#19 Writing from the Heart with Jamila Davies

Writing for me is a process of opening to what T.S. Eliot calls “the still point of the turning world,” opening to the world of imagination where words appear on the screen of my mind like bubbles rising from a pond…

These words connect me with my own center in the world where center can be so easily lost. I love the sensation of sitting at my desk, pen in hand and allowing thoughts, feelings and emotions to flow, discovering in that flow the very essence of who I am.

Writing from the Heart
Speakers
Host: Saqib Safdar
Guest: Jamila Davies

Summary
Paralleling the commencement of the Ḥikmah Project’s first online writing course Writing from the Heart for spiritual growth and healing we speak to teacher Jamila Davis about writing as a healing art and its connection through ṣūfī practice.
In completing her master’s in Spiritual Ministry at the University of Sufism (known as the University of Spiritual Healing and Sufism at the time), Jamila developed writing as a spiritual discipline and her approach incorporates the teaching practice of stepping into alignment, opening divine receptivity, and reading and writing for heart and soul transmission, as taught by the gnostic, friend, and knower of Allāh (الله) the late shaykh (الشيخ) Sīdī Muḥammad al-Jamal ash-Shādhulī (سيدي محمد الجمل الشاذلي). What is happening in that process is streaming and tapping into higher consciousness.
At the time of her practicum, she received a ...

Writing from the Heart
Speakers
Host: Saqib Safdar
Guest: Jamila Davies

Summary
Paralleling the commencement of the Ḥikmah Project’s first online writing course Writing from the Heart for spiritual growth and healing we speak to teacher Jamila Davis about writing as a healing art and its connection through ṣūfī practice.

In completing her master’s in Spiritual Ministry at the University of Sufism (known as the University of Spiritual Healing and Sufism at the time), Jamila developed writing as a spiritual discipline and her approach incorporates the teaching practice of stepping into alignment, opening divine receptivity, and reading and writing for heart and soul transmission, as taught by the gnostic, friend, and knower of Allāh (الله) the late shaykh (الشيخ) Sīdī Muḥammad al-Jamal ash-Shādhulī (سيدي محمد الجمل الشاذلي). What is happening in that process is streaming and tapping into higher consciousness.

At the time of her practicum, she received a clear download from Source: Write with them. Since 2007, Jamila has been teaching at the Farm of Peace the course Writing from the Heart and applies the written word to open to deeper wisdom and healing.

Jamila recaps turning points in her timeline and through her sharing, we remember how the path to God is not linear and that true freedom for the soul resides in the intimacy of that connection. Her journey to Divine proximity began with Maharashi Mahesh Yogi. As a divorced mother with two young children, she leaned into transcendental meditation as a coping strategy to deal with stress. She became a teacher in the Vedic tradition and paved the way for students to learn how to access the field of inner silence. Nevertheless, her being was calling for more. It was when she entered Ṣūfīsm that she finally understood what that more was: an intimate connection with God.

So today, the nature of what she offers is similar, in the sense that students still find themselves dipping into the bandwidths of silent currents, but also acutely different, and more profound. She describes vividly how the practice, and the foundation of the structure behind her writing course, deepened her spiritual walking and connection with God. “Like night and day,” she says, “it’s like, before I knew about God, and I prayed to him. And I was aware in the silence of the potential of His nearness, but I hadn’t come face to face. And what the ṣūfī path has made possible is that experience of the Divine within with such intimacy and nearness that you no longer exist and only He is. That's the gift of Ṣūfīsm; that's the gift of this walking.”

The sacred dimensions of word and sound return us to a flowering and palpable presence of vastness and holiness. Jamila’s course Writing from the Heart, which is being offered online and facilitated here at the Ḥikmah site, intends to teach others how to tap into that. Echoing Paulo Coelho, paper and pen perform miracles. They collaborate to alleviate pain, make dreams come true, and summon lost hope. The word is infused with power. The word, written and spoken, serves as a catalyst for self-discovery, letting go of vices, healing attachments and imprints, becoming seen and heard—bringing to light a recognition of the Sacred within that returns us to wholeness so that we can arrive at a place where we begin to engage with life more completely in resonance with our authentic selves. As our own hearts are nourished by the compassionate attention and healing cultivated through this process, those around us benefit too and begin to resonate with our frequency of being. When we intentionally allow our experiences to take a new form as spoken words, sentences, poetic verses, prose, or stories, there emerges, and merges, the witnesser, the witnessed, and the witnessing. A responsive heartbeat of, “I was a hidden treasure and I longed to be known”.

