Dear friends,
Many have been drawn to the Inayatiyya by its vision of unity and universalism and have felt the call to serve the Message in our time. Understanding what the Message is and how to serve it is something that is supposed to develop over time as one works with the teachings bringing them into everyday life. There hasn’t been any curriculum devoted specifically to preparing oneself to serve the Message.
There is a body of teachings called the Message Papers that is not well known in the Order. In this series of papers, Murshid addresses questions about what it means to be a worker for the Message from many points of view. Almost two years ago, a small pilot group started meeting weekly to read these papers together and explore how the teachings apply to their lives. It took this group about a year and a half to read through all the papers.
Now that the pilot group has finished reading the papers, I would like to offer support for making this class more widely available. Because the papers refer to the experience of murids, I believe that the class should be limited to initiates in the Inayati Order or other orders stemming from the teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan.
Here is the format we used in the pilot program. The optimal class size is 6 to 12 members for full participation in discussions. In the pilot group we had 10 members. Members should be those who feel a calling to serve the Message and are ready to make a commitment to attending most of the meetings. Zoom meetings were recorded so those who missed a meeting could review the session. At each class, one member read the current paper through to the end and then read it again one paragraph at a time. There was time after each paragraph for members to share their questions, thoughts, and what the teachings touched in their lives. The reading of the papers is circulated among the participants.
The role of the leader is to gather the group and to serve as facilitator, making sure in the early stages that everyone is encouraged to share. The leader is not a teacher in the usual way a class is offered. The emphasis is on sharing and exploring the teachings by all of the participants. The leader can offer perspectives on the historical context and the broad context of the teachings they have assimilated. However, it is important for the leader to exercise restraint to let the participants discover for themselves what the Message Papers offer.
The structure of the classes is flexible and can be adapted by the leader in the way that works best for the group.
If you feel drawn to starting such a group, please contact me. I would like to meet with those who want to start groups to share further what I have learned about the structure and to share the Message Papers.
Love, Suhrawardi
Comments from participants in the pilot class
Class member 1
The combination of reading Murshid’s words out loud and our discussions have made a huge difference in my understanding. As an Initiate of 35 years and a Suluk graduate, this has been invaluable.
I have been aware of my calling since Initiation with Pir Vilayat back in 1985. This class makes it more evident how I have been living the Message and doing the work, as well as insights as to how I might serve the Message in the future.
Benefits include camaraderie with our group. Development of insight and intuition. Deeper connection with Murshid and better understanding of the Message.
Reading his words out loud in a group setting with dedicated Initiates is invaluable. I do not get even a fraction of the same understanding when I read his word by myself.
Class member 2
I leave each meeting more attuned than I came, as if someone put my spiritual body back into alignment using the gentlest form of massage or body work. Our meetings are a once-a-week adjustment of my perspective, and thus attunement.
This result is attained not only through showing up and engaging with the teachings, but also with my fellow seekers. I have benefited greatly from the deepening sense of spiritual friendship and reliable caravan camaraderie I have experienced as a result of taking on this endeavor together, building on the Suluk experience as our foundation.
I’m not sure that I’m much better at expressing my understanding of the Message in words than I was before this group started. Yet, I feel closer to it and more aware of where and how it lives in my body and soul. The Message is to be discovered through participation in life, rather than defined and limited by the intellect. I’ve come to feel more at home in my “style” of Working, which itself is living and breathing in its unfoldment and revelation.
Class member 3
There is something that I would like to add, and it is an important part of what this experience is for me. It is in a way about validation, but more precisely the experience of feeling held by each and every person in the group.
I look at everyone’s face on the screen and feel both a deep love and care, but also an abiding sense of respect and sometimes even awe!
I am not sure in my life I have ever had an experience quite like this - but it is a treasure.
Class member 4
For me, it feels like our group is a living example of working to spread the Message. It feels like each of us, in our own unique way, helps to spread the Message by holding space for the voices and feelings of each other; by offering support, kindness, stories or insights from our lives that arise in response to Murshid’s words. And, then we take those insights and feelings back out into the world as we interact with others, usually from a more connected and loving place. Our conversations feel deeply personal and also widely applicable.
I also think our group’s structure and dynamics play a big role in shaping the experience, of bringing to life feelings of connectedness and a desire to serve or answer the cries of humanity.
Class member 5
This class has helped me better understand what the Message is and my relationship to it. I understand the Message to be one of living from the heart and sharing that heart based relationship with other people in a collaborative, accepting and harmonious manner. The Message for me is spreading the experience of a God who is the perfection of love, harmony and beauty by living this in my relationship with myself, others and the world around me.
This work is a world movement in that it is a living breathing experience shared from one being to the next. It is a way of being, a way of interacting and living harmoniously.
One of the benefits of this class is remembering. A deeper understanding of life. A deeper understanding of Murshid’s teachings. The regular connection, study and discussion helps me to be grounded in Sufi principles and experiences that ultimately lead me to remember my own inner guidance, other’s guidance and God. Deep connection and friendship with individuals that allows for questioning, processing, support and deeper understanding.