---

Murshid Samuel L. Lewis began the Dances of Universal Peace within the context of his work with disciples in approximately 1965. This work was later organized and incorporated as the Sufi Islamia Ruhaniat Society (renamed Sufi Ruhaniat International [SRI] in 2002). For basic history about the Dances, please refer to the volume Spiritual Dance and Walk: An Introduction. This paper reports on the successes and challenges faced by those of us who have sought to train teachers in the Dances outside of the esoteric relationship of the Sufi path over the last ten years through the International Center for the Dances. While I am the primary author of this paper, it was the result of many discussions held during 1991 with all of those represented on the Mentor Teachers Guild of the Dances. In addition, Murshid Moineddin Jablonski has been involved in helping us with our certification guidelines since they were initially formulated in 1986, and he has had active input into this paper and the new guidelines as well.

Sacred Mission: Freely Sowing the Seeds
The International Center for the Dances of Universal Peace (originally, the Center for the Study of Spiritual Dance and Walk) was formed on January 15, 1982 to propagate the Dances and Walks in a wider sphere and beyond a particular esoteric or spiritual order. At the same time, this extension of the Dance/Walk work was authorized and supported by the spiritual director of the Sufi Islamia Ruhaniat Society, Murshid Moineddin Jablonski, whom Samuel L. Lewis designated as his spiritual successor. [ed. note: This authorization was confirmed by Pir Shabda Kahn, the present spiritual director of SRI.]

The Center opened a more extensive aspect of the Dance work which did not depend on one's affiliation with the Ruhaniat Society. Until then, the Dances had been largely viewed as spiritual practice within that particular Sufi order, for which one needed training and authorization from a teacher in order to share publicly. The new opening through the formation of the Center recognized several realities: 1) A great need of the world is for more Dances to be done by more people; 2) Any person or being, "trained" or "untrained," may become an instrument of divine wisdom and purpose at any moment of life and serve to enliven the unfolding Story and Purpose of the Cosmos. The purpose of esoteric training and apprenticeship are that this occurrence be conscious or at least more than accidental.

After ten years of concentration through the vehicle of the Center, the Dances now function extensively on a very wide level.

Bestowal of Blessing (the words of Murshid Samuel L. Lewis): that is, the free dispensation of magnetic life-love-energy to all beings. This has always been the most important part of the "public" Dance work. Murshid Samuel L. Lewis felt that the failure of Western culture to deal with the problem of life energy -- how to feel it and what to do with it when we do was behind most of the war, fanaticism and addiction on the planet. Wherever the Dances are done, wherever the tapes are listened to and chanted with devotion, whether connected with the Center for Dance or not, this blessing functions.

Deep Peace-Making, Deep Multi-Culturalism: a healing of the fear and superstition between peoples of various cultures by plumbing the depths of feeling available generated by the sacred traditions of the earth. On this level, even "giving information about" a tradition may help to break down superstitious concepts. The feeling of the practice does even more. The Center's very successful activities in citizen diplomacy and training of Dance teachers in Eastern Europe and the former USSR are well known. Less well-known are the numbers of university and school programs which now include them as a regular part of the curriculum. The Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality, a graduate program at Holy Names College in Oakland, has been a leader and model for this; each year 50-75 students most of whom are already teachers and community leaders take the Dances with them back home to their own programs.

Therapeutic/Transformational: Samuel L. Lewis called this aspect of the Dances his program of "Joy without Drugs." The Dances may serve to heal addictions of all sorts which have increasingly damaged the earth and other peoples. This includes healing from racism, consumerism and all other -isms. Ten years ago, few if any therapists considered using the Dances in their programs. Now we have teachers using them in 12-step groups, somatic therapy groups and work with the mentally handicapped both in North America and Europe.

Deep Ecology: the Dances break down the barriers to actual feeling and to connection with all beings; as such they can uncover -- behind the apathy -- feelings of despair about the plight of the planet in our time. Only after acknowledging this despair and grief can empowerment come. Beyond the increased presence of the Dances in Earth Day celebrations, several teachers have included them in sharing the "Council of All Beings" and other eco-feminist work.

