychedelics in today's culture The many paths and doorways into enlightenment Check out the books referenced in this episode: Zen at the End of Religion, If You're Lucky Your Heart Will Break, and of course, The Intimate Way of Zen. About James Ishmael Ford, Zen Buddhist Priest & Ordained Minister:James has walked the​ spiritual path for more than fifty years. He's danced with Sufis, studied with Christian mystics, lived in Buddhist monasteries, and eventually was ordained a Zen priest. Later, he was also ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister. James' path has taken him to a life "between" several traditions, bringing him into a nondual spirituality. Trying to unpack what that actually means in his life, and with a tip of the hat to Erasmus, James claims a physiology of faith; a Buddhist brain, a Christian heart, and a rationalist stomach. You can learn more about James on his website and keep up with his most recent project, the Unanswered Question Newsletter, HERE. “For me, the goal is to find 'what is'. I originally framed it as 'Is there a God?' I realized I had the question wrong, and at some point it was 'what is God?'. Today, I would say, 'what is this?'” – James Ishmael FordSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

“It is absolutely necessary to have a Master on the Sufi path who can remind you: Get out of your head, live from the heart.” Vasant Swaha talks about the way of the Sufis, which is centered on living in remembrance of the divine and of the Master. Wherever Sufis are, whatever they may be doing, they are led by the heart - which keeps them safe.Vasant Swaha is a modern mystic sharing his love, joy, and wisdom in retreats. This talk was from a Satsang during the “Waves of Love” Retreat at Mevlana Garden, Brazil, on the 16th of March of 2025.This audio contains Portuguese consecutive interpretation.For more information visit www.vasantswaha.net_____*______“No caminho sufi, é absolutamente necessário ter um Mestre que possa lembrá-lo: saia da cabeça, viva a partir do coração.” Vasant Swaha fala sobre o caminho dos sufis, que é centrado em viver em memória do divino e do Mestre. Onde quer que os sufis estejam, o que quer que estejam fazendo, eles são levados pelo coração, que os mantém seguros.Vasant Swaha é um místico moderno que compartilha seu amor, sua alegria e sua sabedoria em retiros. Este é um trecho de um dos Satsangs do retiro “Ondas de amor”,  no Mevlana Garden, no Brasil, no dia 16 de março de 2025.   Neste áudio há tradução consecutiva em português.Para mais informação, visite www.vasantswaha.net

Tasawwuf is the old word for dressing in wool, the typical identifier for a monk, ascetic, and mystic. Today, we pronounce it Sufi.The Sufi tradition dates back to the foundation of Islam, though both adherents and opponents have claimed that it's even older than Islam--certainly some of the ideas are....The Goal is Tawhid, the perfect union with Allah (the God of the Hebrew Bible). The Prophet Muhammad is also revered as a god because of his achievement in this pursuit. The most well regarded traditions have master-apprentice chains that can be traced as far back as the best hadiths, and can be compared to the Jedi--or, we try, anyway.We explore some Sufi poetry, and note that Rumi is the most popular poet in the world. Rumi is also the founder of a Sufi tradition known as the Whirling Dervishes--a phrase coopted by insensitive parents in the 80s and 90s. Sufis, like many other groups, have been the object of abuse and even terrorism around the world.All this and more...Support us on Patreon or you can get our merch at Spreadshop. Join the Community on Discord. Learn more great religion factoids on Facebook and Instagram. 

 Life has neither a meaning nor no meaning (Osho).If we see our life…We get born into a family that we didn't choose and get educated through them, that we didn't like and learned a skill to make money… And then our sexual desires awake and we want: 1.) To enjoy our sexuality with a deep love, -maybe our happiest moments in life.2.) We marry and get kids, have to earn enough money and suffer through that.4.) Most of the people get a job that they don't like and even earn too less money.3.) After the kids are grown up and leave us we suffer through aging, diseases, loneliness, and too less money.Krishna said worldly happiness is in the beginning Paradise and then Hell … I agree.Krishna said religious happiness (Satchitananda) is in the beginning Hell and then Paradise. I totally disagree… Hazard Inayat Khan said: When the inner path doesn't lead to more happiness, you have done it wrong or you have chosen the wrong path!We all have a biological clock ticking inside of us that is determining our psycho and life.If we distract from our biological mission, (sex, worldly love, kids …) we have to suffer.After we pass by, we can't live our worldly desires. We become spirits who can just watch and never participate in the world again. The philosophy, religion, and spirituality have tried to give our life a focus, purpose, mission or meaning.Most of the philosophers have failed in their own life. Even they have given us a good direction, they could not live it by themselves… Their philosophy is only partially working. Because everybody is different and need to go his/her own path.Even we give our life a mission, to become that expert, star, … It is not enough. For instance, most of these great stars were drug addicted, took suicide, died early on cancer and heart attack.  The great experts suffer so much because:1.) They never have enough success, money, attention, fame…2.) They are too focused on their goals.3.) They don't care about their health, fitness, families, kids, friends, and religion.I think, a philosophy regardless how good can't give our life a fulfilling meaning.We need a connection to God or to our spirituality that gives us happiness.Goethe: The true happiness is the inner happiness that is independent of worldly matters.   The Religions were created to market God/Moksha/Paradise/Enlightenment to exploit the people. The good spiritual paths (Sufis, Taoists, Yogis, Free Mansions…) were created to give our life a meaning. We find through the inner path: 1.) the peace of mind, 2.) to enjoy bliss, 3.) and spiritual happiness without chasing worldly matters. We don't need:1.) to prove anything, 2.) to accomplish anything, 3.) and to get attention/ love from anybody… We learn to have compassion and love for others without to get love from them. With the focus to serve God and humanity, we get what we want. We can't find lasting happiness/love through the worldly matters because worldly matters increase our Ego. And Ego is sorrow. Selfishness will lead to more sorrow. And it is true that we need also to live our selfish desires. We have to balance our spiritual path with our worldly desires.Can we change our spiritual path?Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan said change your spiritual masters so often as it is necessary. Everybody is different and not everything is fitting to us at every moment in our life.   My Video: The Meaning of Life https://youtu.be/6r8zoEJNb78My Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast.B/The-Meaning-of-Life.mp3

 Life has neither a meaning nor no meaning (Osho).If we see our life…We get born into a family that we didn't choose and get educated through them, that we didn't like and learned a skill to make money… And then our sexual desires awake and we want: 1.) To enjoy our sexuality with a deep love, -maybe our happiest moments in life.2.) We marry and get kids, have to earn enough money and suffer through that.4.) Most of the people get a job that they don't like and even earn too less money.3.) After the kids are grown up and leave us we suffer through aging, diseases, loneliness, and too less money.Krishna said worldly happiness is in the beginning Paradise and then Hell … I agree.Krishna said religious happiness (Satchitananda) is in the beginning Hell and then Paradise. I totally disagree… Hazard Inayat Khan said: When the inner path doesn't lead to more happiness, you have done it wrong or you have chosen the wrong path!We all have a biological clock ticking inside of us that is determining our psycho and life.If we distract from our biological mission, (sex, worldly love, kids …) we have to suffer.After we pass by, we can't live our worldly desires. We become spirits who can just watch and never participate in the world again. The philosophy, religion, and spirituality have tried to give our life a focus, purpose, mission or meaning.Most of the philosophers have failed in their own life. Even they have given us a good direction, they could not live it by themselves… Their philosophy is only partially working. Because everybody is different and need to go his/her own path.Even we give our life a mission, to become that expert, star, … It is not enough. For instance, most of these great stars were drug addicted, took suicide, died early on cancer and heart attack.  The great experts suffer so much because:1.) They never have enough success, money, attention, fame…2.) They are too focused on their goals.3.) They don't care about their health, fitness, families, kids, friends, and religion.I think, a philosophy regardless how good can't give our life a fulfilling meaning.We need a connection to God or to our spirituality that gives us happiness.Goethe: The true happiness is the inner happiness that is independent of worldly matters.   The Religions were created to market God/Moksha/Paradise/Enlightenment to exploit the people. The good spiritual paths (Sufis, Taoists, Yogis, Free Mansions…) were created to give our life a meaning. We find through the inner path: 1.) the peace of mind, 2.) to enjoy bliss, 3.) and spiritual happiness without chasing worldly matters. We don't need:1.) to prove anything, 2.) to accomplish anything, 3.) and to get attention/ love from anybody… We learn to have compassion and love for others without to get love from them. With the focus to serve God and humanity, we get what we want. We can't find lasting happiness/love through the worldly matters because worldly matters increase our Ego. And Ego is sorrow. Selfishness will lead to more sorrow. And it is true that we need also to live our selfish desires. We have to balance our spiritual path with our worldly desires.Can we change our spiritual path?Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan said change your spiritual masters so often as it is necessary. Everybody is different and not everything is fitting to us at every moment in our life.   My Video: The Meaning of Life https://youtu.be/6r8zoEJNb78My Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast.B/The-Meaning-of-Life.mp3

Ep. 172 (Part 1 of 2) | In this 8th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali gives a clear, colorful description of the three stages we go through on the spiritual path: the journey to presence, the journey with presence, and the journey in presence. “There's much more to the journey than just being free of suffering,” he says, “in the journey with presence, there's a whole universe to discover—unexpectedly we find there is a whole realm of splendor, beauty, freedom, and liberation.” In the third journey, the journey in presence, the stage of actualization, we are swimming in the ocean of presence or we are the presence itself. Hameed relates how impeccability, strong and pure like stainless steel, is an important part of actualizing presence, embodying our essence in our daily lives. “The ‘I am' can function in the world as a person,” he explains, “I can be the vastness, an infinite, black, luminous night, completely formless, but still walk in the street as a person.”Hameed also talks about the “pearl beyond price”—the individuated self that brings a functional capacity to the isness, which is why it is of incomparable price—and the point of existence, point of light, or pure I-ness. He discusses the individuation of the soul and the realization that the nature of the soul is the nature of everything: this is the nondual experience. This dialogue is another treasure trove of spiritual transmission by Hameed—with humor, clarity, precision, and beautiful metaphor, his teachings, even as deeply profound and mysterious as they are, come as wonderful revelations for us to grasp onto, leading us forward on the inner journey home. Recorded January 3, 2025.“The experience of presence is the defining experience of this path.”Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1Introducing the 8th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, which focuses on the 15th chapter of The Inner Journey Home: “The Inner Journey” (00:56)Hameed outlines 3 stages of the inner journey: the journey to presence, the journey with presence, the journey in presence (03:00)First, the individual soul, structured through early life experience, begins (with practice) to recognize presence (09:50)Second is the journey with presence: working with the theory of holes before opening to spaciousness (12:22)The second stage is the fun part—when everything is completely new and somewhat miraculous (14:56)Experiencing the true potential of a human being: unexpectedly we find there is a whole realm of splendor, beauty, freedom & liberation (17:59)The third journey is actualization, when we are swimming in the ocean of presence or we are the presence itself: self-realization; the self is the presence (19:55)Impeccability: living in a way that is faithful to our true nature (21:12)Roger's summary of Hameed's points: presence is not static, learning about true nature is an ongoing, marvelous surprise, viewing spiritual maturation along a spectrum, and how realizing presence brings with it the deep desire that all beings experience it (23:34)In other traditions, there isn't much discussion beyond the realization itself (25:56)The world is never “fixed” (28:55)Part of the soul's maturation is individuation; personal-ness turns out to be a quality of presence (30:10)The pearl beyond price (the individuated self) is known also to the gnostics, the Sufis, the Taoists… it is protected by a fearsome monster (the ego) (33:28)The point of light,...

