Ep. 24 – Mary and Jesus: A Sufi Perspective on the Christmas Story

Examining how mysticism hides in plain sight, Omid Safi describes God as love, the lover, and the beloved with guest host Kelly Deutsch.This episode was originally recorded for the Spiritual Wanderlust Podcast, with Kelly Deutsch. Learn more about this series that explores the wild, untamed frontiers of our interior life at spiritualwanderlust.org/podcast  This time on Sufi Heart, Omid Safi speaks with Kelly about:Discovering Islamic MysticsSufism and having a pure heartOmid’s life in Iran and exposure to masculine displays of emotionThe mystery of being human, the mystery of GodHeartbreak and experiencing the heart breaking openSacred Eroticism and using our senses to experience lovelinessWhat we can learn from the type of love a mother providesRadical love and going into the rootsLinking together love and justice“The Sufis explicitly say something that of course we find also in the Christian mystical contemplative tradition. Mischievously, they almost say there is a holy trinity, a language which most orthodox Muslims would avoid and all Jews would have avoided. But they say the trinity is love, lover, and beloved. God is love, God is the lover, and God is the beloved.” – Omid SafiSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Pushing beyond the bare minimum of religiosity, Omid Safi inspires listeners to deepen their faith into an ecstatic adoration of God.Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/beherenowIn this episode of Sufi Heart, Omid Safi elucidates :Islam and the unity of AllahIman as faith and Ihsan as virtueSpirituality and AestheticsDoing what is required of us through religionHow Habib (the chosen one) inspired a deeper level of faithHow we can aspire to be in a state of love and adorationThe eyes of the heart versus the eyes of the headWorshiping God for more than just salvationIslamic Saints and their stories of experiencing Allah through beautyRecognizing the unwavering divine presence of GodThe eternal now and present moment awarenessUndivided attention as an act of loveCourtesy and recognizing our individual journeysBeing a beautiful witness“God is to be found here and now…the divine simply is not to be experienced in the afterlife, in the heavenly realms, in the celestial realm. Here and now where you are, where we are, we can come to experience Allah.” - Omid SafiYou can join Omid on one of his heart-centered and spiritually-focused educational tours of:Mecca and Medina Umrah program: December 14-21st, 2023. [For Muslim participants]Morocco: April 13-22nd, 2024.Turkey: somewhere in late May to early June, 2024.Further information is available at Illuminated Courses & Tours where you can also find information on virtual courses, spiritual talks, and more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this interview from the 2023 Mystics Summit, Omid Safi joins Taya Ma for a conversation about Rumi, his main teachings, and how he’s situated on the wider Path of Radical Love.This interview is part of the 2023 Mystics Summit a free online event. For more information, please visit mysticssummit.com. This recording is a copyright of The Shift Network. All rights reserved.In this episode, Omid Safi and Taya Mâ talk about:Rumi’s background and why his real legacy is more than just his poetry, it’s his beingHow the Path of Radical Love keeps us rooted and grounded, and how we can cultivate those rootsPractices that can guide us towards onenessHow we can interpret Rumi’s work both on its own accord and through the context of the time in which it was writtenAbout Taya MâTaya Mâ Shere plays passionately in realms of transformative ritual, embodied vocalization, and ancestral healing. She is a professor of organic multireligious ritual at Starr King School for the Ministry, founder of the emergent online mystery school From the Deep, and co-founder of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute. Learn more about her at taya.maYou can join Omid on one of his heart-centered and spiritually-focused educational tours of:Mecca and Medina Umrah program: December 14-21st, 2023. [For Muslim participants]Morocco: April 13-22nd, 2024.Turkey: somewhere in late May to early June, 2024.More information is available at Illuminated Courses & Tours.