Stephen Hirtenstein

A dervish, darvesh, darwēsh, or darwīsh (Persian: درویش, romanized: Darwēš) is a Muslim who seeks salvation through ascetic practices and meditations. It can refer to an individual or to a member of a Sufi order (tariqah). Their focus is on the universal values of love and service, deserting the illusions of ego (nafs) to reach God. This is usually done by performing a lifestyle which decreases bodily function to a minimum in order to attain what would be called "esoteric knowledge" in Western t…