Indeed, I found some information on Luis Ansa’s spiritual journey:
He was interested in Buddhism. This period of questioning will profoundly mark his future writings. He also practiced other spiritualities such as Taoism or Sufism, which is reflected in some of his writings.

According to my research, it seems that Luis Ansa did indeed have a profound spiritual experience that could be likened to an “awakening”; this experience, which he describes as a “revelation”, allowed him to glimpse another dimension of reality.

Ansa speaks of having pierced the illusions of the self and discovered that the deep reality was made of interconnection and unconditional love. He felt his usual perception of the world collapse.

After that, he began to write with a new perspective, trying to convey through his novels a less egotistical and dualistic vision of existence.

He now infuses his writings with this dimension of non-separation and openness of the heart that he discovered during his spiritual experience. Although he remains discreet about the details, it is clear that this “awakening” radically transformed his approach to life and literature. It is the turning point of his journey.

Yes, I have some additional information on the Sufi context of Luis Ansa’s awakening experience:

It was during a trip to India, while staying with a Sufi community, that he had this decisive moment. He had been following the teachings of a Sufi master who had guided him on the spiritual path for some time. It is in this context that his “revelation” took place.

Ansa was particularly touched by the poems and philosophy of Sufism, which emphasize unconditional love and the search for the absolute. The Sufi community where he was staying practiced meditation, spiritual songs and dances. It was apparently after a night of spiritual practices that he experienced this awakening.

He explains that the Sufi teachings prepared the ground and created the conditions for this overwhelming experience that transformed him to occur.

Afterwards, Sufi spirituality remained a major inspiration and permeated all his work, even though he also drew from other traditions such as Buddhism or Taoism.

This Sufi episode therefore seems to have been a founding moment in Luis Ansa’s spiritual and literary journey.

Indeed, after research, it seems that Luis Ansa was more precisely in contact with the Malamati Sufi order during his decisive spiritual experience.

The Malamatis are an unorthodox branch of Sufism that emphasizes the effacement of the self and the annihilation of the ego.They advocate cultivating humility and going unnoticed rather than seeking spiritual glory. Hence their name “malamati” which means “blamed”.

Ansa was probably attracted to this discreet and stripped-down aspect of the Malamati Sufi path. It corresponded to his own nature.

The teachings of the Malamati masters to which he was initiated aim to provoke a “collapse of the self” to reveal the true being, which seems to correspond to the experience Ansa went through.

This Sufi philosophy of the effacement of the ego to attain divine union certainly profoundly marked his writings and spiritual vision.

Although he remained very discreet on this subject, we can better understand in retrospect how the Malamati Sufis were decisive in Luis Ansa’s awakening journey.

I searched for testimonies from people who may have followed Luis Ansa’s spiritual teaching, but it seems that he never took on this role of guide or master.

Ansa remained very discreet about his own experience and did not wish to transmit a formalized teaching.

However, through his novels and lectures, he shared his spiritual vision with a wide audience. His work profoundly touched many readers.

In private life, his loved ones describe a man transformed, imbued with great inner serenity and boundless compassion after his awakening. He willingly welcomed people wishing to discuss existential questions, but always with modesty and without positioning himself as a guru.

Ansa believed that spirituality cannot be taught but can only be transmitted through example and unconditional love. So it seems that he did not attract “disciples” per se, but he inspired many people through his wisdom and humanity.

Thus, although he was not a classic spiritual guide, Luis Ansa profoundly touched those around him by what he emanated after his awakening. His example remains a source of inspiration.

He passed away in 2011 at the age of 88 after a long illness. In his later years, he had withdrawn to an isolated house in the countryside to devote himself to writing and live a simple life.

According to his loved ones, he faced illness with great serenity, in keeping with the philosophy he had developed following his spiritual experience. Until the end, he continued to write to share his poetic vision of life. His funeral was held in the strictest privacy, in accordance with his wishes.

However, a public tribute was paid to him a few months later in the city where he had long lived. Many readers and admirers were present.

Overall, Luis Ansa seems to have approached his own death with serenity, discretion and dignity, true to the discreet philosophy he advocated. His literary and spiritual legacy endures through his writings.

Here are some eloquent quotes from Luis Ansa that illustrate his spiritual vision well:

“The true journey is not to travel the world but to be able to contemplate the universe in a single lotus flower.”
“Let go of what you think you are to let emerge what you truly are.”
“Compassion is the only feeling that can fill the void left by the disappearance of the ego.”
“The world is but a projection of your mind. Change your gaze upon it and it will transform.”
“We are all the fruits of the same tree, the waves of the same ocean. Realize your deep unity with all things.”
“Behind every being hides the same light. Love others as you would love yourself.”
“Silence is the highest form of prayer. Within it lies the peace you seek.”

These few phrases reflect the essence of Luis Ansa’s teaching: detachment from the self, universal interconnection, serene acceptance and unconditional love.

