Reading the signs of the times, Nolan says, is prophetic work, and such work was integral to Jesus’ spirituality. We know this because Jesus recognized and spoke out against the oppressive assumptions, practices, and structures of the social and religious establishments of his time. He “turned their world upside down,” Nolan reminds us, and “the conflict that this created became so intense that in the end they killed him to keep him quiet.”
Jesus was not only a prophet, however; he was also a mystic, a person who longs to experience oneness with God. Because he was both mystic and prophet, Jesus, says Nolan, was rooted in a “mystico-prophetic spiritual tradition,” one embodied by the Jewish prophets who came before him and which lives on to this day in those whose perspectives and actions provide a powerful example of “prophesy and mysticism forming an inseparable whole.”
Vilayat Inayat Khan, son of renowned Sufi mystic and teacher Inayat Khan, reminds us that Sufism, like all mystical traditions, seeks first and foremost to awaken us to our oneness with God; or, in the words of A Course in Miracles teacher Marianne Williamson, to align us with the “living light.” Meditation, which involves cultivating stillness, plays an important role in this type of awakening and aligning.
Since around 2020 I have discovered that what most grounds and guides me in the mystico/prophetic tradition is my being both a student of A Course in Miracles (ACIM) and a seeker on the Sufi way, the “path of the heart.”
For quite some time now I’ve been reflecting on what Sufism and ACIM share in common. The short answer is that both of these systems of transformative thought share the same call: the total surrender to the Creator, the Beloved. Writes Clarice O’Bryan: “Both Sufism and The Course call one to go within and listen for the voice for God,” which is Love. This call has a profound mystical focus on non-separation, the ultimate illusion of the material world, and the realization of inner divine oneness.
With all of this in mind and heart, here are four core similarities shared by these two mystic traditions.
• The Illusion of Separation: Both traditions teach that the fundamental problem of human existence is the belief in separation from God or the Divine. ACIM states that separation is a dream-like error, while Sufism views multiplicity and ego-identity (nafs) as veils hiding the ultimate unity of reality (Tawhid) or Oneness of Being (Wahdat al-Wujud).
• Forgiveness and Inner Purification: ACIM centers its entire curriculum on forgiveness, which undoes the ego’s projections and grievances. Similarly, Sufism emphasizes tazkiya (purification of the heart) and the letting go of worldly illusions, anger, and egoic attachments so as to achieve spiritual clarity.
• Direct Experiential Knowledge: Both paths look past rigid external rules and dogmas to prioritize a direct, inner experience of the divine. Classical Sufism is the esoteric (bāṭin) heart of Islam, while universal Sufism is a resolute expression of the mystic heart of all the religions. For its part, ACIM operates as a self-study spiritual thought system that bypasses organized religious structures.
• Love as the Transforming Force: Both systems treat universal love as the ultimate healing power. Sufi poetry (like that of Rūmī) famously portrays divine love (ishq) as the dissolver of all boundaries, echoing ACIM’s premise that love is the only reality and fear is its absence.
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
THE SUFI PATH
• Sufism: Way of Love, Tradition of Enlightenment, and Antidote to Fanaticism
• Love, the Sufi Way of Being
• The Sufi Way
• A Precise Metaphysical Claim
• Sufism: A Call to Awaken
• Sufism: A Living Twenty-First Century Tradition
• Inayat Khan and the Sufi Message
• “Like a Stream Running Into the Ocean”
• Inayat Khan and the Heart of Sufism
• Inayat Khan on Mysticism
• In the Garden of Spirituality – Kabir Helminski
• As the Last Walls Dissolve . . . Everything is Possible
• Clarity, Hope, and Courage
• “Joined at the Heart”: Robert Thompson on Christianity and Sufism
• Doris Lessing on the Sufi Way
• In the Garden of Spirituality – Doris Lessing
• The Gorgeous One
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan and the Winged Heart
• Held in the Presence of God
• The Act of Surrender
• The Journey Home
• Living From the Heart
• Bismillah
• “Joined at the Heart”: Robert Thompson on Christianity and Sufism
• As the Last Walls Dissolve . . . Everything Is Possible
A COURSE IN MIRACLES
• A Course in Miracles: A Gift of Peace
• Why A Course in Miracles Is Not “New Age”
• Mysticism and Miracles
• Gifts of Abundance
• I Am One With the Beloved
• Being One With the Beloved, the Source of All Things
• Your Peace Is With Me, Beloved One
• Dwelling in Peace
• The Peace of God
• You Are My Goal, Beloved One
• Be In My Mind, Beloved One
• Stepping Out of Time and Resting Your Mind
• Resting in the Presence of the Beloved
• In the Stillness and Silence of This Present Moment
• The Beauty and Challenge of Being Present in the Moment
• Today I Will Be Still
• I Need Do Nothing . . . I Am Open to the Living Light
• Aligning With the Living Light
• An Expression of Humility
• Choosing to Awaken
• Choosing to Understand
• In the Garden of Spirituality – Marianne Williamson
Related Off-site Links:
Recalling Hazrat Inayat Khan and his Universalist Sufism – James Ford (Patheos, February 5, 2022).
Inayat Khan and Universal Sufism – Filip Holm (Let’s Talk Religion, December 8, 2024). The Sufi Concept of “Fana” – And Why Modern Psychology Is Only Just Catching Up – Ahmad Fatahillah (Medium, May 22, 2026).
3 Truths From A Course in Miracles That Inspire Inner Peace – Carolyn Jean Roney (The Huffington Post, December 6, 2017).
Heaven Is Real, Hell Isn’t: My Spiritual Journey Through Ego, Love and Seeking Out Peace – Aui’a Vaimaila Leatinu’u (Pacific Media Network, December 11, 2025).
Simply Consciousness: An Interview with David Hoffmeister – Claudia Navone (Thrive Global, July 3, 2019).
The Power of Your Thoughts and A Course In Miracles: An Interview with Marianne Williamson – Aubrey Marcus Podcast (December 24, 2024).
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