Eckhart attests to learning the “spark of the soul” from Muslim philosopher Avicenna who lived 300 years before his time. Rumi too, great mystic and Sufi that he was, and who lived on the earth when Eckhart did, sings of this same spark in the following powerful poem that summarizes, it seems to me, the entire archetype:
Ah, one spark flew
and burned the house of my heart.
Smoke filled the sky.
The flames grew fierce in the wind.
The fire of the heart is not easily lit.
So don’t cry out: ‘O Lord, rescue me
From the burning flames!
Spare me from the army of thoughts
That is marching through my mind!’
O Heart of Pure Consciousness,
You are the ruler of all hearts.
After countless ages
You brought my soul
All it ever wished for.
The purpose of honoring the divine spark in us all is to serve more generously and more consistently according to the Sufi tradition. Writes Ana Matt:
To be a dervish (sufi) is to serve and to help others, not just to sit and pray. To be a real dervish is to lift up those who have fallen, to wipe the tears of the suffering, to caress the friendless and the orphaned.
Muhammad was told about a man who spent all his time in the mosque praying. He asked, ‘Who feeds him?” “His brother,” was the reply. “Then his brother is better than he,” said Muhammad.
Compassion is an important byproduct of the spark of the soul. Compassionate service.
Hafiz, also a contemporary of Eckhart, writes:
I have made the journey into Nothing.
I have become that flame that needs
No fuel.
Beloved,
Now what need is there to ever
Call for Hafiz?
For if you did,
I would just step out
of You.
We become the flame born of the spark and thereby serve one another.
In his book called Green Deen: What Islam Teaches about Protecting the Planet, Ibrahim Abdul-Main offers six principles of Islam that bear on environmental sustainability: Understanding the oneness of God and His creation (tawhid); seeing signs (ayat) of God everywhere; being a steward (khalifah) of the Earth; honoring the trust (aman) we share with God while protecting the planet; moving toward justice (adl); and living in balance with nature (mizan).
Together they constitute an “environmental ethos of Islam.” Service indeed.
All this wisdom deriving from Christian, Jewish and Muslim mysticism on the “spark of the soul” renders us strong in standing up against the folly of an unsupreme court that has denuded the EPA and thereby contributes heavily to killing the planet.
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior for Our Times, pp. 196-198.
See also Matthew Fox, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.
Banner Image: Herb Garden at the Sufi retreat center Abode of the Message in New Lebanon, NY. Photo by SOI Toronto Centres on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
What does your heart learn from listening to Sufis speak of the spark of the soul and the spark of compassion and service that is struck there? How does that make you a stronger warrior to stand up to judicial folly that leads to the killing of Mother Earth?
Recommended Reading
Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Time
While Matthew Fox recognizes that Meister Eckhart has influenced thinkers throughout history, he also wants to introduce Eckhart to today’s activists addressing contemporary crises. Toward that end, Fox creates dialogues between Eckhart and Carl Jung, Thich Nhat Hanh, Rabbi Heschel, Black Elk, Karl Marx, Rumi, Adrienne Rich, Dorothee Soelle, David Korten, Anita Roddick, Lily Yeh, M.C. Richards, and many others.
“Matthew Fox is perhaps the greatest writer on Meister Eckhart that has ever existed. (He) has successfully bridged a gap between Eckhart as a shamanistic personality and Eckhart as a post-modern mentor to the Inter-faith movement, to reveal just how cosmic Eckhart really is, and how remarkably relevant to today’s religious crisis! ” — Steven Herrmann, Author of Spiritual Democracy: The Wisdom of Early American Visionaries for the Journey Forward
One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths
Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of theological position papers but a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.“Reading One River, Many Wells is like entering the rich silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you read this text, you reflect, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Truly no words can fully express my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to contemporary spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit
19 thoughts on “Rumi, Hafiz, Spark of the Soul & Service in Sufi Mysticism”
Matthew, Today in our Queries for Contemplation we look at the “spark of the soul” from the perspective of Sufism. And so we have looked at it from the perspective of Christian mysticism with Meister Eckhart, Jewish mysticism, and now the Sufi tradition within Islam.
Eckhart learned of the idea of the “spark of the soul” from Muslim philosopher Avicenna who lived 300 years before his Eckhart. Rumi too, was a great mystic and Sufi who was a contemporary of Eckhart and sang of the same spark in his poems. For instance, in one he writes:
“Ah, one spark flew
and burned the house of my heart.
Smoke filled the sky.
The flames grew fierce in the wind.
The fire of the heart is not easily lit.
So don’t cry out: ‘O Lord, rescue me
From the burning flames!”
“What does your heart learn from listening to Sufis speak of the spark of the soul and the spark of compassion and service that is struck there?” Ana Matt writes: “To be a dervish (Sufi) is to serve and to help others, not just to sit and pray. To be a real dervish is to lift up those who have fallen, to wipe the tears of the suffering, to caress the friendless and the orphaned.” Also, Hafiz, another contemporary of Eckhart, writes:
“I have made the journey into Nothing.
