Great Mystics as They Are

The lives and existence of mystics are always a mystery—even to those who know them personally, and even less so to those who know them only through books and memories. The life of mystics becomes surrounded by inventions: some of them are created by ill-wishers, and others by followers who find it hard to resist the temptation to exaggerate the virtues and abilities of their Teacher. Slander goes hand in hand with harmless fantasies and projections; defamation walks next to adoration. Great mystics are never understood by people in only one way, and therefore they write and speak about them in all sorts of ways. People judge mystics according to their own experience and ideas—and of course, deep understanding is not to be expected here. The actions and behavior of mystics give some people grounds to condemn them, and for others—to imitate them, but the essence of their message and activity usually remains undisclosed. Without one’s own mystical experience and the lived understanding of Truth, it is generally impossible to grasp the Work of mystics.

And yet their message and methods of working with students call for reflection and understanding, because many people take them as the foundation for their own search. Time puts everything in its place, and now we can already see what the followers of one Teacher or another have come to, and into what the Work they began has turned.

The essays presented in this book contain almost no fairly complete biographical information about the lives of their subjects. They are devoted to studying their mission, their message, and what Sufis call the Work. I have written about those whom I consider truly great mystics, though not all of them are recognized as such. I did not limit myself to analyzing the activities of specific Teachers alone, but included in the book several essays about the later stages of the Sufi Path and about ways to pass on knowledge. In my view, they will allow the reader to understand the situation any real mystic finds himself in more fully and more deeply. In this book I offer answers to many questions that, as I know for sure, torment many seekers. I hope it will be useful to them—as well as to everyone who is interested in the Path—in the broadest sense of that word. Because the experience of each mystic’s Work is the most valuable knowledge available to us in ordinary states of perception.