John Brozak on Zikr
John Brozak explains what is meant by “Zikr”. This is a fundamental mystical practice of the Sufis, outwardly seen as chanting the name of Allah. He discusses the relationship of chanting, intention, prayer, and remembrance of God.
Explore a little more. Click something interesting to you!
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck requires Flash Player 9 or better.
John Brozak: Sufi Journey (Pt.2)
John continues to share his journey. After taking time away from the Sufis, and exploring fine wines, John’s involvement with the Men’s Movement led to Vancouver Men’s group, and back to the Sufis once more through Rumi.
Explore a little more. Click something interesting to you!
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck requires Flash Player 9 or better.
John Brozak: Sufi Journey (Pt.1)
John Brozak briefly shares the first years of his Sufi Journey, from connecting via Sam Lewis in San Francisco, through time with Sufi teacher Reshad Feild and involvement with the Turkish Sufis.
Explore a little more. Click something interesting to you!
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck requires Flash Player 9 or better.
Jelaluddin on Sublime Music
Music has always been fundamental to the Sufi path. Pianist, composer and musician Jelaluddin Gary Sill continues his talk about Sufism, music, improvisation, inspiration and his own process in creating music that reflects the flow of spirit.
Explore a little more. Click something interesting to you!
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck requires Flash Player 9 or better.
Jelaluddin on Sufism and Music
Accomplished musician Jelaluddin Gary Sill discusses his experience in music, in the light of Sufi teachings and wisdom. In a free-flowing talk, he touches on many aspects of the process of improvisation.
Explore a little more. Click something interesting to you!
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck requires Flash Player 9 or better.
About Lee Van Patten
During the past 40 years, Lee Van Patten has studied Sufism, Hatha Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, and Chinese martial arts.
He has applied the knowledge and experience gained from these disciplines to the fields of health, business, and music production.
He is happily married to the woman of his dreams.
View video conversation with Lee
Transcript The Soul and Balanced Mastery
The Soul and Balanced Mastery
In my experience of myself as the soul I feel that my main purpose in the world is to create, and that’s where I get the most joy. That’s the feedback that comes to me from those higher levels. So it has nothing to do with being able to control other people or have power or money or influence or any of that, it’s just the sheer joy of creation.
Lee Van Patten talks with Carol Sill
C: Hi, I’m Carol Sill and I’m here in Vancouver talking with Lee Van Patten about spiritual life and inner development and how that expresses in the world. So maybe you could just tell us something about your path, and what you are involved with right now?
L: I’ll tell you a little about my path. I think I really got going in my spiritual life back in the ‘70s. I studied for a while with a man who was involved in Indian guruism that had to do with a Swami in India and he was carrying on that tradition. I kind of fell into it by happenstance, and I wasn’t really attracted to it and I became disillusioned with guruism in general. I could see how it was not a balanced system that created a lot of problems among the people that were following gurus.
But at that time I also read the Ouspensky material, about George Gurdjieff, so I became interested in Sufism. And then I read some Idries Shah stuff as well, so I learned a little more about Sufism. Then I met some Sufi people in Toronto and studied with them for a while but there were some things I didn’t like about organizations, spiritual organizations in general.
Over time I came to feel that any organization that has to exist for a long period of time, maybe it’s based on a charismatic leader. The charismatic leader passes away but the organization continues on. But in order to continue on it usually attracts people that are bureaucrats basically, who are there for their own self-interest, to have a career. And the organization begins to lose the essence of the spirit from which it originally came. So I moved away from that as well, but I continued my own inner process to the best of my ability.
I’m almost 60 years old and what I’d like to convey here is a couple of things I’ve learned along the way. One is that I believe it’s wrong to think of ourselves as having a soul. I think it’s kind of the other way around, that we’re actually the soul, and we are manifesting through a physical form.
That change in perspective is important, because if you think that you have a soul, that is your ego owning the soul and essentially controlling it. And when people think of their soul in that context they often think of a child-like kind of a semi-formed entity that has feelings but no real power. In actual fact, when we come from the soul perspective, we have a lot of power, and we have a lot of creative energy.