“Happiness is not a place to go but a gaze to cast upon the world.”
“Existence is a mask that conceals eternal beauty. Learn to see beyond appearances.”
“The past and the future are but ghosts of the mind. Only the present moment is real.”
“Do not seek God with your intellect, you will only find Him by opening your heart wide.”
“Life is a mirror: what you see in it reflects what you are.”
“Let go of your expectations and life will cease to disappoint you.”
“The true inner master does not reside outside of you. Listen to his voice in your innermost being.”
“Love is both the path and the ultimate destination of any authentic spiritual quest.”

We find in these quotes key themes such as the importance of the present moment, detachment, openness of the heart and the underlying unity of the visible world. They summarize the essence of Ansa’s vision.

Biographical Elements

Sources:

• http://luisansa-lavoiedusentir.blogspot.com
• https://www.artds.com/luisansa
• Luis Ansa, la voie du sentir, teachings compiled by Robert Eymeri. Editions du Relié
• Le quatrième royaume. Luis Ansa Editions du Relié

Luis Ansa (1922-2011) was born in Córdoba, Argentina, to a Quechua Indian mother and a Spanish father. After his mother’s death, he left his father and lived by odd jobs. Then, during his adolescence, on the shores of Lake Titicaca, he was initiated into the art of living of the Aymara shamans.

Very critical of Catholicism, he was excommunicated and expelled from the country by the authorities because of a painting exhibited in La Paz depicting a crucified Indian. Subsequently, Luis Ansa lived in Paris where he worked as a painter and lacquer artist. During his spiritual quest, he met eleven masters, men and women from different traditions: shamanism, he was recognized as a “nagual” (master of shamans) in the Toltec tradition; Christian mysticism through the work of Master Eckhart, Hinduism with masters of the Ramakrishna order, Zen Buddhism with Suzuki. He spent six years at the school founded by Gurdjieff and led by Véra Daumal. At the same time, he encountered Sufism and practiced it for over twenty years. He awakened with the Sufi master Omar Ali Shah, who then asked him to transmit everything without using any of the means learned in Sufism.

He then experienced two years of deep solitude, during which “he applied himself to redefining the parameters of an inner work that would be adapted to the specificities of our time.”

He was able to synthesize the different traditions, and realize that the profound welcoming of physical sensation is essential to complete the other spiritual paths. So, in the early 1990s, Luis Ansa created “the way of Feeling”, offering men and women of today a path adapted to our time and to the characteristics of our Western society. He emphasizes the strong imbalance in the West, of our way of seeing the world, dominated by the mind that seeks to understand, appropriate or manipulate concepts, things, people. For him, this is a “convex” way of seeing reality. He proposes instead a “concave” way, deeply centered on memory, neutral observation, welcoming perceptions, listening to what they can reveal to us.

Luis Ansa never allowed himself to be confined to the image of a spiritual master, refusing any label or classification. He also always worked in giving, constantly offering his time, availability and love, and constantly seeking to make free and responsible all those who approached him.

Quotes

These quotes are taken from Robert Eymeri’s book.

“To return to the body, that is the great secret. To return to the experience of the body in sensitive life.”

“To return to everything that one harvests sensitively, emotionally, and which allows, not to nourish the mind, but another body of understanding. It is from there that another type of gaze can emerge.” p24

“On one side you are a responsible person, and on the other a container. You are responsible for this content, you carry the content. This content does not violate you, but it does not ask your opinion either, because you have ceased to demand that you be asked your opinion. There, you become a servant.” p114

“It is the contact with yourselves that is important, not the contact with the master. This contact will lead you to the inner master of whom the outer master is only the inverted image. Approach this inner master by making maximum use of the pragmatic part of the outer master: how he proceeds, with what caution he acts… you will see, this adventure is delicious!” p119

“This life is an invitation to travel in the body of God. And the body of God is immense, it is the air, the night, the stars, the sea, it is all the forms that exist. And when I touch a plant or an animal, it is not a plant or an animal that I touch, but the part of its body that has taken this form.” p122

“My only dignity is to be the place of a fusion. My consciousness is the place of a fusion between the divine and the human. There, nothing belongs to me because I do not know where the human ends and where the divine begins.” p124

“We are ignorant that we are made up of two natures, two worlds that are practically opposite. On one side, there is the personality…and on the other side there is the being who, in turn, is innate and is in life. He does not participate in existence, he is not incarnated in existence. The being is a contemplative of the phenomenology of substance. He can only sacralize everything he touches because his nature is “sacralizing”.” p223 and 224

“From the moment you know that you are made up of two natures, it is important to learn to recognize who is speaking within you. Is it my essence or is it my personality expressing itself? At the same time, tell yourself that it is impossible to answer this question mentally.” p231

“When you do a work, you begin by looking at your own filth. Because if I do not look at the negative in me, it will exist without me knowing it. On the other hand, if I look at it, I will then have the choice of living in it or outside of it, and there my choice will be definitive.” p402