7 September 2016

Dear Friends,

I’m writing a personal letter to the Abwoon Network to ask your help in completing the project to restore the dargah (gravesite) of Murshid Samuel Lewis in New Mexico. Whatever you may or may not have read about this in past, I would request a few moments of your time to consider the following, some of which you may not have heard before.

As one of the first practicing inter-spiritual mystics of the 20^th century, Murshid Samuel Lewis nurtured his own spiritual life with three simple things: retreat, pilgrimage and a deep, inner connection to his teachers. The three went together. Throughout his life, he travelled on retreat or pilgrimage to visit living teachers or absorb their living presence at a sacred site. While there, he received the inspirations that formed the basis of his life and work. Whether it was his study with Buddhist Zen teachers, with Swami Papa Ramdas or with Christian mystics and Sufis, he always felt that genuine spiritual work for peace resulted from living experience and vision rather than ideas and concepts. The Dances of Universal Peace and spiritual Walks—the culmination of his work—were sparked by a vision that he received at the dargah of the Sufi saint Selim Chishti in India. Shortly afterwards, when Murshid S.A.M. visited Ruth St Denis, his spiritual dance teacher, she confirmed the vision.

Likewise, the International Dances of Universal Peace Network, in the form we have it, resulted from a vision received by this person at the dargah of Murshid S.A.M. at Lama Foundation in New Mexico in October 1982. Along with this, at the same time, came the vision that led to the first Aramaic Dances for the Prayer of Jesus. Following this, I began to do the scholarly work that led to my first book, Prayers of the Cosmos.

This vision happened during a month-long pilgrimage led by Murshid Wali Ali Meyer, during which about twenty of us rebuilt Murshid S.A.M.’s dargah, which was falling into decay due to its harsh surroundings. The vision was confirmed by my own teacher, Murshid Moineddin, as well as by meeting my spiritual sister Murshida Tasnim Fernandez, with whom I began the Dance Network.

All of you reading this who are engaged in some way with the Dances or the Aramaic Jesus work will find that it is because of one or both of these visions, which resulted from pilgrimages to a dargah.

All things fall into decay eventually. Some things worth keeping need to be maintained and sometimes rebuilt, with effort and sacrifice. Sacred sites around the world have been made sacred by combining earth energies with the group devotion of a community of people who sacrificed to keep a particular portal between the worlds open for those coming along later.

Of course, anyone can receive a vision anywhere, under any circumstances. But it is no coincidence that more of these occur at sacred sites, which are kept alive by a field of group devotion, effort and sacrifice.

Some years ago, we again reached the point where Murshid’s dargah needed to be completely rebuilt. When I visited the dargah in August 2014, it was clear—from comparing its present state with what we had designed and rebuilt in 1982—that the site had already substantially eroded into the hillside. This was no one’s fault. It resulted from a combination of factors. First, the 1996 fire at Lama changed the drainage and ecology of the hillside. Second, the changing demographics of our Dance and Sufi commuities: we got older and less capable of the heavy lifting we did 34 years ago during the rebuild or by which we maintained the dargah in the ten years following during our annual summer Dance camps. Third, the changing demographics of the Lama community in the last decade: during this time the average time a permanent resident remained in the community shortened dramatically from ten years to five to its current two. With such a quick turnover, more immediate survival needs in a wilderness community take priority.

While some people like the image of our dargah gradually fading away, to me this attitude reflects laziness rather than an enlightened attitude to impermanence. Valuable things are worth reusing and reviving, rather than simply throwing away—an attitude our superficially impermanent consumer society promotes.

An additional factor: if you burrow into the internet news, you will see that Sufi sacred sites around the world are being threatened and destroyed by extremists of all sorts–in Africa, East Asia and the Middle East. These include the very dargahs that Murshid SAM himself visited. We may well be in a situation where sacred lineage portals like ours can only survive in the West for the moment, much as Tibetan Buddhism is surviving in exile from its historical homeland.

We are now in the final phase of the dargah restoration, which will be complete by summer 2017.

