Sufism Reoriented - Fifty Years Later (Page 1 of 3)

Sufism Reoriented is an American school of spiritual training created in 1952 by Avatar Meher Baba and developed under his guidance. In an exclusive to GLOW INTERNATIONAL, we go behind the doors of this school of spiritual mysticism that helps its students move closer to God.

Meher Baba designed Sufism Reoriented as a universal spiritual school that recognizes a central core of divine love at the heart of all spiritual systems. He refreshed, revitalized and reorganized patterns of life and inner training associated with ancient Sufism and adapted them to the needs of spiritual students in contemporary America. Meher Baba identified the central principles of Sufism Reoriented as love and service: active love for God and active service to others in God’s world.
     Mystical schools identify and celebrate internal patterns of awakening by which individuals experience unity with God. The central purpose of such a school is to help its students — each in his or her own way — move closer to God. The school and the community are organized in ways that support and nurture ever-expanding vistas of life — vistas which enrich personal experiences of unity, beauty and joy. The atmosphere of life within this community supports, protects and affirms these modes of deeply personal learning. And the atmosphere within this community also invites each member to move beyond the self-imposed limitations of the personal ego in order to experience the freedom and delight of a life shared with spiritual companions, a life based on principles of harmony, beauty and joy. Harmony, beauty and joy are attributes of love, and one can only move closer to God through love. Meher Baba designed this school of Sufi mysticism to be a school of divine love which supports harmony, beauty and joy in all aspects of life.
     The term “Murshid” or “Murshida” means Guide. It is used in traditional Sufism to refer to the spiritual figure who directs a Sufi school. Meher Baba, who described himself as the “Murshid of Murshids,” appointed Ivy O. Duce (1895–1981) as the first Murshida of Sufism Reoriented. Before her passing, Murshida Duce named Dr. James S. B. MacKie (1932-2001) as her successor. Murshid MacKie continued the work of Sufism from 1981 to 2001. Murshid MacKie, following Murshida Duce’s wishes, named Dr. Carol Weyland Conner as the next teacher or guide.
     The Murshid supervises all the activities of Sufism Reoriented. He offers spiritual guidance based on his own experience in living. This guidance is given directly through interviews, correspondence or conversation. It is also offered through classes and meetings, through shared work and play and silently through example. Sufi students are invited to share their teacher’s life and home as the setting for their spiritual study. In nearly every tradition of Sufism, the school is the home of the Murshid.

Guidelines for Participation
Meher Baba specified certain guidelines for those who wished to join this school and the spiritual community associated with it. He described basic “qualifications for membership” in the school’s founding document, the Sufi Charter. And he added others in response to specific questions posed by Murshida Ivy O. Duce during the two decades he directly supervised her work for him.
Meher Baba’s general guidelines are associated with three broad topics: an active life in the world, issues of personal maturity and the ability to generate a personal surplus of time, energy and resources for spiritual work.

Group meditatation on Meher Baba at the Washington centre.