Jamila’s role is to hold a sacred container where the self is safe to meet itself at its deepest and most vulnerable and wounded places. For that reason, class capacity is limited. Healing alchemy is its coming together; the witness, the witnessed, and the witnessing; writing, reading, and sharing; a moving from the world of density into the realm of subtleties; from aversion to equanimity, from confusion to comprehension, from resistance to greater acceptance, from holding back to letting go, from holding grudges to forgiveness; and surely, we begin to trust the One through which all knowing unfolds.

Why write? Its practical application Jamila says is, “You can get yourself out of your nafs (نفس) faster than a speeding bullet.” Writing helps us to organize our thoughts and see more clearly. The “Unfolding…continues and continues,” Jamila reminds us, “and the heart continues to open, and the soul continues to open, and the connection with the other being is always just so much richer.” What you write is often exactly what another person’s heart needs to hear. It allows us to really experience the deep Transcendent and Beauty that's always there just on the other side. We give each other the gift of connection, the gift of being seen, heard, and healed.

Write, read, learn, and share; that access point along the vertical axis is forever close and accessible.

Transcript
Writing from the Heart
Speakers
Host: Saqib Safdar
Guest: Jamila Davies

Jamila
I yearn for him, and if He appears, I bow my head in humbleness to His Majesty, not from fear, but from reverence of His beauty. See from the path of yearning to taste the love.

Saqib
As-salāmuʿalaikum (السلام عليكم), welcome, greetings everyone. My name is Saqib, your host on The Ḥikmah Project podcast and today we'll be speaking to Jamila Davies. Jamila has been embarking on the Shādhulī Ṣūfī School and has been practicing the art of healing in that school in which she's been developing writing as a spiritual discipline as part of the Spiritual Ministry Project. I had a taste of the work she does and I found it to be quite profound, it was more than just simply self reflection and sharing. There was something quite deep going on and she tells us more about that in the podcast.
Prior to that she was a teacher in the Vedic tradition and practiced deep inner silence and was a teacher in that tradition as well so she helped lots of people journey to that place of inner silence and then, at some point, she found the Shādulliyyah ṣūfī path (الطريقة الشاذلية) taught by Sīdī Muḥammad al-Jamal (سيدي محمد الجمل).
So, she will be running a Writing from the Heart course which begins on the 14th of November, over six sessions, every week until the 19th of December at 5:30pm UK time and two hours each session and places are limited to 10 participants. So, there's more details on that on the website. So, if you're interested do get in touch and do sign up ASAP.
So, before I play the interview with her just a few updates. There are also two new courses starting in November, one on Qurʾānic Arabic, a beginners course on Qurʾānic Arabic with application to mystical texts and that’s with Dr. Hany Ibrahim; and the other course, also on the same day, is on the Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam (الفصوص الحكم) with Dr. Hany Ibrahim in which we have a line-by-line reading of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s (ابن العربي) Fūṣūṣ with some classical commentaries with Dr. Hany Ibrahim, and we take a discussion based pedagogy or approach to working through and reading the Fuṣūṣ.
So do support The Ḥikmah Project, it's much appreciated, thank you for all the new subscribers. Even if you just want to join as a free member to get updates do so follow us on social media as well. We're on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, as well as all the major podcasting platforms.
So, without further ado, here is a podcast.

Welcome to The Ḥikmah Project podcast.

Jamila
Thank you so much for inviting.

Saqib
Al-ḥamduli-llāh (الحمد لله).
So, if we can just begin by getting to know a bit more about yourself. Could you tell our listeners more about… well, firstly, you being a teacher in the Vedic tradition and entering this deep silence and teaching people how to access that silence, how did that come about? How did you enter that tradition and what was all that about?

