Ya Fatah!

Murshid Samuel Lewis, who started the Dances of Universal Peace in his garage in 1968, is quoted as saying: "The first year I planted many seeds, but in the fall, there were no flowers. I planted seeds again the next year, and the next year, and the next, but each fall, no flowers grew. But then one fall, not only that year's flowers bloomed, but flowers from all the seeds that I had ever planted were sprouting wherever I looked."

"I cannot harvest all of these flowers myself!" he prayed.

"Take what you can," the Infinite replied, "and I will take care of the rest."

I spent this past week in the Woodlands again, at the Ruhaniat Sufi Youth Retreat. I am really amazed at how well this week went for me. I have never really been able to just jump into a group of people I have never known before and quickly become comfortable, so going to this camp on such short notice and without any previous connections (aside from Robin Tala of Con Con 2004 and this kid Nathan who I met on the bluffs on Monday) was definitely a bit of a leap socially. I quickly bonded with many people and had a fantastic time. I'm pretty sure I can't chalk up how easy it was to integrate myself in the Sufi community to the weird "being on the road" luck that I've been having for the last month.

The Sufi spiritual practices are basically a synthesis of meditation, dance, and community worship. Basically they are incredible and diverse. woke up at 7 every morning to practice Raga scales; we had Dances of Universal Peace both in the morning and at night; we had Japanese Tea Ceremony with Asha every afternoon... we had a writing workshop, a few of us joined the UU Family Camp for a sweat lodge... every activity and person there was incredibly energetic and inspiring. People came from across the country, and we had a couple of folks who were traveling from St. Petersburg, Russia!

One of the last things Shabda told us at the closing ceremony today was a reminder that even though we didn't notice it at the moment, it would be apparent once we went into town that we had achieved a psychadelic state after a week of meditation, dancing, and zhikr. As beautiful as the redwoods are, everything on the drive home was also so much more beautiful than i realized before. The fog, the ocean, and Gowan's apple cider. There is definitely a long comedown period after a retreat like that.

It was also cool to experience both the Sufi Camp and the UU Camp simultaneously... at a couple points, I observed that the two communities were like independent tribes living down the road from each other - we would send messages back and forth down the road by jogging or biking. I definitely plan to spend at least two weeks at the Woodlands next summer as well.

As far as this summer's plans go, the ride with Doug to Boston has come through, and I will be leaving later this week. May the path manifest itself.



--Photo by Andres Felipe