Although it seems that we live in a world filled with tragedy, especially as we hear about events in the Middle East, there are still so many people there doing good in the world. In today's show, Lisa interviews Ora and Ihab Balha, a Jewish and Muslim couple living in Isreal who exemplify love, despite the extreme conflicts in which they are living. Together they co-founded “The Orchard of Abraham's Children'' nonprofit organization, a holistic educational and communal organization dedicated to transforming Jewish-Arab relations for a shared future, as well as the “Human First Community Center” in Jaffa, Israel. Ihab Balha explains as a Muslim man how he was challenged to a fight by a Jewish man who came running into a restaurant screaming hateful words toward Arabs. They got into a physical fight. Frequently this many would run into this restaurant shouting the same words and fighting with men there. Eventually Ihab decided to wait for him and attacked him outside. The Jewish man was surprised and said how they should schedule the next fight and invited him to fight at his home. Ihab talks about how they scheduled it, and when he arrived at the man's house, the man broke down about his wife leaving him. This led to a conversation about the importance of love and human connection. Together they talked about relationships and spoke from their hearts. They continued to meet, to talk, and to express their fears and anger. Slowly more Jewish people and Muslim people began to gather with them, just to talk. They decided to have a meeting in the Holy Land between the Israeli and Palestinian people. They were anticipating approximately 10 people. More than 300 showed up. They invited people from various religions including priests, Sufis, and rabbis. One man talked about his daughter being killed by an Israeli soldier. Another person talked about how a Palestinian man killed his son. Together they cried and shared their pain. Afterwards they hugged each other. At the second meeting, more than 1000 people came and for the third meeting, more than 5,000 people of various religions attended. This was essentially the biggest peace project in Israel. They did not talk about politics – instead they talked about being Jewish, Muslim, and Christian. They built bridges. Ora Balha talks about how she met Ihab when she was visiting the Sinai desert in Egypt. They saw each other and immediately fell in love. Even though Ora is Jewish and Ihab is Muslim, they talk about how love “took” them. It took over. They had to rise above cultural and societal differences. Ora moved in with Ihab in Jaffa. Because of the difficulties, they couldn't share this with anyone, including their families. When Ora first met Ihab's father, it was especially challenging. Their families could not get over their prejudices, but every time they met, Ora and Ihab would express only love. Finally, after a struggle of several years, their families accepted one another. It took time, but Ora and Ihab stayed true to their love. They also talked about the importance of choosing love. Even if you are afraid, when you choose love, people can see that and then reflect it. They also discuss what happened when they had their son and how they educated him. He learned both Hebrew and Arabic at home. They celebrated all of each other's holidays. When it came time to send him to kindergarten, they couldn't find a school that was teaching what they were at home, so they decided to start a kindergarten.  They were young and didn't think about the future as much, so they started a very small school in Ihab's father's yard. Two children joined. They brought in both a Jewish teacher and a Muslim teacher.  The community started to hear about them. In the beginning, it was hard, but slowly more children joined. By the end of the first year, 16 children were involved. They opened a second group the following year and a third group by the third year. Currently they now have nine kindergartens, an elementary school, and a community center which focuses on adults. It offers music and activities. They have more than 100 staff members. The schools are mainly in Jaffa and Galilee, but they have other teacher training programs. They also talked about the many challenges. There is so much fear and anger, resulting in separation. Ihab talks about how you must always be aware. It's not easy for people to change. People are stuck with their past ideology. They live in their minds, and they forget about their hearts and what connections them. People feel stuck so they argue and fight. Ora and Ihab are trying to express something new, something from their hearts. They learned to listen to one another. This is a dynamic movement. They invite people to remember that we are human first. God chooses all of us. We complete each other. Info: www.orchardofabrahamschildren.org

This week we talk about arabica, robusta, and profit margins.We also discuss colonialism, coffee houses, and religious uppers.Recommended Book: On Writing and Worldbuilding by Timothy HicksonTranscriptLike many foods and beverages that contain body- or mind-altering substances, coffee was originally used, on scale at least, by people of faith, leveraging it as an aid for religious rituals. Sufis in what is today Yemen, back in the early 15th century, consumed it as a stimulant which allowed them to more thoroughly commit themselves to their worship, and it was being used by the Muslim faithful in Mecca around the same time.By the following century, it spread to the Levant, and from there it was funneled into larger trade routes and adopted by civilizations throughout the Mediterranean world, including the Ottomans, the Mamluks, groups in Italy and Northern Africa, and a few hundred years later, all the way over to India and the East Indies.Western Europeans got their hands on this beverage by the late 1600s, and it really took off in Germany and Holland, where coffee houses, which replicated an establishment type that was popularized across the Muslim world the previous century, started to pop up all over the place; folks would visit these hubs in lieu of alehouses, subbing in stimulants for depressants, and they were spaces in which it was appropriate for people across the social and economic strata to interact with each other, playing board games like chess and backgammon, and cross-pollinating their knowledge and beliefs.According to some scholars, this is part of why coffee houses were banned in many countries, including England, where they also became popular, because those up top, including but not limited to royalty, considered them to be hotbeds of reformatory thought, political instability, and potentially even revolution. Let the people hang out with each other and allow them to discuss whatever they like, and you end up with a bunch of potential enemies, and potential threats to the existing power structures.It's also been claimed, and this of course would be difficult to definitively prove, though the timing does seem to line up, that the introduction of coffee to Europe is what led to the Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, and eventually, the Industrial Revolution. The theory being that swapping out alcohol, at least during the day, and creating these spaces in which ideas and understandings and experiences could be swapped, without as much concern about social strata as in other popular third places, spots beyond the home and work, that allowed all sorts of political ideas to flourish, it helped inventions become realized—in part because there were coffee houses that catered to investors, one of which eventually became the London Stock Exchange—but also because it helped people organize, and do so in a context in which they were hyper-alert and aware, and more likely to engage in serious conversation; which is a stark contrast to the sorts of conversations you might have when half- or fully-drunk at an alehouse, exclusively amongst a bunch of your social and economic peers.If it did play a role in those movements, coffee was almost certainly just one ingredient in a larger recipe; lots of variables were swirling in these areas that seem to have contributed to those cultural, technological, economic, and government shifts.The impact of such beverages on the human body and mind, and human society aside, though, coffee has become globally popular and thus, economically vital. And that's what I'd like to talk about today; coffee's role in the global economy, and recent numbers that show coffee prices are ballooning, and are expected to balloon still further, perhaps substantially, in the coming years.—For a long while, coffee was a bit of a novelty outside of the Muslim world, even in European locales that had decently well-established coffeehouses.That changed when the Dutch East India Company started importing the beans to the Netherlands in the early 17th century. By the mid-1600s they were bringing commercial-scale shipments of the stuff to Amsterdam, which led to the expansion of the beverage's trade-range throughout Europe.The Dutch then started cultivating their own coffee crops in colonial territories, including Ceylon, which today is called Sri Lanka, and the island of Java. The British East India Company took a similar approach around the same time, and that eventually led to coffee bean cultivation in North America; though it didn't do terribly well there, initially, as tea and alcoholic beverages were more popular with the locals. In the late 18th century, though, North Americans were boycotting British tea and that led to an uptick in coffee consumption thereabouts, though this paralleled a resurgence in tea-drinking back in Britain, in part because they weren't shipping as much tea to their North American colonies, and in part because they conquered India, and were thus able to import a whole lot more tea from the thriving Indian tea industry.The Americas became more important to the burgeoning coffee trade in the mid-1700s after a French naval officer brought a coffee plant to Martinique, in the Caribbean, and that plant flourished, serving as the source of almost all of today's arabica coffee beans, as it was soon spread to what is today Haiti, and by 1788, Haiti's coffee plantations provided half the world's coffee.It's worth remembering that this whole industry, the portion of it run by the Europeans, at least, was built on the back of slaves. These Caribbean plantations, in particular, were famously abusive, and that abuse eventually resulted in the Haitian revolution of 1791, which five years later led to the territory's independence.That said, coffee plantations elsewhere, like in Brazil and across other parts of South and Central America, continued to flourish throughout this period, colonialists basically popping into an area, conquering it, and then enslaving the locals, putting them to work on whatever plantations made the most sense for the local climate.Many of these conquered areas and their enslaved locals were eventually able to free themselves, though in some cases it took a long time—about a century, in Brazil's case.Some plantations ended up being maintained even after the locals gained their freedom from their European conquerers, though. Brazil's coffee industry, for instance, began with some small amount of cultivation in the 1720s, but really started to flourish after independence was won in 1822, and the new, non-colonialist government decided to start clearing large expanses of rainforest to make room for more, and more intensive plantations. By the early 1900s, Brazil was producing about 70% of the world's coffee exports, with their neighbors—Colombia and Guatemala, in particular—making up most of the rest. Eurasian producers, formerly the only places where coffee was grown, remember, only made up about 5% of global exports by that time.The global market changed dramatically in the lead-up to WWII, as Europe was a primary consumer of these beans, and about 40% of the market disappeared, basically overnight, because the continent was spending all their resources on other things; mostly war-related things.An agreement between South and Central American coffee producing countries and the US helped shore-up production during this period, and those agreements allowed other Latin American nations to develop their own production infrastructure, as well, giving Brazil more hemispheric competition.And in the wake of WWII, when colonies were gaining their independence left and right, Ivory Coast and Ethiopia also became major players in this space. Some burgeoning Southeast Asian countries, most especially Vietnam, entered the global coffee market in the post-war years, and as of the 2020s, Brazil is still the top producer, followed by Vietnam, Indonesia, Colombia, and Ethiopia—though a few newer entrants, like India, are also gaining market share pretty quickly.As of 2023, the global coffee market has a value of around $224 billion; that figure can vary quite a lot based on who's numbers you use, but it's in the hundreds of billions range, whether you're looking just at beans, or including the ready-to-drink market, as well, and the growth rate numbers are fairly consistent, even if what's measured and the value placed on it differs depending on the stats aggregator you use.Some estimates suggest the market will grow to around $324 billion, an increase of around $100 billion, by 2030, which would give the coffee industry a compound annual growth rate that's larger than that of the total global caffeinated beverage market; and as of 2023, coffee accounts for something like 87% of the global caffeinated beverage market, so it's already the dominant player in this space, and is currently, at least, expected to become even more dominant by 2030.There's concern within this industry, however, that a collection of variables might disrupt that positive-seeming trajectory; which wouldn't be great for the big corporations that sell a lot of these beans, but would also be really bad, beyond shareholder value, for the estimated 25 million people, globally, who produce the beans and thus rely on the industry to feed their families, and the 100-110 million more who process, distribute, and import coffee products, and who thus rely on a stable market for their paychecks.Of those producers, an estimated 12.5 million work on smaller farms of 50 acres or less, and 60% of the world's coffee is made by people working on such smallholdings. About 44% of those people live below the World Bank's poverty metric; so it's already a fairly precarious economic situation for many of the people at the base-level of the production system, and any disruptions to what's going on at any level of the coffee industry could ripple across that system pretty quickly; disrupting a lot of markets and local economies, alongside the human suffering such disruptions could cause.This is why recent upsets to the climate that have messed with coffee crops are causing so much anxiety. Rising average temperatures, bizarre cold snaps, droughts, heavy and unseasonable rainfalls—in some cases all of these things, one after another—combined with outbreaks of plant diseases like coffee rust, have been putting a lot of pressure on this industry, including in Brazil and Vietnam, the world's two largest producers, as of the mid-2020s.In the past year alone, because of these and other externalities, the price of standard-model coffee beans has more than doubled, and the specialty stuff has seen prices grow even more than that.Higher prices can sometimes be a positive for those who make the now-more-expensive goods, if they're able to charge more but keep their expenses stable.In this case, though, the cost of doing business is going up, because coffee makers have to spend more on protecting their crops from diseases, losing crops because of those climate issues, and because of disruptions to global shipping channels. That means profit margins have remained fairly consistent rather than going up: higher cost to make, higher prices for consumers, about the same amount of money being made by those who work in this industry and that own the brands that put coffee goods on shelves.The issue, though, is that the cost of operation is still going up, and a lot of smallholders in particular, which again, produce about 60% of all the coffee made, worldwide, are having trouble staying solvent. Their costs of operation are still going up, and it's not a guarantee that consumers will be willing to continue spending more and more and more money on what's basically a commodity product; there are a lot of caffeinated beverages, and a lot of other types of beverage they could buy instead, if coffee becomes too pricy.And at this point, in the US, for instance, the retail price of ground roast coffee has surpassed an average of $7 per pound, up 15% in the past year. Everyone's expecting that to keep climbing, and at some point these price increases will lose the industry customers, which in turn could create a cascading effect that kills off some of these smaller producers, which then raises prices even more, and that could create a spiral that's difficult to stop or even slow.Already, this increase in prices, even for the traditionally cheaper and less desirable robusta coffee bean, has led some producers to leave coffee behind and shift to more consistently profitable goods; many plantations in Vietnam, for instance, have converted some of their facilities over to durian fruit, instead of robusta, and that's limited the supply of robusta, raising the prices of that bean, which in turn is causing some producers of robusta to shift to arabica, which is typically more expensive, and that's meant more coffee on the market is of the more expensive variety, adding to those existing price increases.The futures markets on which coffee beans are traded are also being upended by these pricing issues, resulting in margin calls on increasingly unprofitable trades that, in short, have necessitated that more coffee traders front money for their bets instead of just relying on short positions that have functioned something like insurance paid with credit based on further earnings, and this has put many of them out of business—and that, you guessed it, has also resulted in higher prices, and more margin calls, which could put even more of them out of business in the coming years.There are ongoing efforts to reorganize how the farms at the base on this industry are set up, both in terms of how they produce their beans, and in terms of who owns what, and who profits, how. This model typically costs more to run, and results in less coffee production: in some cases 25% less. But it also results in more savings because trees last up to twice as long, the folks who work the farms are much better compensated, and less likely to suffer serious negative health impacts from their labor, and the resultant coffee is of a much higher quality; kind of a win win win situation for everyone, though again, it's less efficient, so up till now the model hasn't really worked beyond some limited implementations, mostly in Central America.That could change, though, as these larger disruptions in the market could also make room for this type of segue, and indeed, there has apparently been more interest in it, because if the beans are going to cost more, anyway, and the current way of doing things doesn't seem to work consistently anymore, and might even collapse over the next decade if something doesn't change, it may make sense, even to the soulless accounting books of major global conglomerates, to reset the industry so that it's more resilient, and so that the people holding the whole sprawling industry up with their labor are less likely to disappear some day, due to more favorable conditions offered by other markets, or because they're simply worked to death under the auspices of an uncaring, fairly brutal economic and climatic reality.Show Noteshttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/business/coffee-prices-climate-change.htmlhttps://web.archive.org/web/20100905180219/https://www.web-books.com/Classics/ON/B0/B701/12MB701.htmlhttps://www.jstor.org/stable/1246099?origin=crossrefhttps://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jan/07/coffee-prices-australia-going-up-cafe-flat-white-costhttps://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y37dvlr70ohttps://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/28/business/coffee-prices-climate-change.htmlhttps://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/coffee-prices-food-inflation-climate-change-eggs-bank-of-america-2025-2https://www.statista.com/statistics/675807/average-prices-arabica-and-robusta-coffee-worldwide/https://www.ft.com/content/9934a851-c673-4c16-86eb-86e30bbbaef3https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/01/business/your-coffees-about-to-get-more-expensive-heres-why/index.htmlhttps://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/caffeinated-beverage-market-38053https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/caffeinated-beverage-markethttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffeehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_coffeehouses_in_the_17th_and_18th_centurieshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffeehousehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coffeehttps://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/the-coffeehouse-culture/https://www.openculture.com/2021/08/how-caffeine-fueled-the-enlightenment-industrial-revolution-the-modern-world.html This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsknowthings.substack.com/subscribe