Jamila
I think it was dumb luck how I entered it. That was the 1960s and there were all kinds of heyday stuff going on and the Beatles took hand with Maharshi and so of course that was like the big… everyone was like, “Oh, well, let's all go do that.” That wasn't the entire reason for stepping in. It had more to do with what was going on in my life at the time, which was I was divorced with two young children and one of my little kids was very, very sick. And so I was going to school and trying to work and raise two kids and the stress of that. When I heard about TM and dropping into the silence and letting go of stress, I thought, “Okay, that's for me.” So I took a course. I lived in Sacramento at the time and I took a course there and learned the technique and was surprised with the very first experience of how deep I went just from zero to 60. Boom! I was in the silence. So I went, “Okay, that's good.”
And so I continued to practice the technique for a number of years and then Maharashi started offering courses, advanced trainings and teacher training, and so I went to an introductory teacher training session in California and began to learn the technique as a teacher. And then after that one month course my girlfriend said she would stay home and watch my kids while I went to Spain for three months. And I—I was floored that anyone would take care of my kids for three months. But I said, “Why don't we all go to Spain.” And that's what we did.
So we all went to Spain together, and I studied to become a teacher at TM. And then from that course, I went to Anchorage, Alaska, which is where we had job offers and I started teaching. And that was like the beginning of the process. And as I taught people to experience the Transcendent, my experience of it became deeper and deeper. And I continued to go to advanced courses, etc. And then there was something… I don't remember the change but there was a shift at one point when I realized that I had been doing this for quite some time and I felt like I had come to, like, “This is it. This is as far as I'm going.” And what I was experiencing was deep inner quiet but I just didn't—and it was affecting my day to day so I was grateful for that, but I just felt like there needs to be more. And I didn't know what the more was and I didn't know why I felt it needed to be more.
So often, when people asked me about my life and how I got where I am, or you know what brought me to this point I often answer that it's, “God’s attracting me in”. It's like God is reeling me in, piece by piece, piece by piece. And I had reached a point in my growth that it was time for the next step. So that's how it feels to me is that He wants us for Himself. That's the reason we're here.
And so when it got to a point that the TM wasn't giving me that deeper intimate connection with God that I find in Ṣūfīsm, I thought, “Okay,” I mean, it's not even so much that I thought I just met somebody who said, “Oh, there's this ṣūfī shaykh (شيخ صوفي) teaching about Ṣūfīsm you should come and hear him.” And so, I tried several times, and you know, things didn't line up. But then finally I came, I met Salima Adelstein, who's here at the Farm of Peace and we attended, my husband and I attended a course that was being offered in Frederick and the teacher was really great, his name is Jeff Bronner, and he just—he came across with so much love and openness and I just went, “Okay, well, this is it, this is the next step.”
So we took hand at that point and then as fate would have it, there were opportunities to take teacher training courses as a ṣūfī, to learn more about the technique and to become a teacher, and it was in that process I was studying at the Sufi University and I had completed three years, which at that time was how much was offered a three-year program and then Salima offered the Ministry Masters in Spiritual Ministry and I went, “Okay, I think I need to do that,” and it was in the context of the Spiritual Ministry Program when I was trying to come up with a practicum for my graduation that I received a tremendous download direct from the Source. You know, “This—is—it.” And at the time, I mean, it just was thrilling because finally I knew what I was going to do for my practicum but I didn't realize that, I mean I realize now, but at the time it was so profound and so intense I should have known that there was much more to it than just completing my practicum. But as it has turned out, it has become a practice of giving love and sharing love and helping people open to their own deep inner wisdom and the love they carry inside. It's just been a tremendous gift.

Saqib
Amazing. So before we go into the program and the practicum, could you maybe just say a bit more about what how the ṣūfī path addressed your inner sort of yearning of that deeper connection? And how was it when you met Sīdī and how was it to be in relationship with him?

Jamila
Okay. Interesting. There's several things there that, first of all, how this practice deepened my walking or deepened my connection or my awareness of God is night and day. It's like, before I knew about God, and I prayed to him. And I was aware in the silence of the potential of His nearness but I hadn't come face to face. And what the ṣūfī path has made possible is that experience of the Divine within with such intimacy and nearness that you no longer exist and only He is. That's the gift of the Ṣūfīsm, that's the gift of this walking.
And it has amazing practical applications I must say. You can get yourself out of your nafs (نفس) faster than a speeding bullet. When you know where to go with it, it's like, “Here's the program, start here and go here and go here and go here.” And it's like, once you learn how immediately accessible the Divine is in your life, you don't waste any time arguing on the surface and, you know, fussing with, “Oh he said,” and then, “She said,” and, “Oh, did you see what she did?” But I mean all of that stuff is still there; it's still a very interesting intimate part of our experience and yet we now know how not to stay in it.

Saqib
So in terms of the practicum, the Writing from the Heart, could you tell us more about what that involves? And is it more than just simply self reflection?

Jamila
Oh yes.

Saqib
Is it… you've mentioned self discovery and healing? How—what was this download? And how did it manifest?