Co-Creation/Nurturing the Creative Spirit: the Dances/Walks foster the understanding that each person carries the ability to dance, sing, make music and reclaim her/his birthright as an artist of the beautiful. As a non-elitist folk-style art, the Dances convey the message that we do not need to give over our creativity or inner Artist to professionals to carry for us. For this reason, the Dances have always relied on the human voice and live music for accompaniment rather than recorded music which sets an artificial standard for comparison. Taught in courses like "art as meditation" at the graduate level down through undergraduate, high school and elementary level, we now have many more students of all ages exposed to their creative potential as singers, dancers and artists.

Renewal of Ritual/Liturgy/Play: These three connect at a deep level. Samuel Lewis foresaw as an ideal a "religion of free men and free women" which would heal culturally-based gender discriminations as well as provide a loose forum for all to celebrate together the best and deepest that the world's sacred traditions have brought into being.

Gender Healing: the Dances promote the breakdown of gender stereotypes which have kept women politically disempowered in Western society. These same stereotypes and degraded, materialistic myths keep both women and men emotionally isolated from each other and themselves. This deep lack of intimacy in Western society serves only those who profit from the addictive and consumerist trends in culture and religion. Work with the Dances in women's and men's groups has risen dramatically over the past five years.

Global Scope: In addition, directly due to the efforts of people working through the Center for Dance, the work has geographically extended far beyond the San Francisco area where it began. Qualified teacher trainers now work in four different North American regions as well as England, Holland and Germany. Qualified representatives work in Poland, Russia, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. In addition, further outreach of the Dances has touched Costa Rica, Chile, the Baltic Republics, the Ukraine and Israel. Serious citizen exchange and teacher training has begun in 1992 in South Africa and is planned for 1993 in the Middle East.

Sacred Transmission: Nurturing Growth for the Coming Generations

On an intensive level, the lineage holders of a practice or tradition are responsible for its continuing growth and survival through their own unfoldment and work with students. This is apart from any outward "certification" model; nevertheless, all models are given life by the spiritual realization of their members.

Looking at the earth's history of sacred traditions, a lineage holder (by whatever name, whether shaman or zen master) is responsible for "passing the torch" to at least one other person, often several. Sometimes a person's responsibility is clearly set at birth (as is the case with the Dalai Lama). In other cases, a person's responsibility and accountability increases with involvement and commitment until the "novice shaman" discovers that behind the master's mask is her own face. In the religion of Old Europe, the Green Man withers and dies in the fall/winter only to be reborn as the light waxes again. But the Goddess - the underlying reality - persists through all faces. Like this is the relation between the "transmission" of a genuine spiritual practice and those through whom the transmission passes.

We say that our work with the Dances is more than a pastiche of folk movements and chants from around the world. We strive to avoid the "sacred/cultural strip-mining" indicative of much of the recent "New Age" movement which is the psychic counterpart to what Western society has done to the resources of native peoples and the earth. As such, it is important to tell the story of our own lineage, to uphold the value of sacred transmission and make common cause with other inheritors of native wisdom.

That our own transmission is rooted in Native Middle Eastern mysticism through the form called Sufism goes without saying. Yet Samuel Lewis also participated in a genuine, long-term spiritual apprenticeship (student-teacher relationship) in Kabbalah, Buddhism and Hinduism. From this experience of traveling more than one path, as well as from his apprenticeship with sacred dance mentor Ruth St. Denis, he began the Dances and Walks.

The sacred human relationship -- whether called apprenticeship, mentoring or the initiatic relationship -- is essential to the genuine transmission of the sacred and has always been so. The stories, chants, practices, feeling, breath, and touch of the earth's traditions have always been conveyed person-to-person, because they were first conveyed from a human being's intimate touch with the Cosmos. It was only when Western culture "ascended" into the cognitive mind that it began to operate under the delusion that wisdom could be conveyed by a book or even a seminar without an ongoing intimate relationship and commitment to the embodied conveyor of that wisdom.

This is not to say that each person is not capable of receiving wisdom from the Cosmos, God, Nature as our ancestors did. But if one wishes to learn the feeling and touch of a specific practice or native tradition (including the Dances) one must be around that feeling and touch for long enough to re-member and embody it. For learning to Dance (in the way that Murshid Wali Ali mentions in Spiritual Dance and Walk), the feel and touch of the circle for a certain period is sufficient and powerful. For leading the Dances and Walks, the feeling and touch of another leader for a certain period is necessary and effective.