     An Active Life in the World: Spiritual schools of the past often maintained patterns of life that were isolated from the world, designed to protect their students from all that might distract them from one-pointed focus on God. Meher Baba’s principles begin with the knowledge that all aspects of life are divine. God is to be found everywhere and within everything.
     Meher Baba said that the task of this age was to spiritually transform everyday life — to infuse with love all tasks, material objects and activities, to make the mundane world an arena of divine life and divine growth. Meher Baba focused this direction for Sufi work when he affirmed that God is to be found in the heart of life and that the everyday world is the heartland of human growth.
Meher Baba encouraged his American Sufis to lead active lives in the world, to pursue careers and raise families. He valued the ability to deal skillfully and responsibly with one’s duties and obligations in daily life. He directed Sufi students to strive to meet socially acknowledged standards of education, professional training and productive work.
     Moreover, Meher Baba encouraged Sufis to develop their talents and abilities as fully as possible and to use them for the welfare of others, to aid their communities and the world at large. Meher Baba explained that one can only earn the privilege of increased spiritual understanding by offering one’s full potential and all of one’s energy in service to God’s world. One cannot advance spiritually until one has fully used his or her best understanding and energy in the service of others. The energy that powers internal unfolding is gathered and generated from the contribution one makes to life itself. Processes of inner growth are anchored and often sustained by one’s actions and patterns of life in the external world. And it is to the world that the fruits of all spiritual learning are offered in gratitude and love. As Meher Baba expressed this central understanding:
     To penetrate into the essence of all being and significance, and to release the fragrance of that inner attainment for the guidance and benefit of others — by expressing, in the world of forms, truth, love, purity and beauty — this is the sole game which has any intrinsic and absolute worth. All other happenings, incidents and attainments in themselves can have no lasting importance.
(Discourses, 7th edition, 1987, p. 200)
     Personal Maturity: In Sufism, as in most spiritual systems, a student is expected to meet and begins to master the psychological, sociological and economic forces of his or her environment before seeking to join a spiritual school. A teacher seldom accepts a candidate who has not yet begun to meet the challenges of education, work, personal maturity and responsibility for others.
     During an extraordinary phase in the growth of Sufism in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Meher Baba directed Murshida Duce to work with many young people in their late teens and early twenties who wanted to study with her. The goals Murshida Duce established for these young people are instructive:
     She directed individuals to complete their education and pursue advanced degrees; she advised them on careers in the world; she helped many reconnect with parents and families from whom they had become estranged; she encouraged some to receive financial counseling and encouraged all of them to become free from debts and other financial obligations; for most people, she made fiscal solvency a prerequisite for continued participation in Sufism; and, she arranged for some to have psychological counseling to resolve a broad range of issues, from low self-esteem to substance abuse to difficulties in interpersonal relationships.
     All of these goals can be associated with personal maturity and the ability to address basic challenges of a productive life in the world. Meher Baba amplified the principles underlying these goals when he urged his devotees to be conscientious in meeting their worldly responsibilities. He asked them to view personal responsibilities as work God had given them. He indicated that personal maturity was a necessary condition for learning that leads to spiritual maturity.
     A Surplus of Time, Energy and Resources: Unless one has earned a certain measure of freedom by meeting material, psychological and social obligations in the world, one is not free to offer oneself to spiritual learning and spiritual work. Meher Baba invited students of Sufism Reoriented to free themselves from unnecessary obligations and from habits or patterns of life that draw energy away from spiritual goals. Meher Baba recognized that these issues can present difficult problems. He offered clear guidelines which could help free students to participate in the life of Sufism.

One of the volunteers sees to the plating of desserts.

