“You search for the one who is with you. You look for the looker closer to you than you. Don’t rush outside. Thaw like melting ice and wash yourself away.” Jalaluddin Rumi
The key to spiritual fulfillment and inner peace is inside us, not outside. The Sufi Nasrudin speaks of a man who had lost his keys and was looking for them in the street. A friend joined him in his search, but they were unsuccessful. The friend then asked the man where he had lost his keys. The man replied that he had lost them at home. When asked why he was looking for the keys out in the street, his simple reply was that there was more light in the street.
We are looking
for the keys
to spirituality and
inner happiness in bright
places, not in the right
ones. The right
place is within us.
The Sufis say,
seek within and
you will find
it. Meditation can connect
us to this place of
illumination inside ourselves. We
mistakenly seek meaning
in life outside
ourselves. Eventually, when we
achieve inner meaning,
we realize it is
within us, not
without.
When the Sufi saint Rabi’a heard Salih of Qazwin teaching, “Knock and the door will open for you,” she admonished him by saying, “What are you talking about, Salih? The door has never been shut.”
We shut the door with an illusory bolt. Through relaxation, silence, and meditation we may unlock the door which, in fact, was never really locked. When we search within, we are searching in the right place.
(Excerpt from the book, The One Minute Sufi by Azim Jamal)