Jamila
Well, you have to realize I've been doing this practice of writing from the heart since 2007, since I graduated from the university. And as I've continued to do it, of course, the changes continue, it's like when I first started, it was sort of like a way to get people together and we would all sit together and it was sort of like a nervous action activity. But it came from, I have to say, it came from years of writing. I had started journaling in my 20s or early 30s and the reason I started writing is that I couldn't make sense of what was going on in my mind, there was so much mental activity that I couldn't get to what it was. Why was I upset? What was going on? And so I started writing in my journal. And for years, I've been writing in journals. And I've studied writing. I've taken courses. I've read every journal writing book I can get my hands on. So I really had a sense of what writing could do.
And then this episode of download, I had been working on my practicum, working with a woman in our ṭarīqa (طريقة), and we were having trouble getting to this like—the wheels kept spinning but we didn't get any traction. And I couldn't figure out why. And there were several steps that I had taken up to that point. And one of them was to buy her a journal and say write down what we've talked about after that the fact, you know, after we meet, write down your thoughts, and then we can discuss them. And she just was so busy with a young child and a husband in her own life that that didn't ever happen. And so finally on one check in with my mentor who was Salima Adelstein I said, “I don't know what to do,” and she says, “Well why don't you write it together.” And I’m telling you it was as if the heavens opened; it was just like this huge sense of joy and elation that I still to this day, when I think of it, I can feel it was like I was lifted up out of my being into a higher realm and I was told: “This is what you need to do. Write—with—them.” And so it was just like, “Wow! What a difference!” I can still see the light, it was like a flood of light that came down.
So like I said, at the time, it was just, “Oh, goody! I finally I have a practicum I can do.” But it's in a tiny sense I see that it is a much deeper transmission that came through. And as we continue, as I continue to work with people and open the practice, I see there's such… there's just an unfolding that continues and continues. And the heart continues to open, and the soul continues to open, and the connection with the other being is always just so much richer. We experienced that when you and I wrote together. When you read to me what you wrote, my heart just surrendered to what you were saying. And then when I read to you what I wrote, your heart drank so deeply from that, and that's what happens when we sit together and write together is we open doors for each other. We allow each other to really experience that deep transcendent beauty that's always there just on the other side.

Saqib
I was going to ask you about that because when we had a session together my initial shall we say expectation was it would be a self reflection sort of thing in terms of reflective writing. But I felt that it was much much deeper and just as you have waves on the surface of a sea and then you've got these undercurrents.

Jamila
Yeah, yeah.

Saqib
These undercurrents came through later that night, and in the morning, and probably for the next couple of days, there was a deep level of transmission. And I also felt there was something around consciousness, the collective consciousness, which you are tapping into, and how when somebody shares what they need to say, sometimes it's exactly what the other person has to listen to.

Jamila
Yeah.

Saqib
And somehow you held that space at that line, something happened, I don't know how to put it into words, but there was some element of synchronicity; and in the way I felt you held our session, there was almost a precision of when to start and stop. And it was just beautiful. It was a deep level of synchronicity and harmony. That's what I picked up. You know, God knows best, but I was quite moved by it, you know, so what was going on?

Jamila
You just described what was going on. It’s that—I honestly, I open my heart and my soul, and I speak from that. That's all I do. So whatever Allāh (الله) does with that, that's Allāh. And I feel like the sense of synchronicity and connection, when you go to that deepest level within yourself, you are connected with everything and everyone, there is no other. We always see it as someone else. But there's just this one exquisite Being, and we get to connect to our deep inner practice with that.
And that's what the discovery of the writing has been for me is that, at first it was about just getting people to write and talk to each other and hear each other and, at first, it really was more or less superficial. But as the practice developed, and the opening continued, and particularly because it's a group practice, I began to see the phenomenal exchanges that were happening with people. I had a class where I just had two students and they were here for a three day weekend and I taught them all three days. And I'm riding along doing what I do but they were in sync in a way that I hadn't seen before. And it was like Allāh put them here, put them here together and put them in this class in order for them to get do this amazing interaction. It was like I was just there as what do you call it fodder? They were doing it, but I do believe that the fact that I was there and set up the circumstances with which they were able to then really deeply connect with each other, that was how that came about. So, I'm not you know, I'm grateful that Allāh has given me this opportunity to do this, and yet I’m quite sure it's God doing it.

Saqib
On that note, you know, I am aware that Sīdī would ask his students to copy out chapters from his book, sort of like the stations of the nafs and heart and it's a practice that has still continued.

Jamila
Yeah.

Saqib
Could you say something about that? Was it on a conceptual level? Was there something deeper? Is there a transmission? What's in…?