     Financial Stability: From a spiritual perspective, money is viewed as a form of energy. Like mental or physical energy, it can be invested or applied in ways that support new learning and spiritual growth. Students are asked to live within their income so that they can be free from debt. Freedom from debt and the ability to handle money wisely can insure a surplus of this form of energy for new growth.
     Freedom from Addiction and Dependency: Meher Baba indicated that it was impossible to attempt to follow a mystical path unless one was free of the effects of addiction to alcohol, elective drugs or other chemical substances. He said that such substances were harmful physically, psychologically and spiritually. Recognizing the long convalescence necessary for full physical and psychological recovery from such addictions, Meher Baba required anyone interested in Sufism Reoriented to be free from the use of these substances for at least two years before participating in any Sufi programmes or activities.
     Meher Baba did not require total abstinence from alcohol, although he cautioned against over-indulgence and any dependence on alcohol.
     However, Meher Baba did require Sufis to abstain completely from the use of marijuana, cocaine, LSD and all other controlled or mind-altering substances (unless administered for medical reasons under a doctor’s supervision).
     Responsible Behaviour in Intimate Relationships: Meher Baba reviewed issues of marriage and sexual expression in his Discourses. He emphasized that from a spiritual perspective, sexual expression is appropriate only in marriage. While there may be many ways to define a marriage, Meher Baba indicated that Sufis were to follow the laws of the state and nation in which they live.
     One Hundred Percent Honesty: Meher Baba affirmed that even minor forms of dishonesty, such as white lies, were inappropriate for spiritual students. He directed all Sufis to strive to be 100% honest “in thought, word and deed.” He said that there is no other way of learning to live the principles of divine life, since God is Infinite Honesty. At the same time, Meher Baba stressed the importance of trying never to hurt another’s feelings. He cautioned against the human temptation to verbally assault and injure another person in the guise of “being honest with them.” Meher Baba noted that the most honest emotion is love. Therefore, any statement or action that is not based on the expression of love might hinder the goals of honesty in life and in human relations.
     Obedience to Civil Law: As Meher Baba directed spiritual students to apply the highest standard of honesty to their dealings with others, so he also instructed his Sufis to honour the laws and codes of conduct of the country, state and city in which they live. He indicated that this principle was important not only for the welfare of individual students but also for the survival of the entire group, whose existence as a spiritual organization is dependent on the support of the social and political institutions of local communities. Meher Baba expected Sufis to observe and honour civil laws, especially traffic laws, speed limits and all tax laws.
     Financial Support of Sufi Activities: Meher Baba organized Sufism Reoriented to be a non-profit corporation, operating according to U.S. state and federal laws governing such corporations. The work of Sufism Reoriented is funded by contributions and donations from its members. All members of Sufism Reoriented are invited to help finance its activities. Donations are used to fulfill the responsibilities Meher Baba gave Sufism Reoriented as outlined in the Sufi Charter and other aspects of Sufi work that emerged in the early years of the school’s growth. Among these responsibilities are:
     To fund the publication and distribution of books Meher Baba assigned to Sufism Reoriented and other books associated with his life and work.
     Meher Baba directed Sufism Reoriented to edit and publish several of his manuscripts, including God Speaks, Beams from Meher Baba on the Spiritual Panorama and Life at Its Best.
     To preserve the films and visual images of Meher Baba entrusted to Sufism Reoriented and make them available to interested groups. Meher Baba entrusted certain original films of him and his work into the care of Sufism Reoriented. This responsibility has included funding expert duplicating work by professional film specialists. It also requires Sufism to maintain facilities for long-term storage of these materials.

Musicians perform in the living room of Manchester House.

     In recent years, these films have been copied to videotape, using digital processing technology to clarify and enhance the original filmed images. Several of these videotapes have been edited and reproduced for sale, including Scenes from Meher Baba’s Tour of Andhra, 1954; Scenes from Meher Baba’s Tour of the United States,1956; and Darshan Scenes from the East-West Gathering, 1962.
     Meher Baba encouraged Murshida Duce to establish centres for Sufism Reoriented in the San Francisco area and in Washington, D.C., places associated with Murshida Duce’s own life and work. He suggested that additional centres for Sufism Reoriented might be established in other areas of the United States in the future. He noted that in traditional Sufism the Centre is the Murshid’s residence, and he indicated that a residential centre should be available to members so that they could live and work together.
     Sufism Reoriented has contributed its resources and its volunteer help to many special projects associated with Meher Baba. For example, Sufism provided its facilities, its technical staff and its musicians for several months to create and produce the soundtrack of Meher Baba, Avatar of the Age: the Human Side of God, a documentary film about Meher Baba’s work with masts.
Meher Baba invited Sufis to celebrate him through the arts and to share the fruits of their work with others. To accomplish this goal, Sufism Reoriented sponsors presentations of Sufi plays, oratorios and concerts of music and dance and underwrites audio and video recording projects to share these productions more widely. Sufism also supports Sufi artists in producing sculpture and paintings of Meher Baba.
     Sufism Reoriented has sometimes presented public programmes in major cities, both in America and abroad. For example, in 1987 Sufism accepted invitations from Meher Baba groups to present celebration programmes at 45 Meher Baba centres in India. Performers and members of the technical crew paid their own personal expenses; however, Sufism subsidized the costs of the tour, which included purchase and international transportation of special electrical, stage and video equipment.
     Meher Baba made it clear that participation in Sufism is not contingent upon financial contributions. Many Sufis make regular donations to help support the programmes Meher Baba assigned to this organization; others may face hardship that restricts them from making any.