CORPORATE SUFI : Why the real journey is inwards

What you need to know:

  • A small seed becomes a mighty oak tree one day. If you look at the seed, it is difficult to believe that the ultimate mix of roots, leaves, flowers, and fruits are contained within. Every life carries the blueprint of its destiny within.

“Drop the idea of becoming someone, because you are already a masterpiece. You cannot be improved. You have only to come to it, to know it, to realize it.” – Osho

A small seed becomes a mighty oak tree one day. If you look at the seed, it is difficult to believe that the ultimate mix of roots, leaves, flowers, and fruits are contained within. Every life carries the blueprint of its destiny within.

Man is also born a seed, brimming with potential. But unless we become conscious of this magnificence within us, we cannot actualize it.

Instead we spend our time looking outside, dividing ourselves into tiny egotistic silos of ethnicity, religion, gender, country, occupation, when we can be the whole world. The real journey is inwards. And unless we decide to journey inwards, the real magic will not unfold. This is not to say that the interest in the outer has to be dropped, but our preoccupation with it needs to be. True, the seed draws light, water, nutrition from the outside, but the transformation happens with the inner work.

There is an old Sufi story that illustrates this. There was a Sufi mystic woman called Rabiya, who lived in a hut by the street. One evening, people saw Rabiya searching for something on the street in front of her hut. They gathered around and asked her, ‘What is the matter? What are you searching for?’ Rabiya replied, ‘I have lost my needle.’ So they offered to help her and started looking around. Finally, after searching for a while, when they still couldn’t find the needle, someone asked, ‘Rabiya, the street is big and the night is just descending and soon there will be no light. The needle is such a small thing – unless you tell us exactly where it has fallen, it will be difficult to find it.’

“Rabiya answered, ‘The needle has fallen inside my house.’

“They said, ‘Have you gone mad? If the needle has fallen inside the house, why are you searching here?’ Rabiya responded, ‘Because the light is here. Inside the house there is no light.’

“They were bewildered by her reply. Then someone said: ‘Even if the light is here, how can we find the needle if it has not been lost here?’

“Rabiya laughed, ‘You all are such clever people about small things. When are you going to use your intelligence to seek your inner life? I have seen you all searching outside, and I know from my own experience that what you are searching for is lost within. Your logic is that because your eyes can see what’s outside and because the light is outside, what you are searching for is also outside.’

The search is within.

So how do we look for our inner treasure?

1. Meditation - Daily quiet time ideally early morning and if possible near nature. This powerful habit makes you go inward.

2. Establish keystone habits that will help you come closer to your vision – Keystone habits are habits that form the cornerstone of the ideal you have envisioned for yourself. For example, if you want to be a singer, your keystone habit might be practicing daily for two hours come what may.

3. Identify your gifts and excel at them – Do not carry generalized notions of your gifts. Take time to articulate them, speak to others and welcome feedback. You might be surprised by the insight you gather. Once you have a picture, write them down and ensure you hone these gifts, for example by taking a class, practicing them regularly or volunteering your skills.

4. Identify self-empowering beliefs you have – Think of your most empowering beliefs and foster them daily through visualizations and affirmations.