Jamila
All of that. Yeah, it's all of that. I mean, I am reading—I’m gonna read you something that I have in my notes from earlier. This is from Maktub by Paulo Coelho. “The Master says write. Whether it's a letter, a diary, or just some notes as you speak on the telephone but write. In writing, we come closer to God and to others. If you want to understand your role in the world better, write. Try to put your soul in writing, even if no one reads your words, or worse, even if someone winds up reading what you did not want to be read. The simple fact of writing helps us to organize our thoughts and see more clearly what is in our surrounding. A paper and pen perform miracles. They alleviate pain, make dreams come true, and summon lost hope. The word has power.” And that's just one example of the ways in which writing has such a spiritual impact. And Sīdī knows that, knew that. And when he had us write his books. It wasn't just an exercise in writing. When I write Sīdī’s books, before I know it, it’s Sīdī writing, that's what's happening. I'm tuned into his spirit, I'm tuned into his heart, his soul, you know, and so then the words instead of just being the sentences in the book, I don't like reading, I've never liked reading I'm dyslexic and so reading to me has always been a torture, but when Sīdī said write my books I thought, “Okay then, that's something I can do.” And in the writing, I discovered that when I write Sīdī’s books I'm in his stream; and being in his stream brings me the awareness, the liveliness of what it is he's bringing into the world, what he is bringing to me and my consciousness. I’m actually I am right there in that stream with him. I'm not making it up. It's not coming from me get it, mind you, I am simply—I have been gift of being able to be in it with. So that to me has been, I mean, for years I mean I would write Sīdī’s books and I'd be chomping at the bit, “Like why do I have to do this?” But gradually, it became clear. It's just so I can be with that spirit, that wisdom. And something of the same happens when we write together; we share in a fundamental—that fundamental oneness.

Saqib
And is there—could you say something more about the healing? There's obviously self discovery and witnessing the Beloved in the manifestations of immanence. And—

Jamila
Go ahead, sorry.

Saqib
Yeah and are there maybe examples of students who have come and joined your class where they've—where they've experienced deep levels of healing as well?

Jamila
I think, so you started out by saying, you know, how does the healing work, and it's on the levels, a level of the nafs to begin with. Because when we write together, we read together. So like the other day, you and I did some writing, and then we shared with each other what we wrote. And it's in the reading, first of all, that you might actually for the first time hear what it is that's been in your mind and in your heart. And often, when people read aloud, the emotion associated with what they’ve written shows up. I mean, they can write it on the page, it no big deal, then they read it and all of a sudden they're choking up and they they can't get the words out because they didn't know that what they were writing was a deep, intimate knowing. And so it just like brings it up for them. So that's the reading part. That's part of the healing. But the other part is, “He was a hidden treasure that longed to be known.” Each of us is, we each are a hidden treasure, and we longed to be known.
And so, when you find yourself writing with people and speaking out your truth from what you've written, and finding people responding to that, in ways that you are unexpected, it's the most healing, because you longed to be known, you want to be heard. Every little kid: “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!”; you know you want to be heard, you want to be paid attention to, you want to be known. Why would that be any different? You know, that's what Allāh is asking. And so, to have your words spoken aloud and to be heard by others is very deeply healing. And actually being able to access those deeper levels, very intimately, deeply healing.
So, I think it's just it's a matter of—it’s a part of the program, it's part of the package. As you open your heart, and you open your mind, and you open your soul, and you share with others, they open theirs. And then there's that wonderful experience of the oneness, the unity that comes, just by that sharing, just by sitting in that circle, witnessing the beauty and the light and the love of all the others, as well as yourself being witnessed. So, you know, there's levels of that. I mean, our writing circles don't necessarily bring us to the baqaʾ (بقاء). It's a practice. It's a practice for opening.

Saqib
And Jamila, could you say or would you like to say something about what the circles might look like for those who are interested in joining, or, is that surprise for whatever unfolds in the moment?

Jamila
The circles will be, we would do it on Zoom like this I'm assuming; and we can't have a large group. So on Zoom it's hard to do more than I think 10, I have set a limit at 10.

Saqib
Yeah.

Jamila
Because there needs to be time to share. And so that's the other thing. The length of the class, if it's an hour and a half, 10 is max. If it's an all day session we can have more (I'm not actually signing on for that). But so for—if it's an hour and a half, or if it's an hour, then we probably need to keep it to a little less because there needs to be time for each person to have the experience of writing and then reading and feel the connection with others as they write and read. It’s just, it takes a village, you'd have to all be a part of it. It doesn't just happen magically because one person does it.
And I've had people come to me, and just in their various ways, say, “I would never have known that about myself, I'm so grateful, thank you for helping me see, the way in which I, ‘X, X, X,’” you know, or “What it is I needed to open in order to forgive this person,” or, you know, it's like, “I didn't know that it was because of this that I was mad at that,” you know. So we need—people need time to discover those things in a session.
So if we would probably get an hour there would be only the eight people in the class, we will do a couple sessions of writing and in between we would do the reading and we would see how that goes. There may be some feedback somebody needs but then we'll just stay with that flow; we'll write together, we'll read together. We always begin with the Fātiḥa (الفاتحة) and if somebody is not a Muslim or not a ṣūfī and they want to know I can read this Fātiḥa in English so they understand the beauty of the prayer as we pray it. And then we do the remembrance, we drop inside, saying the name of God to ourselves. And I always ask people to bring in the name that brings them that deepest sense of connection with God because I'm not going to tell some Christian they can't say Jesus because to them that's the name. So say the name. I might suggest they say it in Arabic, because it has a softer, a ring to it, but that's it—we just use the name that brings us to that most intimate experience of God within. And then we write, and then we read, and then we do it again.

