Questions & Answers
These are the questions posed by participants of the six vision circles in Bad Bevensen in the summer of 2024. We’ve grouped them into topics, and we’re currently still in the process of answering them to the best of our knowledge. Giving answers are: Nora, Alia, Karim Rafi, Isha and Nori.
1) Transformation Process
1. Who is in charge of the future process?
The board of the Zenith Institute and the Zenith Team, in collaboration with Pir Zia and with the involvement of the Zenith members and the Zenith community. Community participation is very welcome. Various working groups are beginning this fall. If you feel called to get involved, please reach out. Everyone is also welcome to attend the next (and for the time being last) vision workshop:
Sunday, October 20 from 2-5 p.m. Here’s the Zoom link.
2. What are the three main issues that arise?
- Facing the economic challenges, especially the extra costs caused by moving the camp
- Finding a suitable location, that caters to the different needs of our community
- Overhauling our organizational structure and decision-making culture, defining our identity clearly
3. How are non-attendees included in the visioning process?
- Through online vision workshops (The next one happens on 20.10., see question one)
- Through the newsletter information flow, see also our newsletter archive
- Through our website, especially this site here & the Transition site
Looking for more options to participate? Reach out to us!
4. What phase are we currently in?
We are currently in the realm of ideas, in which many possibilities are being explored and researched. While the team is actively and pragmatically working on the next camp 2025, most working groups will deal with deeper organizational questions. Working groups will commence this fall and winter.
5. Camp or no camp?
Camp!
2) The message and task of the camp:
6. What does the camp have to offer so that European Sufis come to the camp regularly?
Good question! While we’re not only aiming to attract European Sufis, but people of all beliefs and all origins, here’s our take on it: We are currently working on creating a concept that is in line with the summary of the values that the participants of the Visions circles named at the Zenith camp in 2024. We are in the process of designing and implementing them. Here is the wonderful summary of our Zenith Values from Camp 2024:
- Place: Some want mountains, others don’t necessarily want them. So far, everyone wants nature. Certain infrastructural and sanitary conditions should also be in place.
- Size: The size of the camp location should be flexible enough to allow the camp to grow.
- Program: We want a program rooted in the teachings of the Inayatiyya, where dance and music are present, and that is open to representatives of other cultures, religions, and paths.
- Setting: Sunshine please. Not too much rain. And not too cold at night. 😉 Community living should be possible and easy. Adventure and comfort should meet at this place.
- Atmosphere: Mystical. From our experience of the 2024 camp, we have realized that the community determines and shapes the atmosphere of the camp much more than the place itself.
7. How can the camp be active for the earth and love, and also offer retreats?
As you mention both mother earth and love, one answer could be: In the teachings of Murshid, Pir Vilayat and Pir Zia there are suggestions, for example the daily Ziraat ritual, that can be incorporated into any retreat as well as into everyday life. We understand the camp as a space of transformation, that each participant can experience and carry out into the world. This means that it’s not so much the camp as an organization that’s active for the world, it’s the people having a renewing, strengthening experience at the camp who then carry this transformational energy into the world.
8. What is the camp's vision regarding peace and justice?
The Sufi teachings and Sufi Adab (behavior in social structures) offer the opportunity to find inner peace and apply it in our interactions with anotjer. Justice in the world arises from our inner attitude. Regarding current religious conflicts, the camp offers a space for interreligious dialogue and exchange between cultures. Peace prayers and peace dances are practiced.
“Man must first create peace within himself if he longs for peace in the world; for as long as there is no peace within him, none of his efforts can lead to a result.”~ Hazrat Inayat Khan
See also the book by Hazrat Inayat Khan: “Harmony in the World”
The camp is not an activist organization. We are a once-a-year summer event where many individuals come together to exchange, recharge, are inspired and transformed. The camp itself has no active role in world affairs, rather we offer an oasis and source of power for individuals.
Sister organizations that are dedicated to the well-being of the humanity and the world are:
9. What is the message of the camp?
Love, harmony and beauty.
To “build a beautiful world with beautiful people” (Pir Vilayat).
10. What can Sufism do for Europe in our time?
As this question does not directly concern the camp, we would like to refer to the European Inayatiyya organizations and the Zephyr Newsletters by Pir Zia. The different Inayatiyya websites each offer possibilities to find more information on this topic, and Pir Zia often addresses the state of the world and specific conflicts in his newsletters.
Inayatiyya US (Zephyr Newsletter)
See also Question No. 8.
11. What is the strength of the camp?
We would say it is in the community, in each participant, in the inner process through the teachings and exercises, in nature (including the mountains), in the sense of community, in the music, in the silence, and in service.