By Naila Amat-un-Nur

I am delighted to be here this evening, to share with you all some moments of insight and reflection that would hopefully bring us a little closer to the beating of the One, Universal Heart of Love, Harmony and Beauty.

The “War Against Terror” is a phrase that has gained remarkable currency in the last few years and what it is broadly understood to imply is a militant struggle against terrorists.

Here we are dealing with three key words which are: Terror, Terrorists and War. Politically speaking, terrorism is the use of violence or intimidation esp for political reasons, and so a terrorist would be defined as one who exercises the use of violence to intimidate. A common use dictionary defines war as an armed strife or a major struggle.

My talk tonight is not a political speech and nor is it an incendiary diatribe meant to stir up social activism, as the three afore-mentioned terms may have purported up till now. If I introduce here the fourth central term to our discussion , i.e mystic, then I would be inviting you to enter a rather unique and unconventional scope of understanding “war against terror”.

Let me quote here Jimi Hendrix who said, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”

Some of you may wonder what a word like terror has to do with a mystic. Mystics are generally known to be people who undertake self-surrender as a path to directly experiencing God and ultimately finding divine union. They are imagined to be sages with long white beards, staff in hand, in flowing robes, standing atop a mountain peak, presenting the very picture of enigma against the backdrop of a remote and rarefied atmosphere. If we choose to put aside this cinematic imagery that tries to fit a mystic into a description much like that of a biblical prophet, we can hope to find him/her right here in our midst, even inside this physical frame that holds our own being.

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