I have become that flame that needs
No fuel.”
“How does that make you a stronger warrior to stand up to judicial folly that leads to the killing of Mother Earth?”
In his book called Green Deen: What Islam Teaches about Protecting the Planet, Ibrahim Abdul-Main offers six principles of Islam that bear on environmental sustainability. I will not list them here, because you have listed them above, but suffice it to say that it makes me a stronger warrior knowing that those of other faiths (such as Islam) are thinking environmentally now. And you end with these words: “All this wisdom deriving from Christian, Jewish and Muslim mysticism on the “spark of the soul” renders us strong in standing up against the folly of an unsupreme court that has denuded the EPA and thereby contributes heavily to killing the planet.”
The following words, within Rumi’s poem… “The fire of the heart is not easily lit,” speaks to me profoundly today. These particular words, and others within the poem are impacting me so deeply… because last night I received a phone call, informing me that a friend, fellow drummer and soul sister chose to take her own life.
The poem itself, is in some mysterious way, helping me to grapple with understanding why this is so… “because of the army of thoughts that march through the mind.” This devastatingly sad news, gives me a much deeper awareness of understanding the extreme difficulties that each one may secretly be going through, during this collective Dark Night of the Soul, that we are all in the midst of.
There are some, that have fallen so deeply into the darkness of depression and despair, caught in an eddy of tears, swirling in an endless cycle of suffering… feeling hopeless, and powerless in dealing with everything that’s going on in their internal and external world… even though they are surrounded by loving, caring, and compassionate friends and family… they still feel orphaned and alone.
There are some, whom are hiddenly suffering in such deep soul pain, that has accumulated over a life time, whom are tempted to believe that the Angel of Death, will bring their soul… all that it ever wished for… that unconditional love, mercy and peace that they have so longed, thirsted and hungered for. May God have compassionate mercy on such souls and embrace them in unconditional love and grant them peace! This is my prayer, for my beloved soul sister Lorrainne.
I also realize how difficult, yet how important it is to engage with the transformative process of kenosis, with the assistance and companionship of the Holy Spirit… our Cosmic Mother… and the essence of Her spiritual presence… whom offers us comfort, consolation and wise counsel throughout the journey of the Dark Night of the Soul… covering us in the mantle of Her compassion, embracing us just as we are, where we are, in the light of Her unconditional love… whom offers to alleviate the pain of all that we are suffering… and the neccessity of embracing this blessed gift of Herself in Trust, experiencing for oneself, this spiritual reality. It is She, whom teaches and shows me how to be this way with myself first… so that I can be this way with others as well. Rumi’s words, “The fire of the heart is not easily lit,” speak truth. What comes also to my remembrance are the words of one of the early Desert Mothers, that speaks to this… stating that “as one begins to kindle the spark within the heart, into a flame… there is at first much smoke and many tears.”
I also realize the difficulties, yet importance of having a spiritual community of supportive friendships… and our need to help each other kindle this spark within the heart of each other… to accept without judgement, each one, just as they are and where they are within their souls journey… to really look for and see the inherent beauty and goodness within their souls, despite and amidst the distressing disguises we all hide behind… to be understanding and compassionate with their vulnerability… to hold a sacred space of unconditional love, all be it imperfect… that in some way this will alleviate their pain… easing their suffering… calming their fears. We cannot and must not walk through this collective Dark Night of the Soul alone… for we truly need each other, to kindle that spark in our hearts, into a flame… helping one another to keep this flame burning… during the stormy winds of change and transformation that our blowing fiercely in these times we are living in.
Thank you for sharing this, Jeanette, for sharing your pain, your understanding, your confusion perhaps, and your counsel–your words, your heart. Many of us are indeed suffering deep soul pain. We do indeed need community. I wrap you in my arms this morning.
I am very sorry to hear of your loss of your sister and friend, Jeanette, and in so devastating a manner. But, as usual, your wisdom shines through in your deep wrestling with the meaning of it all. I have met people over the years who have chosen to leave this life because they were so eager to enter the coming one. For those left behind, there is much to undergo and I wish you blessing on that journey and the kenosis involved.
Before reading these Comments, I just mailed in 3 new DM essays, they are all on Nothingness and they may, quite synchronistically, be speaking to the experience you are undergoing and we all are undergoing at many levels. Blessing on you and your friend.
Jeanette, you are not alone in your grief. May God’s loving and healing presence comfort and console you. You are so right that we can never plumb the depths of another’s suffering, even as we recognize that as human beings we are all deeply wounded. We can only offer our imperfect love and let it go. I don’t know if it will help, but I have been where Lorraine may have been, although we cannot know her reasons, and only by some miracle survived. There is a darkness so deep and so wide that it is impenetrable and like a prison and inevitably fatal, or so it can appear. This, despite love and concern from others. And it is not visible to others because of our “distressing disguises we all hide behind”. That kind of darkness is blind even to a spark, never mind to a flame. It is like a huge weight that is absolutely crushing and truly feels like being possessed. But for my experience, no one could have guessed.
