"Rumi alive" a sufi workshop

By Kay Campbell - Huntsville Times - Huntsville,AL,USA

Friday, February 2, 2007

"Remember God so much that you are forgotten.
"Let the caller and the called disappear; be lost in the Call."
- Rumi c. 1250

trans. by Kabir Helminski in "Love Is a Stranger." Threshold Books, 1993

For the Sufi, the word "Allah" is a verb, not a noun - God is action and power, not just being. This 800-year-old tradition, defined by Rumi and rooted in Islamic mysticism, offers Americans in 21st-century Alabama a profound way to connect with their own traditions, say organizers of "Rumi Alive."

The seminar will be led by Kabir Helminski, Thursday 8 through Feb. 11 at the Center for Conscious Living, 308 Lily Flagg Road [Huntsville, AL,U.S.A. ].

Helminski's wife, Camille, is co-presenter.

"It's very synchronistic that this is coming to Huntsville the week before the dervishes," said the Rev. David Leonard, minister at the Center for Conscious Living and a Sufi himself.

"We feel very privileged that Kabir is coming to our community."

The whirling dervishes, or semazen, enact a spinning meditation that came out of Sufi teachings.

The Helminskis are founders and directors of the Threshold Society, centered in California. Kabir has published translations of Rumi's poetry as well as "Living Presence: A Sufi Way to Mindfulness and the Essential Self."

Helminski is a shaikh, a recognized religious leader, in the Mevlevi Order of Sufism.
Camille has just completed a work on women in Sufism.

Their workshop will offer an intense study of the teachings and poetry of Rumi.

The Helminskis' presentation Thursday, from 7 to 9 p.m., is free and open to the public.

The retreat Thursday and next Friday will last from 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The Helminskis will also participate in the center's regular worship service next Friday at 10:30 a.m.
The workshop is $150 per day or $250 for both days. The fee includes lunch and dinner. Information: 883-8596.