 I say absolutely Yes! Still, I recommend it. If we want to write a motorcycle we should learn first to ride a bicycle.Irresponsible Meditation teachers even give the beginner a big motorcycle (a 10-day Meditation retreat with 9 hours Meditation/day) and expect that you can ride the big heavy motorcycle without practicing anything before. Stop that nonsense. Such Meditation retreats can cause neuroses, psychoses and can end in psychotic behavior with suicide. Most of the Meditation teachers don't understand Meditation because they teach suppression of feelings and thoughts instead to learn to watch and accept them.The people are coming to them, because of their great reputation that these Meditation masters have never deserved.A Meditation master who gives meditation retreats for everybody should be jailed!!!Don't spoil Meditation. Meditation is the greatest thing and has to be taught naturally and very slowly. The teachers of Osho, the Dao and the Sufis teach meditation in a slow approach because they know Meditation can be dangerous. Because of our tricky ego, the Meditation needs to be tricky too. In the beginning, we have to trick out our Ego to connect with the divine. And that can be dangerous if we make too much Meditation in the beginning. Our today disease is that we want too much too fast… We meditate for some minutes and over some months we increase the time of meditation. That is the principle of KaiZen. We start at home or on a Meditation course with body exercise that relaxes our body and mind and afterward with a short meditation. Meditation has always a focus and never a goal. All these so holly goals, like Nirvana, Moksha, Enlightenment, Hell, and Heaven had never existed. Even today, the pope said there is no Heaven or Hell. (Read my book: Why the Religions have failed and not God.) Only through Meditation, we can enjoy our life or the “here and now”. Because through Meditation we get so much bliss and inside happiness that we don't depend on worldly pleasures so much. Who wonders that I was over 12 years in Meditation retreats? I started with baby steps and at the end, I could do the retreats even for 9 months! I got adored for my Meditation from the President of the Hindus….Meditation is not for suppressing our problems, feelings … Through Meditation we learn to solve our problems fast and efficient without being attached. We get detached when we learn to watch our feelings, thoughts and our nonsense in our brain.  Meditation should make us empty… And is the best remedy against our longing for a distraction to suppress our feelings and thoughts.Our thoughts are created to 80% through our anxiety. If you become fearful in your Meditation then learn to watch your fears. After some time the fears are gone through watching of them. Feel your fears and don't be your fears. (Zen)  We can make out of every task a meditation. Even when we have sex we can make out of it a meditation. For that has created Shiva the sexually Techniques inside of the Tantra and the Chinese have created the Tao-Love.Real Meditation is to connect to the divine /God and through that, we get bliss and stillness in our mind. My Video: Can Meditation harm You? https://youtu.be/bmtZdoVjkagMy Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast.B/Can-Meditation-harm-You.mp3

Episode 197: Scribal Networks and Diplomatic Knowledge Production across North Africa What did trans-Maghribi society look like on the eve of colonialism? Who travelled across these spaces and for what reasons? This interview is an early exploration into Dr. Kitlas' second project, which proposes a more attentive engagement with the history of a dynamic and multifaceted eighteenth-century trans-maghrib society. Spanning Tunis to Tangier, this project examines the networks of traders, Sufis, consuls, translators, and court advisors that embedded themselves in Maghribi locales outside their home cities and, in doing so, took part in producing a distinct trans-maghrib socio-cultural sphere. Building on his first monograph that focuses on the layers of diplomatic practice in Morocco, this interview thinks through ways to expand these networks and the knowledge production attached to them across localities in the wider Maghrib. The project questions the historiographical focus on north-south movements, and in its place adds a new east-west perspective that transcends stubborn political divides and sheds light on the ways in which a dynamic cultural and intellectual sphere developed, spread, and was sustained across the Ottoman/Moroccan Maghrib. Peter Kitlas is currently an Assistant Professor of History at the American University of Beirut. His research focuses on the intellectual and cultural history in eighteenth-century North Africa as told through Arabic and Ottoman-Turkish sources. Exploring the intersection of scribal practice and diplomatic knowledge production in Morocco, his first monograph rethinks the influence of Islamic thought on Mediterranean conceptualizations of diplomacy. Peter has served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco and conducted research in North Africa, Spain, Croatia and Turkey through the support of fellowships from SSRC and Fulbright-Hays. His written work has been published in The Journal of Early Modern History, Mediterranean Studies Journal, The Journal of North African Studies, and The Encyclopedia of Islam Three. This episode was recorded via Zoom on the 25th of October, 2023, at the Centre d'Études Maghrébines à Tunis (CEMAT) s with Luke Scalone, CEMAT Chargé de Programmes. We thank our friend Ignacio Villalón for his guitar performance for the introduction and conclusion of this podcast. Production and editing: Lena Krause, AIMS Resident Fellow at the Centre d'Etudes Maghrébines à Tunis.  

When the world gets chaotic and uncertain, we need spiritual practice more than ever—not just to sustain our souls and restore our inner peace, but to recharge and prepare ourselves to take on challenges with effective action. A few years ago, Philip Goldberg, the author of “Spiritual Practice in Crazy Times” and host of the Spirit Matters podcast. interviewed twelve spiritual leaders to help us get through the pandemic. We're now re-releasing the interviews as an encore series, because the messages are as relevant today as when they first aired.   Imam Jamal Rahman is the co-founder and Muslim Sufi minister at Interfaith Community Sanctuary in Seattle. He also teaches at Seattle University and Pacific Lutheran University. A popular speaker on subjects related to Islam, Sufism, and interfaith relations, he has, since 9/11, collaborated with a rabbi and a Christian minister as part of The Interfaith Amigos. The three have toured the country sharing the message of spiritual inclusivity. He is also the author of several books, including Sacred Laughter of the Sufis; Spiritual Gems of Islam: and The Fragrance of Faith: The Enlightened Heart of Islam. He is also coauthor of  Religion Gone Astray; Out of Darkness into Light; and Finding Peace Through Spiritual Practice: The Interfaith Amigos Guide to Personal, Social, and Environmental Healing. Learn more about Jamal here. Get the book Spiritual Practice for Crazy Times by Philip Goldberg Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 All Religions are telling us that we should omit a passionate, sexual love.Because when we are passionate we lose our calmness and can't find peace in our mind. When we live our passions, and the greatest passion is love, we lose our fears and in the end, we will find peace in our mind.If we don't live our passions, we suppress our fears and many years later the suppressed fears will cripple our life. And that result we can see in the old people. Most of the old people want to dictate our life that we should not live a passionate sexual love. Because they didn't have lived it either; cannot live it anymore; and they are jealous of the young people.In the famous novel “Siddharta” written by Herman Hesse, is a guy who had the longing to find the truth and renounced his worldly life. Siddharta could understand that renunciation will not lead to anything. Afterward, he was engaged in a passionate worldly life and when he was fed up with the worldly life he renunciate again. Again, he was drawn in a worldly life and finally he found the truth… I lived a similar life, was a devotee of Bhagwan; I found God in a tantric love and then I was 12 years in meditation retreats with celibacy… And now, I live both…The famous Sufi book: “Conference of the birds” written by Attar wants both: to renunciate the world and to live a passionate sexual life. Why? Attar was one of the greatest Sufis … he could understand that the greatest renunciation is to love a woman. For that, we should be well trained in the renunciation of the world. Otherwise, our love will be shallow and not so deep that we can discover God/Allah in our love. If you are 90 years old, do you think that you will regret that you could not live a passionate love? With 90 years you can't live that love anymore. Why not take your chance now, live your passionate sexual love and don't be afraid of the suffering…. In the end, you have done well. My Video: Why is passionate love stupid? https://youtu.be/jrh_NDJwu58My Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast.B/Why-is-passionate-love-stupid.mp3