This model takes its image from the earth, not the sky: "I am the vine and you are the branches of it." It is not pyramidal or patriarchal but deeply rooted in the story of its own tradition. We value this grounding in native traditions, why not our own Dance tradition? Those who wish to glean from sacred traditions while making a commitment to none, those who wish to harvest where they do not sow, find nowhere to stand on the earth. They are like the patriarchal marauders of the ancient world or the rain forest clear-cutters of the modern one.

In the apprenticeship relation, self-discipline, consistency, willing surrender and service are the key themes and prove the existence of genuine growth, attainment and ultimately the ability to carry the magnetic-love current called transmission or lineage in certain traditions. Here the words of Jesus are again to the point: "By their fruits ye shall know them - either connected to the source (toubw, ripe) or disconnected, out of rhythm/time with the source (bisha, unripe)."

The source, in the area of the Dances/Walks, is the ultimately the heart of God. The essential nexus or connection is the being of Murshid Samuel L. Lewis and his successors in this line. There is no transmission in this area without a genuine connection to this being, albeit his personality or how he embodied on earth is only a doorway to an attunement with his ongoing presence, as well as that of his own teachers, Hazrat Inayat Khan, Ruth St. Denis and others.

A person may be an inspired or inspiring Dance teacher without a connection to Samuel L. Lewis, even a wonderful conveyor of Dance "technique." Yet such a person cannot be said to hold part of the transmission of this work without a clear relationship through apprenticeship to the source. Just as Vipassana, as it has been extracted from historical Buddhism, is more than just the calm exchange of air in the lungs; as Yoga is more than simply the assumption of certain postures, so the Dances of Universal Peace are more than learning the words, melody and movements. The Walks are more than knowing the breathing pattern and some stereotypical movements.

Ultimately, those closest to the source of transmission and who bear responsibility for it initially feel that it is their teacher/mentor who works through them and that they were chosen contrary to, or at least without the awareness of, their conscious will. At some point there may even be resentment at having been "stuck with the job." Yet through the personal unfoldment which apprenticeship involves, one comes to know the depths of one's psyche, both the integrated and unintegrated reaches, the light and shadow. Then one realizes that one did choose at a deep level and can only decide whether or not to keep choosing. Historically, to be most efficient, the lineage holder may decide to concentrate on transmitting to one person intensively or to several; that is, to run as many connections as possible to the source in the hope that some will "take."

On this level, it has been the intensive purpose of the International Center for the Dances to provide an external vehicle for any possible lineage bearer(s) in this line to work. If the spiritual authority -- through the work of lineage holders -- were to leave the International Center for the Dances, one of its primary reasons for operating would leave also. This is so for two reasons: first, the intensive work fuels the extensive and provides it with the power of lineage and authenticity, as we have seen. Second, any authority or responsibility for training ultimately resides in the transmission.

Ultimately, organizations do not and cannot hold spiritual authority for a transmission; only human beings can and do. This is a consistent theme of Murshid Samuel Lewis's writings and life: he was not an "organization man."

As mentioned, Murshid Samuel L. Lewis invested the spiritual authority of his transmission in his successor, Murshid Moineddin Jablonski. In 1977, when the Ruhaniat Society and the Sufi Order in the West legally separated, Murshid Moineddin asked all teachers of the Dances to refer to them by their original name -- Dances of Universal Peace. Other names used by Murshid Samuel Lewis included specific types of spiritual Dances: Dervish Dance, Mantric Dance, Angelic Dance and Mystery Dance. But he named the entire body of this work the Dances of Universal Peace.

Within the scope of his trust, Murshid Moineddin has, over the years entrusted certain concentrations to representatives. In this regard, he authorized the formation of the International Center for the Dances and has since designated this person as responsible for the Dance transmission. In this regard he wrote to the Ruhaniat Society Board of Trustees on November 28, 1989 in order to clarify the relationship between the International Center for the Dances and the Ruhaniat Society. He begins by quoting from my January 1982 letter to him reporting the results of a retreat and proposing the initiation of the Center. Then he comments:

"I mention these things so that all of you will know and appreciate that the work Saadi is doing has its origin in divine vision the same divine vision that has placed Saul responsible for the Healing work, Ana responsible to carry on Frida's work, and yours truly responsible to oversee the continuation and growth of the esoteric order. The organizational and legal bifurcation of SIRS [ed. note: now SRI] and PeaceWorks a few years ago in no way affects the integrity of Murshid's work as a whole."

