/lit/ - Literature

>>21306627
Indeed, there’s even more specific descriptions of it. See Idries Shah’s “Oriental Magic” again (p. 99 - 100):

>There is, too, the exercise known as Fikr, which consists of meditation: concentration upon some power that is desired, or upon the immensity of the Universe. When Dhikr [Arabic for “recitation” or “remembrance”, referring to a religious phrase or word in Arabic chanted aloud or recited under the breath, exactly like mantra japa of Hindu and Buddhist yoga] and Fikr have been indulged in to such an extent that they become second nature, the Superior Form of Dhikr becomes necessary. This is the control and concentration of breath: the mind is concentrated upon a single idea, and the original Dhikr formula or another one is recited, this time in set rhythm corresponding to the breathing.

>When the Dhikr has so sunk into the mind that it is being automatically repeated without conscious effort — then the “Superior Form” is used. According to Sufi doctrine, mastery of the thought processes and their linking with the body have been achieved.

>The purpose of this superior form is the production of the next — and highly important — phenomenon: ecstasy. While it is conceded that ecstasy can come without the Dhikrs, yet it is claimed that it cannot be induced so readily by other means. In the state of ecstasy, which may be followed by unconsciousness, the mind undergoes a transformation whose nature is not described. True ecstasy is known by the technical term wajd, and paves the way to Khatrat — illumination. Here the mind and soul are liberated from the body, and knowledge and power take the place of the base thoughts of which the mind has been purified ... In the ecstatic state Sufis are believed to be able to overcome all barriers of time, space and thought. They are able to cause apparently impossible things to happen merely because they are no longer confined by the barriers which exist for more ordinary people. Certain it is that some of their supernatural activities are difficult, at the present state of knowledge, to account for.