20 January 2020

Dear Companions on the Path,

I wish you peace and joy in the New Year.

As the new decade begins, there are many reasons to rejoice and give thanks. We live in a ravishingly beautiful sphere, a world of rainforests and alps, of whales and dragonflies. We are heirs to profound wisdom traditions that illuminate the mystery at the heart of creation. And our lives are sanctified by the boon of fellowship, the sweetness of sharing bread and breath.

But there are also many reasons to be troubled. The web of life on earth, uniting plants, animals, and human beings in a holy symbiosis, is fraying before our eyes. War, hot and cold, persists as a worldwide scourge, sending its shockwaves into the future as children are born in flight from ravaged lands. And millions shudder in the shadows of persecution and injustice rooted in racial and ideological animus.

God willing, strengthened by an unbreakable faith, we will go forward. We will excavate our souls. We will stand shoulder to shoulder with our siblings of all ancestries. We will honor the holy prophets and prophetesses of all lands, and endeavor to follow in their footsteps. We study the scripture of Nature and tread lightly on the Earth. We will attend to the healing of ourselves and of all beings. We will pledge ourselves to the highest code we know. We will make our life our song.

Yours ever,

Pir Zia

Prayers for Australia We thank you for, and continue to welcome, prayers for Australia’s environmental crisis. Although bushfire conditions have eased somewhat and some parts have had rain, the country is still on alert with 82 fires still burning, 30 of them uncontained, with significant air pollution travelling far afield, even to other lands. Heavy rain in some places has added different significant challenges. In the fires whole towns have gone up in flames, thousands of people have become refugees, more than 500 million animals and plants have died, 28 people are reported to have died, more than 3,000 homes lost … Please send your prayers, love, the healing power of gentle rain… Karima Moss Parkinson Inayati Order Representative Australia

Music of the Spheres: Gamaka Commentaries, Nirtan

“By every hurt or harm that one causes me, one only makes me know him better.”

It’s all too easy to take offense. To flush red, glare, groan and snarl requires no insight. Reflection, on the other hand, is a science of the heart. Read More

See the full commentary on the Inayati Order website.

Suluk Academy Core Course 2020-2022
First Round of Applications Due, Friday, February 21st!

We are launching a new Suluk class in Virginia this coming fall. Suluk offers two years of intensive study in the core teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan, with Pir Zia and other Inayati teachers as faculty. If you are a lover of Sufi teachings, and have been initiated into the Inayati Order’s Esoteric School, this is the program for you! inayatiorder.org/suluk