Words have always been, and always will be, a powerful way for humans to convey their thoughts and feelings to others. Yet despite so many ways to communicate, humans still live in a world very divided.

There are many ways for us to live in peace; why then do we choose to travel the tougher path?

Coexistence among individuals, groups, tribes, countries, has seemed almost unattainable for centuries. Conflict is an inevitable part of human life, but is up to us to choose whether we use it to grow as individuals or let its presence define us. Historically, movements have formed that tried to promote coexistence in certain societies. Europe had the ‘Peace of God’ movement in the tenth century, which aimed to stop war through promoting understanding between local people and the church. Much earlier, some say with pre-Islamic roots, possibly Egyptian, the movement of Sufism began to promote the ideas of peace and coexistence.

Sufism — also known by its Persian name, Tasawwuf — means sincerity. It is a path towards spiritual enlightenment and its practice is carried out by devout disciples. Sufism expands human awareness, increases perception. Scholars at the London School of Sufi Teaching have described the feeling of being immersed in Sufism as light flooding into a dark room. We humans live in the dark and see things uniformly. When light enters, the way we view everything changes and may even emerge as different people after the experience.

The intention of Sufism is to make us more aware of the existence and importance of life and death so that we may become closer to the Supreme Reality (that is, God). Sufism, said to have existed before any other religion, is commonly associated with Islam, although it actually predates Islam.

Towards the end of the 1st millennium CE, in the Islamic Arabian Empire, a band of Islamic mystics swept into the subcontinent from what is today Afghanistan and Iraq. Originating from Persia in the 10th century, the movement gained prominence during the 13th to 16th centuries in the subcontinent. The movement never aimed to promote a specific outcome. Instead, Sufis promoted coexistence amongst Hindus and Muslims.

One of Sufism’s tenants is to rid people of the artificial barriers that plague our world: race, ethnicity, religion. It proposes that humans can finally rid themselves of hatred by finding inner peace. Purifying oneself entirely of hatred is a difficult task, especially when sectarian violence between Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs was at its peak.

A famous Sufi poet, who went by the name of Jami, wrote:

Purify yourself of hatred and love of self.
Polish your mirror; and that sublime Beauty
From the regions of mystery
Will flame out in your heart
As it did for the saints and prophets.

Sufism teaches ways for people to focus their energy on more positive pursuits, abandon worldly gain, and focus on simplicity. Sufi practices include writing poetry, and folk-tales, singing, and producing music, and altering breathing patterns while meditating to maintain inner calmness and tranquility. Sufism covers every aspect of life and being. It promotes a synergy between all elements of life that go beyond human comprehension. Attempts to understand divine entities have shown to produce creative expression; poetry being its prime example. Sufi poetry, through its beautiful words and topics, details the abandonment of basic human characteristics, such as greed, ignorance, bigotry, and sin. Poems are designed to stir the soul.

Rumi was a poet renowned for his personal experience of God, and how living more simply strengthens our connection to God. Rumi produced a series of works on the subject, including "Be Lost in the Call":

Remember God so much that you are forgotten.
Let the caller and the called disappear;
be lost in the Call (of faith).

A common Sufi belief is that there are as many paths to God as there are souls on this earth and poetry is one of these paths. Poets live to create distinct universes with nothing but a pen. Artistic works aimed to help humans to find a connection to God are so strong that they rejuvenate the soul while simultaneously destroying it. I remember watching whirling dervishes, modern-day remnants of the Sufi movement, spinning in the middle of a pavilion. Men, dressed in woolen, coarse garments, spin. They spin madly, until they have reached a sense of disorientation that allows them to connect with a world beyond the existing one. They spin to the very same poetic verses that were written centuries before.

Spinning calls others to embrace the beauty of religion, to join those drunk on the idea of reaching spiritual purity as opposed to worldly gain and power. Dervishes spin and spin and spin, until there is nothing left but a showcase of their intense affection for God. Just as the message of Sufi poetry allows followers to abandon their misgivings and embark on a journey to happiness, love, and simplicity, so, too, does spinning. When I watched the dervishes, endlessly lost in their alternate realities, it clicked.

Sufism has continued to influence people centuries after the movement originated. It stayed relevant not through conquests or material wealth, but with its simplicity. The movement still achieves its purpose when mere spectators can learn from watching dervishes dance. Immortality is not a measure of how many people remember your name, but how many remember your love and devotion of something bigger than yourself.

After contact with Sufism, Hindus founded their own sect: the Bakhti movement. Formed about the same time period, it contained teachings that overlapped with Sufism, linking the same geography, heritage, and culture, which Sufi poetry depicted, to Hindu religion. It showed how Sufism could help develop human bonds through the smallest of things like poetry.

To me, every single aspect of Sufism is exciting, especially its simplicity. I think that finding love with the earthly elements that surround us, or the creator that crafted these elements, is possible. The teachings of Sufism help to give humans a sense of permanence, a sense of being. Sufi influence lives on in poetry and music, and in the lives of people who follow its path. The message of Sufism embodies the larger quest every individual must embark on: finding a place in this world.

The fact that I am a small, insignificant part of a big universe is a realization I have thought about for many years. By observing the tiniest of things, I find my sense of self-consciousness diminish. I look at street sweepers and wonder why some are stuck in endless cycles of poverty. I look at oppressed people and wonder why some people are oppressed and others are not.

I don’t have any answers. I don’t know why things are the way they are today. The world and all its phenomena are inexplicable things that probably leave most humans confused. Perhaps it is this mutual sense of mystery that brings us together in the darkest of times, that allows us to search for answers. Sufism does just that. It comforts me to know that even in ancient times, scholars and saints developed paths that led humans to find inner peace. That quest lives on.