In my experience of myself as the soul I feel that my main purpose in the world is to create, and that’s where I get the most joy. That’s the feedback that comes to me from those higher levels. So it has nothing to do with being able to control other people or have power or money or influence or any of that, it’s just the sheer joy of creation. When you’re in that space I think you’re really well connected with your soul. The minute you try and own your artwork or own anybody’s anything then you begin to lose that feeling and you go into the ego.
The other thing that I’ve learned over the course of my life is what I call the Inner Family. And that is that people don’t really grow up, in the sense that we think of growing up in our society, where you develop from a child to an adolescent to an adult. I don’t think it’s really like that. I think it’s more like these are developmental layers that pile on top of each other. That child persona or aspect of ourselves doesn’t go away, nor does the adolescent.
So therefore in order to be a balanced person at the adult stage we need to have a balanced inner family. It is our adult that provides the stability and security for those earlier aspects of ourselves that are still present and are still expressing. If we don’t have a balanced inner family, if say there are unmet needs at the adolescent level, that adolescent’s going to keep rebelling in our lives in our internal life and in our external life, regardless of how strongly developed the adult level appears to be.
That’s important in the spiritual sense because in order to bring through the soul and have that soul be able to express in a balanced and productive way, all of those aspects of ourselves have to be happy, with each other. And then that’s going to express in a really positive way. Without that, I guess an example would be like a person who meditates for several hours a day, and yet in the rest of their life they’re not happy, things aren’t working out for them. Well, that’s because there’s an overabundance of focus on spiritual practice, but they haven’t done the inner work that’s necessary to bring all of that into harmony and bring it into expression.
And that, I think, is the essence of being a spiritual master. Mastery is not in the sense of control but in the sense of skillful use of everything that comes to you in your life, that you have all of those things well-lined up with each other, and you have that inner peace that allows the soul to express. Without that you haven’t really gotten there yet, no matter how adept you are at one spiritual path or another.
C: Beautiful. Thank you.
View the video of this conversation.
Varied Paths to the One Center
And so we in Edmonton, Alberta, did a ritual by a sacred spring that we were lucky enough to find. And that was all simultaneously done. There were people, I know, as far south as Patagonia in South America. There were people in England and Europe as well as North America simultaneously doing ceremonies, lighting sacred fires.
Judy Evaski talks with Carol Sill on Open Pathways
C: Hi this is Carol Sill and I’m here in Vancouver today talking with Judy Evaski about Open Source Spirit, and her spiritual path. Hi Judy.
J: Hi Carol.
C: You were talking a bit about how your path has been varied…
J: Yes, it’s a really interesting project, open source spirituality, and I notice that many people have chosen a path and developed it really fully. Often from starting on another path. I would say that my path is a little different, in that it’s been a sequential exploration, but with the same essential seed from the beginning.
C: So what would that sequence be? How did you start?
J: Well I started out as most North Americans did, in the Christian church, and then gradually got involved with the social movements, the social justice movement, the peace movement, and trying to make spiritual ideals into a reality.
And from there I was lucky enough to meet up with some of the North American Sufis, who actually I think contain or hold the essence or the seed that is in the center of most of the spiritual paths. And so it wasn’t a religion, per se, it was a spiritual philosophy that gave me tools and confidence and some basic techniques of meditation, as well as various spiritual paths. So that I became able to understand the language that was in each of the paths and to start to identify what were the common threads.
So many of us compare religions or philosophies by finding the essence of what’s different between them. And that’s kind of a western way of thinking. Although that’s evolving now, and I think that’s why a project like this can occur, because we are now more able, and we have a language. Many people have pursued spiritual paths other than the one that they began in, and so that’s why we’re seeing the blossoming of something like this, I believe.
C: So after your sufi involvement, you went into some other directions as well?
J: Yes, and it was more that life provided me with these experiences. I was very fortunate to have met a Tibetan lama who had escaped Tibet in ’54 (59?) with the Dalai Lama, and made his way to Alberta, where he began to become who he was before. And he was also, I would say, someone who had a sufic perspective: in terms of – he had a very formalized Tibetan Buddhist path, and we did practices with him in that path.
