“Life is a precious gift and a bridge to the next life.” Sufi Saying

We have been blessed with life as a gift and a bridge to the next life. But to get ready for the next life, we have to live a spiritually centered life and let go of our obsessions. Each obsession that we relinquish allows us to experience life at a more spiritual level.

A child must be weaned from his mother’s breast to expose him to different tastes of food. As time passes, we realize we must be weaned from the material world until the day comes when we experience true reality.

Life is a precious gift — a gift that comes with responsibility. With this blessing, we are expected to use our talents to make the world a better place, to live an ethical and well-balanced life, and to prepare for the spiritual life, which is eternal.

Agakhan III in his memoirs writes, “Life is a great and noble calling; it is not a mean and groveling thing to be shuffled through as best as you can, but a lofty and exalted destiny.”

In our daily lives, we need to ask ourselves: Are we using our time in a way that reflects a great and noble calling and paves the way to a lofty and exalted destiny? If not, what do we need to do to refocus and to be on this path?

The bridge to the next life is described by some Sufis as narrow and full of obstacles. It is a bridge that is hard to cross. But the rewards and the joy of being on this path outweigh all the difficulties.