Kabir Helminski is a Shaikh in the lineage of Rumi, and co-director of The Threshold Society. His translations of Rumi and books on spirituality, Living Presence and The Knowing Heart, have been published in at least eight languages. In 2009 and subsequent years Kabir was named as one of the "500 Most Influential Muslims in the World" by the Royal Strategic Studies Center (Jordan). He has toured North America as Shaikh with the Whirling Dervishes of Turkey bringing Sufi culture to more than 100,000 people. His latest book is Holistic Islam: Sufism, Transformation, and the Needs of Our Time.

Other books:

Love's Ripening: Rumi on the Heart's Journey

The Rumi Daybook: 365 Poems and Teachings from the Beloved Sufi Master

Discussion of this interview in the Batgap Community Facebook Group.

Transcript of this interview.

Interview recorded November 28, 2017.

YouTube Video Chapters:

00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump

00:04:11 - Inspiration and Exploration in the 60s

00:10:06 - Working with Contemplative Teachers

00:15:31 - Sufism and Islam: Distinguishing Between the Two

00:20:47 - Sufism and its Practices

00:25:49 - The Prophet Muhammad's Revelation and the Quranic Language

00:31:26 - Sufism and the Value of a Teacher

00:36:17 - Embodiment of Non-Dual Reality

00:41:05 - The Growing Awareness of Embodied Enlightenment

00:44:32 - The Knowing Heart and Spiritual Development

00:48:16 - Transformation through Love and Acceptance

00:51:50 - The Healing Power of Whirling

00:55:46 - The Whirling Dervishes: A Profound Spiritual Practice

00:59:24 - The Power of Spiritual Energies

01:03:03 - The Whirling Ceremony and the Revelation in the Sufi Tradition

01:06:58 - Self-awareness and servanthood

01:14:09 - The Stupidity of Spending a Year Doing Worthless Things

01:17:34 - Finding Mercy in Pain and Suffering

01:25:17 - The Assimilation of Deeper Reality

01:29:03 - The Essential Self and the Personality Self

01:33:01 - Plugging into the Divine Energy

01:36:21 - The Qualitative Development of the Human Being

01:39:50 - The Beauty of the Ritual

01:43:02 - Disorganizing Higher Energies

01:46:39 - The Beauty of Islam's Rejection of Idols

01:50:14 - The Love and Strictness of a Parent

01:53:37 - The Presence Within Us

01:57:16 - The Nearness to God

02:00:19 - Concluding Remarks and Farewell