LIVING SUFISM 2021

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an we remember a year that has been as challenging as 2020? The Covid devastation, the ravages of social injustice, climate change and political chaos have torn at our sense of personal safety and collective peace of mind in unprecedented ways.  As the year winds down in continuing uncertainty, many are asking:  “Where do we go from here? How do we sustain faith, cultivate hope, and respond effectively when we feel overwhelmed? Can an individual really do anything meaningful in the face of these seemingly overpowering forces?"

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Every month, since the Corona outbreak, Pir Elias has been addressing these questions in his “Notes from the Open Path”. In 2021 the Living Sufism series will mine these Notes extracting the highly practical advice they contain while expanding the deeply spiritual context they intimate. The theme for the year is from the September Notes, “Beloved Community” in which Pir Elias urges us to both see and serve a world sourced in Love. 

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The Program

Our sessions will feature discussions and guided exercises as well as brief presentations. In addition we will be offering “enrichment tracks” during each month for those who wish to deepen the experience of Beloved Community, especially in their everyday realities. Each month we will explore themes from Pir Elias’ Notes from the Open Path. The program is guided by Pir Elias Amidon and curated by Puran Perez, Isha Francis, and Suzanne Inayat-Khan. Our speakers and conversation partners will include senior teachers and guides from the Sufi Way.  

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January 3 - Original You

"Vanity is the fear of appearing original."

~Friedrich Nietzsche

Imagine your beginning. Imagine your ending. Sit with no time or space. Keep it simple. Don’t look back. Let it go. See what is here. Feel what is here. One breath at a time. Do not fear the next step. Be at ease. Identity is transformation that leaves an object unchanged. Think about that for a minute. 

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February 7 - Wonder

"From wonder into wonder, existence opens."

~Lao Tzu

Be interested in everything. Wise words. Learning never ends; information abounds. Microscopic and macroscopic seem limitless in their reach. An abundance of knowing.  We wonder and then we enter wonder. The wonder of it all is to recognize that we never really know what is going on.

Beloved Community Introduction

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March 7 - The Sacred Story 

"The world is made of stories. Good stories are hard to come by, and a good story you can honestly call your own is an incredible gift. These stories are part of a bigger story that connects us all."

~Gary Snyder

 I sit around my campfire. Alone, not lonely. I have a story to tell. It speaks of bravery and cowardice. It sings of falling and rising. It will tell that I received and gave pain and that I was given and offered redemption. It is the most common of stories, yet not mundane. What is it that makes the story sacred?

April 4 - Embracing Paradox

"...a station between this and that, not one of them, but the totality of the two."

~Ibn ‘Arabi

 This is this edge we walk: sometimes feeling like a living, breathing oxymoron; contradictory impulses, all rich with certainty, challenge us to look the lie and the truth in the eye. That razor's edge in which our nature expresses itself may lead us into the silence, the stillness, and we may open our arms, offer an embrace. Ours for the being.

The Most Right Thing - May 2

"In a world as wrong as this one, all we can do is make things as right as we can."

~Barbara Kingsolver

 “...as right as we can…” calls us to try to do the most right thing. How? Is there a longitude and latitude that can offer a path to that most right thing? Is there a light which will shine on what is truly needed? Where can I find the perfect tone with which to harmonize? Amidst all of this muttering, something awaits remembrance!

Whoosh and Wish - June 6

"The life of all creatures is mysterious and full of wonder, but man alone is blessed with the intelligence which conveys the power of understanding the secret of the breath."

~Hazrat Inayat Khan

 Whoosh: The generosity of the universe; breathing out is my offering into creation. Wish: The intimacy of communion; breathing in, I accept all that is offered.  In the beating heart of this moment I give all I have; in the beating heart of the next moment I receive all there is. I come from one to become many to become one yet again. Beloved Community.

As in years past, Living Sufism is open to all. Sessions will be held on Sundays on Zoom at noon EST. 

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