Man seems to have lost at this time a communication with himself by the tremendous responsibilities of everyday life. The Sufi Order by its initiation helps one to come in communication with oneself. This opens the door to the heart. All the mysteries and wonders of life are gained when one has got in communication with one’s own heart. It is therefore that we in the Sufi Order do not occupy ourselves with wonder-working or any other sort of communication; we only pay attention to communicating with ourselves in order to find our deeper self.

What is the difference between the work a Sufi does and that of another mystic? In the East the Yogi mystics are well known, and it is worth while to consider what difference there is. The Yogi tries to touch the infinite by diving deep into his innermost being; and the process he takes is to close himself and move as far away from the world as he can. And by doing this he reaches that depth which is the goal everyone is seeking. The methods of the Sufi differ  from those of the Yogis in that the Sufi opens himself to all that is good and beautiful. He says that to go back to the infinite without having known all that is beautiful here is absurd. He wants to love all the beauty of the earth, and so he opens himself. Therefore his path is very difficult—to love and yet not to be attached; to be in the crowd, and yet in the solitude; to be in the world and yet to be above it.

Self-denial to a Sufi is different from what it is to those who deny themselves all things of life. Self-denial for the Sufi is the denial of the false self which one had as a conception of self. His whole concentration and meditation is meant to get rid of that false conception of himself. A Sufi says: Man’s very being is truth. It cannot be taught nor learned. It exists. The realisation must come by itself. There are no doubt some studies to go through, but that is not the main thing. Meditation and concentration are only taught to make it easy for a person to advance. Truth is not an object to be given, it is one’s own being. One can realize the truth by communicating with oneself.