July 23, 2000
I wish to thank Prajapati for his
perseverance in promulgating the vision of the Message and its relationship
to the five activities that Murshid established, and in particular the
Sufi Order and the Universal Worship. As usual, Prajapati has articulated
the issues clearly and thoughtfully. As many of you know, this has
been the topic of a conversation that has been occurring intermittently
over several years now, and many of us have held this vision in common.
There is great power in that.
I believe that we are at such a juncture in our relationship with Sufism. In order to serve what Murshid called the Cause, we must, like "pioneers of the Message" blaze new trails and create new forms for expressing the future spirituality of humanity. In doing so, we must bring forward from our past that which is valuable, while at the same time honoring but leaving behind that which no longer contributes toward the future. If this means letting go of some traditions, including Sufi traditions, we must be willing to do so. (On the other hand, letting go of Sufi traditions is the quintessential Sufi act!) As an example of one
of the ways that we could evolve new forms, we could not only place the
Sufi Order conceptually and organizationally within the larger concept
and organization of the Message (whatever that might look like), but we
could also replace the term 'Sufi Order' by another term, such as the Esoteric
School or the Esoteric School of the Message. We have already been
doing that to some extent. Prajapati goes part of the way when he
states that the goals of the spiritual training of the Sufi Order are to
enable individuals to attain "full spiritual independence, full individual
sovereignty, and deep personal realization." Going the whole way
would simply be to add "…in order to serve the Message
in our time." The purpose of the Esoteric School is to prepare workers
for the Cause, individuals who have realized the Message in themselves
and are motivated and equipped to carry it forward in service to God and
humanity. Instead of emphasizing alignment with other Sufi Orders,
we should continue to evolve the esoteric school into the Esoteric School
of all Schools, incorporating more and more
I believe it is essential
that all of the concentrations remain
As far as the future of the Universal Worship is concerned, it is time for us to let go of trembling and feeling confounded in order to build something real that is solidly grounded. If we wait until we "get the vision right," until we "see the blueprint according to which the structure is to be built," we will wait for a long time. Visioning is the beginning impulse of a project, and its full meaning is only discovered (and even perfected) in performing the actions that seek to manifest it. In other words, it is only by encouraging and supporting cherags and communities of the Message to creatively pursue new ways of manifesting and spreading the Universal Worship that we will clarify and evolve the vision of the Universal Worship. There is no perfect model waiting to be built according to plan, and we don't have time to wait for it anyway. There are many different (but "inner"-related) models that, through the pioneering work of cherags, are waiting to be discovered and applied throughout the world in order to fit the many different types of communities and peoples who are longing to celebrate the Message in ways that take root and grow in the soil that they call home. Respectfully,
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