Village Journals
Resonate your identity with Naseeb journals. Express your opinions, share your thoughts, post your writings and connect with like minded people through the power of expression.
Resonate your identity with Naseeb journals. Express your opinions, share your thoughts, post your writings and connect with like minded people through the power of expression.
Notes from Rumi's Retreat in Garrison, NY
I had the privilege to participate in a 3 day Retreat to celebrate Rumi's birthday, held in up state NY between Sep 29-Oct 2. It was organized by Threshold Society www.sufism.org, founded and lead by renown Sufi scholar and practitioner Kabir Helminski and his wife Camille Helminski.
The theme of the retreat was "How to become Fully Human". The gathering was small but very focused. Participants had an array of activities starting from Fajar prayer till after Isha, including Jammah(praying in a congregation) prayers, Zikr(rememberance of God), meditation as well as insightful lectures by Kabir and Camille. The most visible aspect of the gathering was their openhearted and welcoming gestures to all the participants, irrespective of their beliefs. Gender equality and almost equal participation by men and women in all the activities was another breeze of fresh air.
The most enjoyable part for me was to participate in the Zikr of the "whirling derveshes", though it was something very basic, one needs quite alot of practice to do the Zikr. Kabir and Camille instructed dummies like me how to keep the balance while focusing one's attention to divine presence of Almighty, it was quite an exercise for improving physical, mental and spiritual awareness at the same time.
Another interesting part was screening of a docudrama Rumi- Turning Ecstatic www.rumi-turningecstatic.com by Tina Petrova in association with Vision TV Canada. She was personally there to share the background of this movie, an accident which changed her life and turned her towards Rumi. The story was quite fascinating.Rumi's message was presented in the context of today's polarized world and it was emphasized how it can help bring different faiths and communities together in love of the Almighty.
The conclusion of the gathering was to increase remembrance of Almighty in our daily lives, get rid of the idolatry of consumerism and our senseless obsession with material world, improve our awareness about the divine presence and use this awareness to increase our compassion towards fellow humans, express our gratitude to the Almighty through creative works to benefit the entire humanity, work for social justice and serve the humanity.
The theme of the retreat was "How to become Fully Human". The gathering was small but very focused. Participants had an array of activities starting from Fajar prayer till after Isha, including Jammah(praying in a congregation) prayers, Zikr(rememberance of God), meditation as well as insightful lectures by Kabir and Camille. The most visible aspect of the gathering was their openhearted and welcoming gestures to all the participants, irrespective of their beliefs. Gender equality and almost equal participation by men and women in all the activities was another breeze of fresh air.
The most enjoyable part for me was to participate in the Zikr of the "whirling derveshes", though it was something very basic, one needs quite alot of practice to do the Zikr. Kabir and Camille instructed dummies like me how to keep the balance while focusing one's attention to divine presence of Almighty, it was quite an exercise for improving physical, mental and spiritual awareness at the same time.
Another interesting part was screening of a docudrama Rumi- Turning Ecstatic www.rumi-turningecstatic.com by Tina Petrova in association with Vision TV Canada. She was personally there to share the background of this movie, an accident which changed her life and turned her towards Rumi. The story was quite fascinating.Rumi's message was presented in the context of today's polarized world and it was emphasized how it can help bring different faiths and communities together in love of the Almighty.
The conclusion of the gathering was to increase remembrance of Almighty in our daily lives, get rid of the idolatry of consumerism and our senseless obsession with material world, improve our awareness about the divine presence and use this awareness to increase our compassion towards fellow humans, express our gratitude to the Almighty through creative works to benefit the entire humanity, work for social justice and serve the humanity.
Comments on this journal