Sufism Reoriented - Fifty Years Later

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.

Spiritual Studies
Participants in Sufism Reoriented are enrolled as students in a spiritual school of continuing education. As outlined by Meher Baba in the Sufi Charter, educational activities take several forms, including regular weekly classes on spiritual subjects, retreats, seminars and workshops. However, an essential part of the learning of any spiritual school is carried out through practice. Principles discussed and studied in classes have no real meaning unless and until they inform one’s actions in everyday life. No purpose is served by discussing or studying spiritual principles unless these principles can be silently validated in the simple acts of day-to-day living; spiritual learning must be practiced and polished through one’s daily actions and one’s interactions with close companions in life. From this perspective, all activities of this Sufi community are educational. They are intended to help students move closer to God by supporting and nurturing appropriate patterns of spiritual life.

The Sufi musical play based on God Speaks. Performers sing the Manonash Calypso.

     Within this broad framework, programmes are organized to address specific educational needs. For each of these programmes, Meher Baba and Murshida Duce developed policies and guidelines to help participants learn the subject matter more easily.
     Regular weekly classes on spiritual subjects are generally held in fall and spring semesters with a break for winter holidays and a summer recess. All Sufi course material is prepared or supervised by the Murshid. Most of the classes are also presented by the Murshid in the form of lectures or discussions. Some classes are presented as dramatic or musical programmes by Sufi actors and musicians.
     To be eligible to attend Sufi classes, students must first complete a series of prerequisite readings. The readings consist of books by and about Avatar Meher Baba. Meher Baba directed his Sufis to become familiar with the major themes of his life and work. He especially wanted them to review his own writings on spiritual principles, since this subject matter is the primary spiritual literature of our time
     Sufi classes are gatherings to celebrate the Avatar: By joining together in adoration and love for the Avatar, members of the Sufi community help expand and enrich a reservoir of love which forms during their meetings. This flowing spring of love is offered to Meher Baba. Students benefit individually from their participation in this process; moreover, the palpable flow of love generated during group meetings can be used to support the Avatar’s work in the material world and beyond. This dimension of Sufi work is accomplished best in weekly classes and devotional meetings. The most important reason for regular attendance at Sufi classes is to participate in this central process.
     Daily Remembrance of Meher Baba: Meher Baba invited all Sufis to join him by summoning his presence, his love and his radiance every day. He asked Sufis to do this in two ways:
to meditate on him for fifteen minutes each day;
to repeat his name for thirty minutes each day.
     Though Sufis also join together in group meditation on Meher Baba, this daily remembrance is normally done individually. The time, place and manner of meditation is left up to each person, though most Sufis try to adopt the same time and place each day. Meher Baba did not prescribe any formal plan for this brief period of daily meditation and remembrance. One simply thinks of him, focusing one’s thoughts and feelings on the Beloved in any way that brings joy and refreshment. Many are stimulated to think of him by contemplating his image using paintings, photographs, pictures in books or images on videotapes prepared especially for Sufi meditation. Similarly, Meher Baba invited Sufis to repeat his name aloud for thirty minutes each day. Many students say his name by singing it to the melodies of favourite Sufi music. Audiotapes for this purpose were created by Sufi musicians and singers and distributed to participants in Sufism.
     Meher Baba noted that spiritual students should not try to evaluate their “progress” in meditation, an idea prompted by the ego, which seeks to subvert the process in any way it can. Spiritual students commonly experience periods when meditation may appear to lose its joy and refreshment and remembrance becomes an effort. Nonetheless, Meher Baba encouraged Sufis to continue to do these practices faithfully every day as a way of continually renewing their inward connection with him, of summoning him and keeping his presence in their surround, irrespective of what the ego might impose upon their outward awareness.
     The Consortium of the Arts: Many Sufis participate in the arts as a way to enrich their understanding of harmony and creativity in life. To support this approach, Murshida Duce created a special organization within Sufism Reoriented, the Consortium of the Arts, with a faculty drawn from her own Sufi students with professional training in the arts.

The Sufis perform devotional songs at the Meherabad Music and Arts Centre in the summer of 2002.

