My God, You are my Goal and Your Good Pleasure is my Aim.
~Muhammad, blessings upon him

We welcome your reflections on this theme.

~ Lori Wood [Fes, Morroco]

Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem

As preparation for these reflections on this month’s theme, this passage presented itself:

What Do You Love?

Someone asked one of Mevlana’s disciples, “What do you see in Mevlana that has inspired you to become his student?”
       He answered, “What more could I want than this—that I am associated with him and that they call me by his name—‘so and so-uddin Mevlevi.’ What could be better than that my name is connected to his? My soul is in love with his soul, so it moves with affection near him and is one of his friends. The secret contained in the proverb, ‘Someone who loves a people is one of them’ has become real for me. This is a result of the favor he has bestowed on me, and from the pull of his presence. Truly, all bounty is in God’s hand alone—He grants it unto whomever He wills [57:29].
        “As it was said:

The worth and glory of a lover
is determined by the object of his love.
O bewildered lover!
See what rank you have attained!(1)

Is what attracts our attention in keeping with the true object of our love? To attain to such a state . . . Inshallah.

How many of these reminders there are, but how difficult it is to safeguard the heart in a world so full of distractions! Everywhere, there are openings for action. The garden table outside is covered in a thin film of dust. There are spent blooms on the dahlia. The creeping thyme has overtaken the lavender. Where are my pruners? There are many things that seem to need doing in this world of forms. If we are scanning the garden for things that need doing, we will be in incessant action, constantly striving to prepare the garden for the ever-more-distant moment when one might actually sit in it, quiet, and listen for the Beloved.

Meanwhile, the reminders in the garden are everywhere, for those who see. Every growing, silent thing is praising that Beloved. Even the stones ringing the apple tree. Oh, to be able to see, to be a sprig of basil in the sun, imbued with fragrance but safe from language. Tasks. The drive to get things done. What quiet, to settle fixed in the sunlight, and to understand from Whom that sunlight comes.

For this one, sitting in the yellow afternoon light, attempting stillness, must fight off the sight of the panes of the leaded-glass window, dusty both inside and out. The urge to jump up and deal with them, as though inner clarity would finally result from that polishing. All these years scrubbing at the world and waiting for it to come clean so I can rest, myself clarified, in it. Be aware of what attracts your attention.

Years of reminders speak from slips of paper gathered and posted around the house. Against the worn marbled endpapers of a planner: “Whatever it is you wish to marry, Go, immerse yourself in that beloved.” (2) Taped to a wall over the desk: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” (3). Clipped from an old mailing: “A thousand half-loves must be forsaken to take one whole heart home.” (4) Fading in old fountain pen and taped to a file box: “We are what we repeatedly do,” (5) and “The heart can only face in one direction.” (6)

And the Beloved provides special reminders: preliminary encounters with our end. Safeguard your heart. Notice. For some of us, every reminder wears off, and this is our state.

This one relies on Mercy. Relies on remembering what ship this one is so fortunate to be on. And faith that it is enough to be on the ship with the true hearts. Even if this one is asleep on the deck. Faith that Mercy will sweep us up with the awake. Clinging to the rope of God by waiting with the lovers.

Notice. Safeguard your heart.

~ Lori Wood lives in Fes, Morocco and Royal Oaks, California. She is the coordinator of Nawat Fes, the artist residency program of the American Center in Fes.

1. Camille Adams Helminski and Susan Blaylock, trans., Rumi and His Friends: Stories of the Lovers of God (Excerpts from the Manaqib al-‘Arifin of Aflaki (Fons Vitae, 2013), 75–76.
2. Mevlana, Masnevi, Book I, 3605 (translator unknown).
3. Annie Dillard, The Writing Life (Harper Perennial, 1989).
4. Mevlana, from Rumi, Words of Paradise: Selected Poems of Rumi, ed. Abdulla Rafico (Viking Studio, 2000).
5. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World’s Greatest Philosophers (Pocket Books, 1991), summarizing Aristotle.
6. Scott Kugle, trans., The Book of Illumination by Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari (Fons Vitae, 2005), attributed to Shaykh Abu Madyan.

The Way of Mary, Maryam, Beloved of God is now available in Arabic through Rewayat.

Continuing to be available in English through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and local bookstores when requested, including Wardah Books in Singapore.

The Way of Mary, Maryam, Beloved of God is a weaving of strands from ancient sources, traditional stories, poetry, and prayers of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, and beyond (with full colour illustrations), to reveal, through the illuminated being and twelve life stations of Beloved Mary, the palpable Oneness of all Creation, our Oneness in Spirit. Drawing on passages from the Quran, the Bible, poetry of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi and inspirations of other mystics (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim), classical Islamic sources and ancient Biblical texts, oral traditions recorded by hearts across the centuries such as the Protoevangelium of James and the Lives of the Prophets of al-Tha'labi, and Biblical apocrypha such as the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, with awareness of all the elements of nature that rose up in support of Beloved Mary through the stages of her journey, Camille Helminski weaves together a fabric of love to embrace us with healing and new life.

