Mystic, Sufi Master, Zen Teacher, Peace Activist, Horticulturist, Scientist, Madzub: Samuel L. Lewis has been called these things and more. The originator of the Dances of Universal Peace was a spiritual renaissance man whose life and teachings were a testimony to truth, originality and embodied spirituality. Though rejected by polite society and even his own family because of his spiritual leanings, Samuel Lewis remained true to the penetrating spiritual vision of human liberation at the core of his being. His life, often difficult, bore much fruit for his students and for the world.

Samuel eventually was accepted as a “Zen-shi,” or teacher of Zen Buddhism. He also studied underSwami Papa Ramdas and was recognized as a teacher of Bhakti yoga, of Christian mysticism as one of the founders of the Holy Order of M.A.N.S., and of the Hebrew Kaballah. He stated it was not his desire to associate his peace work or his Dances with any particular spiritual tradition or sect. Of this he said:

Divine truth does not belong to any organization. If I organize here, it will be made under the title of “Islamia Ruhaniat Society,” that is, the complete teachings of spiritual sciences which lead to realization of peace. As I’m working with my colleagues in other faiths, this will demonstrate this. We’re not going to be called “Sufis” to distinguish ourselves from somebody else.

According to Murshid Wali Ali Meyer, his esoteric secretary in the last years of his life, Murshid Samuel Lewis offered Sufi teachings to the young people and hippies of the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1960s because no one else was doing it. In the upsurge of interest in Eastern spirituality of that period, Zen, Hindu meditation and many other practices were available, but not Sufism. Murshid Sam would offer a full week’s program of dharma talks, Dance classes, Walks in astrological yoga and the Sufi gathas, and during the 1960s a growing group of disciples gathered around him at his home in Precita Park, San Francisco. Often feeding his students meals from his own table, he said that his peace plan for the world was to “Eat, Dance and Pray together.”

The Dances of Universal Peace in many ways were the summation of Murshid Sam’s life experience and spiritual attainment. Through Dance, spiritual Walks and practices he was attempting to strengthen the latent aspects of his students’ personalities and awaken them to the fullness of truth. He explained:

“Now, I am not running a fun club, and I am not running a dramatic show. I believe we can learn through exaltation, through ecstasy, through joy and through love. At the same time we must also keep one eye open, so to speak, on our peace, if we want strength, because strength comes out of our inner peace. A lot of people go and speak against ecstasy and they don’t know what it is. A lot of people speak for it and they don’t know what it is. So I find love should produce a certain kind of ecstasy and ecstasy if it is real will produce a certain kind of love.”

The Dances of Universal Peace bear the lasting influence of Murshid Sam’s contact and spiritual apprenticeship with Hazrat Inayat Khan, who first brought the message of universal Sufism to the West in 1910, and Ruth St. Denis, a feminist pioneer in the modern dance movement in America and Europe. Of the latter he wrote:

“My fairy godmother, so to speak, Ruth S. Denis, approved of all my plans, and before she left the world I had begun my “Dances of Universal Peace.” I started out with Dervish Dances, then Indian ones. Now I am ready to restore or start Christian mystical dances. These dances are dedicated to the Temple of Understanding in Washington D.C., which is endeavoring to take to heart the psalmist’s words, “My house shall be a house for all peoples.”

From his rich life experiences Murshid Samuel Lewis envisioned and created the Dances as a dynamic method to promote “Peace through the Arts.” From the early days and his original body of about 50 dances, the collection has grown since his passing in 1971 to more than 500 dances, which celebrate the sacred heart of Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Aramaic, Native American, Native Middle Eastern, Celtic, Native African, and Goddess traditions. His work continues through the teachers of the Sufi Ruhaniat International, the order which Murshid Sam founded, and through the Dances of Universal Peace International Network.

For more about the history of the DUP: https://www.dancesofuniversalpeace.org/intnew/aboutsam.shtm