     The Consortium sponsors courses of study in the fine and performing arts for the pleasure and personal development of the participants and also as a way for Sufis to celebrate Meher Baba’s life and work. In the performing arts, Consortium poets, composers, actors, dancers and musicians have explored spiritual themes through music, mime and puppetry, musical comedy, drama and theatre. Programmes are based on Meher Baba’s messages, vignettes from the Master’s life and the work of great spiritual figures of the past. Many of these programmes are presented as Sufi classes and form part of the curriculum of Sufi studies. In the fine arts, Sufi painters, sculptors, photographers and craftsmen have developed creative ways to portray Meher Baba’s image in many different media, including murals, portraiture, prints, collage, marble and bronze sculpture, ceramics and computer graphics. Many paintings from Sufism’s art collection are on display at the Sufi Center in Walnut Creek and Washington, DC.
     Spiritual Pilgrimage: Meher Baba encouraged all his lovers to visit places centrally associated with his life and work, for such settings are inundated with a palpable force of the Avatar’s love. Sufis have sponsored pilgrimage tours to many locations in Asia and Europe that have been blessed by the Avatar’s presence. From time to time, an entire season of spiritual study is devoted to programmes of group pilgrimage.
     Meher Baba’s Home in India and his Samadhi: Meher Baba especially invited his lovers to visit his tomb, or samadhi, on Meherabad Hill, near Ahmednagar, India. He called this site the most important centre of pilgrimage for this Avataric cycle and explained that the major portion of his universal work was done on this hill. One of Meher Baba’s companions noted, “The love stored up here will nourish the hearts of God’s lovers for centuries to come.” Sufi devotees of Meher Baba have made pilgrimages to his home in India ever since Murshida Duce first traveled there to meet the Master in 1948. Sufi pilgrims accepted many invitations from Meher Baba to join him for meetings and events in India during the 1950s and 1960s at Meherabad, at his home at Meherazad and at his summer residence in Pune.
     Since Meher Baba’s passing in 1969, a steady stream of Sufis, their children — and now their grandchildren — have enjoyed the privilege of making this pilgrimage to India. Murshida Duce urged every Sufi to make this journey, and Sufism Reoriented has always extended help and assistance to companions traveling to the Master’s home in India.

Shared Work and Life
     Meher Baba’s principles can be most quickly learned and most fully expressed in the context of shared activities with spiritual companions. The work of a spiritual community dedicated to God becomes a field of divine action. Such work helps dissolve the ego and one begins to know the delight of surrendering to God.
It is always in the most basic issues of everyday life that one finds the greatest resistance to spiritual change. When one realizes the tremendous energy required to begin to dissolve the ego, the task can seem impossible. Working alone, the possibility of change seems especially daunting. Fortunately, God has designed the human journey in such a way that no one is alone. Sufis discover that God’s help comes most effectively through companions who share their journey. As one joins in the life of the spiritual community, one’s capacity for change is enhanced. One’s aspiration is linked to that of others; one’s ability to understand, to accept, to endure and to love is amplified. One’s life is nurtured, strengthened and expanded until it is no longer one’s own. It is God’s.
     Sufism Reoriented currently maintains two centres — one in Walnut Creek, California, and one in Washington, D.C. The two centres follow different yet complementary patterns of organization for Sufi work and life:
     The California Centre offers a broad range of shared projects, often on a large scale. The Washington Center provides the opportunity to support and participate in shared residential living.
     The California Centre in Walnut Creek: The Sufi Centre in Walnut Creek, a suburb 18 miles east of San Francisco, serves about 400 members. The Centre occupies a large building that was formerly a restaurant, and earlier, a cultural centre for a Portuguese-American community. It is in a neighborhood zoned for both residential and commercial uses. Purchased by Sufism Reoriented in 1975, this building has been renovated, expanded and remodeled over many years, as the work of Sufism has grown and changed. The Centre contains the principal administrative offices of Sufism Reoriented and multipurpose rooms for Sufi classes and gatherings. The Meeting Room can accommodate up to 400 people. “The Tavern,” a smaller room which can seat up to 90, is used for workshops, group dining, small classes and programmes of music, poetry and drama. Adjoining the Tavern is a full restaurant kitchen and a staging area for food service.
     The Centre includes technical facilities for audio, video and music production. These facilities are used to record Sufi classes, programmes and original music. The Centre holds an archive of original films of Meher Baba and a collection of Meher Baba memorabilia entrusted to Sufism. These objects require special techniques for storage, preservation, care and handling. A reference library on Meher Baba, Sufism and other spiritual subjects is kept for specialized research associated with the preparation of programme materials. The Centre also includes residential accommodations for five members of the staff.
     While there is no formal residential program administered by Sufism in California, all Sufis are encouraged to live near the Centre. Ninety percent live in houses, apartments or condominiums within easy walking distance. A 23-unit condominium adjoining the Centre, fully occupied by Sufi families, has become an informal residential community where companions are able to dine together and regularly share the tasks of maintaining common areas of their living units.
     Searchlight: Books, selected audiotapes and videotapes of Sufi programmes and musical celebrations, videotaped documentaries about Meher Baba and reproductions of paintings of Meher Baba by Sufi artists are sold through a non-profit organization associated with Sufism called Searchlight. Searchlight has a small office, information centre and display gallery in Lafayette, California, about a mile from the Sufi Centre.

