Who Practices?:  Simple Presence in Sufi Practice

by Munir Peter Reynolds

It is according to the extent of our consciousness of prayer that our prayer reaches God.
—Bowl of Saki for November 25

The average man dependent upon mind—even though he be a devotee—cannot pierce the mind-mesh. As soon as one views life from the aspect of the relative non-reality of personality, all life and love enter the prayer. Then prayer becomes Ishk and mounts to the throne of God.
—Murshid Samuel Lewis

In Mansur Johnson’s memoir Murshid, Murshid Samuel Lewis reminds his students to practice “non-dual thinking.” Murshid Sam always seems to be speaking to the place in his disciples that is already awake, correcting them when they are thinking or acting from an idea about who they are rather than from their essential nature. Do we bring this teaching into our Sufi practice? In this article, I would like to ask, “Who do we believe ourselves to be when we sit down to do practice?” Many of us likely begin practice taking for granted who we are. Who we think we are is usually not part of the equation of practice. So, it seems important to explore this question, because the answer we assume could make the difference between a self-improvement program, rather than communion with the Infinite, the Eternal, and the Silent.

Let’s begin by exploring the name we call ourselves. The bestowal of a Sufi name in bayat is intended to mark a break with the past. Our birth name, as beautiful and strong as it may be, may be associated with all our efforts to be “seen,” to be successful in the eyes of others, to distinguish ourselves as special or different. It may carry all the travails of the family of origin, our efforts to achieve success in education or vocation. The birth name is almost inextricably linked with the “person” part of ourselves, which has beliefs and concepts about the world and what it is. The person part, our “somebody,” is usually the default self, the separate one that we have taken for granted actually exists and acts in the world. But our Sufi name points to something much more ineffable and mysterious—our Presence in Unity.

This mysterious ground of Being and consciousness contains the person part of us, and much, much more. We may overlook the spaciousness and subtle capacities contained in consciousness as resource for transformation on the spiritual path simply because we take it for granted. The Sufi name points to that emanation of the One that can never be fully known because its origin lies in the depths of reality where it merges with the numinous powers of the Universe. So through this metaphor of names we might begin to understand a central problem. I’d like to suggest that when we sit to practice we’re sitting as the simple presence that our Sufi name points to. Here we’ve left behind all history, all associations, all conditioning that may be associated with the birth name. We’re here as Presence, the unique Presence bestowed simply by virtue of being a sentient being of the Universe. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to create a duality here. We each have to make choices every day and act in the world. There is no avoiding the fact that there is someone or something who acts and chooses. But releasing the cover over the soul that keeps that mysterious “chooser” from seeing and choosing clearly is surely the point of practice, of learning to live a life from Soul rather from our dreaming minds.

So what if I just assume that I’m suffering from a state of mistaken identity? As long as I believe myself to be this “somebody,” I am operating within a very limited paradigm indeed. Nothing much new can happen within that paradigm, because it’s a world of my own making and I cling to it, even if it’s miserable, because it’s familiar and I am of course loath to change even the misery I’ve created. If my guide gives me a wazifa, and I take it up believing myself to be this somebody, repeating and repeating, hoping that something will change, is there really any hope of change? There might be change by Grace, or by great suffering.

But here’s the essential point: Whatever we think ourselves to be, we are not. But, who we believe ourselves to be when we sit to do a practice has everything to do with what might or might not happen as a result. If our goal is Self-Realization, this is a central fact that cannot be overlooked. All the spiritual teachings say that our essence as Soul or Authentic Self is always already free. That essence is the gold buried in the potter’s field. Our “somebody” may want to believe this and attain to it, and may even have an intellectual grasp of it, but still be locked down, saying, “Why do practice at all, if I’m already free?” Cynicism, dullness, and mediocrity cling like bugs on our inner windshield found in the denseness of the nafs. This and the mistake of missing the inherent transformational power in Wholeness may cause me to fall away from regular practice or from the Sufi path altogether.

