The outer and inner journey
What is walking? Going from one point to another… But for the human being, it is traveling through his own reality, going in search of the treasure hidden deep within him, like Aladdin who can only enter the cave thanks to his innocence , it is by working on the sincerity of his intention that the journeyer will put on the seven-league boots which will be able to enable him to travel great distances in the time of a flash. Journey for whom? For what ? To where ? The memory of the lost homeland, the distant paradise, the house of Peace, the eternal plenitude and the great tranquility are inscribed in us, buried in our soul like a memory, a certainty, and it is this certainty of to have one day been in the total Beatitude which pushes us to take the path, the path of return which leads towards the motherland. The third principle of the Naqshbandi Sufi path, which has 11 principles, is Safar dar Watân : This means traveling to one’s Homeland.
“The seeker then travels from the world of creation to the world of the Creator. It is reported that the Prophet said, “I am going to my Lord from one state to a better state and from one station to a higher station.” It is said that the seeker must travel from individual Desire to the Desire of the Divine Presence.
The Naqshbandi Sufi Order divides this journey into two categories. The first is the outer journey and the second is the inner journey. The traveler must travel from one land to another in search of a perfect guide who will pick him up and direct him to his destination. This allows us to move towards the second category, the inner journey.
The inner journey requires the seeker to leave his bad manners, his egoistic tendencies and transform them into praiseworthy characters; he must uproot all worldly desires from his heart. He will then be elevated from a state of being veiled to a state of witnessing the pure Truth. At that moment, it will no longer travel from the outside to the inside but from the inside to the Interior. Al Batîn which is none other than one of the Names of God. He will purify his heart, making it pure like water, transparent like crystal, polished like a mirror, everything essential for his daily life will appear clearly to him, without any need for external action on his part. In his heart will appear everything that is necessary for his life and for the lives of those who live around him. »
These few lines describe the journey to us in a synthetic way, but we must not lose sight of the fact that it is at every moment, every day, in every situation and even in every detail that we can travel. “Certainly God has prescribed excellence in everything…” Reminds us of these words of the Prophet. At each new stage of the path, we will then inherit new knowledge, taste new happiness but the path is also strewn with pitfalls that only unfailing determination will allow us to overcome and even more so the difficulties encountered are not they. -the same as circumstances that Providence sends us to go beyond our limits. The one who walks little by little will realize that he is at the same time The Path, The Journeyer and The Goal…
In order to walk in Peace and Love, let us learn to thank every day consciously with humility for all the gifts that Heaven grants us and it is for this purpose that the Muslim Prayer called Salatfive times a day urges us to repeat Alhamdulillah Rabbi al ‘Alamîn, Praise be to God, the Lord of the Universes!