The Searchlight operates a bookstore in California and distributes CDs, books, videos and other items of interest to seekers.

     The Meher Schools: The Meher Schools is a separately incorporated, non-profit private school that offers a valuable service to the broader community through its innovative work. The Meher Schools include a private preschool (the White Pony) and elementary school (the Meher School) serving children from many Bay Area cities.
     Founded by Murshida Duce in 1975, the Meher Schools now serve more than 365 children from toddlers through the fifth grade. The Meher Schools are located in a former public elementary school in suburban Lafayette, about a mile from the Sufi Centre in Walnut Creek. The campus includes 17 spacious classrooms arranged on three tiers with garden play-yards at each level, a generous playground, outdoor theatre and sports field.
     The professional staff of the school and parent volunteers are supported by nearly 200 regular Sufi volunteers. Teams of Sufis clean the entire school most weekday evenings. Many support crews help maintain the buildings, grounds, gardens and play areas. They also help prepare classroom materials, serve breakfast and special meals and assist in class programmes in science, social studies, drama, music and art. Volunteers also supplement school staff members in the library and resource centres. The school’s existence, its growth and expansion, have only been possible because of the generous volunteer help it receives.
     Murshida Duce, the founder, hoped that the educational principles embodied in the Meher Schools would help to prepare children to participate in Meher Baba’s New Humanity. The school curriculum and activities foster children’s appreciation of the unity of life and the values of cooperation and harmony, as opposed to competition and individual self-assertion. The school has an active arts programme that includes two children’s choruses, a summer drama camp and an annual fully-staged graduation play, including music and dance.
     While nearly everyone on the faculty and staff is dedicated to Meher Baba, the school is strictly non-sectarian and offers a balanced course of study to prepare children for intermediate school. There is no “religious instruction” and no attempt to offer “spiritual training” to the children, other than to instruct them according to principles of love, honesty, fairness and service to others. The Meher Schools are fully accredited by major educational agencies.
     The Sufi Centre in Washington, D.C.: Patterns of life for Sufis on the East Coast differ from those in Walnut Creek. The central theme in Washington, D.C., is shared residential living. The circumstances of life there permit participants to experience some of the joy and freedom that comes when one is able to share the everyday activities of domestic life with a large coterie of spiritual companions. The Washington Centre serves about 125 people; nearly half live at the Centre complex. Those who live at the Centre share the Murshid’s home. They live and work with others in a unique atmosphere of harmony and beauty dedicated to Meher Baba.
     Classes and Meetings in Washington: During Fall and Spring semesters, typically from October through June, classes and programmes are held six nights a week at the Centre. Sufis in Washington attend regular weekly classes. The curriculum in Washington and in California, planned by the Murshid, is the same. However, differences in space and facilities have dictated a different pattern of attendance in Washington; classes are offered more frequently and to smaller groups of about 60 students. Each class is presented three evenings a week. Participants are scheduled to attend one of the first three evenings as their regular class night. The fourth evening is offered as a make-up class, which anyone enrolled in the course may also attend if they wish to repeat the class. During some seasons, an additional class called “Introduction to Sufism” is also offered.
     Two other evenings each week are reserved for regular programmes of remembrance and celebration of the Avatar. These programmes are often musical evenings in which companions join together to sing Meher Baba’s name. Sometimes, especially when the Murshid is in residence, these evenings offer special programmes of poetry, drama, music or dance in praise of God.
     All the activities of the Washington Sufi Centre are designed to support the possibilities of individuals merging their lives in the life of a larger group. Those who find themselves drawn to participate are offered the opportunity to live beyond the boundaries of the ego and dedicate themselves to God as they blend their lives into a larger whole — living together, dining together, sharing their love for Meher Baba in every activity of daily life.