Some of you may know me from my more controversial Substack, Wholistic. Why start a new Substack?
I had the inspiration to start this publication, “Sufis,” after realizing I had a lot I wanted to say about spirituality that didn’t quite fit in with my original publication. I also don’t want to be defined by one hot button political issue. The news I share at Wholistic can be somewhat depressing at times, and I do have more positive (and hopefully somewhat interesting) things to write about.
This Sufis Substack will be focused on spirituality and the spiritual side of healing. Wholistic, on the other hand, is more focused on health (from a holistic perspective) and the current politics thereof. There is, of course, an overlap between health and spirituality. And when it comes to holistic health, the two in some ways are intimately connected.1
Now...what do I mean when I say “spirituality”? Well, you can get a hint from the title, “Sufis,” that my focus will be more on mysticism than dogma, and spirituality over religion.
I am spiritual, not religious. This is not to say I dislike religion in theory. I believe religion, when guided properly, can be a stabilizing force in society. However, religion has also been abused as an oppressive force that ends up stifling spiritual growth instead of inspiring it.
This is easily seen in Islam, which is where Sufism comes in...Sufism, which is deeply connected with Islam, is a mystical tradition that is often at odds with the mainstream religion of Islam. Mainstream Islam has unfortunately been corralled by powerful people as a means to control populaces. Iran is a prime example of this, thanks to the 1978 Islamic revolution there.
The Catholic Church has also had its share of emperors and other power players abusing the church that St. Peter built to foster empires instead of nurture souls. Despite the often horrific abuses that have periodically sprout from evil people infiltrating the church (from the Inquisition to child predators), the Catholic Church also has a strong mystic tradition – often fueled by nuns! – that can be quite inspiring and enlightening.
We Westerners often romanticize Eastern religions as if they never experienced the pitfalls of our Abrahamic religions...but they have had their own share of patriarchies and abuses...perhaps worth a future article. Don’t get me started on all the bad yoga gurus!
I’ll be writing much more about Sufism in future posts, so you’ll have to tune in to hear more about it.
Suffice to say, I’ll be invoking the spirit of Sufism here...which is focused on surrendering to God but also about being provocative about it at times.
My spiritual background is quite diverse. I was raised Christian, left the church in college, went new age, got involved with yoga, came back to the church in my 40s, and found Sufism around the age of 50. I’m not a typical Sufi in that I was actually quite uncomfortable with Islam coming into it, and I’m still not keen on Islam as a whole. I still consider myself a Christian in many respects, but I don’t buy into some basic Christian dogmas, which I’ll expound upon in future articles, I’m sure.
However, I did find that “Sufi” seemed to fit me more than “new age” or anything else. When I was “new age,” back when it was a bigger thing than it seems to be today, I always felt like I had to put my brain aside or somehow be more “nicey-nice” than I really was. For a while, I had this odd double life where online people knew me as a semi-famous Reiki Master and in the real world, I was club-hopping with friends in Los Angeles and designing websites for minor celebrities.
In retrospect, clubhopping is in many ways a Sufi thing to do. Because I never drank when I went out – I just loved dancing, which put me into an ecstatic trance without drugs or alcohol.
When I published one of my first articles on Wholistic, I was surprised to get a nasty email from a reader, someone who had been subscribed to my Reiki list. He was upset that I said we shouldn’t focus on vaccines to solve the covid pandemic. He told me that he was “embarrassed that a spiritual person and a Reiki master would show such a total lack of empathy, sympathy, and understanding of reality.”
I’m not sure how he read my concerns about the covid pandemic response as lacking empathy...if anything, I have too much empathy, and I’ve been quite upset about this issue for a while now. Otherwise, I wouldn’t waste so much time writing about it when my subscription “revenue” from that Substack is a little over $1,000 PER YEAR, notwithstanding a few generous donations.
However, it’s this idea that if you are “spiritual” you must be docile or smiling all the time, even if you don’t mean it...that I take issue with. I can sometimes be blunt, and I don’t mince words. However, I also believe that this aspect of my personality has perhaps made me more able to sometimes see and speak out about things that other people might fear to bring up.
In the past, my natural personality felt it was at odds with “spirituality” precisely because many people want you to be a Stepford Wife of sorts – bland and inoffensive, smiling, positive, and always serene and peaceful.
Not gonna lie – that’s not me.
Being a “Sufi” (or rather, a student of Sufism), perhaps I have a bit more leeway to be provocative, while at the same time, having respect and adab (politeness) when it is warranted and necessary.
At any rate, this Substack will be where I post my musings and ramblings about spirituality...and it’s also a good enough place to also share some of my “woo-woo” stuff...specifically, Reiki stuff, sound healing, and more. I’ll also be sharing some special free zikr audios (zikr being similar to “mantra” but uses Sufi Divine Names of God).
My spiritual articles are not going to all be nice…I have a lot to say about the spiritual gutter our culture is in right now. But I also will be discussing esoteric things and big questions, such as who is God and why the hell are we here? I hope to hear your thoughts so please share your comments!
You’ll note that paid subscriptions are turned on...but this is more as a donation option right now. At some point I may offer some upgrades to paid subscribers, but either way, the main articles will, for the most part, remain free.
Thanks for reading!
Stephanie
(I actually had a “Sound Healing” section set up in Wholistic, but decided to move it over here since it will fit better...mantras being a potent form of sound healing...but they are definitely a spiritual method of healing.)
Hi, my friends call me Seyfo; I, too, have launched a substack on Islamic spirituality, focused on stories about the Osmanli Naksibendi Sufi Order here in the US. I’m glad I found your publication, and I look forward to reading more from you.
Great positivity. It is obvious that you have found deep meaning along the Sufi Path, and want to share the treasures of your journey. Looking forward to much more. Salaam!