Murshid's opening blessings for the 1998 Annual Planning Session proceeded directly into a talk stressing the importance of each one of us "owning" our Community's Vision through exercising leadership and taking greater personal responsibility. He explained that the meeting's purpose was to present projects in progress, review strengths and weaknesses, determine what we have accomplished, as well as where we have fallen short, and set reasonable expectations for the School's direction in 1998.

Each year we gather in this way to allow for input, communication and sharing between the students and followers of our Order (Teaching School). The reason that this meeting has become so important is because of the number of people that are coming to our Order. Wherever and whenever there appears a True Awakening, as in an Enlightened Teacher and Path, it automatically attracts people like the blossom of a flower naturally attracts bees. And so it appears with our School. Since the time that the Teacher has Awakened and the Path has bloomed in the West, more and more bees (people) are coming to it.

We find ourselves with the challenge of how to communicate effectively, how to forward our Vision, how to be in relationship with each other in an organized manner, and at the same time avoid the pitfalls of becoming an organization. Of course, this is impossible, because by dint that we are organizing, we are an organization, and by dint that we are people, we have already fallen into the pitfalls that people fall into in organizations. Nonetheless, we must raise the level of our conscious awareness to the issues and circumstances that complicate human relations so that we can improve the quality of our service.

We hope that we can learn from the past, from the trials and tribulations of those that have come before us. We also hope that we can learn from the pro-active instruction of the many Messengers of Spirit as they have come to us through our noble lineage and the countless Saints as they have appeared in all lineages. So let us address our own Community, our own Teaching work. This work, this service, challenges us to break through the barriers and limitations that come with institutions, especially religions. God willing, to the level that we are aware, we can take bigger steps.

Each one of our past Planning Sessions has had a theme. This year our theme is "Owning our Vision by Empowering Leadership and Encouraging Personal Responsibility." It is the natural course of action in the School that the Teacher, Spiritual Guide and Murshid functions as the "focalizer" or facilitator for the Community's Vision. The Murshid has been likened to being an axis pole that the people of the Community, through tradition, revolve around. Similarly, the earth and all of her inhabitants revolve around the polar axis. Therefore, we are reminded that one of the reasons for the Teacher is to awaken the Vision from within each of us. Otherwise, what's the use?

The Murshid guides us and provides a means through spiritual life which offers Enlightenment through a process and along a Path that could not ordinarily be accessed by ourselves. The key to a successful teaching work is the real Awakening of the true Self within the individual. Given that the Divine expresses Itself as the One within each one of us, to the degree that we are Self aware, we come consciously into Its Vision. For this realization to come forth, there are three elements necessary: 1) The Path - how Divinity comes to meet us; 2) The Practice - without which an undisciplined mind and heart does not have the capacity to hold the Vision; and 3) The Teacher - who upholds the standard, is an example, and provides the catalyst for the continuous forwarding of the Vision.

The idea of "owning" the Vision is really only a pop notion that is a metaphor for saying, "Take responsibility for your work. Work hard, and stay grounded." Ironically, the fastest way to find yourself cut off, alienated and alone, is to separate yourself through neurotic behaviors of clinging ownership and hyper-vigilant control. Ultimately, the Community's Vision is rooted in Allah's Vision. This is the "River of Love" as expressed in the Glorious Qur`an. We only figuratively act as the owner of the Vision for some brief period of time as we embrace and serve Allah. By serving our Beloved and our Beloved's creation, Allah brings us into the knowledge of Allah's Secret through Allah's Vision (plan) for us on earth.

Again, as our Community grows, we need to stay vigilant in our effort to be organized without falling into the pitfalls of being an Organization. An organized effort cannot take place without leadership! The Friend (Teacher) calls forth from us that which we cannot yet call forth on our own. As such, the Friend is one who stands by you as your Beloved to support you to come completely to your purpose. To be called out to a higher level of performance in any arena of life can only happen when there is leadership. In essence, the Friend is a type of leader, a Master leader.

Our Path also includes the awakening of the Friend within. In order for this to happen, in other words, for us to feel like we have truly offered our service, we need to find the leadership within ourselves. We cannot just rely on one person to do it for us. As a matter of fact, bad leadership is leadership that makes the leader indispensable. Good leadership is leadership that delegates and shares the Enlightenment among the Community, so that the leader becomes dispensable. As the student awakens to a station of awareness similar to the Master, the Master becomes "dispensable." True leadership is one in which the leader makes oneself dispensable, so others rise and come forward to serve. Then we can expand, branch off and serve more and more fully.

