A Wide Net of Affection:
Keeping Friendship’s Light Ablaze in Hard Times

There are many things in the life of a Sufi, but the greatest is to have a tendency to 
friendship….The one who knows the path of friendship, the one who knows what real 
friendship means, need not be told what sacrifice means; they know it. For friendship 
does not mean a good time, a pastime. Friendship means sacrifice. And when once
 by friendship sacrifice is learned, then one begins to know what sacrifice is necessary 
on the path of spiritual attainment.

Hazrat Inayat Khan

* 

For millennia, human beings just like us have taken a vow to willingly accept responsibility for the wellbeing of the world.  Called by many names, these ‘real human beings,’ or ‘bodhisattvas’ have cast a wide net of affection, personifying: nurse, comforter, healer, protector, guide, and teacher.  
This vow and these archetypal qualities are gestures of love embodied as friendship.   

 The Sufis refer to the Divine as The Friend.  I have heard that in Persian and Arabic, in order to say, “I love you” you have to say, “I have you as a friend.”  Love and friendship are inseparable.  Our yearning for this inseparability is compelling, fueling our determined commitment to consciously tame all that keeps us in the grip of separation.  Like those who came before us, we too aspire to take our place in the lineage of true human beings whose hearts are awake, open, and helpful to others.  This is the path of friendship, the way of willing surrender. 

Keeping friendship’s light ablaze and realizing oneself as a vessel of this light, is the essence of this course.   

To taste and touch this reality directly, we’ll explore the spirit and nature of beneficence, affection, sacrifice, and service to the world.   Through concentration, contemplation practices, and silent meditation, we’ll explore what unfurls when we attune to and cultivate these archetypal qualities personified as “friend,” “bodhisattva,” “true adult.” We’ll enter the worlds of poetry, story, structured inquiry, and spontaneous dialogue as a way of listening deeply to ourselves and to one another as we investigate what hinders and what opens the way for us to cultivate the qualities of selflessness, befriending, and responsibility so needed in today’s world. 

Everyone is welcome. A commitment to participate in the entire course is required. 

Course Schedule 

Wednesday, September 24
7:30 PM – Evening Session  

Thursday, September 25 through Saturday September 27
9:00 AM-1:00 PM Morning Session
1:00 PM Lunch
4:00 PM Afternoon Session 
7:00 PM Dinner
8:15 PM Evening Session  

Sunday, September 28
9:00 AM-1:00 PM 
1:00 PM -Closing lunch 

Underviser: