About Living at the Abode
The Abode of the Message warmly welcomes people from all walks of life to join our diverse community for varying lengths of stay. Living at the Abode can be an ideal opportunity to participate with other spiritual seekers in the continuing evolution of a conscious community. We live, laugh, work and share spiritual friendship together.
Categories of Residence
There are three ways of residing at the Abode, each having its own responsibilities. All three categories include a Karma Yoga requirement and participation in Work Abode Day (explained below).
1. Hands and Heart Program: named in honor of our Shaker-heritage site. Come experience our community while putting “hands to work and heart to God.” This program requires 30 hours of service per week and in return we’ll provide you room and board.
2. Khidmat Spiritual Service is a tradition that allows you to study the Sufi “path of the heart.” We ask for 25 hours of service per week, in exchange for room and board, and participation in 10 hours per week of Sufi studies designed by you and a chosen mentor to reflect your spiritual interests.
3. Rent-paying Resident
All categories of Abode residency include a residential requirement of three hours per week "Karma Yoga", usually consisting of assisting in the kitchen preparing Community meals, and one Saturday morning per month devoted to “Abode Work Day,” where residents join together to complete needed maintenance tasks.
Living in Community
There are restrictions at the Abode relating to use of alcohol and recreational drugs. Smoking indoors is forbidden at the Abode, and is allowed outdoors only in a few designated areas. Quiet hours begin after 10 pm. Before making a commitment to join the Abode, please discuss with us our requirements to ensure that they are in harmony with your lifestyle.
How to Use This Form
Please leave yourself enough time to complete this application: there are more than 20 questions, some requiring written responses. When your application is complete, click on the 'Submit' button at the bottom of this page and the form will be sent to the Abode. If you navigate away from this page with the form incomplete, and without clicking on 'Submit', the form will be erased and your entries will not be saved.
The questions are organized into nine categories below. Click on the green links (each with its own triangle icon) in turn to expand the categories and reveal the questions to be answered within each category. A ’*’ indicates that the field is required. At the time you submit the form, the form items can be in either their expanded or collapsed form (it doesn't matter which).
If you have any questions please submit an inquiry via email.
In service and peace,
The Residence Committee of the Abode of the Message