In this episode I am joined by Dr. William Rory Dickson an associate professor of Islamic Religion and Culture at The University of Winnipeg and author of “Dissolving into Being: The Wisdom of Sufi Philosophy”. Professor Dickson takes a deep dive into the life and works of Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (1207-1273 AD), a 13th century Sufi poet whose works have become famous all around the world. Professor Dickson recounts the fascinating life of Rūmī, including his flight from Mongol invasion, his education in Islamic law, his life-changing encounter with the wild, mystical dervish Shams-i Tabrīzī, and his far-reaching legacy in Asia and beyond. Professor Dickson also explains the anti-Rūmī movements within modern Islam, challenges criticism of Coleman Barks' popular renderings of Rūmī's verse, and explores the controversial Sufi metaphors of intoxication by wine and passionate desire to describe the practitioner's relationship with God. … Video version: https://www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep289-mystic-poetry-of-rumi-professor-william-rory-dickson-3 Also available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast'. … Topics include: 00:00 - Intro 01:25 - The life of Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī 03:39 - Neither universalist nor orthodox 05:09 - Rūmī, sharī'ah law, and radical Islam 07:08 - The range of Sufi expression over history 07:56 - The wandering dervishes 08:42 - Rūmī's life-changing encounter with the radical dervish Shams-i Tabrīzī 09:56 - 3 stages of self-annihilation through love 11:14 - Shams-i Tabrīzī's illicit alcohol use 13:36 - Rūmī's spiritual poetry 16:13 - Rūmī's explicit invectives 17:07 - Rūmī's mystic father 19:08 - Mongol domination of Central Asia and Rūmī's flight 21:29 - Rūmī's colourful insults 22:52 - Challenging empty, orthodox religious forms 26:51 - Lack of nuance in the Rūmī wars 29:22 - Rūmī's two major legacies 31:37 - The role of Sufi orders in different cultural contexts 33:48 - The anti-Sufis and a radical forgetting of Rūmī within Islam 35:37 - Coleman Barks and the Rūmī wars 37:23 - Criticism of Coleman Barks 39:06 - Coleman Barks was a Sufi 39:50 - Coleman Barks as an entry point 41:21 - The conundrum of translated literature 43:46 - How to communicate across cultures without losing the essence 45:12 - Rory's enjoyment of Chogyam Trungpa 46:27 - Passionate desire and intoxication on wine 48:30 - Pre-Islamic Arab poetry, “gangster rap” 49:33 - Passionate love poetry 50:55 - Romantic streak in Arab culture 51:53 - Influence of Persian culture on Muslim mystic metaphors 52:46 - Sufism's Neo-Platonism 55:50 - Remembering the One and Tantric practice 56:59 - Integrating the sensual and the spiritual 59:18 - Appreciation of pleasure as a vehicle to God 01:00:07 - Sufi sexuality and the paths of Jesus vs Mohammad 01:05:28 - Scandalous to orthodox Islam 01:07:48 - Knowing God directly 01:09:53 - Categorising God vs Sufi gnosis 01:11:18 - Executed Sufi master 01:11:54 - Is Sufism inappropriate? 01:13:26 - Wine in Sufism and Islam 01:17:39 - Love is brutal 
… Previous episodes with Professor William Rory Dickson: - https://www.guruviking.com/search?q=dickson To find our more about Professor William Rory Dickson, visit: - https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/experts-guide/william-rory-dickson.html - https://anqa.co.uk/publications/dissolving-being … For more interviews, videos, and more visit: - https://www.guruviking.com Music ‘Deva Dasi' by Steve James

 The Religions have owned the spirituality and they reject all other spirituality! The Religions discriminate spiritual people who are not in their Religion. Everybody can gain high spirituality with all kinds of magic without participating in any Religion when he has the dispositions and does what is necessary. For instance:to levitate, to materialize, to channel information from other souls or from the cosmos, or to be it in Samadhi. These Spiritual Powers can become great obstacles on the spiritual path of humility and love.After some time, the Spiritual Power trips will lead to a devastating life.Great was their rise and also great was their fall.I think we should open our heart to the divine or God and do what God demands from us. Otherwise, we follow our Ego, regardless how much spirituality we gain. Even more, we should develop love to God.The Buddhist and Jnani Yoga don't have a personal God relationship. Their Goal is not to feel or think any more. Because they want to reach Nirvana or Moksha. Even a loving relationship with total surrender to God is nonsense for them.After many years the Buddhists Monks and Jnani Yogi have killed their own feelings and passions. What I see is that they have closed their heart and are not open to love and compassion anymore. Most of all Jnani Yogis are over-intellectual and that is a big obstacle on the spiritual path.  What has this to do with true spirituality, to serve and love God selflessly?Gita Chapter 9:25 Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; those who worship ancestors go to the ancestors; and those who worship Me will live with Me. The same is true for the Sufis, who only accept to surrender to God and not to any other spirit.Moksha and Nirvana are the Gods of the Buddhists Monks and Jnani Yogis. Because they are focused on them instead to be focused on God! The Gita says that we should surrender to God otherwise we never get our full potential. Why should we surrender our life to our EGO Trips when we can choose God? Think this over,- all the other Goals in our life are obstacles to focus on God. Never the less we have worldly desires and we should live the important Goals. And then we focus on God again without demanding Moksha, Enlightenment, Nirvana, Paradise or anything else! If I love you and demand something back from you then this is not love!  For instance, a woman says she loves you and she wants money for sex,- is this Love? If we love God, we don't want something back! Rather more we are thankful for what we have. My Video: What is true Spirituality? https://youtu.be/Jg-gNzUcW9gMy Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast.B/What-is-true-Spirituality.mp3

 People are chasing the ultimate peace and calmness… that never will happen or has happened. Because the religions know how to sell dreams and deliver B.S. like the today marketing experts. There is nothing new in this world.If we read the famous Sufi classic from Attar: The confidence of the birds, we understand much more. For the Sufis doesn't exist Nirvana, Enlightenment, Moksha and they don't care or even don't mention hell or paradise. Because for them is the goal to serve God or the people, without demanding anything. The Sufi path is a spiritual path without an end, without reaching a goal.Attar mention when we feel peace and happiness, it will end. Because everybody has inside his body “snakes and scorpions”, who can bite at every inopportune moment us and then the peace is over.How to deal with our life, our life dramas, and our negative feelings?When we suppress our negative feelings and thoughts we will get punished by severe diseases, depression or become a living cadaver. This is not the solution.If we try to live save, don't take a risk, so that we don't get any life drama. Then we are already dead. In this case get your box, lie in it and die. There is one problem we can't die, we can only give up our body and then we are spirits. As a spirit, we can only watch the world and not participate. Imagine you can only watch and not participate. Wouldn't you regret the things that you didn't have enjoyed or done or the bad things that you have done? Now, you can live your dreams later not!  When we enjoy the dramas in a movie, how would it be that we enjoy our own dramas?If we are not anymore afraid of our dramas we can risk without any problem. We would be totally free and live an awesome life. We should learn during our time to enjoy our negative feelings and thoughts. Instead, we are doing everything to suppress our negativity and that never has worked out!If we want to feel happy we have also to feel our negative feelings! Our life goal should be that we can enjoy everything and that nothing is bad. Our judging makes everything worse.We should be thankful that we can live exciting dramas and that we can learn from our dramas so much. My Video: How to enjoy our entire Life https://youtu.be/ZkAvgGGONykMy Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast.B/How-to-enjoy-our-entire-Life.mp3

 The basis of a true Religion is:Honesty:Honesty, regardless what matter it is. The Great Saint Ramakrishna (the Gospel of Ramakrishna), who became famous through his love to the Lord said: he never can sacrifice his honesty, regardless what. Or Ramakrishna said: when he sees a totally honest person he knows that this is his last life. The Hindu and Buddhist Religion are wrong because we should not hurt people with the truth or tell the trues about the fake Gurus! Gandhi said: You can not hurt me without that I have given you the permission. We are blind to our own errors and shortcomings. Only, when somebody is pointing out that we are wrong we can comprehend. Or remember the story of the King without cloth, when a child said the king has no clothing on, the king realized that he was naked. Quotes: One honest word is more than 1000 flatter words. Honesty hurts (it should be). Health:In a healthy body is also a healthy soul! For the Sufis is the body the temple of God. For the Taoist are health and longevity a must! If we get ill then there is a reason for that. It might be an unhealthy lifestyle or suppressed negative feelings. In any case, we should know why we live an unhealthy lifestyle or why we suppress our negative feelings and which feelings we have suppressed in which situation. Read my book: Heal yourself and stay healthy.   Live your sex:The Sufis are saying that sex is divine and similar is it to the Taoists. We should live our sex otherwise suppressed sex leads to diseases or perversions. Monks and nuns have double so much prostate cancer and breast cancer than worldly people. If our sex life is too exhausting we should reduce our sex. Because too much and too less sex harms our body. Personal God relationship:We should develop a personal God relationship and have total faith in God. If we do so our life will be much easier and we can develop our spirituality much faster.Awareness:Awareness of our feelings, thoughts and of the changes in the world is necessary to live a religious life. Aristotle: (Ignorantia Juris non excusat)  Ignorance does not protect one from punishment. Love and compassion: Love and compassion are the highest goods in the world. Love is the sum of our good habits (Tao) and should be based on honesty and health! Never give blind faith to anybody. No religious or worldly leader should be idealized, rather more checked again and again, for his honesty. Ramakrishna said: please check me like counterfeit money. Osho said You are responsible for your life and for your decisions. Blind faith will never help you! You should be the driver of your life and be aware what you are doing. Don't give blind faith to me or anybody else!No corruption… Every income and every spending should be taxed. The government should check, tax and regulate every temple, monastery, church, and mosque, to make sure that never corruption will happen again. Every misuse or corruption should be punished with the highest penalty. Because people have donated selflessly their hard earned money to the religious organizations, to help the poor and needy people, money for catastrophes, and the Religions have misused their money. For instance, the Thai Military government checks for corruption every temple. And every temple has to pay tax on their income so that the government has to check the income of the temples. Every Religion should do so.No Politics of Religion.The Religions should only teach religion, help the poor and needy people and don't make politics!  My Video: True Religion https://youtu.be/O_YRBaOgiXAMy Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast.B/true-religion.mp3