But, as Murshid Wali Ali Meyer has said, “We have to lie down in front of the door we want to walk through.” That’s why we would do well to begin every practice session with opening a way to true surrender and devotion. Putting one’s forehead on the floor, saying a prayer, asking forgiveness, etc. all can begin to open an inner space in which something else might happen. We begin to cultivate inner spaciousness wherein our larger Being in Wholeness can begin to emerge or show itself. A breath or wazifa practice can begin to move the process into a more etheric realm. Moving to a practice As Sirr—where thought and activity has passed away and there is only the atmosphere left—brings more spaciousness still. The thrust of a practice session thus can carry us from a “dense” condition to a more and more etheric or free condition. The thrust of the life lived on the Sufi path can likewise lead from denseness and confusion to freedom and light. Avoiding the dualism of a “somebody” in Sufi practice boils down to a single step that is often overlooked: including the thinker and the somebody in what is happening. (I say “step” hesitatingly, for this assumes there’s someone who performs this step. At this point there is simply more and more sensitivity and spaciousness being allowed.) As I move through my practices, I include the somebody who is saying the wazifa or the prayer, or the breath practice. That somebody may be interrupting with thought, with a problem, with wanting something. He or she may be trying to avoid what is arising if it’s unpleasant, or grasp toward it if it’s pleasurable. But, it’s all happening in consciousness, in Presence, in spirit, as that ray of the One which is undefinable. Being That, resting as That in the midst of practice, makes space for the fullness of who we are in that practice to blossom. It allows even the person part with its particular flavor or problem to be included.

Here are some examples of pre-practices that can be incorporated into any regular Sufi practice session each begins to bring in what I am speaking about:

• Cultivating the Wide View—Sit comfortably and relax. Let your awareness be very high, wide and deep. Include your physical body in what is showing up in awareness, but don’t limit awareness to being aware “from” the body. Note that sensation, emotion, thought, hearing, taste and sight are all showing up in the total flow that is Presence. Feel the energetic or vibrational connection within consciousness that connects you with every detail in the room. Note how the content of consciousness colors the subtle feeling and impression of it. Now, “do” your regular practice.
• “Listening” from the Body—In the Wide View allow your body to be like a tuning fork, resonating and interacting with all sounds and all input in your  environment. Let each sound and stimulus be like a pebble dropped in the pond of you, finding greater and greater receptivity and sensitivity. Let the body resonate vibrationally with everything around you, within and without.
• Sitting as Presence—With the Wide View, rest in awareness. Include the thinker along with the rest of the activity – in sensation, emotion, thought, hearing, taste, sight—that is happening. Allow your “somebody” to show up along with everything else that is happening. If you stubbed your toe this morning, you’d have to include the throbbing of that. Let your somebody, with its particular flavor and vibration be included along with everything else. Watch what arises carefully, following each rise and fall in your inner and outer experience as pure listening.

To conclude a practice session, try spending some time every day simply sitting as Presence. This is a time where we leave behind all invocations, activity, or interference with our stream of being and just allow what is arising to rise, bloom and pass away. This is meditation without the meditator. It is also a concentration practice because holding the wide view and including the thinker at the same time require all our sensitive faculties to be operative.

A final question for inquiry: When we’re sitting as Presence in the Wide View, is there anyone who is doing anything? An unanswerable question, but interesting to contemplate. The Buddhists say no, the Hindus say yes, it’s the Self. But let’s not worry about it. We’re only allowing ourselves (whatever we are) to fall into more and more of what we already are in our essence—an exquisitely sensitive consciousness or spirit. As this consciousness opens to contain more and more experience and is increasingly sensitive, widening, inclusive, we may eventually contact all the inner resources that already belong to us in our essential nature.

Here we may truly enter the resource of Ya Samad which Murshid Saadi translates “no boundary, endless remedy.”

All that we are and experience arises in Wholeness The question is whether we approach that experience and our practice as Wholeness or as the person part of us who had a strong hand in creating any limitation that we may feel we have. Ultimately, any practice that we undertake can be magnified 100-fold by beginning with the Wide View and including the thinker. But, don’t take my word for it, try it and see. After all, that’s the Sufi way.