For the final push we need 300 people who are willing to donate a total of $1000 over the next three years (2016-2018). That’s about $333 a year, less than what most of us spend a year on workshops, retreats and camps.

This one is ours to do. It cannot wait for another generation. One can come up with all sorts of excuses why it can’t be done, or shouldn’t be done, or could be done differently. Having studied the budget and plans in depth, as well as the whole history of the dargah’s maintenance and the Sufi Ruhaniat’s communications around this with Lama Foundation (which began more than 20 years ago in Pir Moineddin’s time), I’m convinced that this project is being done in the most cost-efficient, maintainable, ecological and beautiful way possible, in consideration of the long-term benefit to both the human and natural communities involved.

After our own Dance circles are forgotten, the dargah will be there, hopefully to provide visionary inspiration for a whole new generation of Dancers, who may need to revolutionize what we’re doing in the same way that the Dance Network did ten years after Murshid S.A.M.’s passing. At that point, Murshida Tasnim and I began the Dance Network with $500, and look where we are today.

Please join me in making the pledge mentioned above and manifesting this. Here is the link:

http://www.ruhaniat.org/index.php/work/dargah-project

If you can give more, give more. If you can give less, do that. Every person who puts in some energy, and makes some sacrifice in the name of devotion, helps clear the channel for others. We can talk about “paying it forward” as much as we want, but this is one practical thing we can actually do to help sustain the future of the Dances—and the living interspiritual work that Murshid SAM began—for coming generations. Don’t miss the opportunity to say you helped make this happen.

Love and blessings,

Neil Douglas-Klotz

Fife, Scotland

Illuminating the Shadow:

The Life, Love and Laughter of a 20^th century Sufi

Moineddin Jablonski

Edited and with an introduction and notes by Neil Douglas-Klotz

Sufi Ruhaniat International, 392 pages, $18.95

For the past four years, I have been working with a team on a collection of the articles, interviews, correspondence and other writings of Murshid Moineddin Jablonski (1942-2001), my spiritual guide.

As the book Sufi Vision and Initiation did for Murshid Samuel L. Lewis, we wanted to allow Moineddin’s own words, woven together, to reveal his own very human and inspiring life story. The completed book is something between autobiography and found “actuality”—-combining all of his more refined writing and spiritual commentary, as well as interviews, letters, emails and unpublished poetry. These prayer-beads, threaded together, reveal the necklace of service and devotion that formed the last thirty years of his life, from age twenty-nine until his passing at fifty-nine.

The book is now out, in both printed and ebook formats. Below you will find the book’s description, a few of the many endorsements and some short excerpts.

The whole process has been very inspiring, and as several of the endorsements say, putting all of the pieces in place have allowed those of us who knew Moineddin to see him in a new way. For those who never knew him in the body, it introduces the wisdom of his life and teaching to a wider community.

To order the book in the print edition, please go to this url: www.tinyurl.com/illuminatingshadow

The price is US $18.95 plus shipping. Using this website estore maximizes the return for the Sufi Ruhaniat. The only royalty being paid is going to Moineddin’s four children. If you live outside of the USA, just use the slowest shipping and ignore the dire predictions of how long it will take. After several tests, the slowest shipping delivers the book to Europe in about a week. We will also have copies at the Ruhaniat European Summer School in July.

For the Kindle ebook edition, please go to your local Amazon site.

May all we do return to praise the One!

Neil Douglas-Klotz

===

Illuminating the Shadow collects the Sufi writings of Moineddin Carl Jablonski (1942-2001), the spiritual successor of Samuel L. Lewis, founder of the Dances of Universal Peace and originator of a branch of the Chishtia Sufi lineage currently called the Sufi Ruhaniat International.

The book weaves autobiography, letters, poems, articles and interviews to provide a unique glimpse of an illuminated Western-born mystic. Jablonski faced enormous inner and outer challenges as he sought to establish an authentic, living Sufi tradition in the West.

“A book of subtle messages which will challenge and inspire any serious seeker, regardless of ethnic or religious background.”