Colorado-bred, LA-based keyboardist Lao Tizer embodies what it means to be a 21st-century musician inhabiting the jazz sphere ¾ that being one who embraces musical diversity and has no fear of crossing boundaries. But Tizer also happens to come by this naturally. As the self-described “child of East Coast Jewish hippies,” he was exposed to and was influenced by his parents' extensive musical tastes from a young age: “My dad had a huge music collection. He loved classical music and had all this world music ¾ Ravi Shankar, R. Carlos Nakai, music of the Sufis ¾ plus my parents were boomers, so that brought in all the Buddy Holly, Sam Cooke, Elvis, Janis Joplin, and Motown. The Temptations were my favorite band as a kid. So, I basically grew up with everything but jazz, which I didn't really discover until I was about 16.” It was a couple of seemingly random selections from the Columbia House mail-order club that turned him toward a new and lasting musical direction. ”It was buy one, get twelve free, right? So I ordered Miles Davis's Kind of Blue and Miles & Quincy Live at Montreux. Then one Sunday morning, it all just kind of hit me. To a lot of people trained in the classical tradition, jazz sounds like it breaks all kinds of rules, but I just heard there was a whole other world to explore there.” From there, Tizer hit the ground running, applying his classical piano skills to jazz and releasing his first self-produced solo keyboard albums while still in high school. After graduating from Boulder High, Tizer moved to LA and studied with legendary piano guru Terry Trotter for about two years, forgoing formal music education. “Instead of going to music school, I just got my butt kicked on the bandstand. I was always working with musicians who were older and more experienced. School's great but there's no better way to grow than playing with people who are going to push you to grow. I was so green, man. Learning to play in a band concept ¾ playing in good time with a rhythm section–was one of the most challenging things, coming from being a solo pianist.” But his approach and talents served him well. At 19, he formed and led the first band under his own name, taking indirect inspiration from another iconic jazz entity. “When I got into listening to The Pat Metheny Group in the late ‘90s, they had that “formula” that definitely spoke to me ¾ great, through-composed music with a lot of room for improvisation. That's the formula that I love” In the ensuing years and through various incarnations, The Lao Tizer Band has flown by that directional compass while infusing the bespoke influences and experiences that inform Tizer's musical worldview. Subsequently, the band attracted many top players to its ranks ¾ GRAMMY-winning saxophonist Eric Marienthal (Chick Corea), Emmy-winning guitarist Chieli Minucci (Special EFX), Senegalese bassist Cheikh N'Doye (Baaba Maal), violinist extraordinaire Karen Briggs (Stanley Clarke), GRAMMY-winning drum phenom Gene Coye (Hiromi) and legendary GRAMMY-winning percussionist Munyungo Jackson (Stevie Wonder) ¾ and became a steady presence at LA hotspots like The Baked Potato as well as entertaining audiences at premier jazz festivals around the world. Milestones among these were The Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival, Cape Town Jazz Festival, Java Jazz Festival, and Atlanta Jazz Festival. The six albums he has released as a leader have seen Tizer steadily grow while constantly defining (and redefining) who he is as a keyboardist, composer, and bandleader. “I think the most important thing as an artist and composer is to have your own identity and your own sound. Everybody comes to where they are in music through whatever path they have followed and I think staying true to what brought you to where you are now helps to create your own true voice. I think I have always had that.” But not content to rest, Tizer recently decided to take another bold turn with his music. In 2018, The Lao Tizer Band released Songs From The Swinghouse, a project that included fresh, sophisticated takes on a number of vocal-oriented covers from seminal artists such as U2, Led Zeppelin, and Cat Stevens along with a collection of seven original instrumentals penned by Tizer. The album was released to critical acclaim and notched the Top 10 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz album chart. “We were always only instrumental until that record. The concept was to reinvent covers like ‘Ramble On,' ‘Pride in the Name of Love,' and ‘Sad Lisa.' I had never arranged or recorded any vocal material with my group before, so to take those tunes and make them our own was really fun.” Now, with his forthcoming album, Amplify, Tizer ups the ante by bringing original vocal-oriented songs into his mix of smart instrumentals ¾ as well as a few potent new additions to the band. “A big part of the concept for Amplify is to cross over. It's not really a “jazz” record but it definitely has jazz elements, no question. The band still features the core lineup we've had for a while now with Eric, Chieli, Karen, Munyungo, Gene, and Cheikh, but now there are a few new faces involved in the group. Namely saxophone and flute wunderkind Danny Janklow (MONKestra) and Rolling Stone 2022 ”Bassist of the Year” nominee Anthony Crawford (Erykah Badu), who shares low-end duties with Cheikh. We augmented our already large band with a horn section and background singers on a few songs as well. The album is nine songs ¾ five vocal, four instrumental ¾ all original, no covers.” But perhaps Tizer's most intriguing choice of secret weapon for Amplify is bringing American Idol star Elliott Yamin to handle the vocal material. “Elliott's first album had that platinum hit single “Wait For You.” He's very much a throwback to a blue-eyed soul kind of vibe and it was amazing to be able to bring him into the band. This project was a little outside his stylistic wheelhouse because it is a bit more adventurous harmonically. I think he was a little intimidated by the music early on but he's such a remarkably gifted singer and he's just singing his butt off. He's turned out to be unbelievable in this project and the band. He's super gung-ho about it too, which is great. I couldn't have asked for a better fit!” With these continuing steps over boundaries into new stylistic territory, one might wonder if Tizer has any trepidation about alienating the core base of jazz listeners he's built up over time. Quite the contrary, it seems. “I love that longstanding boundaries in music are getting broken down. Artists like Snarky Puppy, Robert Glasper, and Kamasi Washington have proven this theory that I've long held: If you have music that's melodic and grooves, you can win over a very broad array of listeners.” Indeed, Tizer testifies to having seen the evidence firsthand. “There's been a really cool renaissance and rebirth with all these genre-defying artists and I've seen a shift in the crowd at our shows too. There's a lot of 20 and 30-somethings coming out, and that's so cool. That's what the future audience is going to be. If we want to have long careers like our predecessors, we need to have our peers and younger listeners connect to this music and follow it.” With eyes set on the future and a willingness to keep exploring, Tizer's simplest ethos perhaps sums it up best: “I say forget the boundaries. Just make good music and try to connect with as many listeners as you can.

The US elections are nearly upon us, and we have all be subject to the empty words and rhetoric of of the two main political parties. The Green Party has gained a lot of traction, especially amongst the countries small but very important Muslim community. I have already interviewed the leader of the Greens, Dr Jill Stein. But Today I have the pleasure to speak with Professor Butch Bilal Ware, its Vice Presidential nominee.Professor Butch Ware is a lifelong activist and educator specializing in the history of empire, colonialism, genocide and revolution. For the past two decades, Ware has put scholarship in service of the people, especially in response to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, as well as the George Floyd murder in 2020.Let me remind all viewers that to help us continue to engage critical thought at this time, Please consider becoming a Patron. https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslimYou can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/DonateListen to the audio version of the podcast:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7vXiAjVFnhNI3T9Gkw636aApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-thinking-muslim/id1471798762Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.comPurchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch Find us on:Patron. https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslimTwitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslimFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim Host: https://twitter.com/jalalaynWebsite Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.comTimestamps:0:00 Introduction2:00 Embrace Islam at 155:00 Malcolm X and radicalism9:09 Sufis and being radical13:21 Diluting radical tradition19:40 Green Party and Liberals23:25 Green's and social issues31:57 Uyghurs and foreign policy40:06 His political leanings45:55 Can Muslims work independently52:44 Voting for Trump58:31 George Floyd1:03:32 Fascism in US1:11:42 Dismantling Empire Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He was born to Muslim parents in Konitsa of Albania — the ancient region of Epirus. His father was a prominent ruler among the Muslims and a member of the Sufi order, sometimes called dervishes, a mystical Islamic sect. John himself became a prominent Sufi and settled in Joannina. Though not a Christian, he attended to his conscience and lived a sober and prayerful life.   Over time, he became increasingly attracted to the Christian faith and, in time, asked for holy Baptism. No Christian in his region dared to baptize him, knowing the reprisals that would follow. So John migrated to Ithaka, was baptized, and settled there in a village called Xiromeron, where he married and lived as a simple countryman. In 1813, John's father somehow learned where he was, and that he had become a Christian. He sent two Sufis to bring him back and restore him to the Muslim faith. Because of this, the Ottoman authorities on Ithaka learned who he was and brought him before a judge. To each of the judge's questions John would only reply 'I am a Christian and I am called John.'   Realizing that no amount of persuasion or coercion would move him, the authorities determined to behead him. At his execution, since they would not loose his hands so that he could make the sign of the Cross, John cried out 'Lord, Remember me when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom!' With these words he submitted himself to a Martyr's end. The Turks intended to leave his body for the dogs, but pious Christians retrieved it and secretly gave it honorable burial.

We explore the life and profound teachings of Husayn Ibn Mansur al-Hallaj, the 9th-century Sufi mystic known for his controversial declaration, “Ana al-Haqq” (I am the Truth) & the factors which led to his martyrdom. In this video, we delve into al-Hallaj's spiritual journey, his poetry, role in Sufism, and the lasting impact of his philosophy on Islamic mysticism.Visit my linktree to find our new song, socials & more: https://linktr.ee/filipholmSources/Recomended Reading:Ernst, Carl W. (translated by) (2018). "Hallaj: Poems of a Sufi Martyr". Northwestern University Press.Karamustafa, Ahmet T. (2007). "Sufism - the formative period". Edinburgh University Press.Knysh, Alexander (2012). "Islamic Mysticism: A Short History". Brill.Losensky, Paul (translated by) (2009). "Farid ad-Din Attrs Memorial of God's Friends: Lives and Sayings of Sufis". Paulist Press. Massignon, Louis (1979). "The Passion of Hallaj: Mystic and Martyr of Islam". Vol. 1-4. Translated by Herbert Mason. Princeton University Press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Episode 51 of the MindThatEgo Podcast. I'm joined by Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri, Sufi mystic, visionary, and an enlightened master who views spirituality as a science and an art, vitally relevant to our times. Religious scholars and Sufis were part of Shaykh's formative experiences. His love and understanding of the universality of the Quranic message has imbued him with respect for other religions, spiritual paths and the ability to discern the common elements in our collective journey towards awakening. Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri lectures and writes books and commentaries on the Holy Qur'an and related subjects, with particular emphasis on ethics, self-development and gnosis ('irfan). We discuss misconceptions about Islam, insights from Sufism, the shared essence of all religions, acceptance as a spiritual practice, the power of silence in connecting to God, embracing and transcending the duality of heaven and hell, pleasure and pain, and why we must always respect our human nature, without being limited by it. Resources Shaykh Fadhlalla's Website

In today's episode Mimi Novic Talks To Kevin Silous.Kevin is a martial arts sensei and complementary health expert with over 35 years of experience. He has travelled the world, teaching his unique techniques that encompass yoga, meditation, breath work, and rebalancing, among others. He holds an impressive 6th Dan in Kickboxing and 2nd Dan in Ju-Jitsu.But Kevin's journey has not always been easy. Through his own life's challenges, he has discovered a calling to help others find their true path. His passionate pursuit and exploration of the mystical aspects of life have empowered him to now help others find their calling in their own lives.His initial background was in dance and semi-professional football, but he transitioned to training in Iyengar Yoga with renowned practitioners like Ruth White and Shandor Remete after his profound life experiences.Kevin's quest for knowledge led him to spend a year in Australia working for Greenpeace, and then further travels through the USA, Nepal, Thailand, and Southeast Asia. Along his travels he met with the mystical Sufis who taught him the art of living in the present moment while embracing Divine Love.During his studies to become an Anusara Immersions Teacher, he had a life changing encounter with the esteemed Buddhist monk, Ahbay Tulku Rinpoche. This meeting sparked a deep spiritual friendship that would forever shape his path.Currently Kevin is writing a book about due to be published at the end of the year.Kevin talks about the secrets of the universal questions and his own struggles in his early years, to the eventual awakenings that led to a life of success and adventure. We discuss the keys to humanity and that there is a power in connection, connecting with others, with oneself, and with the Divine and the universe. A deeply interesting conversation about ancient wisdom to modern psychology, searching for answers and being reminded that our life is a continuous process, one filled with wonder and discovery. For more information on Mimi Novic visit https://www.miminovic.co.uk

