In the Sufi Tradition, the state of fana is sometimes described as self-extinction in God, and is thought to be achievable (by grace) through meditative Dhikr.
“Its beginning is only with the tongue, then comes invocation with the heart with effort; then comes invocation with the heart naturally; then comes possession of the heart by the Invoked and the effacement of the invoker.”
“Invocation is an inner reality in which the Invoked takes possession of the heart while the invoker is effaced and vanishes. But it has three coverings, one closer to the kernel than the others. The kernel as such is beyond the three coverings, yet the virtue of the coverings lies in their being the way to the kernel.”
“This is fana, that a man be extinguished from himself.”
– Ibn Ata Allah Al-Iskandari, The Key to Salvation and the Lamp of Souls
“Know that there are four degrees of Remembrance (of God): The first is that it be with the tongue while the soul is inattentive. The effect of this is weak, but it is still not without some effect, for the tongue that is busy with service is better than the tongue that is busy with foolishness or left in idleness. The second is that it be in the soul, but not established firmly and dwelling (in it). It is as though the soul must be constrained to do it, so that if there were no (conscious) effort and constraint, the soul would, from inattention and the whisperings of the self, revert to its normal nature. The third is that in which the remembrance is resident, established, and dominant in the soul, so much so that there is no more need for importuning. This is tremendous! The fourth is that in which the Remembered – and that is God Most High – overwhelms the soul, not the remembrance. There is a difference between him whose entire soul loves the Remembered and him who loves the Remembrance. Rather, the perfection of that is that the remembrance and the awareness of the remembrance go from the soul, leaving the Remembered and nothing else… When one becomes immersed thus, one forgets oneself and all there is, save God Most High. One arrives at the beginning of the way of mysticism. This state is called by the Sufis ‘annihilation (of the self).’ It is also called ‘non-existence (of the self).’”
– Al-Ghazzali, On the Remembrance of God Most High
“In contemplative prayer, the inner intellect or spirit, which is itself a Divine Spark to which Meister Eckhart refers when he says that there is in the soul something uncreated and uncreatable… is able to transcend the I-Thou dichotomy altogether. This faculty is able to plunge into the Supreme Reality and, in drowning in the Ocean of Divinity, to know it.”
“As human beings, we have the ability to reach the state of extinction and annihilation and yet have consciousness that we are nothing in ourselves and that all being belongs to God. We can reach a state of unitive consciousness prior to bifurcation into object and subject.”
– Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Garden of Truth