💫 The 40 rules of love

Shams of Tabriz — Non-dual Reading & Resonance with A Course in Miracles

(based on the novel Soufi, My Love by Elif Shafak)

🌿 One word, a thousand reflections

Rereading Soufi, mon amour , I was once again touched by the depth and gentleness of these teachings transmitted through the figure of Chams of Tabriz.

But this time something different emerged: the desire to develop a reading with the eyes of the Holy Spirit .

Not that of mental analysis, but that of the heart. The one that sees beyond words, and recognizes Love in all its forms .

I often tell you: non-dual teachings are not specific to a single tradition.

They are found in Vedanta , Zen , Kabbalah , Taoism , Christian mystical writings such as those of Meister Eckhart , or even in the voice of Christ through A Course in Miracles .

Sufism , the mystical heart of Islam, is also a path of non-duality .

He does not seek to deserve God's love, but to merge with it, to disappear into Unity , to burn in Love.

It is a path of stripping away, beauty, silence and surrender.

In this sharing, I wanted to connect the 40 rules of Chams to the non-dual vision of the Course:

→ a direct , simple, lively reading

→ a resonance with a sentence or passage from A Course in Miracles

Because what is true is recognized everywhere.

And sometimes different paths pronounce the exact same peace.

🪷

The 40 Rules of Love

(Non-dual reading + echo of the Course)

1. “How you see God is a direct reflection of how you see yourself.”

You can only see God through what you believe yourself to be. The more you let go of the idea of being separate, the more you remember Love.

“Your image of your brother is what you believe God to be.” ( UCEM T-7.VII.10 )

2. “The way of truth is a work of the heart, not of the head.”

Truth is not attained: it is revealed. What you are is not thought—it is lived.

“The ego analyzes, the Holy Spirit accepts.” ( UCEM T-11.V.13 )

3. “Every reader understands the Quran at a different level.”

What you perceive from a text depends on the state of mind in which you read it. There is no absolute in form.

"It is not the message that you see, but the witness of your state of mind." ( UCEM T-21.V.1 )

4. “You can study God through everything, but if you really want to know Him, go into the heart of a sincere lover.”

It is living experience that reveals God, not concept. Pure Love is his voice.

“Love asks for nothing, and gives everything. ( UCEM L-127.4 )

5. “Intellect ties people up in knots, but Love dissolves all entanglements.”

The mind weaves illusion; Love undoes boundaries. One separates, the other unites.

“Love does not make distinctions. It is the forgetting of all differences. ( UCEM T-15.VII.10 )

6. “The world’s problems often stem from linguistic errors… what cannot be said can only be understood in silence.”

Silence does not translate: it reveals. It is the home of what you have never left.

"Truth cannot be described, it can only be known." ( UCEM T- 8.VI.9 )

7. “Loneliness and solitude are different… it is in the heart of another that we can truly see ourselves.”

The other is a mirror. There is only one heart, a thousand reflections.

“You see what you want to see, and that is always yourself.” ( UCEM L-181.1 )

8. “Be grateful…even for what has been denied you.”

Nothing is ever missing. What seems like a loss is a passage to peace.

“All things work together for your good.” ( UCEM T-4.V.1 )

9. “Patience is not passively enduring… it is seeing the rose in looking at the thorn.”

Forgiveness reveals beauty where the ego sees only resistance.

“I see all things as I want them to be.” ( UCEM L-17 )

10. “No matter which direction you walk… every journey is an inner journey.”

You're not going anywhere: you're remembering. Every step roots you in the Present.

“The journey to God is only an awakening.” ( UCEM T- 8.VI.9 )

11. “Pain is a messenger… it is the midwife of an inner birth.”

Suffering reveals a belief to be freed. It is not an enemy, but a call to light.

“Every illness is a form of unforgiveness.” ( UCEM M-5.II.2 )

12. “The search for love transforms you. The moment you begin to seek love, you begin to change.”

The seeker disappears into the Presence. What you seek, you already are.

“The Love you seek is what you are.” ( UCEM L-229 )

13. “Don’t try to resist the changes that come your way. Instead, let life live through you…”

All change is a dance of Being revealing itself. Letting go of the ego is letting the current of Love flow.

