That Which Transpires Behind That Which Appears

An exploration of life through the process of retreat.
In this enlightening work, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan urges us to consider a retreat as a rehearsal for life. He uses the powerful example of a memorable three-day retreat—one that integrates deep meditation practices with discourses on the nature and interrelationship of spirituality, the universe, and everyday life in the world—to illustrate and educate. “Discover yourself by becoming, by doing. The retreat situation marks a halt in which we step out of our normal mode of existence in order to reflect upon our lives and gain more clarity and, ultimately, become more aware of what our real objective is in life. A retreat is an opportunity for a lot of reflection, a time to explore those skills which will open up faculties that we are not using and insights of which we are not aware.”

Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan (1916 -2004) was the eldest son of Sufi Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan and Ora Ray Baker. As his father’s successor, Pir Vilayat served as head of the Sufi Order International for fifty years. Born in London, England, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan was educated at the Sorbonne, Oxford, and L’École Normale de Musique de Paris. During World War II he served in the British Royal Navy on a minesweeper and participated in the invasion at Normandy. His sister, Noor-un-nisa Inayat Khan served in the French Resistance as a radio operator and was executed at Dachau. After the war, Pir Vilayat pursued his spiritual training by studying with masters of many different religious traditions throughout India and the Middle East. While honoring the initiatic tradition of his Sufi predecessors, Pir Vilayat continually adapted traditional Eastern spiritual practices in keeping with the evolution of Western consciousness, psychology, and science. He initiated and participated in many international and interfaith conferences promoting understanding and world peace.