Spirit of Guidance
The Holy Spirit is referred to in terms of the Spirit of Guidance. This spirit is particularly manifest in the prophets of the world's religions as well as being manifest in all beings. This belief has parallels in Quakerism (that of God in everyone, and the Inner Light) and the concept of Buddha Nature.
In the Hadiths the Islamic prophet Muhammad stated that believers should "Seek knowledge even unto China," and this dictum is specifically followed by Universal Sufis who do not limit their source of spiritual knowledge to one particular area or tradition.
Therefore most historical figures, including both founders of great world religions as well as secular individuals, are considered to be important teachers, worthy of respect. Zia Inayat-Khan, the Pir of the Sufi Order International was, during his training, a student of the Dalai Lama as well as an initiate in the Chishti Sufi order.
Read more about this topic: Universal Sufism
Famous quotes containing the words spirit and/or guidance:
“For the most part, the best man’s spirit makes a fearful sprite to haunt his grave.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Even healthy families need outside sources of moral guidance to keep those tensions from imploding—and this means, among other things, a public philosophy of gender equality and concern for child welfare. When instead the larger culture aggrandizes wife beaters, degrades women or nods approvingly at child slappers, the family gets a little more dangerous for everyone, and so, inevitably, does the larger world.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (20th century)