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The Abode of the Message

Headquarters of the Inayati Sufi order

Summary

Headquarters of the Inayati Sufi order

Field	Value
name	The Abode of the Message
image	Abode-main-campus-welcome-sign.jpg
caption	Photo of former sign with Welcome at the top, winged heart below, and Abode of the Message at the bottom
founded_date
founder	Vilayat Inayat Khan
location	5 Abode Road, New Lebanon, NY, USA
coordinates
origins	Inayati Order
method	Spiritual intentional community; Conference & retreat center; Former headquarters of the Inayati Order
homepage	theabode.org

The Abode of the Message is a retreat center in New Lebanon, NY which was founded in 1975 by Vilayat Inayat Khan and a group of his students. The Abode has a long history as a residential community, a centralized location for the Inayati order, a conference and retreat center, and a center of esoteric study. In 2023, its management was transferred to Friends of South Family. The property is located in the eastern heights of the Taconic Mountains in New Lebanon, New York, and includes historic Shaker buildings built between 1834 and 1870.

The described intent of the Abode on its founding was stated: to "collectively embody spiritual awakening," through "mutual commitment to practicing...the Sufi teachings," "shared devotion to the ideals of Love, Harmony and Beauty, and to the specific transformational work whereby these ideals are progressively realized," for "mutual dedication and visionary collaboration."

History of the site

Photo of a red barn. — Shaker]] society formed in the recently created [[United States of America]]. The society established its home at the Mount Lebanon Shaker Village, which became the primary Shaker spiritual residential community.<ref name="Gutek1998"/><ref name="Stein1994"/><ref name="NRHP"/><ref name="ShakerMuseum_MtLebanon"/>

The Mount Lebanon Shaker Village was organized into Family groups living in clustered buildings sited around the property. , three main groups of buildings survive. The Church Family property is occupied by the Darrow School, a private residential high school. The North Family property is occupied and being restored by the Shaker Museum, Mount Lebanon. The South Family property was owned by the Shaker Village Work Group (a camp for urban teenagers established in 1947 as the Shaker Village Work Camp and later renamed) until it was purchased in 1975 for the Inayati Order, which established it as a new residential spiritual community—The Abode of the Message.

In April 2022, the Inayati Order announced that they could no longer hold financial responsibility for the Abode, and expressed the hope "to sell to a compatible and aligned organization that would continue to hold the land as sacred." In 2023, an agreement was reached between the Order and the Friends of South Family "to transfer sole membership in the Abode to [the] Friends."

Facilities

The Abode occupies approximately 320 acre of forest that spans the border between New York State and Massachusetts. Most of its shared community facilities are grouped within two areas, the Main Campus and the Mountain Conference Center.

Main Campus

chair-caning]] shop. ''Mughni'' is the former Shaker trustees building. ''Fatah'' (the 1867 Shaker women's workhouse) holds men's and women's dorms. Recently renovated, the ''Shaker Barn'' was built in 1850 as a horse barn, but now hosts offices and art studios. The ''Meditation Hall'' was built in 1975 by Abode community members, and is used as a sacred space used for public events. Three personal retreat huts are located in the ''Retreat Hut Field'' on the hill behind the Meditation Hall, and several retreat huts and cabins are situated beside a stream south of the Shaker Barn.<ref name="Tulloch2009"/><ref name="Tulloch2010"/><ref name="Abode_retreats"/>

Mountain Camp

Photo of a large white tent on a wooden platform with stairs leading up to it. — conference center]].<ref name="Tulloch2009"/> The Mountain Camp comprises dining pavilions and meeting spaces, along with shared bathroom and shower facilities for those staying on the mountain overnight. Meals are prepared in the distinctive octagonal ''Kitchen'' building. Housing on the mountain is provided by two shared cabins that hold a total of twenty two-person rooms, sixteen private huts that are simple, rustic retreat huts without electricity, and extensive space for tenting along the mountain's walking paths.

References

Newspapers and magazines

{{Cite journal |access-date = 2010-08-09 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060628220352/http://communities.ic.org/back_issues/ |archive-date = 2006-06-28 |url-status = dead
{{Cite journal
{{Cite news |access-date = 9 August 2010
{{Cite news |access-date = 9 August 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101215161054/http://columbiapaper.com/index.php/the-news/872-by-tim-tulloch |archive-date = 2010-12-15 |url-status = dead
{{Cite news |access-date = 9 August 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080821005450/http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20080724/ap_tr_ge/travel_trip_ny_religious_retreats |archive-date = 2008-08-21 |url-status = dead

Books

{{Cite book
{{Cite book
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{{Cite book
{{Cite book
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{{Cite book
{{Cite book
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{{Cite book
{{Cite book | editor1-last = Miller | editor1-first = Timothy | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=og_u0Re1uwUC&pg=PA254

References

Friends of South Family. (2023-06-13). "About Abode Stewardship".
Media, Inayatiyya Digital. (2022-04-12). "An Important Update About the Abode of the Message".
[[#refJackman1982. Jackman 1982]].
[http://www.abode-of-the-message.org/calendar/content/vision Vision for the Abode] {{Webarchive. link. (2010-08-14 . ''Abode of the Message website.'' Retrieved 12 August 2010)
[[#refWhilden2004. Whilden 2004]].
[[#refTulloch2009. Tulloch 2009]].
[[#refTulloch2010. Tulloch 2010]].
"[[#refNRHP. The Mount Lebanon Shaker Society]]". ''National Register of Historic Places (USA) website.'' Retrieved 26 August 2010.
[http://www.shakermuseumandlibrary.org/mtlebanon.html About Mount Lebanon Shaker Village] {{Webarchive. link. (2010-09-05 . ''Shaker Museum and Library website.'' Retrieved 26 August 2010.)
[[#refGutek1998. Gutek 1998]].
[[#refStein1994. Stein 1994]].
[[#refBecksvoort2000. Becksvoort & Sheldon 2000]].
link. (2007-10-12 . ''Darrow School website.'' [[Darrow School]]. Retrieved 25 August 2010)
[http://www.shakermuseumandlibrary.org/history.html Museum history] {{webarchive. link. (2010-06-04 . ''Shaker Museum and Library website.'' Retrieved 25 August 2010.)
[[#refOpdahl2004. Opdahl & Woodruff Opdahl 2004]].
[[#refSutton2003. Sutton 2003]].
[http://www.abode-of-the-message.org/calendar/content/history The Early Years of the Abode of the Message] {{Webarchive. link. (2010-08-14 . ''Abode of the Message website.'' Retrieved 12 August 2010.)
[http://www.abode-of-the-message.org/calendar/content/individual-spiritual-retreats Abode of the Message: Individual spiritual retreats] {{Webarchive. link. (2010-08-15 . ''Abode of the Message website.'' Retrieved 26 August 2010.)

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

sufi-organizations inayati-order buildings-and-structures-in-columbia-county,-new-york organizations-established-in-1975 1975-establishments-in-new-york-(state)

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