This trend toward decentralization goes along with Murshid Samuel Lewis's prediction that at sometime in the earth's evolution, for its survival, the "group-unit" rather than the individual would become the nexus of spiritual authority.

In discussions both with Moineddin and myself, Pir Vilayat of the Sufi Order in the West has stated his belief that the ultimate responsibility for training, certifying and and vouching for Dance leaders lies with the transmission of Murshid Samuel Lewis and the Ruhaniat. He told Tasnim Hermila Fernandez and myself that he is not willing to add the Dances formally to the work of the Sufi Order, because it would mean adding as a course of study all of the practices and lessons on heart, breath, walk, tasawwuri and dance given by Murshid Samuel Lewis. At the time of our last conversation on this matter, June 1988, he felt that his own practices and those directly from his father, Hazrat Inayat Khan, were already more than most mureeds could assimilate.

In order to be responsible for keeping the Dances alive for the coming generations, we must take steps to clarify who is willing to take up the larger intensive aspect of the work of the Dances of Universal Peace: not just the latest Dance with which to enliven a workshop, but the work of the Dances themselves as a path and a gift for all humans of all cultures.

Within the context of the Center for the Dance, we have struggled with the issues of respect for transmission and lineage bearing. Sometimes these issues have seemed almost in opposition to the freely-given extensive mission of the Dances. These issues have also become entwined with certification, expectations of certified teachers, and financial relationships of teachers to the Center. This has caused all of us to look at our own issues around self-worth, gratitude, need for recognition, support, friendship and ultimately, choice. Initiation, in its broad sense, means choosing to take a step in an unknown direction (according to Hazrat Inayat Khan). At the same time, Hazrat Inayat Khan also said that the only value in surrender and service lies in its willingness.

In April 1991, I proposed that the Center for Dance acknowledge its "failure" in respect to being able to carry the esoteric transmission of the Dances/Walks and acknowledge its "success" as an exoteric organization which helps connect Dance teachers through a network, newsletter, outreach, domestic and international development projects (such as our USSR exchanges.) As mentioned, an organization has never been successful in transmitting what is essentially a human trust between two people. This acknowledgement leads to the changes in the attached certification guidelines.

Over the past year, those of us in the Mentor Teachers Guild who have been active in training teachers and who have staked our lives in this work have talked extensively. There has been unanimous agreement on most matters. So on the intensive level, the growth has also been important:

[ed. note: This was written in 1992. Many of the following statements remain accurate; however, the reader is directed to the current certification guidelines and way of working for the most up-to-date statement of guidelines.]

1. We have re-clarified the functions of certification and validation of Dance teachers as based in the relationship between mentor and apprentice, rather than between applicant and organization. Based on guidelines agreed upon by all, each mentor is free to pursue training as she/he sees fit, including financial arrangements with students. Responsibility for seeking certification/validation lies with students not mentors.

2. The certification process is a doorway into taking responsibility for the Dance transmission. Certification on the basic level may mean being able to give outside validation for one's work to a sponsoring group or event at which one wishes to present. Increasing commitment also increases responsibility to help keep the Dances alive for the next generation. When working on the second level of certification, teachers begin to share what they have learned and train new teachers. They become "apprentice mentors." When their students progress and become certified, apprentice mentors are welcomed as full members of the Mentor Teachers Guild.

3. Because all those who represent the Dances are connected we all rise and fall with each other each certified teacher is supervised by another. Not just during his "training" but throughout his life, Samuel Lewis always maintained a receptive relationship with at least one other teacher or spiritual director as a "check on his ego." This is now commonly recognized as essential in the therapeutic field and we now follow the same example. Because the Dances are "powerful medicine," their potential for being misused for manipulation in a society with skewed values, whether for sex, money or power, is also great. For this reason, it is in the interest of all who have dedicated their lives to the Dances to require that each certified teacher, including all mentors, have a supervisor. In addition, the Mentor Teachers Guild is working on formulating basic ethical guidelines; as an interim measure we are using the guidelines drawn up by the Vipassana teachers association.

4. The International Center for the Dances of Universal Peace, as the organizational vehicle for Dance outreach, publishing and networking, does not involve itself in training guidelines, determine what constitutes a genuine "Dance of Universal Peace" or supervise leaders. It relays to inquirers the names of certified teachers and mentors in their area as well as news of events and training retreats. It archives Dances and publishes tapes/booklets as funds allow in consultation with representatives of the Mentor Teachers Guild. When possible, it funds the start-up of training events (like Lama Dance Camp), directors of which are drawn from the Mentor Teachers Guild.

