The human being who loves is the human being who is truly alive.
~ Living Presence, Kabir Helminski

We welcome your reflections on this theme.

The Path of Beauty, The Refuge of Placelessness

Sep 27-29/30 2024, St Francis Retreat Center, San Juan Bautista, California
Kabir and Camille Helminski
with Amir Etemadzadeh, Sufi musician, percussionist, and composer, accompanied by Narin Etemadzadeh, percussionist and vocalist

A retreat can be a time of healing, a reset, a vibrational shift. This is a time to experience the knowledge and practice of awakening spiritual perception, purifying the self, understanding the cosmic nature of Love, living with humility and inner freedom.

Our souls long for a deep shift… through sacred music and movement, through practices of silence, stillness, and remembrance, through contemplating the jewels of wisdom in Rumi and Sufism, and near the day of Rumi’s birth, September 30th.

In the blessed atmosphere of Saint Francis Retreat Center, in San Juan Bautista, California, we will explore the possibility of bringing beauty into our lives and into the world. At the same time, in the midst of today’s overload of images, impressions, and information, the heart longs to experience the refuge of holy placelessness. As Rumi says: “My place is the placeless, my trace is the traceless.”

Join us for these days of spiritual practice, dialog, music, and a heart connection with other sincere seekers.

Camille Helminski reads from Ramadan Love Songs.

~ Saimma Dyer [Kendal, UK]

Imagine… God’s Majesty. The bright nobility, beauty, and awe that radiates, pulses, vibrates from the Throne of Love. Reflecting on this Majestic Friend, deep one night, I experienced a new connection.

Bliss

I experienced Bliss
not the way we read it, slightly
hyperbolic, an idea of an idea of an unknown
feeling
No
I experienced Bliss
in a moment of surrender to the
Divine Mystery
I realised that This Is It
In Every Moment
while doing good and Godness
aligning our Very Being in the direction
of Beauty, Truth, Justice
this is Surrender
to the Great Mystery
and I smiled in Bliss

Alhamdulillah
Ya Wali

Just to imagine myself a Ray of that Great Mystery feels overwhelming in its beauty and awesomeness, states so OverWhelming that the mind retreats in fear and awe. But slowly I am getting braver, allowing myself to breathe a little longer in that moment of stillness, remembering that each extension of the breath is an invitation to linger in Surrender.

I am born of this, birthed into this existence, by the Great Mother; nurtured, loved, nourished, in every moment; mirrored in my earthly mother, grandmother.

Our dear Khadim Chishti, teacher and khalifa of Threshold Society, gracing the London circle last week, shared on this theme, how we receive a Divine stamp when we are born into this world. She offered two questions for us to hold:

What is my stamp?
What is my Divine Inheritance?

I imagine what my stamp feels like, what my personal Divine Name tastes like, the weight, sturdiness, and security of that stamp.

But quickly too, I feel the responsibility, the Responsibility, as Khalifa, as this Magnificent Ray, in how I can walk my path, care for myself, my family, my nature, my world. I am born from the Great Mystery to return to the Great Mystery, and in-between, small moment by small moment, how do I reflect love and care for all parts of myself, my family, my nature, my world?

Beloved Camille Ana commands:

Let nothing block the ray of God.
I am ready and willing
for God’s Word to be done;
for His Will to flower in me
and spread its fragrance
everywhere, calling
the buzzing bee
who hovers, sips,
          and flies off
but in doing so makes me
          more fertile.
I give thanks for those
          who pollinate
and help to spread the seed
          of God.

Let there be no blot
          on this Ray.
Let there be no self-love
          to block this Way.

Amen.

[Words from the East, Camille Hamilton Adams Helminski]

And I wonder: isn’t this the most magnificent dawah?

I think of another spiritual mother – she the granddaughter of Beloved Muhammad – Imam Zainab. As this month of Muharram comes to the end, along with remembrances of the great massacre in the heart of Islam, I see Imam Zainab. I see her standing, commanding, speaking truth in the face of tyranny, refusing to be cowed by any blot, speaking for justice. If she had not radiated so strongly God’s Majesty that day, that moment, would she have been allowed to walk out, walk home, with what remained of her blessed family and community? Would Islam have survived if that light had gone out early, what would have remained? With God’s Grace, we have her blueprint, her Ray, guiding us, sometimes with the honey bee, sometimes with the itchy thorns.

This is my Divine Inheritance, to do good and Godness, to remove all blots, blocks, blemishes on my heart, to let Her Grace flow, and help spread the seed…

Truly, those who have faith and do rightful deeds
of wholeness and reconciliation,
the Most Gracious will endow with Love.
[Qur’an 19:96]

~ Saimma Dyer spends a lot of time looking at the trees outside her window. She shares sacred feminine wisdom through RAY of God.

Aug 4th

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.

This month we offer: Mevlevi Zhikr

In order to attain the optimum coherence and beauty in our practice, we should be aware of how we perform zhikr in our tradition.

Each Mevlevi zhikr cycle begins with three elongated, singing repetitions before steady, rhythmic repetitions. We may end with one elongated repetition.

• Head movement:
La ilaha to the right – il Allah to the left. Il Allah brings the energy of the zhikr back to the heart.
Allah and Astaghfirullah: only to the left, to the heart.

• Resonance:
In the Mevlevi zhikr it is important that we are in harmony and unity. The goal is to be as one and that takes subtlety, nuance, and attention. To achieve this we need to follow the lead of the person leading the zhikr by being conscious of their volume, speed, and tone. We also need to be aware that our own voice does not rise above that of those who are near to us or the general level of the group. With practice and time this will create a more refined resonance in the group.

Read more here about the basics of practice and download the Mevlevi Zhikr.

A beautiful gathering in a holy space with many new friends and beloved community

The Assisi Retreat owes much to Dr Claude Diolosa, doctor and master of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Such a wonderful community of doctors/healers from Germany, Poland, Romania, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, UK, Abu Dhabi, Algeria, and Saudi Arabia, most meeting Rumi and Sufism for the first time. About 9 Threshold friends also joined and helped to create a beautiful sense of presence and community.

We received many messages like these:

"I am still filled with gratitude, peace and bliss. Every time I think about our retreat, our meetings, our prayers, songs and dances, as well as the many personal conversations, you are present as if it were real in the here and now...
Only the heart can see"

"I feel the same and I'm also still deeply in touch with all your beautiful hearts. Our days together brought me so much inner peace and joy and faith in humanity. I'm very thankful and I carry you all with me."

"Dear friends, thank you all very much for the wonderful days in Assisi, for the inspiration and for your presence. It was very nice for me to see that the essence is the same by Rumi, in Sufism, by Jesus, by Francis of Assisi, by Ramana Maharshi and in Buddhism. For show me that I thank you in particular, Kabir, from the bottom of my heart."

Sep 27-30:  St Francis, California retreat, more details   (KC)

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

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