Sufi path to perfection (Sufism)

This path is likened to a journey during which the seeker passes through seven valleys:< 1. [Quest]

. By refusal to be distracted from the goal whatever the situation, the seeker gives up all his possessions and devotes himself to the quest. Nothing matters except pursuit of this aim; dogma and belief or its absence no longer exist.

2. [Love]

. In this valley the seeker experiences agitation and distress until he reaches the object of his desire, the perception of whose value results in true love. Love allows insight to manifest and provides the strength to identify with the object of desire. Good and evil no longer exist.

3. [Understanding]

. Insight leads to this valley which has neither beginning nor end. The knowledge gained here is not permanent but, depending on his receptiveness, the seeker receives some understanding of truth; he learns to understand the relatedness of things and realizes his potentiality. Desire to become what he should be enables him to cross the valley as greater understanding is sought.

4. [Independence]

. Increase of understanding brings detachment both from the desire to possess and from the desire to discover. In the awareness that the world is an insignificant speck in the universe there can be no action or inaction, simply contemplation of the source of existence.

5. [Unity]

. As conventional meaning is lost there is a feeling of fragmentation until the discovery that the universe and growth all derive from the same source, that the many arose from the one. Then the past and future no longer exist, in the discovery of the invisible source the visible becomes nothing.

6. [Astonishment]

. The individual is depressed and despondent as sorrow and eagerness arise, yet if one has achieved unity all is forgotten, even one's self. Certain of nothing, understanding nothing, unaware of himself, full of love with no knowledge as to its object, the heart is both full and empty of love.

7. [Poverty and nothingness]

. Deprivation takes the place of bewilderment in a state of mute emptiness, when enlightenment arises. Then the secret of creation is revealed and existence is no longer separate.