Jeanette, in what I’m saying, I’m in no way trying to minimize your pain. But My son’s best friend just committed suicide, a week later a friend of mine committed physician assisted suicide–and I was there to support him on his journey. Then my father died in his old age, and now I’m waiting any day now for the woman who lives across the street from me, who is on hospice and for whom I am a caregiver, to die–she however being a devout Catholic is looking forward to what lies ahead. All of these have died or will die soon. Do we grieve? Yes of course. But if we believe the Bible, we hear St. Paul say: “When this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55). These have all died in different ways, but death is death. And we are all God’s children whether we live or die…
Matthew, today’s DM on the mystics regarding the Spark of the Divine Love~Light(Wisdom)~Life~Oneness in our human hearts and in our Divine Heart~Soul, reminds me that our eternal souls continue to evolve in the spiritual process of our purification/healing in our hearts/minds (burning of our human egocentricity by the Spark of Divine Love within/among us), and ongoing/deepening transformation towards Loving Compassionate Oneness with — one another, Mother Earth and all Her creatures and gifts of abundance, all spiritual multidimensions (including our spirit guides, saints, and Angels), and All of of ongoing co-Creation~Evolution in our multiverse Cosmos… Being and becoming our Beloved Cosmic Christ Consciousness….
🔥❤️🙏
As I understand it, the fire of the heart is actualized in the pituitary gland.
The “flame that needs no fuel” is in one stroke the eternal flame that fires the furnace of creation, the invisible substance (spark) of all visible form, the mother of all lesser (combustible) fuels in the world that give things energy and life, the essence of the spirit-soul, and with it human identity. Thus, Spirit is an all-purpose, equal opportunity Creator/fire. Being eternal, this divine fire (Spirit) is fixed and constant, without variation. Said Merton, its the “hidden wholeness in all things.” Never lost in humans, its only forgotten, and as such awaits discovery and/or recovery. It is as fixed as all species are fixed, reproducing themselves via its energy, each “after its own kind.” Hence, declares Moses (30 times in Scripture) they reproduce and replicate themselves “after their own kind” (Gen. 1:11, 12). [No mention is made of evolution or intermediate species.] This fire also replicates itself most “after ITS own kind,” (the God-kind) in humans. And in certain cases this fire complexifies (advances) in humans by creating a new phylum (the redeemed). It does so by sovereignly transforming their being and lower level consciousness back into itself in spiritual awakening and development, just as fire transforms and re-absorbs the variety of solid, liquid, and gas fuels they originated from back into itself. As every part of fire is fire, so every part of matter (stardust) is Spirit in material form. As such, Spirit is both plastic and convertible into form in space-time, and re-convertible back into itself as pure fiery essence in the eternal realm on its return trip to origins. “Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter” (Yoda, Star Wars, episode 5).
Lovely, as always. You are a poet. Thank you.
Thank you for helping us understand Rumi’s words this morning, Matthew. More of this please.
Joe, thank you so much for your insightfull comments… especially the first five sentences… as they are words, filled with a fiery light, which I need to hear, remember and awaken to right now! Your blessings offered, are much appreciated… a gift of comfort, and consolation… that feels like a tall cool glass of living water, drawn from the deep wells of wisdom… that quenches my thirst and what I’m sweating and working through… with regards to grappling with all the things that are coming to the surface within me… due to my beloved friend and soul sister choosing to take her own life.
Jeanette
This morning, my welcoming prayer zoom group was gifted with a Sufi story. It sent me to my bookshelf, where I pulled out FOR LOVE OF THE REAL by Sufi teacher Llewelyn Vaughan-Lee.
Now I am hearing again from Matthew about the Sufis. Indeed, the Spark of the Soul on this cool, rainy day in Minnesota. Thank you ALL!
Were there no Lady Sufis to quote? Jus asking…
Good point–probably not.
Thank you for your deep ecumenism in sharing from other faiths. Talking of sparks and flames, the spark need fuel to survive and flare up: an open and willing heart. And fire is destructive but also renewing. I grew up with pine forests near by and periodic forest fires from drought or carelessness or lightning. As a child, I was most interested in the fact that blueberry bushes sprang up from the ashes, but there were other forms of plant and other life that were nourished by the remains of the fires.—mainly increased nitrogen, I think. So, the fire can burn away our selfishness and feed our compassion so that we can go forth and do what the world needs most, in love. It is vital not to separate contemplation from action. One must lead to the other, in either direction, in order for any positive change in ourselves or in our actions in the world. To be honest, these days I am tempted to direct an automatic weapon at our political evil-doers, but more would just spring up. Hitler is gone but his legacy lives on. And our best weapon is love. As the Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis says, we gotta love the hell out of them.
And from today’s Word on sparks https://gratefulness.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ebb9f9f588051c1f7a7fc8f09&id=8e7e7aee3a&e=110437dd51
Thank you all for your very enriching comments and wisdom. thoughts to meditate on each day.
thank you all for your wise comments and rich wisdom. I will return to this site often to meditate.