The Bond with the Beloved Quotes

“We live and work in a world that carries preoccupations about money, but what does the soul care about such things?”
― Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, The Bond with the Beloved: The Mystical Relationship of the Lover & the Beloved

“The journey towards oneness emphasizes the opposites and we are caught in their conflict.”
― Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, The Bond with the Beloved: The Mystical Relationship of the Lover & the Beloved

“It is said that what you think, you become. If we continually think of Allâh we become one with Allâh.”
― Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, The Bond with the Beloved: The Mystical Relationship of the Lover & the Beloved

“Through the heart of His lover the Beloved can then enter and influence His creation. It is in this sense that His lovers are points of light; places where He can unfold the hidden purpose of His creation. The deepest joy of the mystic is that he can participate in this work. The Sufi sees the purpose of creation expressed in the hadîth qudsî: “I was a hidden treasure and I wanted to be known, so I created the world.” The Beloved awakens the lover so that He can use the lover’s eyes to see Himself—“I created perception in thee only that therein I might become the object of My perception.” Through the eyes of the lover the Beloved can see Himself reflected in His creation. (p. 99)”
― Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, The Bond with the Beloved: The Mystical Relationship of the Lover & the Beloved

“The bond between the lover and the Beloved is the strongest link with the beyond, and it is through this link that grace can flow into the world. (p. 42)”
― Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, The Bond with the Beloved: The Mystical Relationship of the Lover & the Beloved

“It is in the heart that the mystery of spiritual conception takes place. This is not the physical heart but what the Sufis call the heart of hearts. The heart of hearts is the heart of the Self which is on the right side of the physical body. In the moment of spiritual conception a special energy is infused into this heart which makes it spin in a particular way. I once had a vision in which my heart was cut open with a knife, taken out and breathed upon—the dust was blown off—and then spun. My teacher did not interpret this inner happening but said that I would come to understand it. Years later I heard her say to someone else that once the heart has been spun in this way it remains spinning for the rest of that person’s incarnation. The divine energy of the Self vibrates at a higher frequency to our ordinary human self. Through the spinning of the heart, the higher consciousness of the Self is able to be integrated into the lower vehicles, into the denser dimensions of the human being. All the wayfarer’s spiritual work has been a preparation for this moment, and from now on the work will be to give birth to this seed of consciousness, to attune one’s waking consciousness to the higher vibrations of the Self that are now spinning within the heart. This is the gradual process of awakening to the consciousness of the heart, opening the eye of the heart through which the Beloved is able to experience His creation.

Sufis are known as “a brotherhood of migrants who ‘keep watch’ on the world and for the world,” because through the open eye of His lovers’ hearts the Beloved keeps watch on the world. Through His lovers’ hearts humanity is kept attuned to the Beloved. Just as a single heart is spun when the individual is ready to contain the higher energy of the Self, so does this same process happen with a group. When the group has a central core bonded together in love then its collective heart, its central core of light, is spun. In order to help this process, groups of souls that have been bonded together in past lifetimes are forming specific groups. They hold the spiritual core of the group that allows many others to be included in this dynamic unfolding. The spinning hearts of the lovers of God are forming the map made of points of light which I referred to in the previous chapter. At this time His lovers are being positioned around the planet. Some have already been positioned. Some are moving to physical locations while others are having their hearts awakened to this hidden purpose. Slowly this map is being unfolded, and in certain important places lovers are forming clusters of points of light. Certain spiritual groups have been formed or are being formed to contain these clusters as dynamic centers of light.

