Knowledge is at the core of things; and to understand certain ideas, first you have to have knowledge of those ideas. Those ideas have to be presented to you somehow. In order to conceptualize the ideas, you have to have them. And often you need methodology to be able to conceptualize ideas. And there’s lots of different methodologies.
The most often referred to methodology of mystical understanding within Sufism is the image of the mirror and the mirror being brought in front of you so that you can see the different parts of yourself. Now, this mirror is not the mirror that we think of when we comb our hair. This mirror comes in human form, and it is the Sheikh or the teacher who you’ve somehow gotten to know who’s presented in front of you and who contains the qualities that he’s trying to teach. And in seeing these qualities in a manifest form before you, you are able to make the transferral from him to you.
