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Atom from the Sun of Knowledge

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It's unfathomable to me that this book has not yet been reviewed! Lex Hixon was a well-known spiritual seeker who was open to every authentic tradition, yet who came to embrace Islam as the deepest expression of his faith and life. He did this in an amazing, open way. He encouraged his disciples to be, as he was, holders of "multiple spiritual citizenship" -- I knew a dervish of his who was also a practicing Orthodox Christian, for example. When I myself after having taken hand with him, had powerful dreams drawing me to Christianity, he told me: "Then go and be a Christian dervish!" This is to let you know what kind of Muslim he was: to my mind, a true Muslim, utterly intoxicated with the love of God, seeing God everywhere and in everyone. And this book is a manifestation of that love and joy. Yes, sometimes it's just over the top: too much, too inebriated, yet "atom" that it is, it is a powerful testament to the reality and power of the spirit and to the grace that filled this Sheikh. When he died, with "Allah" on his lips, tribute was paid to him by Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, Muslims... If there is any antidote to the ills of Islamic extremism, perhaps it can be found in the pages of this book. Muslims, and all seekers, open your hearts to it.

this book was my first real initiation into the sufi tradition and it was a fortunate one.

what distinguishes this book from any other book on sufism that i have ever encountered, is that it has what the arabic-speakers call "baraka". that is, "blessing", a kind of spiritual energy that can permeate a person or a place.

this book, then, delivers not only infromation about the path, but a kind of energetic pull into the world of universal Islam and sufism.

medicine for what ails us in this era. Nur/Hixon must have known we would need it.

In this book you can find the real depth of Islam and Sufism and the organic connection between them. It's a kind of treasure chest, grounded in sound scholarship, in direct spiritual transmission from a lineage of Sufi shaykhs, and in decades of immersion in world religions, which the author considered to be different expressions of one reality. The book itself is more like a series of experiences than it is like reading *about* something. You may connect with some parts more than with others, which is fine; there are different gifts here for seekers of love and knowledge with different tastes and at different stages in their journeys.