Sincerity is continually realigning our connection with the Truth (Haqq).  ~ The Knowing Heart

We welcome your reflections on this theme.

On Dec 17th, may the celebration of the “Wedding Night” of our beloved Pir, 
Hazrati Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi 
bring much blessing throughout our world! 
May it be Light upon Light for all those who gather in remembrance! 
Sheb-i Arusunuz seyyid olsun! Ya Nur ala Nur!

Spiritual conversation (sohbet) with Shaikh Kabir and Shaikha Camille Helminski in December, 2009. 

Mevlana’s Urs on December 17, Seb-i-Arus (‘Wedding Night’), celebrates our beloved Rumi’s transition from the visible to the Invisible and is a very special annual celebration in our tradition. Each year dervishes from around the world gather in Konya, Turkey in early December for sema, Qu’ranic recitation, poetry, and cultural celebrations. This podcast was recorded just hours after Kabir and Camille returned from Mevlana’s Urs having spent the days with Esin Celebi Bayru, the 22nd generation granddaughter of Rumi, Cemalnur Sargent, one of Turkey’s most beloved spiritual teachers, and other dear companions on the path. 

“Mevlana and Shams and Prophet Muhammad and all the prophets, peace and blessings upon them all, made an exploration. They went from this world to the other world and they looked around the other world and they came back and they brought that other world back to this world. And so, we are among the beneficiaries of that. That’s why we’re happy.” ~Shaikh Kabir

Despite Konya’s chilly early winter, Mevlana’s fragrant rose gardens burst into full bloom in their hearts during this whirlwind visit. Their sharing in this podcast will transport you there, giving you a taste of this Divine Essence that is pouring forth for all of us to receive.

We are happy to introduce The Threshold Sufi Music Ensemble and The Ilahi Project. This album, "See What Love Has Done to Me," recorded this past June in Istanbul under the direction of Shaikh Kabir and Selçuk Gürez, celebrates the living tradition of Sufi “tekke” music.

New book release
now also available as an e-book:

~ Rex Spear [Boseman, USA]

Greetings all, and thanks for allowing me to share these thoughts and reflections. In November’s theme, the word that I am drawn to is “freedom”.  In this context, I infer a freedom that is: a “freedom from”; a “freedom to”; and a “freedom that transcends” yet includes both “from and to”. So, what do I mean? “Freedom from” simply denotes liberation from the habits of mind and heart that distort and hence promote violence to Love. “Freedom to” indicates a capacity to respond to all of life in a way that cultivates and nurtures the ambience of Love. Lastly, “Transcendent Freedom” is more challenging to define and articulate, but a descriptor that I find helpful is the concept of Flourishing. The etymology of Flourishing has origins that mean to flower, bloom, and thrive. So, I would like to explore November’s theme through the lens of Flourishing – namely how freedom blossoms into Love.

 “Freedom from” in terms of Flourishing does not mean a complete untethering from any constraint or appropriate restraint. In other words, Flourishing does not equate with my getting what I want, when I want, how I want, and whenever I want. As the saying goes, freedom to be an ego is really not freedom. In our current society, the pursuit of happiness is hard wired into our culture, and happiness (in all of its guises and disguises) is rigorously chased without ever considering how we might be defining happiness. That rather dogged yearning and even craving arises and then takes on a whole host of strange and even macabre expressions. Consequently, a rigorous self-observation is the requisite beginning, as this Threshold Circle has repeatedly pointed out. To put it more simply, the first step in exploring Flourishing is to question what Flourishing really is, and more importantly, what it is not.

Accordingly, it becomes critical that I truly know what I am in fact chasing and thus discover my true aim. That discovery process is really a disclosing and exposing. Paraphrasing the American writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin, “[Flourishing] takes off the mask that we fear we cannot live without; yet know that we cannot live within.” (The Fire Next Time, Vintage International, 1992). Consequently, for myself Flourishing begins with this unmasking— removing the endless cosmetic veneers that I may use to hide my face and my true motives (a removing that Shaikh Kabir so eloquently described last month when he discussed ‘The Path of Blame’/The Melāmet). To this end, I am compelled to ask myself: How am I hiding and pretending? What are my true intentions and yearnings? What are my habitual identifications? And what landscapes of victimhood am I inhabiting?

