Some of the Forty Rules of Love

· Life is a temporary loan., and this world is nothing but a sketchy imitation of reality. Only children would mistake a toy for the real thing. And yet human beings either become infatuated with the toy or disrespectfully break it and throw it aside. In this life stay away from all kinds of extremities, for they will destroy your inner balance.

· East, west, south or north makes little difference. No matter what your destination just be sure to make every journey a journey within. If you travel within you’ll travel the whole wide world and beyond.

· The midwife knows that when there is no pain the way for the baby cannot be opened and the mother cannot give birth. Likewise, for a new self to be born hardship is necessary. Just as clay needs to go through intense heat to become strong, love can only be perfected in pain.

· The quest for life changes is: There is no seeker among those who search for life who has not matured on the way. The moment you start looking for love you start to change within and without.

· The human being has a unique place in God’s creation. “I breathed into him of My Spirit,” God says. Each and every one of us without exception is designed to be God’s delegate on earth. Ask yourself, just how often do you behave like a delegate, if you ever do so? Remember, it falls upon each of us to discover the divine spirit inside and live by it.e stage of Insan-Kamil, the perfect human being, faith is a gradual process and one that necessitates its seeming opposite: disbelief. to Truth is to expand your heart so that it will encompass all humanity and still have room for more Love.

· Hell is in the here and now. So is heaven. Quit worrying about hell or dreaming about heaven, as they are both present inside this very moment. Every time we fall in love. We ascend to heaven. Every time we hate, envy or fight someone, we tumble straight into the fires of hell.

· The universe is one being. Everything and everyone is interconnected through an invisible web of stories. Whether we are aware of it or not, we are all in a silent conversation. Do not harm. Practise compassion. And do not gossip behind anyone’s back – not even a seeming innocent remark! The words that come out of our mouths do not vanish but are perpetually stored in infinite space, and they will come back to us in due time. One man’s pain will hurt us all. One man’s joy will make everyone smile.

· This world is like a snowy mountain that echoes your voice. Therefore, if there is someone who harbors ill thoughts about you, saying similarly bad things about him will only make matters worse. You will be locked in a vicious circle of malevolent energy. Instead for forty days and nights say and think nice things about that person. Everything will be different at the end of forty days, because you will be different inside.

· The past is an interpretation. The future is an illusion. The world does not move through time as if it were a straight line, proceeding from the past to the future. Instead time moves through and within us, in endless spirals. Eternity does not mean infinite time, but simply timelessness. If you want to experience eternal illumination, put the past and the future out of your mind and remain within the present moment.

· Destiny does mean that your life has been strictly predetermined. Therefore, to leave everything to fate and to not actively contribute to the music of the universe is a sign of sheer ignorance. “the music of the universe is all-pervading and it is composed on forty different levels. Your destiny is the level where you will play your tune. You might not change your instrument but how well to play is entirely in your hands.

· The true Sufi is such that even when he is unjustly accused, attacked, and condemned from all sides, he patiently endures, uttering not a single bad word about any of his critics. A Sufi never apportions blame. How can there be opponents or rivals or even ‘others’ when there is no ‘self’ in the first place? How can there be any one to blame when there is only One?

· If you want to strengthen your faith, you will need to soften inside. For your faith to be rock solid, your heart needs to be as a soft as a feather. Though an illness, accident, loss, or fright, one way or another, we all are forced with incidents that teach us how to become less selfish and judgmental, and more compassionate and generous. Yet some of us learn the lesson and manage to become milder, while some others end up becoming even harsher than before. The only way to get closer to Truth is to expand your heart so that it will encompass all humanity and still have room for more Love.

· Nothing should stand between you and God. Not imams, priests, rabbis, or any other custodians of moral or religious leadership. Not spiritual masters, or even your faith. Believe in your values and your rules, but never lord them over others. Of you keep breaking other people’s hearts, whatever religious duty you perform is no good. “stay away from all sorts of idolatry, for they will blur your wisdom. Let God and only God be your guide. Learn the Truth, my friend, but be careful not to make a fetish out of your truths.

· While everyone in this world strives to get somewhere and become someone, only to leave it all behind after death, you aim for the supreme stage of nothingness. Live this life as light and empty as the number zero. We are no different from a pot. It is not the decorations outside but the emptiness inside that holds us straight. Just like that, it is not what we aspire to achieve but the consciousness of nothingness that keeps us going.

· Submission does not mean being weak or passive. It leads to neither fatalism nor capitulation. Just the opposite, true power resides in submission – a power that comes from within. Those who submit to the divine essence of life will live in unperturbed tranquility and peace even when the whole wide world goes through turbulence after turbulence.

· In this world, it is not similarities or regulations that take us a step forward, but blunt opposites. And all the opposites in the universe are present within each and every one of us. Therefore, the believer needs to meet the unbeliever residing within. And the nonbeliever should get to know the silent faithful in him. Until the day one reaches the stage of Insan-iKamil, the perfect human being, faith in a gradual process and one that necessitates its seeming opposite: disbelief.

· This world is erected upon the principles of reciprocity. Neither a drop of kindness nor a speck of evil will remain unreciprocated. Fear not the plot, deceptions, or tricks of other people. If somebody is setting a trap, remember, so is God. He is the biggest plotter. Not even a leaf stirs outside God’s knowledge. Simply and fully believe in that. Whatever God does, He does beautifully.

· God is a meticulous clockmaker. So, precise is His order that everything on earth happens in its own time. Neither a minute late nor a minute early. And for everyone without exception, the clock works accurately. For each there is a time to love and a time to die.

· It is never too late to ask yourself, “Am I ready to change the life I am living? Am I ready to change within?” even is a single day in your life is the same as the day before, it surely is a pity. At every moment and with each new breath, one should be renewed and renewed again. There is 0nly one way to be born into a new life: to die before death.

· While the parts change, the whole always remains the same. For every thief who departs this world a new one is born. And every decent person who passes away is replaced by a new one. In this way not only does nothing remain the same but also nothing ever really changes.

· The human being has a unique place in God’s creation. “I breathed into him of My Spirit,” God says. Each and every one of us without exception is designed to be God’s delegate on earth. Ask yourself, just how often do you behave like a delegate, if you ever do so? Remember, it falls upon each pf us to discover the divine spirit inside and live by it.

· A life without love is of no account. Don’t ask yourself what kind of love you should seek, spiritual or material, divine or mundane, Eastern or Western…Divisions only lead to more divisions. Love has no labels, no definitions. It is what it is, pure and simple. Love is the water of life. And a lover is a soul of fire! The universe turns differently when fire loves water.