No. 174 - Sufism

All day today I kept my eyes and ears open in order to learn something new. After dinner I still had nothing. I thought to myself: How hard can it be to learn something new? I should be able to pick up this fortune cookie and learn something from it. Yes, I had Chinese for dinner.

So I cracked open the cookie. Have you ever added the words "in bed" to the end of your fortune? Someone told me that one time and now I can't read a fortune without adding the words. It works almost all the time. So my fortune read: Pray for what you want, but work for the things you need. In bed.

So I Googled it.

And learned that it is a Sufi quote. Great! But what the heck is that?

So then I learned that a Sufi is someone who practices Sufism. And?

And Wikipedia says that Sufism is the mystic path of Islam. It goes one to say that "the underlying theme of Sufism is that an individual can achieve God consciousness during his life on Earth."

Allaboutreligion.org had this to say:

Sufism may be best described as a mystical practice that emphasizes certain unique rituals for guiding spiritual seekers into a direct encounter with God. Many consider Sufism to be a mystical brand of Islam. Sufis teach that Sufism may be practiced with any religion -- it is the “heart” of religion. No one faith or belief is questioned; each can follow his own church, religion, or creed.  Sufis believe that God is responsible for everything they do. If not, then they would be equal to God, doing whatever they wanted. Thus God is responsible for every thought and deed. God can do with his servants whatever he wills, whether it is to the servant’s advantage, or not.

I wonder if the Sufis would find the "in bed" comment funny, or not.