 I am not a version, I am not a car... For me, the best version is ego-related. I don't want to be identified with any version or ego...Identification is sorrow, said Krishna. If we want to improve, then we do that without growing our ego. For every "I", we have to suffer (quote Sufis).If we brag or tell how better we are. Then after some time, our vanity will be punished…Because in this world nobody wants to see that other people advance… Be humble.How do I do it? Do your best, regardless of where! When you fail, you can't regret of misdoing because you have done your best. We are the spirit and not a worldly version... Next year we will not become a new version of the BMW MX? We don't want to sacrifice our lives, health, and relationships for success! We don't want to become a robot, we want to enjoy our life.-Regardless of what our worldly or spiritual goals are. If I learn a new skill, then I don't become a better version because I don't want to have a bigger ego. If you can watch your thoughts and emotions without identifying with them, then there must be something greater than your thoughts and emotions…We call that the witness. We are rather more the witness, than our thoughts, emotions, and body… To watch the body unidentified is for most people difficult.You need for that a spiritual awakening or the Kundalini. My Video:  The best version of you?  https://youtu.be/CmwGZlS3sXIMy Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast4/The-best-version-of-you.mp3

Host Anshu Bahanda takes you on an enlightening journey in the latest episode of Wellness Curated as she talks about the mystical world of Sufism and its teachings on achieving inner peace. Guest speaker Manjari Chaturvedi is a cultural academic and exponent of Sufi Kathak. She discusses various practices of modern-day Sufis that include meditation, poetry, dance, and music. Discover the story of the cracked pot that teaches us about self-acceptance and finding the divine within our imperfections. Ms. Chaturvedi shares her insights into Sufi practices such as Zikr, Sama, and contemplation, offering a deeper understanding of how these can help anyone find tranquility and purpose in life. Whether you're a longtime follower of Sufi teachings or just beginning to explore spiritual traditions, this episode promises to enrich your journey towards inner peace.#Sufism #InnerPeace #SpiritualAwakening #SufiMusic #WellnessCurated #ManjariChaturvedi #SufiKathak #Spirituality #Mindfulness #HealingMusic #SufiWisdom #AnshuBahanda If you liked our episode, you can subscribe to our podcast on any of the major podcasting platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts. Please leave us a review on Apple iTunes and help others discover this podcast. You can visit wellnesscurated.life and follow us on Twitter @WellnessCurated, On Instagram @wellnesscurated.life,On Facebook @Wellness Curated by Anshu Bahanda,On LinkedIn @Wellness Curated by Anshu Bahanda, And on YouTube @wellnesscuratedbyanshubahanda. for more wellness tips to help you live your best life.

Describing the man-made wall between humans and divinity, Llewellyn reminds us of our own divine nature and how to access the light.Today's podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.In this episode, returning guest teacher Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee discusses:“The Wall” between ourselves and the DivineThe spiritual merging of the lover with the belovedSeparation as a consequence of human consciousnessLlewellyn's book, Darkening of the LightThe slow process of spiritual life and lifting the veilThe wall that has been built between humans and divineHow Christianity eradicated pagan beliefs and strengthened the wall between worldsCommunism and capitalism as the twin demons of the worldAccessing the light through our higher spiritual centersGoing beyond the world rather than dismantling itRe-learning how to be sincere, responsible, and openOur shared evolution and a better, possible futureAbout Llewellyn:Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Ph.D. is a Sufi teacher in the Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya Sufi Order. He is the author of Sufism, the Transformation of the Heart, and the founder of The Golden Sufi Center. Check out his new podcast Working With Oneness.“The Sufis describe how we need a separation between the worlds, 70 veils of light and darkness or the glories of his face would burn away everything. As I know from my own experience, the light of the divine is too dazzling to perceive it directly. Its energy is too strong. This is one of the reasons why spiritual life is a slow process, a gradual lifting of the veils as one develops spiritual strength, becomes more and more able to bear the light.” – Llewellyn Vaughan-LeeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mel and Al continue to discuss the origin of the name Mehmet and today they discuss what the Sufis think and believe. They say that Mehmet was the source of light and Adam was created by him. This name was used to refer to God/ Jesus, and later evolved to refer to an Arabian prophet.  Mehmet was originally a title and it was used for centuries before it was changed to Mohammad.  In other words Mehmet was a reference to God; the highly praised one, and was applied to Jesus on coins. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Breathtaking Revelations: The Science of Breath from the Fifty Kamarupa Verses to Hazrat Inayat Khan (Suluk Press, 2024), Carl W. Ernst and Patrick J. D'Silva explore the intersections of Sufi and yogic breath-based meditation. Ernst and D'Silva offer us here two stunning texts for study.  The first, an anonymous Persian translation of a 14th century manuscript that introduces us to a variety of divinations, incantations, and much more, as well as a thorough outline of the science of the breath, based on whether it comes out from the left or right nostrils and its significance. This text especially is fascinating for its incantations to yogini devis (or female spirits).  The second text under consideration is Hazrat Inayat Khan's The Science of the Breath dictated in English to his student Zohra Williams in the early 20th century. There are numerous similarities across these two texts separated by centuries, especially the focus on breath divination based on left and right nostrils (in this instance associated with jamal and jalali qualities while in the former focused on solar and lunar relations) but also key differences, such as attention to the elements like earth, fire, water etc. in Inayat Khan's teachings.  Reading these two texts on breath and its divination side by side brings to focus the long tradition of Sufi engagement with yoga, and the overlaps between Hindu and Muslim spiritual practices amongst Sufis and yogis, especially of magic, sciences and much more. This book will be of interest to practitioners of Sufism as well as those with interest in Sufism, Islam, yoga, Hinduism, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/islamic-studies

In Breathtaking Revelations: The Science of Breath from the Fifty Kamarupa Verses to Hazrat Inayat Khan (Suluk Press, 2024), Carl W. Ernst and Patrick J. D'Silva explore the intersections of Sufi and yogic breath-based meditation. Ernst and D'Silva offer us here two stunning texts for study.  The first, an anonymous Persian translation of a 14th century manuscript that introduces us to a variety of divinations, incantations, and much more, as well as a thorough outline of the science of the breath, based on whether it comes out from the left or right nostrils and its significance. This text especially is fascinating for its incantations to yogini devis (or female spirits).  The second text under consideration is Hazrat Inayat Khan's The Science of the Breath dictated in English to his student Zohra Williams in the early 20th century. There are numerous similarities across these two texts separated by centuries, especially the focus on breath divination based on left and right nostrils (in this instance associated with jamal and jalali qualities while in the former focused on solar and lunar relations) but also key differences, such as attention to the elements like earth, fire, water etc. in Inayat Khan's teachings.  Reading these two texts on breath and its divination side by side brings to focus the long tradition of Sufi engagement with yoga, and the overlaps between Hindu and Muslim spiritual practices amongst Sufis and yogis, especially of magic, sciences and much more. This book will be of interest to practitioners of Sufism as well as those with interest in Sufism, Islam, yoga, Hinduism, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/south-asian-studies

In Breathtaking Revelations: The Science of Breath from the Fifty Kamarupa Verses to Hazrat Inayat Khan (Suluk Press, 2024), Carl W. Ernst and Patrick J. D'Silva explore the intersections of Sufi and yogic breath-based meditation. Ernst and D'Silva offer us here two stunning texts for study.  The first, an anonymous Persian translation of a 14th century manuscript that introduces us to a variety of divinations, incantations, and much more, as well as a thorough outline of the science of the breath, based on whether it comes out from the left or right nostrils and its significance. This text especially is fascinating for its incantations to yogini devis (or female spirits).  The second text under consideration is Hazrat Inayat Khan's The Science of the Breath dictated in English to his student Zohra Williams in the early 20th century. There are numerous similarities across these two texts separated by centuries, especially the focus on breath divination based on left and right nostrils (in this instance associated with jamal and jalali qualities while in the former focused on solar and lunar relations) but also key differences, such as attention to the elements like earth, fire, water etc. in Inayat Khan's teachings.  Reading these two texts on breath and its divination side by side brings to focus the long tradition of Sufi engagement with yoga, and the overlaps between Hindu and Muslim spiritual practices amongst Sufis and yogis, especially of magic, sciences and much more. This book will be of interest to practitioners of Sufism as well as those with interest in Sufism, Islam, yoga, Hinduism, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/indian-religions

In Breathtaking Revelations: The Science of Breath from the Fifty Kamarupa Verses to Hazrat Inayat Khan (Suluk Press, 2024), Carl W. Ernst and Patrick J. D'Silva explore the intersections of Sufi and yogic breath-based meditation. Ernst and D'Silva offer us here two stunning texts for study.  The first, an anonymous Persian translation of a 14th century manuscript that introduces us to a variety of divinations, incantations, and much more, as well as a thorough outline of the science of the breath, based on whether it comes out from the left or right nostrils and its significance. This text especially is fascinating for its incantations to yogini devis (or female spirits).  The second text under consideration is Hazrat Inayat Khan's The Science of the Breath dictated in English to his student Zohra Williams in the early 20th century. There are numerous similarities across these two texts separated by centuries, especially the focus on breath divination based on left and right nostrils (in this instance associated with jamal and jalali qualities while in the former focused on solar and lunar relations) but also key differences, such as attention to the elements like earth, fire, water etc. in Inayat Khan's teachings.  Reading these two texts on breath and its divination side by side brings to focus the long tradition of Sufi engagement with yoga, and the overlaps between Hindu and Muslim spiritual practices amongst Sufis and yogis, especially of magic, sciences and much more. This book will be of interest to practitioners of Sufism as well as those with interest in Sufism, Islam, yoga, Hinduism, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

How Islam Spread in Bengal, Agrarian Sufis, Social Liberation Theory, State Religion of the Mughals, Shah Jalal, Syncretism, Mughal Law, Economics, Hindu Cosmology, Raja Ganesh, Nur Qutb ul Alam We discuss all these topics with Professor Richard M. Eaton. Richard Maxwell Eaton is an American historian, currently working as a professor of history at the University of Arizona. He is known for having written the notable books on the history of India before 1800.  Hosts : Tanzim & Nadeem Please email us your comments, feedback, and questions at: info@boysinthecave.com, and leave a review and 5-star rating on iTunes! Check out our website – boysinthecave.com Follow us on: Facebook –https://www.facebook.com/boysinthecave/ Instagram – @boysinthecave Twitter – @boysinthecave Become a Patreon today! https://www.patreon.com/boysinthecave ——————————————————————————————————–

