Welcome to the Kinship Activity
Kinship, an activity of the Inayatiyya, cultivates the natural connection of one heart to another, fostering harmony, goodwill, and caring action. Kinship nurtures the flowering of the individual and carries it outward through friendship, collaboration and service. Kinship inspires people to work together to help those in need, to protect and restore the web of life on Earth, and to create a more just and beautiful world. We aim to serve as a nucleus of understanding, sympathy and dedication to help unite humankind in the spirit of universal loving kinship.
Our work together awakens the conscience, and builds the spiritual maturity needed to address the needs of the day, especially the fraying of the ecological fabric. At the core of the Kinship concentration is the aspiration to bring humanity to its original relationship, raising us above the differences and distinctions that rupture the unity of our human family. The starting point maybe humanity but kinship ultimately covers all of life on our planet. The well-being of one organism is inextricably tied to the well-being of the other and of the whole.
“The great teachers gave to the world that simple philosophy which even a child knows: to love one another, to be kind, to be sincere, to serve one another.” – Hazrat Inayat Khan
Transformational Dimensions
Kinship embodies a host of teachings, values and practices that can foster spiritual growth, particularly when applied in one’s relationships with others, for Kinship is based in friendship. Starting with befriending oneself and gradually expanding outward, the path of friendship offers rewards and challenges that carry powerful potential for transformation. Five features of this path include respect, sympathy, understanding, tolerance and forgiveness, and unity. These dimensions lead to service born of love.
Core Values include:
• Love expressed in acts of service, kindness and compassion.
• Honoring our interdependence and our mutual need for support and connection.
• Upholding the intrinsic worth and dignity of all.
• Cultivating friendship as the foundation of all relationships.
• Nurturing gratitude, and sharing our bounty with others.
• Responding to suffering with caring and generosity.
• Serving those in need from an awakened sense of justice.
• Welcoming people of all colors, creeds, classes, sexes and cultures.
• Practicing kindness and consideration in our relations with others.
• Working together in a collaborative, sharing, embracing manner.
• Cherishing and protecting the web of life on Earth.
• Celebrating beauty in each other and in our world.
• Promoting the spirit of peace and soothing the spirit of agitation.
“Our next task is to [help humanity] understand people of all nations. By this we do not mean to say that all races and nations become one; only what we have to say is that whatever be our religion, nation, race or class, our most sacred duty is to work for one another, in one another’s interest, and to consider that as [our] service.” – Hazrat Inayat Khan