Saqib
Jamila can I ask who is your favorite author, your writer who stirs your soul?

Jamila
Well, the woman that started me on this trip was Anaïs Nin; that was way back and I've had… Stephen King is on my list. I've done some really deep work with, oh now I'll show you my age, I can't remember her name. It's called The Art and Practice of Spiritual Memoir. And I can't tell you her name, I’ll have to get the book. It is Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew. Her book is about writing, you know, how to write a memoir, and she's been my mentor for that for a number of years. But I don't really have—I have a lot of people I've read that had to do with writing and writing practice. But Anaïs Nin, I think she was the beginning. And there's a Journal of a Solitude by Sarton. Oh gosh there's so many! Flat Rock Journals is another one. And I can't tell the authors because I can't see them. Circle of Stones. I mean there's just these wonderful books that give you that taste of what it is. It's a form of art. Writing is an art form. And of course, as people, we lose sight of that because we have to write for our work and we have to type on computers and oh my God and you lose sight that this is… but what's behind it is this rich, deep, delicious quality that brings life to this whole, life to the heart, and enlivens your awareness of what is really beautiful.

Saqib
What about spiritual poetry? Ṣūfī poetry, there's a long tradition.

Jamila
Yeah.

Saqib
The Persians are brilliant at it, Rūmī (جلال الدين الرومي, Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī), Ḥafiẓ (حافظ شیرازي, Ḥafiẓ Shīrāzī), Saʿḍī (سعدي شیرازي, Saʿdī Shīrāzī) and Sīdī himself wrote poetry. So, do you have poets sometimes coming in and…?

Jamila
Well, did you meet—you met Helweh?

Saqib
Yes, yes.

Jamila
Oh, yeah. I had poets come in and she is among them and I do read, I have read poets, and I mean I've read Ḥafiẓ and I read Rūmī and every time I turn around I find another expression of it. There are some poems that just came across my desk the other day, ṣūfī poems, ṣūfī, and I can't bring it up right now but yes, the thing that I notice in writing, a lot of times, some people have a technique, have a gift, that when they write it comes out in poetry. It's just the way they write. Our Imām ʿAbdul Karīm (الامام عبد الكريم) when he would write with me, it always was poetry. It was just gorgeous. And other people just, you know, like when Helweh writes, her writing is so expressive, so deeply rich, and delicious it's—it’s almost like poetry. And then she does write it so.

Saqib
Beautiful. I want to read you a quote by Mary Oliver.

Jamila
Yeah.

Saqib
One of my favorite poets and writers. It's just a brief quote. “I read the way a person might swim to save his or her life. I wrote that way too.”

Jamila
Ah, exactly, al-ḥamduli’llāh. I read the way a person might swim to save his life. And I write that way.

Saqib
Too, yeah.

Jamila
Yeah.
Yeah, the writing for me in the very beginning was a lifesaver. I had, I mean, it gave me a place to put on paper all the anxiety and angst, you know, in my early journals, it was just a lifesaver. And then gradually, it became a tool for self knowledge and then self expression and self knowing, self transcendent.

Saqib
Jamila just on that note, we often have people, the great sages of the Islāmic tradition like Ibn al-ʿArabī, who says he never wrote anything from himself. I think his level of inspiration was so deep that everything he says was given to him, he's simply transcribing; and Rūmī, before meeting Shams (شمس الدين التبريزي, Shams al-Dīn al-Tabrīzī) was a gnostic scholar and it's suddenly—suddenly something opened and these verses just poured out.
So how do you understand somebody like Ibn al-ʿArabī who says he, you know, he met this mute youth at the Kaʿaba (الكعبة) and the whole Futūḥāt (الفتوحات المكية, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyyah) was given to him and the Fuṣūṣ (فصوص الحمكم, Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam) was given to him; all he's doing is he's the middleman, he's just transcribing what has come through. Do you have like—is that an experience you can relate to? Does that…?

