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

"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!!!

I have read all of Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee's books, and found many of them valuable. But this is the first one in which I have experienced him baring his soul and truly sharing from the heart his experience as a student and teacher on the Mystical Path. His autobiography,  The Face Before I Was Born: A Spiritual Autobiography  came the closest, but this book is far more intimate and far more mature. Indeed, the only comparable book by a westerner that I know is his teacher's spiritual autobiography,  Daughter of Fire: A Diary of a Spiritual Training with a Sufi Master , and even that doesn't show Mrs. Tweedie after she had time to mature in what she had been given.In this book, Vaughan-Lee shares the experience of following the path of mystical love to the place beyond the "I". At times he grapples with the questions this raises--what is the real nature of a lover's journey back to God? Who makes this journey? Who is the "I" who has mystical experiences? And what is its relationship to the Divine that encompasses everything? But he never approaches these questions either from an intellectual perspective nor based on another's teachings or tradition, but instead makes a huge effort to share those ineffable states far beyond our ordinary consciousness.At the same time, he is part of a definite tradition, and is fully embedded within its grace and its discipline. This makes him very different from westerners like Eckhart Tolle or Richard Moss, who have had spontaneous transformation experiences, but do not have the container or the gift of a teacher, a tradition, a given set of practices and disciplines, and the safety of those structures in passing what they have received on to others.As with Mrs. Tweedie's book, beginners on the path may be startled at his references to pain and suffering as part of the path. Those seeking a Pollyanna "it's all sweetness and light" approach towards spirituality won't find it here. But for people willing to confront their own shadow and wishing to go deeper than superficial bliss, this book is a must-read.

"Fragments of a Love Story" reads like a diary. Seemingly random selections of joyous or painful insights within the theme of mystical love, arranged chronologically over the course of the last 15 years or so. A bit about what it means to be both a teacher and wayfarer on the ancient path of Sufism. But more, a simple and honest portrayal of a consciousness at specific moments in time: a vulnerable attempt to describe the nearly indescribable.The book is a portrait of a modern-day mystic's experience of life in a civilization that, as a whole, doesn't recognize the Sacred. Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee suggests that within the world of matter exists the light of the Divine, already present and waiting to be recognized. One of those wonderfully organized books that is a complete read from cover to cover, and yet no less complete when I randomly select a chapter.I have known and followed Llewellyn and his work over the course of these writings, and find "Fragments of a Love Story" to be a more personal expression on the theme of his work. Many thanks to him and the Golden Sufi Center for taking the time to share these thoughts, and bring them together in this lovely book.

Very satisfied with every aspect of your service.Denise Tipping

Beautiful, inspired, divinely human.

A beautiful book