Reflection on September's theme: Put this vain thinking to sleep, lift up your head into spiritual wakefulness. ~Mevlana Reflecting on this month's theme, the crucial question that arises for this one is "What is vain thinking?" It must firstly be habitual thinking that forms a barrier between us and Reality, Al-Haqq: fears and desires linked [...]
Prayers for Shaikha Camille Camille Ana has recently had some surgery to help with mobility issues and is currently recovering in hospital. We ask you to remember her in your prayers. May the love of our community carry our beloved Ana through this challenging time, and may the Divine hold her in healing light. Ya [...]
"Sufism: A Hidden Treasure" -- a talk by Shaikh Kabir Helminski at City Circle, London on Friday 14th March, 2014. Many British Muslims today suffer a double alienation: on one side from a dogmatic expression of Islam lacking in love, and on the other side from a materialistic culture that leaves little room for the [...]
On a recent trip to Turkey led by Shaikh Kabir and Camille Helminski, our group was lucky enough to be invited to the Sefik Can Foundation, under the direction of Nur Artiran, one of Turkey's most respected spiritual teachers. It gave us a valuable insight into Sufism as practised by modern Mevlevis in Turkey.
This theme is an advanced teaching. It presumes that we have to some extent developed a healthy capacity for will. By will we mean the capacity to choose consciously; and will power is the capacity to follow through on what we have consciously chosen. Only then can we glimpse the meaning of “Claim nothing, let the Divine do.” A healthy will is a will that more often than not chooses what is good for the soul and is independent of the whims and desires of the lower self. It is at this stage that this theme becomes applicable.
Every human soul is in the process of acquiring experience. Does it matter that we acquire experience? Does it serve any purpose? Yes, the Divine has sent souls into the world in order to share in its ecstasy and love. If we go through life relatively unconscious, numb, unappreciative, ungrateful, and absorbed with our petty desires, we are forfeiting our chance to share in God’s ecstasy and love.
In mid-June of 2011, I was a guest of Camille at the Snowmass Inter-Spiritual Dialog, held in the lovely setting of St. Benedict’s Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado. The Dialog is an on-going process with more than a 25 year history in seeking to promote communication and exchange among many of the world’s spiritual or contemplative traditions and to identify “points of agreement” among them. Each of the core members or “mentors” of the group, of which Camille is the current Islamic/Sufi representative, invited several guests.
We are living in the midst of very challenging times. Shams and Mevlana also lived in the midst of very challenging times, yet what a possibility opened with the example of being they unveiled. They invite us into the garden of seeing God’s beauty and abundance in the midst of everything, seeing the Unity, and encouraging souls to be people of Paradise now, here.
It has been a privilege and an honor to be associated with this Mevlevi tradition. It has shaped our thoughts, values, perceptions, and prayers. We draw upon the inspiration of Hazrati Mevlana and we are also grateful for the centuries of wisdom and beauty that true Mevlevis have left as a legacy. We have been following the Mevlevi Path since we took hand with Suleyman Dede in 1980 and he gave us permission to teach and lead zhikrs. In 1990 the honorable Celaletttin Celebi gave us permission to wear the Mevlevi Destar and specifically to “teach the mystic path of the Mevlevis.” Our journey on this path continued with the kind support of the noble and generous Celebi family, and along the way was strengthened by many friendships with beautiful Mevlevis, including the faithful and humble Sefik Can Efendi.
Konya! Mevlana! Ashk! For the past thirty years or more a current has run through my life, our lives, sometimes as a subtle guidance, sometimes as a sense of meaningful coherence, and sometimes as an upwelling force that makes the eyes glisten, if not overflow with tears.