The revival of Shi‘ite Sufism, after the destruction of Safavid empire, occurred during the Zand dynasty (1163-1209/1750-1794) and continued through the Qājār era. As Zarrīnkub has pointed out, the Qājār era was a time of nostalgia for the noble past. Of course, their mystical philosophy had to fit the theological standards of Shi‎‘ite society. The two leading Sufi orders in this revival movement were the Ni‘matullāhīs and the Dhahabīs. These two orders had much in common, as both of them highly emphasized the importance of following Islamic laws and Shi‎‘ite beliefs. They were known to be the propagators of Akbarian philosophy in Persia. Dhahabīs and Ni‘matullāhīs were strong promoters of the school of “Unity of Being” (Waḥdat al-wujūd). Mīrzā Muḥammad Taqī, with the spiritual title of Muẓaffar ‘Alī Shāh (d.1215/1800) is one of the most influential masters in the history of Ni‘matullāhiyya order. This Shi‘ite Sufi master is one of the most active and knowledgeable masters of the Ni‘matullāhīs during this era. He is the first master after the return of the order to Persia who wrote about its cosmological views, based on the philosophy of “Unity of Being”. In his youth, he began studying the rational and traditional seminary sciences (‘ulūm ‘aqlī wa naqlī) and became well-versed in them. Muẓaffar was more of a mystic philosopher (ḥakīm) than a jurist (faqīh), and extremely well-versed in speculative Sufism, following the school of “Unity of Being”. Muẓaffar ‘Alī Shāh's mystical poetry had in-depth mystical meanings, with heavy reliance of Ibn ‘Arabī's philosophy and terminology. Muẓaffar was very influential for the development of the Ni‘matullāhī order and as a propagator of Ibn ‘Arabī's thoughts. His beliefs about the perfect man, insān-i kāmil, were highly influenced by Akbarian (Ibn ‘Arabī's) philosophy. Muẓaffar passed away in 1215/1800. He wrote numerous books and literary papers, which are tremendously valuable for a better understanding of Ni‘matullāhī thought. Muẓaffar ‘Alī Shāh wrote poetry lamenting over his separation from his master, Mushtāq, to whom he dedicated a compendium of his poetry, calling it Diwān-i Mushtāqīyya. In this paper, we will examine two of Muẓaffar's writings: “Sea of the Secrets” (baḥr al-asrār) and “Compendium of the Seas” (majma‘ al-biḥār) which are both interpretations of the first chapter of Quran. “Sea of the Secrets” (baḥr al-asrār) is in verse form of Mathnawī and “Compendium of the Seas” (majma‘ al-biḥār) is written in prose. In these two works, Muẓaffar ‘Alī Shāh heavily relied on the chapter of Prophet Adam in Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam of Ibn ‘Arabī. He had numerous references to Ibn ‘Arabī and his writings. Muẓaffar ‘Alī Shāh explains the relationship between Nubuwwa (prophethood), Risāla (apostleship) and Wilāya (sainthood) based on Ibn ‘Arabī's teachings using his terminology like the disclosure of Attributes of Divine Majesty (jalāl) and disclosure of Attributes of Divine Beauty (jamāl). This paper investigates the importance of Muẓaffar ‘Alī Shāh for survival of the school of “Unity of Being” among practicing Shi‘ite Sufis in general and the Ni‘matullāhī Sufi in particular as one of the most important Shi‘ite Sufi orders in Iran.

In this episode, host CJ Miller questions Peace and Human Rights Activist Hadi Jawad on ways each of us can promote peace in our communities. How does someone promote Human rights and Peace on an individual scale? Hadi encourages the listener to familiarize themselves with the 30 principles of the Univeral Declaration of Human Rights and begin looking at news articles through the Human Rights lens. Podcast Host CJMiller met Hadi Jawad while serving on an Interfaith Panel with a diverse group of Christians, Muslims, and Jews and quickly became friends. According to Hadi, it is ingrained in the human spirit to love and be kind to each other. Hadi is a Dallas peace, justice, and human rights activist. He is a follower of the principles of non-violent resistance, as exemplified by the Reverend Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, and he opposes militarism and war. He served on the board of the Dallas Peace Center as an organizer from 1997 to 2015, chairing their Middle East Peace Committee and media spokesperson. He led efforts to organize protests against the US invasion of Iraq that culminated in the largest anti-war demonstration in Dallas history on February 15, 2003.   Hadi comes from a culture steeped in oral tradition and values the importance of storytelling and shares a story from his youth playing in his neighborhood. A wandering Sufi walked by and engaged him. The Sufi was dressed in traditional clothes and holding a begging bowl. At the end of the conversation, the Sufi stabs the dirt with his stick and picks something up. He motions for Hadi to put it in his mouth. In his memory, Hadi tasted the sweetest candy that he had ever had in the whole world and recognized the mysticism of the world.  The future activist was always gravitating to finding the good and miraculous in relationships. While Hadi was passionate about mathematics, he didn't want to enter the arms industry as an engineer, and instead, he pursued managing and owning a forklift business. Only years later did he listen to his true calling and decide to be an advocate for Peace and nonviolence. According to Hadi, Judaism is the root of a tree, the trunk and the branches are Christianity, and Islam/Sufism is the foliage. Hadi explains some principles of Sufism. Sufis believe that anything material and non-material is one being, regardless of the question: Love is the answer. He defines this as the unity of being. How do you stay in the centeredness of Peace: When you're heart is being pierced, feel the pain and stay true to yourself. We are connected through our suffering. Reach out to others. Express gratitude for being alive.  Hadi is drawn to helping the underserved. He tends to look for opportunities to help those who have fallen through the cracks, and he believes that comes from his mystical side. He's drawn to mysticism and mystical thought and believes that love is mysticism.  According to Hadi, mystics understand that many of our desires are counterfeit coins and that mystics know where to find the real gold. Hadi shares a story about a villager who demands a diamond from a mystic. The diamond is represented as a rock, and the villager returns it the next day and says, "Give me the wealth that made it so easy for you to give the largest diamond in the world away." Hadi believes that mystics know where the wealth is. It's not in your car. It's not in your relationships. It's not in a mansion. It's in our hearts. It's in love. Hadi is working with  Rick Halpern, Director of the Human Rights Program at SMU, to make the City of Dallas a Human Rights City that supports the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This document is uploaded to the Spiritual Artist Today website and can be found in the practice guides section. He concludes the inter

Annika Schmeding's new book Sufi Civilities: Religious Authority and Political Change in Afghanistan (Stanford UP, 2023) is a deeply sensitive and rich study of a variety of facets of Sufism in contemporary Afghanistan. Focused on the intersection and interaction of Sufism and Afghan civil society, this book simultaneously offers a layered and often moving account of Sufism in Afghanistan, while also presenting an excellent critique of Western NGO driven understandings of civility and civil society. The book also engages a number of themes connected to Sufism in Afghanistan including Sufism and the state, gender and Sufism, Sufis and the ‘ulama', and Sufi religious authority through the oneiric imagination. This wonderfully written book will also be a pleasure to teach in the classroom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Annika Schmeding's new book Sufi Civilities: Religious Authority and Political Change in Afghanistan (Stanford UP, 2023) is a deeply sensitive and rich study of a variety of facets of Sufism in contemporary Afghanistan. Focused on the intersection and interaction of Sufism and Afghan civil society, this book simultaneously offers a layered and often moving account of Sufism in Afghanistan, while also presenting an excellent critique of Western NGO driven understandings of civility and civil society. The book also engages a number of themes connected to Sufism in Afghanistan including Sufism and the state, gender and Sufism, Sufis and the ‘ulama', and Sufi religious authority through the oneiric imagination. This wonderfully written book will also be a pleasure to teach in the classroom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/islamic-studies

Annika Schmeding's new book Sufi Civilities: Religious Authority and Political Change in Afghanistan (Stanford UP, 2023) is a deeply sensitive and rich study of a variety of facets of Sufism in contemporary Afghanistan. Focused on the intersection and interaction of Sufism and Afghan civil society, this book simultaneously offers a layered and often moving account of Sufism in Afghanistan, while also presenting an excellent critique of Western NGO driven understandings of civility and civil society. The book also engages a number of themes connected to Sufism in Afghanistan including Sufism and the state, gender and Sufism, Sufis and the ‘ulama', and Sufi religious authority through the oneiric imagination. This wonderfully written book will also be a pleasure to teach in the classroom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Annika Schmeding's new book Sufi Civilities: Religious Authority and Political Change in Afghanistan (Stanford UP, 2023) is a deeply sensitive and rich study of a variety of facets of Sufism in contemporary Afghanistan. Focused on the intersection and interaction of Sufism and Afghan civil society, this book simultaneously offers a layered and often moving account of Sufism in Afghanistan, while also presenting an excellent critique of Western NGO driven understandings of civility and civil society. The book also engages a number of themes connected to Sufism in Afghanistan including Sufism and the state, gender and Sufism, Sufis and the ‘ulama', and Sufi religious authority through the oneiric imagination. This wonderfully written book will also be a pleasure to teach in the classroom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies

Annika Schmeding's new book Sufi Civilities: Religious Authority and Political Change in Afghanistan (Stanford UP, 2023) is a deeply sensitive and rich study of a variety of facets of Sufism in contemporary Afghanistan. Focused on the intersection and interaction of Sufism and Afghan civil society, this book simultaneously offers a layered and often moving account of Sufism in Afghanistan, while also presenting an excellent critique of Western NGO driven understandings of civility and civil society. The book also engages a number of themes connected to Sufism in Afghanistan including Sufism and the state, gender and Sufism, Sufis and the ‘ulama', and Sufi religious authority through the oneiric imagination. This wonderfully written book will also be a pleasure to teach in the classroom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

The Zamzam of Spiritual Knowledge. Excerpts from the teachings of Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari (qs).

Examining how mysticism hides in plain sight, Omid Safi describes God as love, the lover, and the beloved with guest host Kelly Deutsch.This episode was originally recorded for the Spiritual Wanderlust Podcast, with Kelly Deutsch. Learn more about this series that explores the wild, untamed frontiers of our interior life at spiritualwanderlust.org/podcast This time on Sufi Heart, Omid Safi speaks with Kelly about:Discovering Islamic MysticsSufism and having a pure heartOmid's life in Iran and exposure to masculine displays of emotionThe mystery of being human, the mystery of GodHeartbreak and experiencing the heart breaking openSacred Eroticism and using our senses to experience lovelinessWhat we can learn from the type of love a mother providesRadical love and going into the rootsLinking together love and justice“The Sufis explicitly say something that of course we find also in the Christian mystical contemplative tradition. Mischievously, they almost say there is a holy trinity, a language which most orthodox Muslims would avoid and all Jews would have avoided. But they say the trinity is love, lover, and beloved. God is love, God is the lover, and God is the beloved.” – Omid SafiSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Imam Jamal Rahman is the co-founder of the Interfaith Sanctuary in Seattle. A popular public speaker on subjects related to Islam, Sufi spirituality, and interfaith relations, he has collaborated with a rabbi and an Christian minister as part of The Interfaith Amigos. The trio has toured the country sharing the message of spiritual inclusivity and have been profiled in national media outlets. As an author, Jamal's books include Sacred Laughter of the Sufis; Spiritual Gems of Islam; and The Fragrance of Faith. He is also coauthor of several books, including Finding Peace Through Spiritual Practice. Enjoy and learn from this delightful conversation about the heart and soul of mystical Islam.  Jamal Rahman Interfaith Amigos Connect with Philip Goldberg Author, Speaker, Spiritual Counselor, Writing Coach Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do the Sufis, Zen Buddhists, and Catholics have in common? Listen in and find out as Gary Gach brings the poetry of Persian poet Hafiz to The Hive! We talk about the new book, Hafiz's Little Book of Life, he and translation collaborator Erfan Mojib have put together with a forward by Ari Honarvar.  “How to translate into English what, until now, has justifiably been called the ‘untranslatable' Persian verses of Hafiz? From its epigraph onward, Erfan Mojib and Gary Gach have given us the answer. Hafiz's Little Book of Life breathes new life into the world of the Sufi poet's 14th-century words, making those words new again.”—Stephen Ratcliffe, author Conversation and Listening to Reading You can purchase the book here: https://www.getyourfaceinabook.com/book/9781642970463 And you can learn more about Gary Gach here: http://garygach.com/

