Sufi Heart with Omid Safi

Ep. 36 – Re-Enchanting the World with Joshua Michael Schrei

Apr 10, 2025
Joshua Michael Schrei, podcaster, mythteller, and teacher of imaginative cosmologies, speaks about the pulse between ecstatic union and separation. He and Omid explore sensual spirituality, nature as spiritual teacher, balancing transcendence and immanence, longing as sacred fuel, and how lover-beloved imagination might re-enchant the world and inform compassionate activism.
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INSIGHT

Seeker Becomes The Sought In Mystical Love

  • Omid Safi emphasizes the mystical turn where the seeker becomes the sought, a perpetual shift between loving and being loved.
  • He quotes Yazid's image: God loved us since before time, reversing the seeker/seeked story.
ANECDOTE

Sufi Gardener Taught Spiritual Seasons

  • Omid Safi recounts a Sufi woman's gardening metaphor: spiritual life has seasons like trees that blossom, fruit, then rest.
  • She told his wife you can't hold spring forever; winter's rest replenishes the roots.
INSIGHT

Transcendence And Immanence Are Experiential Balances

  • Omid Safi distinguishes transcendence and imminence using divine names: al-Qarib (the Near) balances God's majesty with closeness.
  • He uses Rabia and Rumi stories to show the sense of already being inside God's presence.
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