“Freedom to” relates to Flourishing in the recognition that Flourishing is never a private affair. In her most recent book, the Potawatomi botanist and writer Robin Wall Kimmerer writes “All Flourishing is Mutual” (The Serviceberry, Scribner, 2024).  This concept of requisite mutuality is richly captured by the term Ubuntu, which is a Nguni word from southern Africa. From the Mevlevi perspective, Ubuntu can be simply explained as: the nafs becomes a human through other people. Again, put more simply, I cannot reach full maturity and ripening without engaging and participating with others.  This participation is, of course, bidirectional. I am deeply dependent upon others to fertilize and cultivate my own flourishing, yet I also have the responsibility to participate in others’ flourishing. The developmental scientist Philippe Rochat describes this critical interdependence in relation to human growth and development:

As a species, we have indeed evolved the uncanny ability to reflect upon ourselves as an object not only of reflection but also of evaluation. A trademark of being human is that we constantly compare, monitor, and evaluate ourselves in relation to others . . . . As a case in point, are we not the only species that put makeup on and cannot help taking selfies? To be human is indeed to care about reputation, our own reputation, and the reputation of whom we identify with . . . . For better or worse, we do have the uncanny propensity to compute the degree of our social affiliation and self-worth through the evaluative eyes of others . . . .

[“Developmental Roots of Human Self-consciousness”, Philippe Rochat, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2024]

Freedom to is conjoined with Freedom from by recognizing that Flourishing means I have a responsibility to view others in a manner that invites them to also remove their masks and demonstrate that self-worth is not determined by the masks we may inhabit, but rather by the intrinsic dignity bequeathed by our Source and Rabb. Freedom to see in that manner (safá-nazar) can only occur when Freedom from has been stabilized in my heart.

And so that leaves us with Transcendent Freedom. What can be said of this rarified state is best bestowed by Mevlana himself. In Discourse 3 of the Fihi ma Fihi:

A king said to a dervish, “In the moment when you enter the glorious intimacy of God’s court, mention me.”

“When I am in that Presence,” said the dervish, “and the Light of that Sun of Beauty shines on me, I am unable to remember myself—how shall I remember you!”

Yet even so, when God has chosen one of His servants and caused him to be completely absorbed in Himself, if anyone should grab hold of that person’s robe asking Him to make a request of God, God will grant that request without the mystic even mentioning his need to Him.

[The Rumi Daybook, trans. Kabir and Camille Helminski, Shambhala Publications, 2012]

A Love that is such a clean and clear conduit is the natural offspring of the union of Freedom from and Freedom to. And for myself, that is a truly sincere Love—a fertile Flourishing.

~ Rex Spear is a retired physician who, with this wife Karyn, has lived in Bozeman, Montana for over 30 years. They have two adult sons.

December 7th

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: Responsibilities in Dervishhood

To be a Mevlevi dervish is to enter into a web of relationships designed to maximize spiritual possibilities through creating an atmosphere of solidarity, loyalty, service, trust, and affection. It involves “taking hand” with a shaikh and committing oneself to the program of training and service offered by the Mevlevi spiritual community. Some of the details of this relationship and its adab are described both online and in The Knowing Heart. If people aren’t clear about the principles of these relationships, it weakens the bonds with the shaikh and with the community as a whole.

Traditionally there have been two categories of people participating in tariqah activities: Muhibs (associates, or friends of the order) and Dervishes (those engaged in the initiatic journey under the guidance of the Tradition). The intention of being a dervish is different from the intention of being a muhib. The latter, for any number of reasons, chooses to associate with the tariqah on a somewhat limited basis, but without all the responsibilities and privileges of dervishhood.

Traditional Sufi tariqahs are fairly consistent in what they reasonably expect of dervishes, that is, members of their community who have taken bayat (initiation), and these expectations are part of the spiritual education. In contrast to Sufi tradition, there are other approaches that can be found in society in general and in the contemporary spiritual marketplace. These other approaches reflect something of the self-serve consumer mentality of the culture we live in. To give an example, one may join a health club, pay monthly dues, and go to the health club to work out whenever it suits one. Take a few months off and you may get a little flabby, but you are free to do that without impacting the health club or its members. Another model is continuing education at a community college. Sign up for a course for a limited period of time and then it’s over. Finally, there is also within the spiritual marketplace the workshop format. Take a variety of workshops with various teachers, learn some spiritual practices, and add them to your own self-directed program.

[Read more...]

Mar 27-29: San Damiano, California. More details soon.

We’d love to hear from you: eyeoftheheart@sufism.org
Find out how to support the work of Threshold Society
You are receiving this newsletter because you signed up at sufism.org