by Mary Gossy
I wanted to be a nun like the nuns I could not see at the cloistered Carmelite monastery near where I grew up. Every October my grandmother took me there to participate in the “Shower of Roses.”
Tag: God
Archives 88 – Rumi’s Preference for Scandalous Sufis
by Jawid Mojaddedi
It is well known from both his own writings as well as his biographical tradition that the most important contemporary Sufi in Rumi’s eyes was his mentor, Shams-e Tabriz.
Archives 88 – Boot Camp of Collapsing Forms
by Jan Shoemaker
It’s hard to keep your foothold in a world where structures are constantly collapsing, where boundaries erode and old forms fall away—from cells to civilizations.
Featured Poet: Mark Nepo
MARK NEPO is a poet and philosopher who has taught in the fields of poetry and spirituality for over thirty-five years. Here, he shares with us four of his recent poems.
Friendship
by Alireza Nurbakhsh
The Sufis refer to God as the Friend (dūst). This is based on the Koranic verse yuhibbuhum wa yuhibbuhunah (God loves them and they love Him, 5:45), which is interpreted by the Sufis as meaning that it is God’s love for us that gives rise to our love for Him.
Featured Poet: Roger Loff
ROGER LOFF studied Journalism and Politics at New York University and now lives in Oakdale California. He works as a mental health clinician in the Stanislaus County Juvenile Hall. His poetry appears in Issue 82 of SUFI.
Wrestling with God
A CONVERSATION WITH RABBI TIRZAH FIRESTONE
Interview by Llewellyn Smith and Kelly Thomson
Author, psychotherapist and lecturer, Rabbi Tirzah Firestone is the founding rabbi of Congregation Nevei Kodesh of Boulder, Colorado. Today her energies are devoted to the re-integration of ancient mystical wisdom into contemporary Jewish life. Her book, The Receiving: Reclaiming Jewish Women’s Wisdom (Harper 2003), gives us stories and teachings of forgotten female sages and mystics from the Jewish traditions. Rabbi Firestone’s interview reveals an intimate account of the honest-to-life God -wrestling throughout her spiritual journey.
(Photo courtesy of Rabbi Tirzah Firestone.)
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