From Gnostic.org
by Walter H. Bowart, Editor
Tucson, Arizona, 1972
Forward for This is the New Age in Person
Lectures Inspired by St. Paul’s ‘First Epistle to the Corinthians
The first thing that struck me about Samuel L. Lewis (called Murshid, or teacher, by his disciples) was his deep humanness. He had a gruff manner behind which shone a mischievous smile and quick wit. For all practical purposes, this was a man of the world, yet somehow a man of deep religious experience.
His favorite musical comedies were those of Gilbert and Sullivan, which he used to sing in doubletime at parties. If Murshid had been billed as a stand-up comedian, he would have packed them in, and yet, because he came representing the spiritual path, hardly anyone knew whether to laugh or not — so many just sat at his public lectures in self-righteous disbelief. Few during his lifetime could see his spiritual gifts through his humor. Now, after his death, many of his most devoted disciples don’t remember his great humor for his spiritual gifts.
A few quotes from the book
“And this is what is going on, so that I’m totally bored with the news; I’m totally bored even with detective stories. So, to be sanctimonious and nice, which I have no intention of being, I’m not bored with the scriptures.”
“And those of you who are strangers to me, I want to tell you, and it can shock you or not:
I very seldom pray. And the reason is, the prayers are answered. This makes me very, very serious. It’s all right to say, “Ask and ye shall receive,” but when it happens–
ask and you receive–you become very cautious. “
“Al-Ghazzali, who is one of the great writers of Sufism, says, “Sufism is based on experiences and not on premises.” “
“Now I’m going to start out with an interpretation of the Lord’s prayer: Our Father, Who are in
Shemayim (which means the world of Universal sound), Hallowed be Thy
Shem (which not only means
Name, but each sound, each thing that you get from God is Hallowed). The whole mystical Judaism is based on meditating on this phrase (
Shem…), although the Christian religion doesn’t realize this. “
“You know Mohammed wrote the Quran, the sacred book of the Moslems. Whether he got it from God or not doesn’t make any difference for our purposes, and every Sura begins “Bismillah er-Rahman, er-Rahim”–“In the Name of Allah, Who is Mercy and Compassion.” Then after you say that you can throw mercy and compassion out the door and you must never refer to them again or people won’t like it. Yet, if you read the works of Mohammed, these things are all he was ever talking about.”
“Love doesn’t mean emotion; it doesn’t mean ignorance; it doesn’t mean intellect; it means LOVE. And when you begin to work in this field of heart you begin to find that we’re working in the world that God wishes us to be in, because that is the center of our own being:”