In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, Dave interviews a special guest while in Oman, south of Dubai. Abdul Hayy Lammert Holdijk shares his profound life story of adventure, spirituality seeking, questioning tradition and teaching others.
Born in Holland, Abdul lived in Germany and attended universities in the U.S. and London. His travels as a young man took him to Sri Lanka, Beirut, and Damascus, where he found his “home” in a mosque with a Sufi sheikh who spoke English.
He has been a follower of a Sufi path for the past 40 years, studying religion and consciousness with a hefty dose of pragmatism. Abdul taught at the American University in Beirut for several years, and then at the American University in Cairo for 35.
“Almost all what we would call the mystical traditions are embedded in an Orthodox tradition,” Abdul says. “And that has a reason. Religion is like a shell, like a Walnut. It's rigid, it's inflexible, but it protects what's inside. And the inside is the mystical tradition. It's what gives meaning and flavor and nourishment. And if you had the inside without the shell, it would just simply flow away. It would not survive.”
“One of the first things I read about Zen Buddhism that appealed to me was Burn the Sutras,” he continues. “It's only later that I understood, you go to have sutras to burn, right? And so the tradition are the sutras and yes, the inner tradition does burn that rigidity, but it doesn't burn it completely. Because the tradition provides the way, kind of resistance to your ego. And the ego is persistent.”
Abdul also founded the Egyptian Society of Homeopathy and teaches courses to other international homeopathy organizations.
He lectures on topics including the Enneagram, Shadow Work, Voice Dialogue, Love, Dream interpretation, Jekyll and Hyde, Hayy Ibn Yaqzan, and a wide range of other topics related to consciousness and personality development. He also leads spiritual retreats in Lebanon, Egypt, Oman, and the surrounding region.
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