However he had a very well-developed heart which I believe is the essence of all of the religions. And all of the spiritual paths. And in fact all of the political paths. I understand now that people who are very involved politically are every bit as much on a spiritual path as others.
C: I know you’ve had experience in the Native tradition as well. How did that happen?
J: That was a wonderful thing. A sufi friend sent me an email about the Giant Medicine Wheel that was occurring in 2004, with its center based in the Grand Tetons in Yellowstone Park. Apparently every 500 years or so, it was a tradition that native communities from North America and South America possibly, certainly Central America, Mexico, would come together and they would share their rituals in a way that would affirm the stability of Mother Earth, of affirming our love for her, our understanding our place within the matrix of creation. And it appealed to me to be part of that medicine wheel ceremony, because although there was the center, they also had the 12 sites around the perimeter, about 500 miles out from the center.
And so we in Edmonton, Alberta, did a ritual by a sacred spring that we were lucky enough to find. And that was all simultaneously done. There were people, I know, as far south as Patagonia in South America. There were people in England and Europe as well as North America simultaneously doing ceremonies, lighting sacred fires.
It was a time of great sharing from the Native tradition from the elders to those of us who were not, but had a spiritual leaning. There was a lot of special teachings released for us at this time.
So out of that I met the current elder that I’ve been working with. He was a Seneca elder, from Six Nations, although living off reserve. And he was mixed blood, which I am as well. I discovered not that long ago that I have Basque blood. I was adopted, so I didn’t know that. The fact that he was mixed blood and able to speak of it was already a resonance. I grew up in that area, and I had always wanted to connect with the old spirits of that land, and I didn’t have a context in which to do that, other than through the Native path.
So luckily this man was willing to strike up an email correspondence, again something that’s very unusual and outside of the norm of that culture. And yet, we’re all adapting, which is why you can do a project like this now, whereas a few years ago you probably couldn’t. Many of the sacred teachings wouldn’t be spoken of in a technological framework.
Similarly, if I were to speak of Native teachings, it would be expected that I would do some smudging, like with some sweetgrass or sage. And it’s just a very wonderful tradition that they have that creates a sacred space to talk about sacred things.
C: That’s beautiful. Thanks.
View the video of this conversation.
Soul Work (pt.2) with Forest Shomer
Soul Work involves speaking and living from the soul, and both group and individual process. Forest Shomer continues his discussion with Carol Sill, describing an upcoming gathering in central Argentina.
Explore a little more. Click something interesting to you!
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck requires Flash Player 9 or better.
Soul Work (pt.1) with Forest Shomer
A new depth of self-knowledge is available through exploring the realm of the soul. Forest Shomer talks with Carol Sill about how he became acquainted with the Soul Work.
Explore a little more. Click something interesting to you!
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck requires Flash Player 9 or better.
About Judy Evaski
Judy Evaski studied psychology at the University Of Toronto and became Registered as a Clinical Child Psychologist in Alberta in 1981. She has worked equally in education, social services and mental health, is a Playtherapist and has designed and delivered treatment programs in rural, urban and reserve settings.
Along with learning to appreciate other people’s minds, she has been a student of her own, through the help of teachers from the traditions of North American Sufism, Tibetan Buddhism and the Red Road.
She offers Thanksgiving to all her teachers and her “dharma buddies” along the way who have shared with her the humility of the Slug and the grandeur of the tallest Fir.
Nya:weh.
Video Conversations with Judy:
Transcript of Open Pathways: Varied Paths to the One Center
Transcript of Medicine Wheel Path: Medicine Wheel
Open Pathways
“And so we in Edmonton, Alberta, did a ritual by a sacred spring that we were lucky enough to find. And that was all simultaneously done. There were people, I know, as far south as Patagonia in South America. There were people in England and Europe as well as North America simultaneously doing ceremonies, lighting sacred fires.” Judy Evaski talks with Carol Sill about the paths she has explored through her spiritual journey, through Christianity, Sufism, Buddhism and the Native traditions.
