Subject: [KIT] Emerald Earth Ziraat workshop in Arkansas, April 28

From: "Sharifa Norton" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2007 13:28:29 -0400

The Emerald Earth
Cultivating the Mind and Heart of Awakening
Saturday, April 28, 2007  9am-5pm
Sufi Center of the Ozarks, Eureka Springs, Arkansas
A Ziraat Retreat with Sharifa Norton & Muinuddin Smith
We live in an intimate and sacred relationship with the Earth. Oikos, the Greek root of the word "ecology", unveils something of this relationship. Oikos means home, and to the extent we are at home with our souls hearts and minds, we are naturally at home and intimate with the natural environment. When this intimacy grows, we fully recognize this earth to be rare and precious, an Emerald Earth.   The Emerald Earth gives rise to our gratitude, and to a life filled with possibilities and the potential for happiness and awakening for all beings.   
To attain to the Emerald Earth, a definite "work" is needed.   This work begins inside of us, and culminates in service to the life around us. We liken this inner work to that of the farmer in the field, where a clearing and turning of the soil is necessary;   In the same way, human beings can become ever more fertile and prepared for the seed of fresh inspiration.
This retreat held in a beautiful forest sanctuary in the Ozark mountains, will begin with meditations on the purification and cultivation of our mind and heart. We will attune to guidance from nature, to the spirit of the world, the Anima mundi, to the recurring birth of new life and new possibilities emerging in each moment.   We will meditate on matter as crystallized light, on the elements as living presences, and on all of life as a sacred manuscript. We will share in the ancient and modern Sufi teachings on creative imagination and vision, on "giving life" and illumination to the Emerald Earth by our intention, participation and concentration.        
Sharifa Norton and Muinuddin Smith are long time students of the Sufi and Buddhist meditative traditions, and of the sacred teachings called "Ziraat" given by Hazrat Inayat Khan.   They serve as senior teachers and retreat guides within the Sufi Order International and Sharifa serves as director of Ziraat in the SOI in North America. Ziraat teachings bring us greater awareness of the dynamic process unfolding throughout this life, unveiling the light of the soul and our divine essence.   These teachings can open us fully to our kinship with all of life and our own unique contribution to an earth of awakening.
                             Suggested Donation: $50.     Contact Information : John or Rebecca Babbs : 479-253-8303 or 479-253-6664
                                                                                           Please call for directions.
    To view a flyer of this workshop and for more info on Ziraat go to www.Ziraat.org

"May we be among those who make all things fresh, who bring about the transfiguration of the world". Zend Avesta 

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