Jim Fadiman and Robert Frager are psychologists and editors of Essential Sufism: From Rumi to Muhammed. On this one-hour conversation with Michael Toms, they discuss the mystical path of Islam — a 1,500-year tradition. At the core of Sufism is the heart's yearning to touch the divine in oneself and in others.
Fadiman and Frager talk about some of the key elements of this approach to God including its teaching stories, its emphasis upon the refinement of character, its definition of sin as forgetting, its rituals of remembrance, and its living tradition of teachers and students. Robert Frager, who is a dervish, discusses his initiation into a Sufi order and his appreciation of group practice (where chanting, breath work and movement are all part of the ritual). This brief dialogue serves as a fine introduction to contemporary Sufism and its manifold riches.