LIVING SUFISM 2025
While in traditional Sufism, adab is the thoughtful sensitivity one brings to all human relations, in our previous program, The Way of Adab (2024), we looked at this as the refinement of responsiveness in all relational fields: with others, with oneself, with the world around us and with what lies beyond.
In this year’s program we will emphasize the practical aspects of adab. Through discussions, guided experiences, and chilla, (tasks) we will explore adab in the relational experiences we all share, including those we often find difficult. To this end we will work with the four pillars of attentive awareness:
Attending
Resting at the edge of experience.
Opening
The receptivity of acceptance.
Inquiring
A sensorial curiosity, reaching out.
Doing
Moving within adab moving within me.
We will cultivate these capacities through various Sufi teachings and disciplines. Practicing attentive awareness in this way enables us to increasingly refine our responsiveness in everything we do and with everyone we meet.
Through the development of these spiritual insights and understanding, Practicing Adab invites us to live Sufism in the call and response of our everyday relationships. And, since the life we experience is shaped by how we relate to others and to whatever comes up in our lives, practicing adab can transform our reality.
Living Sufism 2025
January 12, noon EST (9 AM PST; 5 PM UK; 6 PM EU)
What is Adab?
February 9, noon EST (9 AM PST; 5 PM UK; 6 PM EU)
Attending — The Magic of Presence
March 9, noon EST (9 AM PST; 5 PM UK; 6 PM EU)
Opening — 360 Degree Availability
April 13, noon EST (9 AM PST; 5 PM UK; 6 PM EU)
Inquiring — Constant Curiosity
May 11, noon EST (9 AM PST; 5 PM UK; 6 PM EU)
Doing — The Actuality of Adab
June 15, noon EST (9 AM PST; 5 PM UK; 6 PM EU)
The Mystery — The Adab of the Universe
Living Sufism is facilitated by Puran Perez, Isha Francis and Angelika MacArthur. Presenters will include senior teachers from the Sufi Way and special guests.
REGISTRATION
Introduction
TRANSFORMATION THROUGH RELATIONSHIP
Program Goals and Methods
YOU'LL NEED A JOURNAL
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As a self-guided program, you should set your goals and determine your methods. However, it may be helpful to consider some suggestions:
PURPOSE
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to be more present and aware, especially in situations where this may be difficult
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to stay actively curious and willing to release assumptions and certainties in relationships
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to develop new levels of responsiveness, beyond habits of personal interaction
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to be guided by the sincere inquiry: “What is needed here, now?”
METHODS
This program can be used as an occasional source of inspiration or guidance when you feel a need to address particular relationships. But it may be most effective to take a specific amount of time (a month, for example) during which you work intensively with each module. In particular, by incorporating the exercises and practices into your daily routine and by reviewing the videos and other content from time to time.
SELF-GUIDED
The content of each module is designed to evoke curiosity, questions, and reflections rather than provide specific instruction. The purpose of this is to offer a learning experience in which you guide yourself through a process that truly fits your needs and capabilities at this time; practicing adab in ways that “grow” with you in continually deepening relationships.
A good metaphor for this approach is a garden. The exercises and practices offered in each module invite you to explore your relational spaces looking for fertile ground. The videos and other resources provide seeds and the inspiration to meet your everyday experience as a gardener of beauty and nourishment.
Each module provides a developmental line that can be followed in sequence. Or you can imagine you’re in a gardening store browsing among various seeds and tools in a nonlinear way.
