Fragments of a Love Story: Reflections on the Life of a Mystic

Very satisfied with every aspect of your service.Denise Tipping

"Fragments of a Love Story" is a collection of essays and reflections on Sufi mysticism or the mystical tradition of Islam. Specifically, though, it is a set of writings by a western Sufi with relatively little of the flavor of the Sufi lands farther to the east, although the book does contain fascinating quotes from earlier Sufis and references to their writings. Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee is British-born and more recently has been living and teaching in the United States.As the title suggests, the flavor of the book throughout is a love story between humans and God: there is the longing for God, the anguish of absence or separation, and the almost erotic ecstasy of union with "the Beloved". The book describes a life journey toward an ever deeper relationship with God. Each section has a brief introduction describing it.I read the last essay, "Where the Two Seas Meet", in a periodical, which stimulated my ordering the book. This section is based on the story, in Sura 18 of the Qur'an, of the meeting of Khidr and Moses and the failure of Moses, the human, adequately to hear and accept the divine message of one of "Our servants unto whom We have given mercy". The essay carries the theme of the whole book--the point of meeting of the divine and human realms where a vision is given of the underlying unity of creation and which serves as a point of pilgrimage back to that vision--and therefore carries a metaphor uniting the whole book.This story of Khidr also points beyond the Qur'an and Islam since it probably refers to an older religious tradition in the Middle-East. That is in some ways appropriate. Vaughan-Lee in various places in the book makes reference to Christianity and even Buddhism. Together all such references suggest that mysticism brings religious traditions rather close, where the doctrinal manifestations of the different religions tend to separate them."Fragments of a Love Story" is warmly-written and honest. It is probably neither a good introduction to Islam nor to mysticism as such, but it is a good set of reflections on both for those who might wish to explore either more deeply.

This is Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee's spiritual autobiographical piece. I loved it, plain and simple. Perhaps most interesting are his reflections on what it means to be a teacher taking on responsibility for spiritual seekers. The path of love can be difficult, but one perseveres.

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee poetically and beautifully writes of his very personal story. Clearly a work of love, which he so very graciously shares with us all. A book to be re-read for further insights on this tremendous journey - both his and ours.

AMAZING AUTHOR!!!