He was born to Muslim parents in Konitsa of Albania — the ancient region of Epirus. His father was a prominent ruler among the Muslims and a member of the Sufi order, sometimes called dervishes, a mystical Islamic sect. John himself became a prominent Sufi and settled in Joannina. Though not a Christian, he attended to his conscience and lived a sober and prayerful life.   Over time, he became increasingly attracted to the Christian faith and, in time, asked for holy Baptism. No Christian in his region dared to baptize him, knowing the reprisals that would follow. So John migrated to Ithaka, was baptized, and settled there in a village called Xiromeron, where he married and lived as a simple countryman. In 1813, John's father somehow learned where he was, and that he had become a Christian. He sent two Sufis to bring him back and restore him to the Muslim faith. Because of this, the Ottoman authorities on Ithaka learned who he was and brought him before a judge. To each of the judge's questions John would only reply 'I am a Christian and I am called John.'   Realizing that no amount of persuasion or coercion would move him, the authorities determined to behead him. At his execution, since they would not loose his hands so that he could make the sign of the Cross, John cried out 'Lord, Remember me when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom!' With these words he submitted himself to a Martyr's end. The Turks intended to leave his body for the dogs, but pious Christians retrieved it and secretly gave it honorable burial.

He was born to Muslim parents in Konitsa of Albania — the ancient region of Epirus. His father was a prominent ruler among the Muslims and a member of the Sufi order, sometimes called dervishes, a mystical Islamic sect. John himself became a prominent Sufi and settled in Joannina. Though not a Christian, he attended to his conscience and lived a sober and prayerful life.   Over time, he became increasingly attracted to the Christian faith and, in time, asked for holy Baptism. No Christian in his region dared to baptize him, knowing the reprisals that would follow. So John migrated to Ithaka, was baptized, and settled there in a village called Xiromeron, where he married and lived as a simple countryman. In 1813, John's father somehow learned where he was, and that he had become a Christian. He sent two Sufis to bring him back and restore him to the Muslim faith. Because of this, the Ottoman authorities on Ithaka learned who he was and brought him before a judge. To each of the judge's questions John would only reply 'I am a Christian and I am called John.'   Realizing that no amount of persuasion or coercion would move him, the authorities determined to behead him. At his execution, since they would not loose his hands so that he could make the sign of the Cross, John cried out 'Lord, Remember me when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom!' With these words he submitted himself to a Martyr's end. The Turks intended to leave his body for the dogs, but pious Christians retrieved it and secretly gave it honorable burial.

Jack returns to explore the nature of Dharma as universal, immediate, timeless, beneficial, protective, and available to all."The Dharma is universal, it's immediate, it's open-handed, it's to be experienced by each person for themselves directly, it's timeless. The truth of life is here to be discovered for any individual with eyes open to see." – Jack KornfieldIn this episode, Jack mindfully navigates:Sufis introducing the Dance of Universal Peace to Jack's retreat of Buddhists Dharma as universal, immediate, timeless, beneficial, protective, and available to all The various meanings of 'Dharma': the teachings, the physical/emotional elements of the world, personal destiny/path, and Universal Laws/Truth How Joseph Goldstein accidentally found his teacher Munindraji while on the way to take LSD under the Bodhi Tree Karma, impermanence, duality, selflessness, attachment, metta (loving kindness), and the preciousness of life The Vipassana paradox of Tibetan Dream Yoga"The Dharma protects those who follow it like a great umbrella in the rainy season." – Jack KornfieldThis Dharma Talk from 12/05/1987 was originally published on DharmaSeed.Grab an All-Access Plan for Jack's growing library of online courses at jackkornfield.com/all-access-passSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to SEASON 3! To claim your free gift, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, screenshot it and send it to me at nikki@curlynikki.com!  ********************** “The musicians have gone, yet the Sufis still listen…” - When my voice stops you're still listening, not even for my next word, but for the Love that wells up in the Silence,  the Peace that surpasses your understanding.  Affirm: The Silence is the sound of God. This Silence is the Voice of God.  It's speaking to me.  It's Loving me.  It's giving me peace. And comfort. This silence is My real voice. It's My real mind. It's My real existence. And It feels good.   The secret to life in 4 words- Only Love is Here.  "The Peace that God gives us where our focus is on him is uexplainable." - @TrustGodBro "The Lord says that a man who really understands knows that this whole world is his own manifestation. This whole world is the manifestation of the Self. This whole world is the sport of God. When one understands that God pervades everywhere then no matter where his mind goes, no matter how fickle it is, no matter whether he attains the state of samadhi or not, still he has God, he has liberation. Jagatguru Shankaracharya, the Guru of the world, wrote many, many books. And after he had written all those books he said, "Now I will tell you the essence of millions of book in half a word: Consciousness alone is the truth. There is no such thing as world or maya. They don't exist. There are no individual beings. There is only the play of Supreme Brahman, and it is that supreme consciousness which plays as the world." - Baba's farewell 1976 talk from South Fallsburg Photo: Baba in Kashmir, 1982 "Has it ever occured to you that you are seeking God with his eyes." - Adyashanti "You must become nobody. Only a person that is nobody can abide as Self/God." -Ramana Maharshi  Join us on Patreon to support the show, and tune into and participate in live video Q&As with me!  Support the show

Welcome to SEASON 3! To claim your free gift, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, screenshot it and send it to me at nikki@curlynikki.com!  ********************** PSA: There's no self (t)here that you have to learn how to love.  You just have to learn how to receive God's Love where that body appears to be.  There's only one step: RELAX.  Relax into Perception.  Relax into Reception.  Relax, Love.  I Love You,  I Am You nik "He is doing a new thing with me as His co-artisan,  and because I have turned my ears to hear the simple sweetness so often disregarded, the entire world looks & sounds everlastingly different." - @wildflowerpages via IG "We don't need an explanation of the roads that we're on. we need an experience of God with us on the roads that we're on..." - Ann Voskamp, on Truth Talks with Tara "If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath." -Amit Ray "Abstract Sound is called saute surmadi by the Sufis. All space is filled with it... It was the saute surmadi the sound of the ab-stract, which Mohammed heard in the cave of Gar-e-Hira. Moses heard this very sound on Mount Sinai... It was heard by Christ when his Heavenly Father manifested to him in the wilderness. Shiva heard the same anahad nad during his samadhi in the cave of the Himalayas. The flute of Krishna is symbolic of the same sound. This sound is the source of all revelation to the Masters. Whoever has followed the strains of this sound has forgotten all earthly distinctions. The sound of the abstract is always going on within, around and about man. Man does not hear it as a rule, because his consciousness is entirely centered in his material exist-ence... In comparison to it, the sounds of the earth are like that of a whistle to a drum. When the abstract sound is audible all other sounds become indistinct to the mystic." - Julian Johnson, The Path of the Masters  "In the inner stillness where meditation leads, the Spirit secretly anoints the soul and heals our deepest wounds." -St. John of the Cross Join us on Patreon to support the show, and tune into and participate in live video Q&As with me!  Support the show Beginning Aug 7, 2023 - 'GoOD Mornings with CurlyNikki' will begin hosting ads before and after earlier (not new) episodes. 

SKIP TO 00:16:15 TO GET TO THIS WEEK'S STORY Welcome to Episode 139 of Let's Get Haunted! This episode we are joined by esteemed anthropologist and professor Homayun Sidky to delve into Afghanistan's rich folklore and culture. In particular, today we are discussing two prevalent paranormal entities: Jinn and giants. Born in the U.S. to Afghan parents working at the United Nations, Dr. Sidky credits his fascination with religious and supernatural beliefs to his exposure as a child to many different cultures. Dr. Sidky hopes that through this episode, our listeners will come to view Afghanistan as so much more than the product of wars waged within its borders by foreign influences. Also on this episode, we are joined by Parwana aka Par, who hails from Afghanistan by way of Pakistan, eventually arriving in Canada as a refugee with her family during the 1980s. Par is a fascinating woman who has overcome generational trauma and is now finding healing through spiritual enlightenment. Par hopes that through this episode, our listeners will come to find their own spiritual empowerment. We are so honored to be joined by two people who represent seemingly opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of how they view the paranormal. We hope that the diversity of discussion found in this episode will serve as a mirror to the diversity and beauty found within Afghanistan itself. As with all of our cultural folklore episodes, the end goal of these interviews and discussions is to shine a spotlight on the vibrant, diverse, and lively culture of this fascinating country. TIME STAMPS 00:00:00 - INTRO/PERSONAL HAUNTINGS 00:09:18 - DONOR SHOUTOUTS 00:16:15 - PART I: AFGHANISTAN 00:57:40 - PART II: JINN 01:20:00 - PART III: GIANTS THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED!!! Visit https://www.venterrafarmscbd.com and enter "HAUNTED15" at checkout for 15% off your order + free shipping on all CBD products. — External links for this episode: Where to find Par: https://www.tiktok.com/@soullypar Where to find Dr. Sidky: Dr. Sidky's books may be purchased on Amazon at this link: https://www.amazon.com/Books-Homayun-Sidky/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AHomayun+Sidky “Malang, Sufis, and Mystics: An Ethnographic and Historical Study of Shamanism in Afghanistan” by M.H. Sidky - JSTOR Link: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1178037?read-now=1#page_scan_tab_contents “Last Military Flight Leaves Kabul”, WXCU's interview Professor Sidky on the American pullout of Afghanistan can be listened to here: https://www.wvxu.org/show/cincinnati-edition/2021-08-31/last-military-flight-leaves-kabul-airport — Other Important Stuff: Become a donor by subscribing to our BRAND NEW PATREON: http://patreon.com/letsgethaunted Buy Our Merch: https://www.letsgethaunted.com Check out the photo dump for this week's episode: https://www.instagram.com/letsgethaunted Send us fan mail: Let's Get Haunted PO BOX 1658 Camarillo, CA 93011 Send us your listener stories: LetsGetHauntedPod@gmail.com — BACKGROUND MUSIC Song: Triumph (No Copyright Music) Music and Production by Pepe Pérez TRIUMPH. Music Orchestral Instrumental EPIC Motivational. No copyright LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JsdHHYUmeg Song: The Art of Afghan Music: Quraishi, rubab Artist: Quraishi, Chatram Sahni, Hewad Wardak Credits: The performance was recorded May 20, 2017, within the exhibition Turquoise Mountain: Artists Transforming Afghanistan, organized by the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and the Turquoise Mountain Trust. This exhibition was made possible by the support the American people have given to Turquoise Mountain through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). LINK: https://asia.si.edu/podcast/the-art-of-afghan-music-quraishi-rubab/