“Don’t fight against what you want to forget. Let Him love Himself in you.” ( ACIM)

14. “God is busy perfecting your work, both inwardly and outwardly… We are each an unfinished work of art.”

You are a work in progress. Every breath, every wrinkle, every choice weaves the Unity that you already are.

“You are the work of the Creator, nothing is lacking in your completion.” ( ACIM)

⚠️ Be careful not to read this with the eyes of the ego.

It is not about becoming “better,” nor is it about an external God correcting an imperfect creature.

What you are never needed to be perfected. This “completion” is the memory of your wholeness—the awakening of the dream, not a repair of reality.

“You are as God created you.” ( UCEM L-93 )

15. “It is so easy to love a perfect God… But to love imperfect humans is already true wisdom.”

Welcoming the other in their imperfection means remembering that there is no one else but you under another face.

“To forgive my brothers is to break the illusion and recognize my unity.” ( UCEM)

16. “True impurity is internal… Only hatred and intolerance defile the soul.”

The real dirt is the one we feed within ourselves. What appears external is only a call to Love.

“It is not the forms that are impure, but the thoughts that I carry about them.” ( UCEM)

17. “The entire universe is contained in a single human being… The devil is not external, he is an internal voice.”

Nothing external keeps you from the truth: everything comes from a dual belief. Only light is real.

“The only enemy is within me—to forgive is to set me free.” ( ACIM)

18. “If you want to change the way others treat you, start by treating yourself with sincere and complete love…”

Peace is not born of the world, but of your inner gaze. Become the peace you want to see around you.

“I cannot change the world, but I can change my thoughts about it.” ( UCEM)

19. “Don’t wonder where the road will take you. Focus on the first step… Be with the flow, don’t go against it.”

Infinity is always here, in every new breath. No destination needed, just a breath.

“The mind hungry for meaning forgets the moment—and that is where the miracle dwells.” ( UCEM)

20. “We were all created in His image… but also different. To respect differences is to honor God’s sacred plan.”

Each being is a unique expression of the one Love. Honoring these differences is celebrating unity in diversity.

⚠️ Read with caution.

God did not create differences, nor the diversity of forms. This world of contrast and separation is not his work—it is the dream of the sleeping Son.

But in this dream, recognizing the beauty in each reflection, honoring the forms without judging them, can be a valuable step in remembering Oneness.

The Holy Spirit can use differences without believing in them , to bring us back to that which never changes.

“God does not know your world. He has not lost himself in dreams.” ( UCEM T-11.VII.1 )

“Forgiveness does not just look at illusions… it looks at them, and chooses to see them differently.” ( UCEM W-pII.1.1-4 )

“Each form is a different reflection of my unity and peace.” ( UCEM)

21. “Do not worry about what you have become or what you are becoming. It is not you who change, but your veil that is lifted.”

You are not transforming, you are unveiling. The real You has always been there.

"Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists." ( UCEM, Introduction )

22. “The flames that consume your interior are there to purify, not to punish.”

Pain, welcomed, becomes a passage. It is never an attack, but a liberation.

“Suffering has no purpose. It is only a call to correction.” ( UCEM T-21.II.11 )

23. “Every human being is a sacred story. Don’t be fooled by appearances.”

You never really see anyone: you see a symbol. Go beyond the body, and you will see Christ.

“Do not look at your brother through the eyes of the body, but beyond, into his light.” ( UCEM T-20.V.5 )

No story is truly sacred, because all story belongs to the dream.

But in the dream, the gaze of the Holy Spirit can give every illusion a healing function.

It's not the story that's sacred, it's the light you choose to see through it .

Don't glorify the form, but go beyond it.

"The body has no function in itself. It signifies nothing." ( UCEM T- 20.VI.1 )

“Salvation is not found in changing the world, but in changing your view of it.” ( UCEM T- 21.in.1 )

24. “The most ordinary acts can contain the greatest wisdom if done with love.”

It is never the action that counts, but the vibration that carries it. Love makes everything holy.

"There is no hierarchy in miracles." ( UCEM T-1.I.1 )

25. “What you seek so fervently is what you have always been.”

There is nothing to find, just to stop forgetting.

"The Son of God has forgotten what he is, but he has not ceased to be it." ( UCEM T-31.V.16 )

26. “Let go of all ideas you have about God. He doesn’t need your image to exist.”