“Approach the teachings of the Path of Love, or of Islam, or of Sufism, or whatever tradition it is that draws you closer to God, in an interactive model. Don’t look at it purely and simply as receiving the teaching, but also keep a journal of your responses to the teachings, to the stories. And when something touches your heart, write that down. And write down what it was and what it made you think because sometimes those momentary realizations are like a lightning bolt in a dark sky, and for one minute everything is clear. You see your own self clearly, and then it may be gone.” – Omid SafiSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Omid dives into the ocean of love, contemplating how the nature of the waves washing ashore and receding back mirrors the human experience.This special episode is from Sharon Salzberg's Living an Authentic Life Summit and is hosted by Andres Gonzalez from the Holistic Life Foundation.Lifetime access to the full summit, featuring all 30 speakers and five days of content, is available here: Living an Authentic Life Summit: A Journey to Inner Peace, Freedom and JoyIn this episode of Sufi Heart, Omid is interviewed by Andres Gonzalez exploring:- The journey of living a spiritually luminous life- Anger as a path to higher consciousness- Expansion and contraction as the rhythm of life- Breaking the callousness of the heart- Being true to the inner child within- An expansive and contractive breathing exercise- To explore more on the topic of expansion and contraction, listen to episode 186 of Heart Wisdom.“Every heart has to break and not every heart that’s broken breaks open. We want a heart that opens up. Opens up towards God, opens up towards all, opens up towards our fellow human beings, and opens up to that ultimate mystery of what we are. And what an awesome encounter that is, and how terrifying that is.” – Omid SafiSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Omid returns with a timely and flowing discussion on the connection between spirituality and conflict transformation.Join Omid on a heart-centered and spiritually-focused educational tour of Turkey coming up in June 2023: Illuminated Tours - TurkeySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of Sufi Heart, Omid Safi discusses the spirituality of seasons. We learn to look at Islamic cultures for inspiration on attuning to the sanctity of nature.“We have gained a lot in terms of productivity, but we have also lost a lot in terms of the rhythm of our life, the attunement to nature, and the ability to live a harmonious life”. —Omid SafiSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Omid Safi offers us a sense of the significance of Christmas, the birth of Jesus, and the sacred experience of Mary in the Islamic tradition.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this deeply personal episode of Sufi Heart, Omid Safi shares some lessons for the heart by remembering the events of 9/11, and reflects on how we can carry these teachings forward.This talk was originally recorded by: Hicksville Public Schools This podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/beherenowSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Journalist, Abdhul-Rehman Malik, from This Being Human Podcast interviews Omid on the commercialization of spirituality, Rumi's Guest House, reframing emotions, and embracing radical love like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.Abdul-Rehman Malik is an award-winning journalist, educator, and organizer. He is a frequent contributor to BBC Radio, offering contemporary perspectives on spirituality. His recent documentary work includes the "The Muhammadan Bean: The Secret History of Islam and Coffee." Since 2019, Malik has served as a lecturer and associate research scholar at the Yale Divinity School. He is also the program coordinator for Yale University's Council on Middle East Studies and the director of the Muslim Leadership Lab, an innovative program being incubated at Yale’s Dwight Hall Center of Social Justice.This podcast was is a part of the Aga Khan Museum’s new series - This Being Human, hosted by Abdhul-Rehman Malik. Check out interviews with Ginella Massa, Sultan Al Qassemi and other cultural leaders who explore what it means to be Muslim in today’s world: This Being Human.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this special episode, Sikh Activist, Simran Jeet Singh, joins Omid Safi for conversation exploring anti-racism as a spiritual practice.Recognized among TIME Magazine’s 16 people fighting for a more equal America, Simran Jeet Singh is Senior Adviser for Equity and Inclusion at YSC Consulting and a Visiting Professor at Union Seminary. He is a 2020 Equality Fellow with the Open Society Foundations, a Racial Equity Media Fellow with Interfaith Youth Core, and a Senior Fellow for the Sikh Coalition. Simran holds a PhD, MPhil, and MA from Columbia University, an MTS from Harvard University, and a BA from Trinity University. He is the author of a best-selling children's book, Fauja Singh Keeps Going: The True Story of the Oldest Person to Ever Run a Marathon, and is in the process of writing a non-fiction book for adults, titled, More of This Please: Sikh Wisdom for the Soul. For more information, please visit SimranJeetSingh.orgOriginally recorded for Religion News ServiceSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.