Sufi Meeting AD2

Thank you Robbyn for all of the assignments you have given us. They feel so value and significant to my life and I am reminded that a truly holistic approach to life is a recipe for success. What I mean is that it is good to be reminded that the things that I love to do, the ones that make me feel full and inspired such as dancing and going to spiritual meetings, must not be sacrificed in the name of accomplishment, whether that is in terms of school, work or relationships. It is so easy to let personal wellness be the first thing to sacrifice when time becomes short. ( a woman thing perhaps because I can now hear and see Stuart shaking his head ) I am inspired by that mentality and I am contemplating that it is possible to combine my nurturing practices with the productive ones, as you intended for us to do with these artist date assignments.

I went to the home of Shakina and Hadi Reinhertz, two Sufi representatives. They are not yet murshids ( or officially ordained teachers in the Sufi Order) but they ordained guides, which means that they have been deemed to have attained a certain degree of illumination and not pure enlightenment. Twice a month they open their home to anyone who is interested in a exploring the Sufi path even if one is not dedicated to the path. In fact the first time I went I was very impressed with the utter lack of initiatory conversation. It has never once come up yet they share the lovely philosophies of the Sufi masters, (poets and musicians mostly) share the practices and generosity of the tradition.

Our meeting on Monday began with a bit of chit chat, catching up on what's been going on, marveling over the fact that is has been a year since we last met, and the without any sense of guilt or shame for my having lagged in spiritual commitment. Only genuine welcoming and reassurance that I can join them any time with any amount of distance between visits. Pure acceptance.

Then Shakina led us through an element breath meditation. I resonated with this exercise more than I have in past experiences with them because of the close association between it and the art work I've been doing. In fact I learned this exercise from them, but then modified my own practice with some similar Chi Kung influence. I was surprised a bit too when she had us stand and move our bodies while breathing in a very similar manner to the one I developed on my own. My heart leaped a bit. It felt like an affirmation that though I haven't visited and practiced with the group, I can count on my own faith to guide me into appropriate practices.

We then listened to a summerized version of a lecture originally spoken by Hazrat Inayat Khan and later transcribed in to a series of books. The topic was perfection, limitation and an knowledge. The divine being Perfection and the manifest world as limitation. The message was generally that one can move toward perfection by attaining knowledge and wisdom but the manifest world in which we live is limited. That each answered question presents more questions is infinite. Being on a Sufi path involves moving toward the infinite perfection with no expectation of actually attaining all the answers or even of knowing all the questions. All that matters is the travel, the movement towards. I think I can apply this philosphy to all aspects of my life where achievment is concerned, academic, inter-personal, career, spiritual, other personal issues etc. Amen

We finished the official meeting portion with song and then a brief prayer of gratitude for life and a request that we be drawn to and draw to us a great degree of light.

Finally we were invited into the kitchen where Hadi served us his home made frozen yogurt and cookies with tea. At this point the conversation goes anywhere it may.

I feel a revived desire to find myself there more often and met another woman from Berkeley who goes often so we will connect and car-pool yea!! I am filled with gratitude and thank everyone and everything that brought me to this feeling!!!

I did a painting last year illustrating or inspired by a few poems from Sufi poet Hafiz. You can see it on my blog titled paintingsbykenna.blogspot.com You can get to it also by clicking the icon at the right where it says "view complete profile" for Alive in Fire then choose the appropriate blog.