Destroy the idol you call God, and discover living Love.

“God is. There is nothing else.” ( UCEM L-169.5 )

27. “It is not the light that departs from you, but your gaze that turns away from it.”

You never lost the light. It was the dream that distracted you from it.

"The light has come." ( UCEM L-75 )

“Nothing can obscure the light of Love except the belief that it can be hidden.” ( UCEM T-11.III.3 )

28. “Even the shadow is made of light. You can only escape it by looking at it with love.”

Fear has no existence of its own. It vanishes as soon as it is seen with the vision of the Holy Spirit.

“Fear disappears when you no longer want it to be true.” ( UCEM T-2.II.7 )

The shadow is not real. It is only the fleeting belief in the absence of Love.

It does not require analysis, or even "looking at" in the psychological sense, but simply dissolution in the vision of forgiveness .

There is nothing to face, just to stop validating .

“The shadow you see has no cause. What you think you fear is not there.” ( UCEM T-28.II.7 )

"What you have done can be undone." ( UCEM T-5.V.6 )

29. “Love cannot be controlled. It blows where it wants.”

Love has no conditions. It is not to be handled, it is to be received.

“Love cannot be controlled, limited, or defined. It is what you are.” ( UCEM T-13.X.11 )

30. “The greatest sin is to believe that you are separate from Love.”

The only mistake is believing you have sinned. You have simply dreamed of another world.

"Nothing was done except in a dream." ( UCEM T-28.II.7 )

31. “Let the other be who he is. Don’t try to change him, see him with the eyes of Love.”

Forgiveness sees beyond form. It is your vision that heals, not the other.

“Forgiveness is the key to happiness.” ( UCEM L-121 )

32. “Every person you meet is an opportunity to love God.”

Everything you perceive is a chance to remember that only Love is real.

“Seeing Christ in your brother, you remember God.” ( UCEM T- 12.VI.4 )

33. 🔐

“It is not religion that opens hearts, it is love.”

Love is not dependent on any form. It knows no boundaries or dogmas. It is what you are, unconditionally.

“Love knows no laws of the world. It gives everything because it is everything.” ( UCEM L-127.4 )

34. “God is not a belief. He is the breath that flows through you, whether you like it or not.”

God is not an object of faith. He is your living Source , present beyond all thought.

“God is.” ( UCEM L-169.5 )

“You live and move in Him.” ( UCEM T-18.VIII.5 )

God is not a breath in a body, He does not need to pass through form. What you are lives in Him, outside of time and biology.

35. “To forgive is to set the prisoner free… only to find that the prisoner was you.”

Forgiveness doesn't set the other free—it awakens you to what you never lost .

“Forgiveness is the way I acknowledge that what my brother did did not actually hurt me. ( UCEM L-134.7 )

36. “Love reveals what you hide from yourself.”

Love brings unconscious beliefs to light. It never condemns , but gently looks at what the ego wanted to bury.

“Love does not look to judge, but to bless.” ( UCEM T-12.VII.8 )

Love doesn't reveal "your shadows" to heal them—it dissolves the idea that there is anything to hide .

This is not a psychological work, but an innocent vision.

37. “Be light, even in the shadows.”

You are not the form that passes through the darkness. You are the light that nothing can touch .

“You are the light of the world.” ( UCEM L-61 )

“The light is in you, even if you refuse it.” ( UCEM T-8.III.1 )

38. “You cannot love God without loving others.”

There is no such thing as "others" and no such thing as God. What you offer to your brother, you offer to your Self.

“In your brother you see your salvation.” ( UCEM T-19.IV.D.12 )

“Love your brother as you would like to be loved.” ( UCEM T-8.III.6 )

39. “Love is the ultimate religion.”

Love is not a path, it is the foundation of all reality . It is not learned, it is recognized.

“Love is what you are, not what you do.” ( UCEM T-16.V.12 )

"Nothing real can be threatened." ( UCEM, Introduction )

40. “Don’t try to understand love. Live it.”

The mind cannot grasp Love. It is experienced where the “I” is silent , in the pure moment of Being.

"You cannot understand what you are, but you can accept it." ( UCEM T-18.III.6 )

“It is impossible to define love, because Love is all there is.” ( UCEM T-13.X.11 )