Read a transcript of this video here.
On Soul and the Inner Family
“In my experience of myself as the soul I feel that my main purpose in the world is to create, and that’s where I get the most joy. That’s the feedback that comes to me from those higher levels. So it has nothing to do with being able to control other people or have power or money or influence or any of that, it’s just the sheer joy of creation.” Lee van Patten discusses the process of spiritual maturing, with emphasis on understanding the Soul, as well as explaining the concept of the Inner Family.
See the transcript of this video conversation.
Explore a little more. Click something interesting to you!
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck requires Flash Player 9 or better.
About Forest Shomer
Forest Shomer is the owner of Inside Passage Seeds in Port Townsend, Washington.
Founder and director of Abundant Life Seed Foundation until 1992, he has grown and collected seed from over 400 kinds of plants and traded seeds internationally for two decades.
Since 1973 he has been completely devoted to producing, distributing, and educating about the seeds of native and adapted Pacific Northwest plant species.
Since 1996 he serves as coordinator of Ziraat (nature symbology) activity for the Sufi Ruhaniat International, teaching in North America, South America, and Europe.
Video conversations with Forest
- Forest Shomer: Zoroaster, the First Farmer
- Agriculture and the Ancient Ways
- Ancestors and the Weather
- Master Seedman, Forest Shomer
A Minor Waltz
This video with pianist Jelaluddin Gary Sill shows him recording a piano improvisation in his Vancouver home studio.
Explore a little more. Click something interesting to you!
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck requires Flash Player 9 or better.
Ancestors and the Weather
Forest Shomer talks about ancestors, the weather and farming. Part 3 of his discussion with Carol Sill.
Explore a little more. Click something interesting to you!
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck requires Flash Player 9 or better.
Agriculture and the Ancient Ways
Forest Shomer continues his conversation with Carol Sill on the ancient ways of farming and their application today. (Part 2 of 3)
Explore a little more. Click something interesting to you!
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck requires Flash Player 9 or better.
Forest Shomer: Zoroaster, the First Farmer
Seedmaster Forest Shomer discusses Ziraat and the origins of agriculture with Carol Sill (Part 1 of 3.)
Explore a little more. Click something interesting to you!
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck requires Flash Player 9 or better.
Mansur Johnson in Conversation
Mansur Johnson in a wide-ranging talk with Carol Sill on energy, OTEC, US Politics, ending with a reading from his book, Murshid: A Personal Memoir of life with American Sufi Samuel L. Lewis.
Free Download: Mansur’s book on Shamcher and OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion).
Mansur Johnson’s site
Explore a little more. Click something interesting to you!
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck requires Flash Player 9 or better.
About Jelaluddin Gary Sill
Gary Sill became one of Canada’s leading new age artists, releasing numerous commercially successful albums, some of them medatative, others solo instrumental. The pianist and composer was born on September 28, 1944, in Fort Macleod, Alberta, to a bandleader father and journalist mother. He has studied at both the Banff Centre for the Arts and the University of Calgary; taught at Grant McEwan College; worked as a jazz pianist throughout Canada for years; and lived in Calgary, Banff and Edmonton before permentantly residing in the west coast city of Vancouver with his wife, the Canadian photographer Carole Harmon. Sill has composed music for CBC Radio, theater productions, and more but is perhaps best known for his solo recordings. His series for PacificLine was commercially successful as is his series of Sufi music and practice recordings. Sill won much more acclaim for his series of piano albums that began in 2000 with Healing Moon, followed annually by Spring Is in the Poet and Restless Hearts. These albums all charted highly on NAV’s Top 100 chart. ( Written by Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide)
Gary counts as important influences Sufi teachers and guides Shamcher Bryn Beorse and French Sufi composer Hidayat Inayat-Khan whose thirty year friendship has deepened and directed his understanding and practice of music. Since 1985 Gary has been assisting Hidayat Inayat-Khan as a performer, producer, and engineer of both formal music projects and compositions to accompany Sufi spiritual practices.
Gary Sill Website
CDs Available
Video Conversation with Gary
Piano Improvs