5. Mentors help provide the "green energy" to keep the organization going. Mentors and their apprentices who are working on certification must be contributing members of the International International Center for the Dances and/or the Ruhaniat Society (if they are Ruhaniat initiates) for their certification to remain active. The Ruhaniat Society is included here because it is the only other organizational structure dedicated to keeping alive the work of Samuel Lewis and because the International Center for the Dances existed under the Ruhaniat's non-profit umbrella for nearly eight years until it formed its own non-profit corporation. Mentors tithe (a minimum of 10%) from every event in which they either offer Dance teacher training or mention their affiliation with the International Center for the Dances for purposes of promotion.

6. For purposes of referral to the public, the Center for the Dance will recognize several distinctions:

a. Members of the Mentor Teachers Guild who are: 1) representatives of Murshid Moineddin, supervised by him; 2) teachers certified at the second or third levels who have a supervisor and who constitute the core group of the Guild, and (3) Apprentice Mentors (those working on fulfilling Level II) and Adjunct Mentors (those whose main work is not Dance training but whose past experience qualifies them for this work and who are available as mentors on a limited basis).

b. Members of the Teachers Guild who are certified at the first level, contribute to either ICDUP and/or SRI (as above) and who have a supervisor. Members of the Teachers Guild may apply to co-sponsor a Dance event with the Center; those who are also members of the Center may use the Center's logo in advertising their activities.

c. Contributing Members of the Center for Dance (including members of the Advisory Council and Board/Executive Council) or Ruhaniat Society who may or may not be working through the certification process. Regardless of certification status, they must have an active supervisor for their Dance work and agree to the basic ethical guidelines of the Mentor Teachers Guild. Their supervisor may be any other certified teacher. Members of the Center for Dance who have a supervisor may use the Center's logo for their Dance work; we recommend that a tithe from all events advertised by the logo go back to the International Center for the Dances.

d. Non-members of the Center for Dance or Ruhaniat Society, not involved in training or certification are referred to inquirers only with the clear statement that they are not affiliated with the Center and that no one from the Teacher's Guild is supervising their Dance leadership or conduct.

7. Because training is the responsibility of mentors and apprentices, not the International Center for the Dances, participation in Center events and camps does not formally constitute training or qualification to represent the Dances or the Center. Payment for participation in such camps does not qualify participants to reproduce, record, film or republish any of the teachings or Dances offered. A student may wish to receive feedback or evaluation of leading skills at a Center camp or event, but this evaluation is not for the purposes of certification unless agreed upon in advance by both mentor and apprentice. Permission to represent more advanced Dances and cycles in public (like the Aramaic Lord's Prayer cycle) may be obtained directly only from their originators.

8. The Mentor Teachers Guild is currently composed of initiates of two different Sufi Orders (the Ruhaniat and the Sufi Order in the West). Apprentice Mentors and certified teachers currently represent a much wider range of sacred traditions, including Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and Jewish. We pray that this representation will lead, by the end of the century, to a truly universal Mentor Teachers Guild.

9. Should the International Center for the Dances cease to remain a viable organization, its elements and assets should return to their source: the Ruhaniat Society. Should the Mentor Teachers Guild fail in its charge, its responsibility for the Dances returns to Murshid Moineddin, as Samuel Lewis's successor. [ed. note: presently Pir Shabda Kahn; the reader is reminded that the date of this report is 1992; please read the current guidelines and way of working for resent guidelines.]

Ultimate responsibility for the Dances and their continuance lies with human beings. The Dances are a gift for our remembrance of cosmic unity and diversity as well as the preciousness of all life. Should an organizational apparatus fail or need to be traded in for a new vehicle, the Dances will continue through the dedication of individuals who step forward to say "I can!" and who remain companions to each other on the way.

We acknowledge that organizations lend themselves to the type of dysfunctional behaviour many of us experienced in our families. We vow to stay clear with each other, recognizing the veils that lead us to project our un-grownup expectations and judgments onto each other. We vow to step forward joyfully, gratefully and without expectation that any organization will feed, support or empower us. Ultimately this nurturance and power comes progressively from ourselves, each other and the Only Being.

Rev September, 2002