What is the Greatest Power in Creation?
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee and Kosmos editor, Rhonda Fabian shared this exchange, on February 19, 2015.
Kosmos: Teacher, what aspect or quality of our essential human nature can best counteract the powerful pull of consumerism and greed that traps so many?
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee: Love is the greatest power in creation, and the most essential quality of our human nature that is needed to help change our present situation, particularly our love and care for the Earth. The Earth, which has given us life and nourishes us even as we continue to abuse it, desperately needs our love, our care and attention. Its species are dying, its soul is crying.
Through our love for the Earth we will have access to a deeper dimension of our own nature, a living heritage that can nourish us with the meaning and magic that comes from our soul and the world soul. We will also discover ancient forces within creation that can help free us from the spell of consumerism, from its entrancement.
Life is a self-sustaining organic whole of which we are a part, and once we reconnect with this whole we can find a different way to live—one that is not based upon a need for continual distraction and the illusions of material fulfillment, but rather a way to live that is sustaining for the whole.
Love always turns our attention away from our isolated sense of a separate self towards the greater whole of which we are a part. It reconnects us with our own sacred nature and the sacred within all of life. As such it is the simplest and greatest force to free us from our present addictions. But it does require a shift in consciousness, a fundamental change in attitude to break free of this present entrancement. Love confronts us with this challenge: that it is not about “us,” but about something greater than our individual self. And there will be sacrifices that we need to make, as we free ourselves from the grip of ego-driven greed and constant desires.
Kosmos: What teaching from Sufism is most relevant for world leaders to hear at this time?
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee: The central Sufi teaching of the unity of being—that all of creation is an expression and manifestation of an inner unity—is the most important mystical teaching at this time. The oneness, which the mystic knows in the depths of the heart and also experiences reflected in the outer world, needs to become central to a world at present driven by divisiveness. Only when we work together from an understanding of living unity will be able to evolve beyond many of the problems that cause suffering in the world today. And together with oneness is the importance of service.
Selfless service is a foundational spiritual quality that is necessary to help humanity at this time of transition. Any real “leader” is one who is in service to the needs of the whole.
However we have to acknowledge the forces of greed and exploitation—of “me” as opposed to “we”—that stand in the way of such an evolutionary shift. We cannot afford to be idealists, but need to recognize the political realities and vested interests of the present time, even as we seek a more sustainable and just world. For this reason I do not see much real hope from today’s world leaders, who are too much a product of, and dependent upon, the present industrial/consumerist system that advocates continued economic growth, despite this being unrealistic and unsustainable.
Kosmos: What does it mean today to be a ‘global citizen’ of a ‘living Earth’?
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee: To be a “global citizen” is first to acknowledge the oneness and interdependence of all of creation. Only from a consciousness of oneness can we participate in the healing and transformation of the living Earth that is so vitally needed at this time, otherwise we will just continue to manifest the symptoms of separation. It is our ideology of being separate from the Earth, that it is a “resource to be exploited,” that has created our present ecological devastation and crisis of climate change.
Acting from a place of oneness we need to return to a conscious relationship with the Earth as a living being rather than dead matter, which our ancestors understood as having a soul, anima mundi, as its indwelling spiritual consciousness. When we remember our relationship with the Earth as a sacred being we can work together with the forces within nature, the primal powers of creation that shamans and indigenous peoples have long understood as central to our shared well-being. We can no longer afford to ignore or reject this inner dimension of life.
Being a global citizen of a living Earth is to return to the ‘great conversation’ with all of its many inhabitants, in both its inner and outer worlds. We can no longer live in isolation, alienated from the very planet that supports and nourishes us both physically and spiritually. We need to learn once again how to respect and listen to the Earth, to its ancient wisdom and spiritual depths. The Earth can teach us how to live in harmony and oneness as part of the great web of life. Once again we can learn how to walk in a sacred manner, experience her wonder and mystery, care for her soul as well as her soil.
Kosmos: Some spiritual teachers have said that Life/Consciousness will continue beautifully with or without human beings. Do you have any thoughts or feelings about this?
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee: All of life is sacred, is a revelation of the divine—nature is the first book of revelation. Human beings hold a unique place in the symphony of creation in that we are able to consciously experience its beauty and wonder, witness its oneness—see the face of the Creator in the creation. And yet it is our forgetfulness of this revelation, our treatment of the Earth solely as a resource to fulfill our material needs, that has precipitated our ecological tragedy. If we remember the sacred nature of the Earth then we can stay true to our spiritual covenant with creation. If we continue with our present pathological destruction of our ecosystem, and the temperature continues to rise, it is possible we will face our own extinction as a species. Without human beings life will continue—the planet will continue its cycles of evolution—but a central note will be missing, a quality of divine revelation will not take place.
VIDEO Changing the Story: The Need for Magic – Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Rhonda Fabian is the digital editor of Kosmos Journal
This is so beautifully spoken, thank you.
Brilliantly stated, inspired, and inspirational. It echoes a book of essays I recently read by Wendell Berry. By the way, as we begin our many conversations with the earth, its beings and fellow humans, it is good to keep in mind engaging with those with whom you share local space and time. Think globally, act locally, which in integrally connected to everything and everyone. May these teaching be lived, learned, and loved.
I’ve beeb following Llewellyn for years. Read many of his books about sufism. But I always wondered if he was muslim.
Llewellyn is Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya which is the Indian branch of sufism. His teacher was Irina Tweedie, who was a Russian woman who studied under her teacher in India. Naqshbandi Sufis are known as the “silent Sufis” because their practices are done in silence. They practice a silent dhikr and the silent meditation of the heart—God is the silent emptiness and is therefore most easily reached in silence. They also attach great importance to dreams, which they consider to be a form of guidance along the Path. The central focus of The Golden Sufi Center is the meditation groups. At meetings, silent meditation is followed by spiritual discussion and dreamwork.
All of his talks and videos are available for free on his site under Resources if you are interested.
You can find all the information on http://www.goldensufi.org
Thank you for sharing this information.
If you want to hear a further explanation of the silent Sufis, Llewellyn did a rare interview with Oprah on OWN for Super Soul Sunday in 2012. It began my journey of the heart.
Here is a link to the video
http://www.livestream.com/supersoulsunday/video?clipId=pla_22ccda32-ab70-4235-8e64-1a3c8907b3ad
I’m not aware that Llewellyn has ever disavowed the connection between Sufism and Islam. A number of his books celebrate the many deeply spiritual aspects of Islam. On the other hand, I don’t think he would ever shy away from criticizing the retrograde aspects of the religion either. I studied with him for 2 years in the early 1990s and found him to be a world citizen of the highest caliber.
Now has the time come, to turn away from greed
from me and me.
to come back to nature
every single act, every single thought has
to be one who nourishes mother earth,
this is the only way
the only way
and we will save the earth
and we will grow
and our light will sparkle
in the Universe.
I agree
Thank you
Josie
Thanks LVL truly the opposite of greed is
love from the sense of the Grail message love us to give without asking for anything in other to give more for the unfolding of the talent and it’s development into abilities. Love is to make able that which is unable, to make strong that which is weak, to give hope to the hopeless to give life to the miserable all for the unfolding of the spirit of man and to be good in tongue and never to indulge in insolence and lazy idleness.
LVL may peace and blessings of the Almighty be upon you Amen
Sir I would like to know if there is any Sufi institution in Nigeria.Thanks