SUNDAY 15th DEC 2024, 12pm ET / 5pm GMT

Celebrate Mevlana Rumi’s union with the Beloved – the anniversary of his passing into the Unseen – with an online gathering of remembrance. Join Shaikh Kabir & Camille Helminski and Mevlevi Whirling Dervishes for zhikr, music, and poetry on the theme of Court of Truth.

This is an interactive experience. We welcome all friends who may wish to whirl, whether you have robes or not, to join in. You may wish to create some space for turning, perhaps light some candles and have some red roses or rose incense/oil.

The Source of Abundance

with Khadim Chishti
Wisconsin USA, January 31st - February 2nd 2025
Holy Wisdom Monastery, Middleton, WI

In the Name of God, the Infinitely Compassionate, the Continually Merciful
We have bestowed on you the Source of Abundance (the Spring of Paradise).
So to your Sustainer turn in prayer and sacrifice (acknowledge from where your life flows).
Surely, the one who rejects you will be cut off (from that Source of Abundant Life).
[Surah al-Kawthar, 108:1-3, Translation by Camille Helminski]

God’s Abundance continually flows into creation. What are the ways we are guided to know and trust this Source of Abundance? During the weekend we will explore and deepen our knowledge and connection to “The Source of Abundance” through the Qur’an, Rumi’s teachings, zikr, silence, prayer, and conversation.

$365 Single room
$285 Double room
$175 Commuter

Residential ensuite room for 2 nights includes six meals
Commuter rate includes four meals
Arrival at 4:00 pm on Friday, departing 2:00 Sunday afternoon

Las Palmas Garden 2025 Calendar
An offering with love from Camille Hamilton Adams Helminski
Designed with Matthew Helminski for Sweet Lady Press

2025 calendar containing vibrant photographs of flowers of the month, from the garden beyond the door of Camille’s home. Each month is also accompanied by a verse from Mevlana Rumi or sacred text, lunar phases, religious holidays honored from multiple faiths, and select USA & global remembrance days.

Mark your way through the year with beauty and grace.

Whoever is sitting with friends
Is in the midst of a flower garden.
[Rumi, Mathnawi IV:1976]

Available for international delivery, but friends ordering for the UK may wish to wait a few weeks to place your order (as the printers there are delayed in appropriate set-up —for a mysterious reason occasionally the back cover is printed upside down there, but it does not affect the interior pages, and a replacement can be requested if such occurs. Ya Sabur, Ya Haqq).

April: Orange blossoms         June: Munstead Wood Rose      August: Guava Blossom

Nov 3rd

Join us for a monthly online meditation and sohbet with Shaikh Kabir and special guests from the Threshold community. Held on the 1st Sunday of every month at 12pm Eastern Time (5pm UK).

Zoom meeting: https://zoom.us/j/435138208
Zoom passcode: threshold

Watch last month's meeting below and see all our videos here.

The Threshold Society, rooted within the traditions of Sufism and inspired by the life and work of Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi, is a non-profit educational foundation with the purpose of facilitating the experience of Divine Unity, Love, and Truth in the world. Sufism is a living tradition of human transformation through love and higher consciousness. Our fundamental framework is classical Sufism and the Qur’an as it has been understood over the centuries by the great Sufis. The Society is affiliated with the Mevlevi Order, and offers training programs, seminars and retreats around the world.

Each month we intend to highlight an article about our lineage and its principles. You can find our core articles here. We encourage our community to read and reread these regularly.

Each month we intend to highlight an article about our lineage and its principles. This month we offer: Practical Aspects of Dervishood

***

Practical Aspects of Dervishood
by Mahmoud Mostafa

For me, dervishhood is a total commitment to follow in the footsteps of the Prophet, Mevlana Rumi, Shams, and all the blessed ones who traveled the way of love. There are many aspects to this following and over the years it has been shown to me that the sincerity of commitment to this path is manifest in knowing that one is a servant and living one’s life in this truth. What are the practical aspects of this way of living? For me there are several dimensions, there is a state of being, an active practice, a quality of self-reflection and self-knowing, and a way of conduct in daily life.

[Read more...]

Dec 15: Rumi's Urs Online, more details  (KC)

Jan 31 - Feb 2, 2025: Madison Retreat with Khadim Chishti, more details

Sep 26-29, 2025: UK Annual Retreat at The Vedanta, Lincolnshire

We’d love to hear from you — get in touch at eyeoftheheart@sufism.org

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