Gregory Blann, also known as Muhammad Jamal al-Jerrahi, is a sheikh in the Halveti-Jerrahi order of Dervishes and the author of Lifting the Boundaries: Muzaffer Efendi and the Transmission of Sufism to the West and The Garden of Mystic Love: The Origin and Formation of the Great Sufi Orders.

Foreword by Netanel Miles-Yépez

Introduction by the Author

Table of Contents/ Illustrations

Chapter 1: Pir Vilayat Khan

The formative years

Hazrat Inayat Khan

The Message brought by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Murshid Sam

Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan and the blossoming of the Sufi Order

The Alchemical retreat

Stages of the retreat

The Cosmic Celebration

Connecting with Pir Vilayat Khan

Reb Zalman and the Jewish-Sufi connection

A Pir Vilayat interview with Ellen Burstyn

The Divine Programming

Universalist Sufism and Islamic Sufism

A Pir Vilayat radio interview with Lex Hixon

Words from a Universal Worship Service

Pir Vilayat's visit to Nashville

A peak experience

Discovering in ourselves the awakening of the Universe

Pir Vilayat's last years

Chapter 3: Reb Zalman Schatchter-Shalomi

The early years

Connecting with the universalist Rebbe

1. Universalism and renewal of the sacred traditions

2. The Four levels of reality and the multi-dimensionality of God

3. Ten sephirot and the inner council

4. Updating our God language and concepts

5. Spiritual paradigm shifts and the evolution of the God-ideal

Universalism and renewal of the sacred traditions

Jews seeking fulfillment outside of Judaism

There are still treasures in the tradition

Considering critiques of the traditional image of God

Distinguishing myth and allegory from literal history

Issues around spiritual renewal

Generic Religion

The Four levels of reality & the multi-dimensionality of God

God in the physical world

God in the feeling world

God in the mind world

The world of Divine transcendence

The four paths of Yoga

Karma Yoga (in the world of action)

Bhakti Yoga (in the world of feeling)

Jnana Yoga ( in the world of knowledge)

Raja Yoga (in the world of being and transcendence)

Introduction to the four worlds in Kabbalah and Sufism

The four worlds in psychology and Jung's four types

Archetypal and accessible models

Further elaborations on the four worlds by Reb Zalman

Four levels of meaning in the scriptures

The Levels of the soul in Kabbalah

A conversation on the soul with Reb Zalman

Accessing your fully enlightened self

The Ten Sephirot and the Inner Council

Further sephirotic considerations from Reb Zalman

Consulting your inner council

Updating Our God Language and Concepts

If God is Good, Whence comes Evil?

How our language misleads us

God as Father, enthroned on high

Spiritual paradigm shifts and the evolution of the God-ideal

Teilhard de Chardin

How the divine ideal has changed over time

The Age of Taurus, the bull

The Age of Aries, the ram

The Age of Pisces, the fish

The Age of Aquarius, the water-bearer

The Astrological Ages in the context of the Four Worlds

The Second Axial Age

The Sinai Gathering

Meetings with the Dalai Lama

Renewing the Sufi connection

The passing of Reb Zalman

Appendix 1: Kabbalistic meditations by Pir Vilayat Khan

The sephirot on the Tree of Life

Meditation on the descent

The Christian meditation of Nicholas of Flüe

Appendix 2: The Gospels as Midrash; Christ as Archetype of the Divinity in Humanity

Behold, I show you a mystery

The Christian mystery

Parabolic and symbolic content

Archetype and Allegory in the Christ story

Final thoughts from Reb Zalman

Index

Glossary