Jamila
Yeah, it is. But more than that, I think of what Sīdī has been teaching us from the beginning, which is: We have—we’re meant to become the hands and the eyes and the feet and the tongue of God, you know, we are meant to become that expression, and to the extent that we can.
So, what happened? As you clear away the detritus of self, there's more and more room for that pure beautiful expression to come through. And I get it now and then you heard it the other day, there it was, bam! But like you said, “Do you always write like that?” No. I mean, sometimes I'm going, “Why did she say that to me,” you know, I get caught in the outer conflicts or the outer beliefs or the outer nonsense. But if I start writing from there, and I'm using this technique, I go past it really fast. And sometimes I'm simply speaking what I'm told. And that's it. It's coming through me and I know—I know that I'm the transcriber.

Saqib
On that note, Jamila, I think you've… I just feel like falling silent. As Rūmī says, you know, “My pen has stopped writing,” and I'm going to become silent now. So I don't have anything else to ask other than to sit in your presence in silence. So, I’d just like to thank you and inshaʾllāh (انشاء الله) I really look forward to this course and this experience of writing with you.

Jamila
Al-ḥamduli-llāh, I'm looking forward to it too. Thank you beloved, this has been a pleasure. I was so nervous and it wasn't hard at all.

Saqib
Al-ḥamduli-llāḥ. Any last words to any one who's listening and is interested in joining?

Jamila
Yes. Don’t be afraid of it. Don't be afraid to try it. It's as simple as sitting down with an empty piece of paper and writing a grocery list. I mean it's that simple. It doesn't really require any major skill or any history of writing. All it requires is a pen and a paper and a willingness to say a prayer of opening; a willingness to open to the inspiration that's there. And you don't have to read out if you don't want to. I always give people that option because some people are really shy. But let me tell you, reading aloud is where nine—I’d say at least 50 to 60% of the impact of the writing comes through. Because not only do you discover your own connection to the words, you discover other people's connection to your words. Like something I write might be the very thing that Saqib needs to hear; and the same thing, what you write is exactly what my heart’s needed to hear. And so we give each other in that process of sharing, healing.

Saqib
Al-ḥamduli-llāh, thank you.

Jamila
Al-ḥamduli-llāh, as-salāmuʿalaikum.

Questions
 
Question 1 time: 3:27
Could you tell our listeners more about yourself and how you first became a teacher in the Vedic tradition teaching people how to access the realm of silence?

Question 2 time: 10:19
Before we go into the program, and the practicum, could you maybe just say a bit more about how the ṣūfī path addressed your inner sort of yearning of that deeper connection? And how was it when you met Sīdī and his impact on your spiritual walking?

Question 3 time:12:53
In terms of the practicum and the development of the course Writing from the Heart, could you tell us more about what that involves? Is it more than just simply self-reflection? You've mentioned self-discovery and healing; what was this download and how did it manifest?

Question 4 time: 17:15
When we had a session together my initial expectation was it would be a self-reflection sort of thing in terms of reflective writing. But I felt that it was much deeper and just as you have waves on the surface of a sea and then you've got these undercurrents, these undercurrents came through later that night, and in the morning, and probably for the next couple of days, there was a deep level of transmission. I also felt there was something around consciousness, the collective consciousness, which you are tapping into, and how when somebody shares what they need to say, sometimes it's exactly what the other person needs to listen to. And somehow you held that space, at that line, something happened. I don't know how to put it into words, but there was some element of synchronicity. And in the way I felt you held our session, there was almost a precision of when to start and stop. Simply beautiful. It was a deep level of synchronicity and harmony. At least that's what I picked up and God knows best but I was quite moved. So what was going on?

Question 5 time: 21:28
On that note, I am aware that the Sīdī would ask his students to copy out chapters from his book, sort of like the stations of the nafs and heart and it's a practice that has continues until today. Could you say something about that? Was it on a conceptual level? Was there something deeper? Is there a transmission?

Question 6 time: 24:53
Could you say something more about the healing aspect? There’s self-discovery and witnessing the Beloved in the manifestations of immanence and transcendence; but are there perhaps examples of students who have come and joined your class where they've experienced deep levels of healing as well?

Question 8 time: 28:31
Would you like to say something about what the circles might look like for those who are interested in joining or is that a surprise for whatever unfolds in the moment?

Question 9 time: 31:57
Who is your favorite author and stirs your soul the most?

Question 10 time: 34:05
Sūfī poetry—there's a long tradition. The Persians are brilliant at it; Rūmī, Ḥafiz, Saʿdī. Sīdī himself wrote poetry. Do you have poets sometimes coming into awareness and your stream of consciousness? What do you have to say about spiritual poetry?

Question 11 time: 36:39
We often have people, the great sages of the Islāmic tradition like Ibn al-ʿArabī who says he never wrote anything from himself. I think his level of inspiration was so deep that everything he says was given to him; he's simply transcribing. Also Rūmī before meeting Shams was a gnostic scholar and suddenly something opened and these verses just poured out. So how, how do you understand somebody like Ibn al-ʿArabī who says he met this mute youth at the Kaʿba (الكعبة) and the whole Futūḥāt was given to him and the Fuṣūṣ was given to him. In other words, he’s the middleman transcribing what’s coming through. Do you have an experience like that you can relate to?

