October theme: The disciplines of dervishhood are a way to discovering your true identity beyond the false self (nafs).

~Shaikh Kabir

We welcome your reflections on this theme.

~ Shaikh Kabir Helminski

ONE DAY as I was having a cup of tea outside a small hotel in Istanbul, I noticed that the street was named Dervishlersokak, which means “alley of the dervishes.” At that very moment, a man pulling a cart stacked high with sacks of chickpeas passed by, a single man carrying the kind of burden one only sees in cities of the East like this. I don’t know why, but all at once the idea occurred to me that while many people identify as Sufis, to be a dervish is something more. A dervish is someone who has willingly yoked themselves to the wagon of servanthood and taken on the great responsibility of spiritual practice.

In the State of True Friendship: Shams & Mevlana

A conversation with Shaikh Kabir & Shaikha Camille

"The silence is saying, “My friend you have a thorn in your foot; I know you’re hurting. You have a thorn in your foot; let me pull the thorn out! Okay! Now it’s out! Feel better?” It is in the gathering of real lovers of God that the thorn of the false self is invisibly extracted."

The forthcoming Volume III contains fresh English translations of surahs 7-10 (Surah al-A‘raf, Surah al-‘Anfal, Surah at-Tawbah, and Surah Yunus). This cluster of surahs, beginning with al-A‘raf, “the Heights of Gnosis,” opens with the importance of discernment, of recognizing Truth and turning away from that which is false, of the repercussions of our choices and our actions, encouraging us to be among those who “remember” [azh-zhakkirun]. In these surahs, again and again, we immerse in Spirit with the Messengers who have been sent to humanity to remind us. We are reminded here again to open to that Greater Wisdom, to the Presence of that One who hears all prayer, who heals our hearts. 

Inshallah available on Amazon in late October.

Hz. Abul Hasan Kharaqani, Kars

In Kharaqani we have an example of a human being whose inner content had become the Divine. Few Saints have set their sights as high as he did and left behind a record of this journey, indicating a territory beyond what most creatures imagine. His knowledge of God's ways, his examination of the self, his humility, and his bold love are the treasure we consider today.

A weekend of reflection on the transformation of love and loss. We will focus on Surah Al-‘Asr and Rumi as our guides. Through sohbet, meditation, zikr, music and time in nature, we will strive to attune our hearts and deepen our capacity to listen.

See more about the venue at holywisdommonastery.org

Spiritual conversation (sohbet) with Shaikh Kabir and Camille Helminski on 01/22/11 

~

“Human beings have a particular kind of problem, particularly modern human beings and particularly western modern human beings, though that disease has now spread all over the world. The disease I am talking about, or the incapacity, has something to do with an over reliance on an aspect of the mind which is caught in the prison of the five senses and the prison of the material world. And the material world, at least as we experience it is— if you were to take the whole electromagnetic spectrum and put it on a graph as tall as the Empire State building, the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that we perceive would be about that big (gesturing a tiny proportion). So, what we perceive just is not reality, it is something else. And yet we discount everything else, everything unseen, as being unreal if we buy into the materialist dogma. And, not only that, we are trained and we live among people who are imprisoned in that five sense, three or four-dimensional reality and take it as the only reality. 

What we are talking about tonight is going beyond that—and how to do that. It is a natural human capacity except that it has atrophied, it has been crippled in the modern world increasingly so. So much so that— there was this story about a woman who had a stroke (Jill Bolte Taylor, My Stroke of Insight), do you remember this story? One hemisphere of her brain just shut down and suddenly she was in sort of this enlightened bliss. She was just operating through the right hemisphere of the brain and everything was totally different, a totally different reality. The left hemisphere of the brain overrides in modern man, not in traditional human beings, not if we look at the whole history of humanity and many other cultures. But if we look at the modern west, the modern world in general, especially the west, that left hemisphere of the brain, the analytical, verbal, thinking side— literally it dominates and shuts off or breaks the connection to the other side of the brain unless it is restored, unless we have a methodology to restore it, unless we have a practice. 

A practice could be meditation, contemplation, true worship, true zhikr—everything that the true religions really teach, not in a dogmatic institutional form, but in the way that their founders intended them. All of those paths open us to the Unseen, open us to a relationship with the signs of God, the qualities of God, with the reality behind appearances. The Sioux do it. They come into the sweat lodge and they honor the directions and they honor the creatures and they honor themselves—and they honor this material world for what it points to. They are living in that reality. There is both material and natural and supernatural all at once. So, we’re training ourselves to do that, but we fall into the hazards of, to use a different terminology, left brain thinking.”

~

~ Jeremy Henzell-Thomas

"As always, it’s such a joy and inspiration to be in the company of such dear friends. Thank you so much for giving me yet another opportunity for sharing.

Now, I remember that I felt very much at home reflecting at the last two gatherings on the theme of the Never-Ending Journey and Returning to the Source of Love. This year, I find the theme more challenging, because in order to speak about the true self with any authenticity I must have at least honestly, sincerely and genuinely striven to realise and to live it as best I can, and not just to understand it as a concept in the mind. This is not an academic conference, but a gathering of seekers and lovers of God who yearn to walk the talk. Unless we live what we know, we do not truly know it."

~ Matthew Wright [West Park, NY circle]

"I can only speak for myself, but I imagine that for all of us who have found (or been found by!) this Mevlevi Path, what I say here will ring true: finding the Way of Mevlana was like finding my heart given expression outside of my body. Finding these teachings was like finding my own deepest knowing put into words. Finding this path was like finding home.

For those of us who have found this Way, it’s a treasure we would trade for nothing. And yet a treasure like this is meant to be shared, not hoarded or hidden. How many more might benefit from the gifts of this path, if it were made accessible to them? Such sharing, however, is not always an easy or straightforward task, as the times (and places and cultures) we live in present unique challenges to transmitting the Mevlevi Path today."

Rumi on the Heart’s Journey

Translated by Ahmad Rezwani and Kabir Helminski

Love is the meaning of our existence, the raw material of transformation, the glorious way of access to Divine intimacy. The poems in this collection, taken from among the master’s many volumes of work, focus on one of his greatest themes: how love grows and matures for those on the spiritual path.

Available in hardcover and eBook.

October 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.

To view in YouTube without interrupting ads, use the Brave browser.

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.

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 the Adab; The Courtesy of the Path

The Sufis created a system of human development grounded in love and using the power of love to awaken and transform human beings. Rumi taught that it is everyone’s potential to master the art of loving. Love is the answer to the problem of human existence.

The way to God passes through servanthood. The point is to love and be connected with others in that love. The form of Sufi work is typically a group, or spiritual family. The Sufis created a milieu in which human love was so strong that it naturally elevated itself to the level of cosmic love. All forms of love eventually lead to spiritual love. “Ashq olsun,” they say. “May it become love.” They cultivated a kindness and refinement in which love fermented into a fine wine. They encouraged service to humanity as an expression of the love they felt. They accepted a rigorous discipline in order to keep the fire of love burning strongly.

The porter runs to the heavy load and takes it from others,
knowing burdens are the foundation of ease
and bitter things the forerunners of pleasure.
See the porters struggle over the load!
It’s the way of those who see the truth of things.
Paradise is surrounded by what we dislike;
the fires of hell are surrounded by what we desire.

Rumi, Mathnawi II, 1834-7

[Read more...]

Friday October 9 to Sunday 11th: retreat, Madison, Wisconsin, led by Khadim Chishti, more details

We’d love to hear from you: eyeoftheheart@sufism.org
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