—Muneera Haeri, author of The Chishtis: A Living Light and co-author with Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri of Sufi Links

“This book illuminates, in his own words, the life of a gentle and gifted soul. Over the three decades I knew Moineddin Jablonski we enjoyed many intimacies, including countless hours of music-making, the study of Sufism under his guidance, and open, spacious darshans. I thought I knew him well. But in reading Illuminating the Shadow I received a newly clear, coherent picture of the whole man in all his glories and tortures, and I’ve come to love him as never before. Thanks to this savvy presentation of his writings, Moineddin’s vision can now light the way for many more seekers of the realized life.”

—W. A. Mathieu, author of The Listening Book and Bridge of Waves

“…a rich compendium of anecdote and teaching of the eclectic and universalist shaman, Moineddin Carl Jablonski, direct heir to Samuel Lewis, Sufi and Zen master. Illuminating The Shadow is an important read for anyone interested in the Light and Shadow of our human story, and the journey of the soul. Douglas-Klotz adds to the current mystical wisdom stream with this poignant exposition of the life, love and laughter of this Sufi leader and humble practitioner.”

—Mariam Baker, author of Woman as Divine: Tales of the Goddess

Excerpts:

The Kidneys of Our Hearts (Letter, 1980)

“There is nothing but Love, and if we feel the brief crucifixions that improve our fana let us keep Allah foremost in our heart-breath. It is all a process, at once enlightened and eternal, and also a gradual awakening according to our innocence, strength, purity and love. But until these latter become entirely of Allah, instead of “ours,” there will be more need for some little pain.

“Also, the world’s condition is being poured through the kidneys of our hearts. Why should it be otherwise? We asked for this before the beginning of time.

“Now let us be who we are.”

Lessons from the Book of Love (Letter, 1983)

“Many of the lessons we must learn are hard lessons, and many we make hard. Some others may be easier to master, and our own ease makes them so. But all of our lessons, and we are here only to learn them, are given out from the Book of Love authored by the Hand of God.”

The Flavor of Murshid S.A.M.’s Transmission (Interview, 1992)

“I think the essential qualities of the Sufi Islamia Ruhaniat Society (SIRS) can be found living in the hearts of the Mureeds as: Sincere seeking; devoted practice; deep inner experience; universal vision. We are developing in our own lives the God-realization not only of Murshid S.A.M. and Hazrat Inayat Khan, but of all the Illuminated Souls, male and female, of all times and places and cultures and schools.

“Does that sound extravagant? It isn’t really. The Sufi invocation is our basic and primary teaching. We encourage a strong, vital and open approach to personal and spiritual wholeness. We are not afraid to be ourselves. We are daring in our quest to reach beyond ourselves. Presently we are learning the difficult lessons of love in the schoolhouse of Earth, but truly we are citizens of the starry Cosmos … What can I say?

“Our Sufi initiation and practice unite us as sisters and brothers on the spiritual path. We’re a family. We love. We fight. We’re eclectic. We’re open. We’re innovative. We’re a lot of things the more orthodox Sufi schools say we shouldn’t be. God bless them, but we are who we are. As to the future, we will continue to eat, dance and pray with the peoples of the world—and with each other—as the simplest and best means to unify hearts and create peace. We will also utilize the tremendous love our community has developed to organize compassionate and focused responses to the suffering of homeless people, people with AIDS, and other victims of personal and collective catastrophe. In short, we will become more committed and active in addressing the growing helplessness and hopelessness felt by so many in our society.”

Yesterday’s Dream (Interview, 1992)

 “We are indeed entering a new era of humanity, a time of massive inner and outer change and growth. Earth herself is giving birth to what she must become. Upheaval—personal, societal, and geologic—are the labor and birth pangs which will create greater consciousness of spiritual reality for all. As each one of us is moved into Soul-consciousness, and we are being so moved, we will select our own modes of spiritual realization. What we now know as ‘Sufism’ will become vastly expanded and transformed. It will be like the reported meeting of Inayat Khan and Nyogen Senzaki. They entered samadhi together, ‘and Sufism and Zen became like yesterday’s dream.’”