I call on you in this coming year to find the resources of true leadership within yourself. Leadership also includes the willingness to perform first before depending on or asking someone else to perform for you. This is something that comes not only through thought, word and action, but true leadership is something that is performed by example. A Teacher cannot teach unless the Teacher is either already doing what they expect from others, has already completed in their own life what they are teaching, or would be willing to perform unendingly without problem or complaint, even at a moment's notice. These qualities must be present. True leadership does not hang back and wait for someone else to get fired up. If you have a real calling, you fulfill your calling no matter what. Even if there is no one around you, or if the whole world is bowing in adoration at your feet, it is of no consequence. When you are called, you become a leader if you answer the call. Leadership is realizing that this Vision is your vision, and even if you cannot see it all yet, as you get closer to the core of yourself, you will see it, because it is encoded within you.

We are not the only people on this earth that have been called to this Vision. It is quintessential. It exists at the level of the elements. So we are not special in any regard. We must not be arrogant. We should never place ourselves above others by believing that we hold some secret that no one else experiences. We should protect ourselves from the type of thinking that makes us "rarified" or has us believe that we are in any way better than others. We are simple people, servants, who are coming onto our particular Path with only our own language and own words to describe the grand Vision.

We live in the year 1998, and by and large, right now our School is primarily in the Western world. So our rendition of Path, Practice and Teacher will often use words like social development, committees, basic necessities, personal growth, etc., but don't be confused by these terms. They are just the latest wrappings, trappings and marketing devices used by this current Mystic Guide. We are embarking upon the same Work that human beings have been doing for millennia. Pick up any of the great scriptures, and you will see that it is all the same Work. This School is our current offering, adding to the pile of offerings made by humanity over time.

I call upon you to take leadership because it is the honoring of your own true Self. If you find the Spirit within, and you honor it, you will find yourself becoming a leader in your own way. This is our honorable work, our privilege. There is no greater honor than for a person to realize the fulfillment of their own true Self, and then to live in a selfless loving way, such that another's heart is touched. However, it requires us to be more loving, compassionate, patient and understanding. We must increase the degree of every positive attribute within ourselves that we want to receive for ourselves from others. We do so by extending our love to another.

I ask you to increase your leadership and personal responsibility, so that as we function more demandingly in Community with more people, plans and programs, with greater depths of understanding of our practice, we can be a functional family. This Work cannot happen without taking responsibility and leadership for both our personal spiritual process as well as how we extend ourselves in love to others.

If we don't take personal leadership and don't step forward, then we'll only cop an elitist attitude of arrogant privilege that stands back and criticizes others who are trying. Let's step out of that and place ourselves willingly into the pool. Take a risk and stand up for our calling! Not just because Murshid is doing it, but because we have come here sincerely feeling the resonance with these spiritual principles and beliefs. If we are to be successful, we must walk our talk and practice what we preach. 

I call upon Allah on High, through all of Allah's empowering attributes, and beseech Allah to grant us the strength to realize our purpose, to realize the meaning of this life. I call upon the heritage of all the wayfarers and travelers along the way. I call upon all of the Prophets and Messengers of every tradition to stand by us in this process. I call upon the most elected Bloom of the Prophets, the Prophet Muhammad (saws), the founder of our lineage, to keep us awakened in the spirit of Community. I call upon both our beloved Baba Dayemullah and Baba Anandamurti who have provided us with a language and a way to see our Vision within in its social context.

I call upon the spirit of our great Grand Sheikhs, Baba Adhmatullah and Hadrat Kalimullah. I call upon the souls of the great Moinuddin Chisti, Baha'udin Naqshibandi and the Falcon Sultan of Truth, Hadrat Abdul Qadr Jilani. These are the great forefathers of our mystical tradition, who have conveyed the permission for our tariqat (mystic path) to exist upon our own ancestors Hadrat Muhammad Dayem, Hadrat Adhmatullah and our dearly beloved Sayyid Dayemullah. I call upon you as my brothers and sisters to empower and enjoin our collective Vision, and I call upon you to entrust your process to your Spiritual Guide, your spiritual Practices and to the heritage of your Path. Trust it and allow these blessings to work for you to lift the veils of ignorance and to uncover the barriers that exist between you and your true Self.

May you stand fully face to face before your Lord, as the Qur`an reports that Moses did, with the Vision on your own two uncovered feet. None of this is possible without Divine Permission. May all of our thoughts, words and actions be entirely pleasing. May we continue to receive and bask in the Baraka and grace of this Divine Permission. In the end, through our successful leadership, may we make our disappearance from this world as true leaders with only the essence of our fragrance left remaining. Inshaa'allah . . . with Allah's grace and blessings, may this be our Reality. Allahu Amin!