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It is not a system because it never gives any complete explanation about anything. It gives only very,
very small hints, flashes of insight. It does not spin and weave philosophies; it spins and weaves
stories, anecdotes, metaphors, parables, poetry. It is not metaphysics, it is metaphor. It is a finger
pointing to the moon. You cannot understand the moon by analyzing the finger. But if you follow the
direction with sympathy, if you fall EN RAPPORT, then you will come to see the moon. The finger is
not the moon, the finger cannot be the moon, yet the finger can point the way.
The Sufi stories are not philosophical. They are just gentle hints, whisperings. Sufism does not
shout, it only whispers. Naturally, only those who are ready to listen with sympathy – not only with
sympathy. but empathy – only those who are ready to open their hearts in trust and in surrender
can understand what Sufism is. Only those who are capable of love can understand what Sufism is.
What is its message? It is not a logical analysis; neither is it as illogical as Zen. Sufism says to be
logical is one extreme, to be illogical is another. Sufism is just somewhere in the middle, neither logic
nor illogic. It does not lean to the left or to the right. It is not absurd. It is not logical like Socrates
and it is not absurd like Bodhidharma. It says Bodhidharma and Socrates only look different, but
their approaches are the same. In fact Bodhidharma is more logical than Socrates; that’s why he
stumbles into illogic. If you go on following the line of logic sooner or later you come to a point where
you see logic is finished, but the journey continues. Bodhidharma is a Socrates who has gone the
whole way and has come to that borderland where logic stops but life continues. Bodhidharma looks
different but the approach is Socratic; it is intellectual. Zen is very much against intellect, but to be
against intellect is still to be intellectual. Zen is anti-philosophy, but to be anti-philosophical is to be
philosophical: that is YOUR philosophy. Sufism avoids the extremes. It follows the middle, the exact
middle, the Golden Mean.