At the beginning I was mistaken in four ways. I sought to remember God, to know Him, and to seek Him. When I had come to the end, I saw that He had remembered me before I remembered Him, that His knowledge of me had preceded my knowledge of Him, His love toward me had existed before my love to Him, and He had sought me before I sought Him.*
Bayazid Bistami
Introduction
This striking quote by the Sufi Bayazid indicates that the spiritual search is comprised of 2 actions or journeys; the first journey being the traveler’s action toward the goal and the second that action of the goal or teaching upon the traveler: this second action being the saving Grace.
Today many western spiritual travelers are unaware that their journey is comprised of this multi-dimensional aspect. Mistakenly some equate success only with personal effort, believing the harder he/she tries the greater their chance of enlightenment. Randomly sampling paths and exercises, going from the outer world inward, seeking to connect with their own inner, spiritual center; often this first part of the journey takes a physical form: exercises, prayers, reading books, personal discipline and doing good works.
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