Welcome
Are you looking for Me?
I’m in the next seat.
My shoulder is against yours.
You will not find me in stupas, not in Indian shrine rooms,
nor in synagogues, nor in cathedrals, not in masses,
not in kirtans, not in legs winding around your own neck,
nor in eating nothing but vegetables.
When you look for Me,
you will see Me instantly -
you will find Me in the tiniest house of time.
Kabir says, “Student, tell me, what is God?
He is the Breath in the breath”.
Kabir, 15th century
I’m in the next seat.
My shoulder is against yours.
You will not find me in stupas, not in Indian shrine rooms,
nor in synagogues, nor in cathedrals, not in masses,
not in kirtans, not in legs winding around your own neck,
nor in eating nothing but vegetables.
When you look for Me,
you will see Me instantly -
you will find Me in the tiniest house of time.
Kabir says, “Student, tell me, what is God?
He is the Breath in the breath”.
Kabir, 15th century
Reshad Feild reads and gives comments on this poem.
(German translation by Barbara Feild)
(German translation by Barbara Feild)
TO ALL.
Already it seems a long time since I was with you all in Munich to celebrate my 78th Birthday. Unfortunately I was very tired after my recent illness, and thus I was unable to say many things I had planned earlier on. However, Barbara was there with you all to help, and I know that her contribution during the morning session was happily accepted, and then I was able to talk to you all in the afternoon.
The first thing I wanted to express in my talk at that time, and am now repeating in this letter, is to say how very grateful I am to have known, and worked with you all during the many years I spent with you all in Europe. Even before the days of Johanneshof we started to grow as an extended family, learning and studying together, and practising zikr and the many aspects of the mystical science of the breath that I have been teaching all over the world. Of course, without willing students working together on all levels this would not have been possible. In the same way as a professional doctor needs patients with whom to work, so, as I said at the end of my talk in Munich, “Serving God is teaching what you know of Him to others.” Thus it is to God, to Allah, that I, first of all, extend my thanks, for He is the All-Knower, and the All-Giver. But it is also to each one of you that I give my thanks, and offer prayers that we may be allowed to continue to work together both at this time, and in the future.
I am sure that you also realise that this time is very much the end of a cycle, but with the end of each cycle there comes the opening of a new cycle. New ideas can emerge, new teachings can be given and developed, and the word that is the real key to understanding this, and the changes that may be necessary, is the word LISTENING.
Many spiritual teachers have taught us that it is more important to learn how to listen with the heart than to try to understand the inner meaning of the purpose of life on earth by attempting to see the answer in the outer and visible signs that are all around us. Learn to listen! Learn to listen with the inner beauty of the heart, asking God that we can be granted what it is that we need to learn, and how to put this knowledge to good use for the benefit of all human beings.
I remember when I first started to study with Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, and he was teaching us how to hear the sound of the HU. “It is like the sound of the wind in the trees,” he used to say, “And there is so much beauty there! Listen, my friends, to the sound of the wind in the trees, and you will start to really come to know the meaning of the HU.”
In the Mathnawi of Mevlana Rumi you will notice that the first 18 lines start with the word “Listen”, and not with the words “Bismillah ar- Rahman ar- Rahim”. Here Rumi is stressing the importance of listening with the heart, and I would like to finish this letter to you all with the final pages of a little book by Prof.Dr.Erkan Turkmen called RUMI AND CHRIST.
“To sum up, we can conclude that Rumi’s love is above all feelings, forms and fears .It is universal and, therefore it teaches us to love every creation because of the Creator. It doesn’t matter if you are a Christian or Muslim but if you love God truly and his creations, you are above all religions and faiths.
When one can see out of this visible world, beyond the captivity of shapes and colors; and one beholds gardens after gardens of Divine Beauty, then this world looks like a simple and temporary place to live. Rumi had discovered Reality beyond words, languages and forms. It is useless to fight for the quality of water taps while the pure water is hidden in them, waiting for you to drink. Rumi invites us to join around the love of God which is the only reality as he says: “Christ (the Essence) changes the intoxicated one into gold; and if he is already gold. Christ changes him into a pearl. If he is a pearl, Christ makes him better than the moon and Jupiter”.
As we listen to the heart, what is already there for us to hear springs forth into Beauty.
I send you all my love and best wishes,
Reshad Feild.
England, April 30th, 2012
Already it seems a long time since I was with you all in Munich to celebrate my 78th Birthday. Unfortunately I was very tired after my recent illness, and thus I was unable to say many things I had planned earlier on. However, Barbara was there with you all to help, and I know that her contribution during the morning session was happily accepted, and then I was able to talk to you all in the afternoon.
The first thing I wanted to express in my talk at that time, and am now repeating in this letter, is to say how very grateful I am to have known, and worked with you all during the many years I spent with you all in Europe. Even before the days of Johanneshof we started to grow as an extended family, learning and studying together, and practising zikr and the many aspects of the mystical science of the breath that I have been teaching all over the world. Of course, without willing students working together on all levels this would not have been possible. In the same way as a professional doctor needs patients with whom to work, so, as I said at the end of my talk in Munich, “Serving God is teaching what you know of Him to others.” Thus it is to God, to Allah, that I, first of all, extend my thanks, for He is the All-Knower, and the All-Giver. But it is also to each one of you that I give my thanks, and offer prayers that we may be allowed to continue to work together both at this time, and in the future.
