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THE SUFI SEMINAR - 2003
This are comments from participants of the seminar with Jelaluddin Loras - Dominican Rep.
Diane.
A seminar opening the heart.Becoming, new, -vulnerable again. Not-knowing, opening, waiting with the simplicity and innocence of a child.Walking between faith and ' patientia'  singing dancing the names of  ' Allah' During Zikr there was'nt a cm of my body that was not resounding, Vibrating in the name ; Allah, Estagfurullah, has become like part of me and seems to live somewhere deep in my heart. When darkness surrounds me and emotions put my heart under pressure it just starts to sing in me, just like a well:  estagfurullah...It surprises me, love and joy light up in me, I remember...I can see/feel again the circle of lovers and gratitude fills my heart. So I don't want to let this,  I want to keep it alive and share it.  Also with our little group here in Zonhoven Belgium. Certainly will come back or meet the group again somehow, somewhere. 
IshAllah...
Miryam
I discovered in the zikrs a form of spiritual happiness and a union between us and of us with life and with God. A lovely possibility to connect with the Superior from the music, the song, the dance, the exaltation of beauty.A dissolving of me to enter and form a part of a  total.
In the Sufism I perceived a teaching whose only center is Love, true love, in capital letters, that which we scarcely know, but that we know exists and that which is the only direction and path possible.
Something broke down in me. It was the first perception of the principle of death as a possible way to a new life. The possibility that the death of all of my false "It?s" gives way to a rebirth of the essence that we all long for finally comes to light. And lives.
Something new, very grand happened and in several seconds I began (only began) to comprehend what I have lost all my live.
A profound sense of gratitude to all and each member of the group and all of the participants in the seminar, to José, Jelaluddin, his wife, for the help and the love they all gave me.
Some of the life experiences offered me the opportunity to believe in God and men. Also in the Work and in the possibilities that it stirs.To be in an appropriate place and moment and, through the desire and the opening, to allow God work like He can work. A true desire hat comes from the heart and that in one moment can unit the three centers (physical, emotional and mental), is a determining step.
Also I began to feel the acceptance. And a desire to work hard in order to learn to accept; to accept me as myself and my circumstances and appreciate it all.
Milagros
This event that took place in the city of Santo Domingo, from the 10th to the 17th of April, 2003, was an expectant event. We were sure that it was going to represent something of singular importance for those who would have the opportunity to participate in it.
We were about forty-two participants we saw as wrapped by an atmosphere of love.
Immediately when we entered the place, all the fears and considerations that had been established because of the difference of customs with our respected visitor disappeared and the work flowed like it was moved by a superior force.
It was an atmosphere of liberty in which the most real in each one was manifested.
We began the day, generally, with an invocation in the names of God which we brought to a contact with His characteristic. In the morning the work continued with the practices of  'turning'  and "chanting", which had the objective of preparing us for the evening ceremonies. These practices had all the respect, intention and sentiment of true ceremonies.
In the afternoons, after lunch, the discussions of themes in groups brought us to the reflexion about our true relation with God, in the same manner a contact with our learned beliefs.
The sessions of questions and answers that took place in those days with our masters José and Jelaluddin, brought light to our doubts and questions by means of explanations and expositions of their teachings and experiences about the infinite mercy of God above all human nature, his love always present and the need for the firm decision to realize the forces and work needed for us to stay on the path to put us closer to Him.
At almost the end of the seminar was introduced a Work day to prepare a kind of offering on our part to master Jelaluddin and his wife demonstrating some of the movements that we usually practice. The experience of this day was to make clear that we have the same goal. There is only God, we all look for Him.
All of the practices, the exercises and ceremonies brought to our being a true closeness to God, a contact with his great love and infinite mercy in which the "I" is put to one side and He, and only He, occupies everything all the time.
This sentiment of God and his infinite mercy has reached deep into our hearts, which echo of the sentiments of love, tenderness and thankfulness done by each and everyone and especially done by our masters and companions for whom we feel like the closest family.
Today I still feel like I have broken many of the walls that cover the heart leaving it almost completely nude and with the sentiment of starting all anew, ingenuously trying to move close to He and, for the other hand, with the certainty that only with great force, perseverance, patience and a complete summoning is possible.
Nikauly
Bishmilahirakmannirajim (In the Name of God, the All Merciful and Compassionate)
The Sufi Seminar entered our lives like a ray of sunshine, like a fresh breeze. This marvelous encounter meant something very special for all of the participants, in such a great measure that it has left in us an alive taste.
All that is possible and that is impossible was fused in a week replete with REALITY. And that reality that we shared transported us daily from a world where only exists the thirst of the search.
During the activities, the feeling of being protected by the Beloved came to be the only thing important. "Just one being, just one heart". Seeing ourselves lighter, to be aglow was     something of joy in our lives that made us sensitive to a fine substance that we shared there.
We learned, besides, a new way to unite in His Name: the Sema. This powerful ceremony recreates constantly the circle of lovers united for one deliverance. Through the body and the heart, the practices developed a type of zikr vibrant and full of devotion that was the axis of the Seminar. In the morning, we had the learning of the techniques, and at night, the ceremony itself. All of these experiences were possible thanks to the dedication that was provided by our invited guest, a true practitioner of the faith. With this loveable Sufi sheik, Jelaluddin Loras, we could see that for the human being the possibilities can actually transcend the logical order so quickly like entering superior dominions.
We read from our masters about the attributes of God, above all his mercy and compassion. We could not negate the resulting difficulty to comprehend the truth that these words incarnate. However, to have experienced anew the ingenuousness of the first infancy, learning to recreate a relation with God that we have forgotten, then, like one taking a long breath, the possible to see oneself each time closer to Him.
Quickly one notes that one wants to strip oneself of all that separates you from his embrace and permit oneself to contemplate these attributes from one's true nature. It is just when we permit the superior to empower our hearts that the most beautiful words, the song most exquisite and glory most serene can resonate in us.