We are very grateful that the Mysterion School continues to enable an international community of seekers to study and practice in a systematic way. In the forthcoming 3rd year of this endeavor (beginning in March, 2025, with the opening of Ramadan) we will explore The Knowing Heart and engage in a deeper exploration of some of the 99 names of God. There will be 8 live sessions taught by Kabir (up to 2 hours each) and 2 discussion groups again hosted by senior dervishes each month.
As human beings, we stand on the threshold between two realities: the world of material existence, and the world of spiritual being. The “knowing heart” is the sacred place where the two dimensions meet and are integrated.
In Sufi teaching the human heart is not treated as a fanciful metaphor, but understood as an objective organ of intuition and perception. The heart is able to perceive all that is beautiful and meaningful in life —to reflect the spiritual qualities in the world, for the benefit of all. Every human heart has the capacity and the destiny to manifest that world of Divine Reality, within the world of material existence.
Sufis have been educators of the heart for nearly fourteen centuries. The teachings and methods of Sufism are designed to help us awaken and purify the heart, to listen to our deepest knowing. The human heart is an exquisite instrument of perception, an intelligence beyond intellect. The intellect can take us only so far.
An Invitation to participate in the transformative process of an esoteric school.
The key to human transformation is found through a “knowing heart”—the capacity we have to know our true situation from a cosmic perspective. The heart is our essential faculty for knowing reality. Much more than the thinking mind, the knowing heart becomes the guide to living life as a true human being.
Let me explain why The Knowing Heart (the book we focus on this year) is important in the unfolding of Sufism in our time. An earlier book, Living Presence, explored how conscious awareness is essential to a truly human life. It is the most universal of the books I’ve written. The Knowing Heart, however, explores the essentials of classical Sufism and how this tradition can be adapted and practiced in the 21st century. It considers how the culture and practices of Sufism can be adapted to our contemporary world, and especially to the West.
The Knowing Heart contains much that we have learned from our teachers and from direct experience, teachings rarely found in the classic works of Sufism, about how the “work” is realized through relationships, through community, and through a sensitive heart.
The concept of an esoteric school is unfamiliar to our culture. A true esoteric school is based in the objective knowledge and practice of a living tradition. Such a school serves as a “container “ in which the energies of spiritual transformation can be concentrated. In the Mysterion School, we are laying the foundations for a contemporary esoteric school that can function internationally, presently accessed by sincere seekers from California to New York to London to Berlin, all the way to Pakistan and Indonesia. Approximately 14 time zones.
One of the most important things that can be “learned“ and developed within an intentional situation like this is your own soul’s stable commitment and aspiration to awaken. The intention is to shift from the unconscious human condition, and become more continually aware of our relationship with the Divine. In our contemporary world, most human beings are living and functioning through the unstable, ever-changing parade of false I’s, random desires and attractions, interminable inner dialogues. Hence, the necessity of a systematic and coherent approach to spiritual development. Few people recognize the seriousness of our situation and have a strong enough yearning to begin the true work of transforming our limited selves through the awakening of a knowing heart.
The offering is this: whatever the difficulties may be, this is a joyful journey, a true pleasure, for as the Quran tells us: Those who keep faith and whose hearts find tranquility in the remembrance of God—surely, in the remembrance of God, hearts find peace (Surah ar-Ra'd, ayah 28).