I am sure that you also realise that this time is very much the end of a cycle, but with the end of each cycle there comes the opening of a new cycle. New ideas can emerge, new teachings can be given and developed, and the word that is the real key to understanding this, and the changes that may be necessary, is the word LISTENING.
Many spiritual teachers have taught us that it is more important to learn how to listen with the heart than to try to understand the inner meaning of the purpose of life on earth by attempting to see the answer in the outer and visible signs that are all around us. Learn to listen! Learn to listen with the inner beauty of the heart, asking God that we can be granted what it is that we need to learn, and how to put this knowledge to good use for the benefit of all human beings.
I remember when I first started to study with Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, and he was teaching us how to hear the sound of the HU. “It is like the sound of the wind in the trees,” he used to say, “And there is so much beauty there! Listen, my friends, to the sound of the wind in the trees, and you will start to really come to know the meaning of the HU.”
In the Mathnawi of Mevlana Rumi you will notice that the first 18 lines start with the word “Listen”, and not with the words “Bismillah ar- Rahman ar- Rahim”. Here Rumi is stressing the importance of listening with the heart, and I would like to finish this letter to you all with the final pages of a little book by Prof.Dr.Erkan Turkmen called RUMI AND CHRIST.
“To sum up, we can conclude that Rumi’s love is above all feelings, forms and fears .It is universal and, therefore it teaches us to love every creation because of the Creator. It doesn’t matter if you are a Christian or Muslim but if you love God truly and his creations, you are above all religions and faiths.
When one can see out of this visible world, beyond the captivity of shapes and colors; and one beholds gardens after gardens of Divine Beauty, then this world looks like a simple and temporary place to live. Rumi had discovered Reality beyond words, languages and forms. It is useless to fight for the quality of water taps while the pure water is hidden in them, waiting for you to drink. Rumi invites us to join around the love of God which is the only reality as he says: “Christ (the Essence) changes the intoxicated one into gold; and if he is already gold. Christ changes him into a pearl. If he is a pearl, Christ makes him better than the moon and Jupiter”.
As we listen to the heart, what is already there for us to hear springs forth into Beauty.
I send you all my love and best wishes,
Reshad Feild.
England, April 30th, 2012
Welcome to the website of Chalice, a living school.
The many inspirations offered on this website come from a long line of inner teachings beyond any religious form. A living school is not about answers, but is formed by our inner work and by living our inner questions. You are invited to embark on the greatest possible adventure: coming to know yourself and exploring the purpose of your life which is in no way separate from the One Life!
► …
The many inspirations offered on this website come from a long line of inner teachings beyond any religious form. A living school is not about answers, but is formed by our inner work and by living our inner questions. You are invited to embark on the greatest possible adventure: coming to know yourself and exploring the purpose of your life which is in no way separate from the One Life!
► …
“Breath is Life” (Reshad Feild) and thus learning how to breathe consciously is indispensable to connect us deeper and deeper to the One Life. Being aware of the Breath, we become receptive and can form the receptacle of the chalice (chalice as a symbol) to receive divine love and finally come to know we are loved. The inner and outer turn, going back to Rumi, is one of our practices that beautifully serves this receptive attitude – it is turning in love.
The teachings in this school are the distillation of more than 50 years of Reshad Feild's work as a spiritual teacher and the many people who have been involved in this living school. The teachings are from the essence of Sufi teachings and go back to any time of the human quest, long before the word "Sufi" was first mentioned in history. Thus, we study the inner meaning of the three poles of the Sufi tradition, represented by Mevlana Jellaludin Rumi, Ibn Arabi and Abdul Qadir Gilani.
Please visit our newspage for all information of topical interest. Feel welcome to explore the mystery of the 7-1-7 breathing rhythm (Mother’s Breath) at a breathing group or make contact with a regional group. Learn more about the practices and study material used in this school. Read testimonials of people who have studied in this school.
This school is financially supported by Chalice Foundation and the activities to keep it alive are all voluntary work. Your donations are welcome on the page stating the purpose of the foundation.
The teachings in this school are the distillation of more than 50 years of Reshad Feild's work as a spiritual teacher and the many people who have been involved in this living school. The teachings are from the essence of Sufi teachings and go back to any time of the human quest, long before the word "Sufi" was first mentioned in history. Thus, we study the inner meaning of the three poles of the Sufi tradition, represented by Mevlana Jellaludin Rumi, Ibn Arabi and Abdul Qadir Gilani.
Please visit our newspage for all information of topical interest. Feel welcome to explore the mystery of the 7-1-7 breathing rhythm (Mother’s Breath) at a breathing group or make contact with a regional group. Learn more about the practices and study material used in this school. Read testimonials of people who have studied in this school.
This school is financially supported by Chalice Foundation and the activities to keep it alive are all voluntary work. Your donations are welcome on the page stating the purpose of the foundation.