**Question 12 time: 39:40 **
Any last words to anyone who's listening and is interested in joining?

Common Terminology
Baqāʾ: baqāʾ (البقاء) means subsistence or permanency; as a ṣūfī term it describes a particular state of life for God, through God, in God, and by God; the destination or the abode.
Nafs: is an Arabic word occurring in the Quran, literally meaning "self"; in Sīdī’s teachings it corresponds to the receptive pole of being, the self, the nafs, alongside the spirit (ar-rūh, الروح) representing the active pole of being in man; also called intellect (al-ʿaql, العقل).
Ḥafīẓ: Khwāje Shams-ul-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfiẓ-el-Shīrāzī is a Persian poet known by his pen name Ḥafīẓ. His Persian lyric poetry expresses ecstasy of divine inspiration in the mystical form of love poems and his collected works are considered by many as the highest pinnacles of Persian literature.
Ibn al-ʿArabī: an Andalusian Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher, extremely influential within Islāmic thought. Muḥammad bin ʿAlī Ibn al-ʿArabī is also known as Muḥyiddīn (the “reviver of religion”) and shaykh al-akbar (the “greatest master”). Of the several hundred works attributed to him, the most famous are the Futūḥāt al-Makkiyyah and the Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam.
Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī: a 13th-century poet, ḥanafī faqīḥ, Islāmic scholar, Māturīdī theologian and ṣūfī mystic originally from Iran known simply as Rūmī. He is regarded as the greatest ṣūfī mystic and poet in the Persian language, famous for his lyrical poetry and Masnavī.
Kaʿba: sometimes referred to as al-Kaʿba al-Musharrafa (الكعبة المشرفة) is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and holiest site, the Masjid al-Ḥarām in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is considered by Muslims to be the Bayt Allāh (بيت الله, the 'House of God') and is the qibla (القبلة, direction for prayer) for Muslims around the world.
Farm of Peace: The Farm of Peace is a working farm, retreat and healing center, and spiritual community situated on a 150-acre farm in the gently rolling hills of south-central Pennsylvania, only two hours’ drive from Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Wellness weekend, Ṣūfī school, and various programs are offered year-round. The center welcomes visitors from around the world to experience the healing power found in the peaceful ambiance of nature, organic produce, and a community setting that caters to the remembrance of the Divine and cultivation of inner peace.
Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam: known as the Gemstones of Wisdom or the Bezels of Wisdom, a work by Ibn al-ʿArabī composed of 27 chapters. Each chapter represents one of the 27 prophets understood as the manifestation of a particular wisdom. The work is highly revered and believed to be revealed to the great mystic by the Prophet Muḥammad (ﷺ) in a dream.
Futūḥāt al-Makkiyyah: known as the Meccan Revelations is considered Ibn al-ʿArabī’s magnum opus. It describes a tangible vision Ibn al-ʿArabī experienced in Mecca covering ṣūfī metaphysics, cosmology, spiritual anthropology, psychology, and jurisprudence.
Maharashi Mahesh Yogi: known as Maharashi and Yogi was the creator of Transcendental Meditation (TM) and leader of the worldwide organization that has been characterized in multiple ways, including as a new religious movement and as non-religious.
Saʿdī Shīrāzī: a Persian poet known by his pen name Saʿdī, recognized for his quality writings and depth of social and moral thoughts.
Shams-i Tabrīzī: a Persian poet credited as the spiritual instructor of Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī. He is also known as referenced with great reverence in Rūmī's poetic collection, in particular Dīwān-i Shams-i Tabrīzī.
Shaykh: a title of respect in Islām used for religious leaders often denoting a person’s authorization to teach, initiate, and guide.
Sīdī: also known as sayyid is a title of respect.
Sīdī Muḥammad al-Jamal ash-Shādhulī: a Shādhulī shaykh, Muslim judge and teacher, social justice activist, and vocal advocate for the poor and the oppressed. He spread the teachings of Divine Love, Mercy, Justice, Peace, Freedom and Equality to all people and brought these teachings to the US and the UK. He was known to his students simply as “Sīdī”.
University of Sufism: formerly known as the University of Spiritual Healing and Sufism is a spiritual university open for all people searching for the truth to through the way of God, regardless of their religion or beliefs. It was first established as a spiritual institute for healing and spiritual walking, put into place by the late Shādhulī shaykh Sīdī Muḥammad al-Jamal