INSPIRATIONS
I remember hearing a song as a young child. “You and I are going to change the world” said the song… it was a transformative moment. My life took a turn then, and I am forever grateful to music and the messages it carries for uplifting consciousness, bringing joy and compassion, raising awareness, and facilitating breakthroughs, individually and collectively.
The fusion of impressions, emotions and intuitions.
Sound comes from Silence, and to Silence it returns.
The music that comes through me is inspired by everything I live. From the Middle East sounds to south, central & north America , through Europe & Asia, wherever I go I hear Music. fusion of Folk & rock, Jazz & ethnic, world & classical, contemporary & traditional, I love it All. As it moves the heart or the body or both, as I’m touched, I am grateful.
My source of inspiration is the Source of all things.
Great sages and poets from the beginning of time shared their gifts of inspiration and we are so blessed to be able to receive their teachings right now. King David’s psalms, King Solomon Song of Songs, Rumi, Hafiz, Kabir, and countless others, inspired by the building blocks of existence. Love, Truth, Freedom & Peace.
The Kabbalah & Sufi traditions are dancing together for centuries, and I felt an immediate kinship once I encountered them. The Advaita Vedanta tradition and the teachings of Budha feel like home as well.
Inayat Khan set forth ten thoughts that form the foundational principles of Universal Sufism:
- There is One God, the Eternal, the Only Being; None exists save He.
- There is One Master, the Guiding Spirit of all souls, Who constantly leads all followers toward the Light.
- There is One Holy Book, the Sacred Manuscript of Nature, the only Scripture that can enlighten the reader.
- There is One Religion, the unswerving progress in the right direction toward the Ideal, which fulfills the life’s purpose of every soul.
- There is One Law, the Law of Reciprocity, which can be observed by a selfless conscience, together with a sense of awakened justice.
- There is One Brotherhood, the human brotherhood which unites the children of earth indiscriminately in the fatherhood of God. … (later adapted by followers) There is one Family, the Human Family, which unites the Children of Earth indiscriminately in the Parenthood of God.
- There is One Moral, the Love which springs forth from self-denial and blooms in deeds of beneficence. … (alternative, source unknown) There is one Moral Principle, the Love which springs forth from a willing heart, surrendered in service to God and Humanity, and which blooms in deeds of beneficence.
- There is One Object of Praise, the Beauty which uplifts the heart of its worshipper through all aspects from the seen to the unseen.
- There is One Truth, the true knowledge of our being, within and without, which is the essence of Wisdom.
- There is One Path, the annihilation of the false ego in the real, which raises the mortal to immortality, in which resides all perfection. … (alternative, source unknown) There is One Path, the effacement of the limited self in the Unlimited, which raises the mortal to immortality, in which resides all Perfection.
Sayings
Some of Inayat Khan’s most famous sayings are:
- “Shatter your ideals on the rock of Truth.”
- “There is nothing valuable except what we value in life.”
- “Sleep is comfortable, but awakening is interesting.”
- “In a small affair or in a big affair, first consult yourself and find out if there is any conflict in your own being about anything you want to do. And when you find no conflict there, then feel sure that a path is already made for you. You have but to open your eyes and take a step forward, and the other step will be led by God.”
- “The difference between the divine and the human will is like the difference between the trunk of a tree and its branches. As from the boughs other twigs and branches spring, so the will of one powerful individual has branches going through the will of other individuals. So there are the powerful beings, the masters of humanity. Their will is God’s will, their word is God’s word, and yet they are branches, because the trunk is the will of the Almighty. Whether the branch be large or small, every branch has the same origin and the same root as the stem.”
- “The more one studies the harmony of music, and then studies human nature, how people agree and how they disagree, how there is attraction and repulsion, the more one will see that it is all music.”
- “Reason is the illusion of reality.”