When this map of light around the world is fully unfolded it will be able to contain and transform the energy structure of the planet. It has the potential to be the bond that will enable the world soul, the anima mundi, to be impregnated with a higher consciousness. The hearts of His lovers form part of the hidden heart of the world. As this map is unfolding so their spinning hearts can open the heart of the world. At this moment in cosmic time the planet is being aligned with its inner source, allowing the world to be infused with a certain cosmic energy that can dramatically speed up the evolution of this planet. If the heart of the world opens, it can receive this frequency of cosmic energy and directly implant it into the hearts of people. This would alter human life more than we could imagine. It is to help in this opening of the heart that many old souls have incarnated at this particular time and are working together. (p. 36 - 38)”
― Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, The Bond with the Beloved: The Mystical Relationship of the Lover & the Beloved

“It is here, in the secret recesses of the heart, that the relationship with the Beloved takes place. He was always here, waiting to be born into consciousness. But we need to prepare ourself for this meeting, we need to align ourself to the inner vibrations of the Self. How can you notice your invisible lover when your consciousness is filled with the outer world? How can you enter the sacred space of your own heart wearing boots muddied with the desires of the ego? Here lies the esoteric meaning of the immaculate conception. For the Beloved to be conceived as a living presence we need to go through a process of inner purification. (p. 29)”
― Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, The Bond with the Beloved: The Mystical Relationship of the Lover & the Beloved

“Spiritual life means learning to become one-pointed, to focus all our energy in one direction, towards Him. Through continually repeating His name we alter the grooves of our mental conditioning, the grooves which like those on a record play the same tune over and over again, repeat the same patterns which bind us in our mental habits. The dhikr gradually replaces these old grooves with the single groove of His name. The automatic thinking process is redirected towards Him. Like a computer we are reprogrammed for God. It is said that what you think, you become. If we continually think of Allâh we become one with Allâh. But the effect of the dhikr is both more subtle and more powerful than solely an act of mental focusing. One of the secrets of a dhikr (or mantra) is that it is a sacred word which conveys the essence of that which it names. This is the mystery of the identity of God and His Name („in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God”). In our common everyday language there is not this identity. The word “chair” does not contain the essence of a chair. It merely signifies a chair. But the sacred language of a dhikr is different; the vibrations of the word resonate with that which it names, linking the two together. Thus it is able to directly connect the individual with that which it names. (p. 121)”
― Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, The Bond with the Beloved: The Mystical Relationship of the Lover & the Beloved

“Spiritual life means learning to become one-pointed, to focus all our energy in one direction, towards Him. Through continually repeating His name we alter the grooves of our mental conditioning, the grooves which like those on a record play the same tune over and over again, repeat the same patterns which bind us in our mental habits. The dhikr gradually replaces these old grooves with the single groove of His name. The automatic thinking process is redirected towards Him. Like a computer we are reprogrammed for God. It is said that what you think, you become. If we continually think of Allâh we become one with Allâh. But the effect of the dhikr is both more subtle and more powerful than solely an act of mental focusing. One of the secrets of a dhikr (or mantra) is that it is a sacred word which conveys the essence of that which it names. This (“In is “the mystery of the identity of God and His Name” the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God”). In our common everyday language there is not this identity. The word “chair” does not contain the essence of a chair. It merely signifies a chair. But the sacred language of a dhikr is different; the vibrations of the word resonate with that which it names, linking the two together. Thus it is able to directly connect the individual with that which it names. (p. 121)”
― Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, The Bond with the Beloved: The Mystical Relationship of the Lover & the Beloved

“When we hear our own song as a part of the world song it has a richness, passion and purpose born from the integration of the individual with the whole. It is only in relation to the whole that we can appreciate the full range of our own potential, for the simple reason that our life has a purpose beyond our individual self. When we hear the song of the world soul our own song resonates with this deeper destiny. (p. 104)”
― Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, The Bond with the Beloved: The Mystical Relationship of the Lover & the Beloved

“Oneness in Everything
Facing our darkness we struggle towards the light. Finally, worn away by the conflict the ego surrenders and we are taken beyond these opposites. Just as we first awoke to the pain of separation and the darkness of the lover's imperfection, so do we awaken to the higher consciousness of the Self that experiences the oneness in everything. People often have dreams of the teacher acting in an improper way, swearing in a church, smoking in a meditation room, in order to shock them into an awareness of this higher reality. The perfect man embraces both his own imperfection and also that of mankind. This is illustrated in the story of Jami who was mistaken for a thief. On being asked if he was a thief the saint replied, 'What am I not?”
― Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, The Bond with the Beloved: The Mystical Relationship of the Lover & the Beloved