Reshad Feild

Born Richard Timothy Feild, Reshad Feild began his public life as a musician, co-founding the folk-pop group The Springfields. After leaving the music industry, he became deeply involved in esoteric and spiritual studies, influenced by figures like G. I. Gurdjieff and P. D. Ouspensky. He was initiated into Sufism and studied with various spiritual teachers, eventually founding the Beshara Centre in England in 1970. Feild later established himself as an independent teacher, traveling and sharing his understanding of Sufi teachings and universal spirituality. He authored over a dozen books exploring these themes, making them accessible to a wide audience.

Feild's spiritual path led him to significant roles within Sufi orders. He was initiated as a sheikh in the Sufi Order International and later, in a distinctive move, was made a sheikh in the Mevlevi order by Suleyman Dede. This latter appointment, occurring outside traditional Mevlevi hierarchies, allowed him to introduce practices like the sema ceremony to new contexts, including making it accessible to women and non-Muslims in America and Europe. He continued to teach and write until his passing in 2016, leaving a legacy of spiritual literature.

Reshad Feild, born Richard Timothy Feild, began his public journey not as a mystic, but as a musician. After receiving his education at Eton and serving in the Royal Navy, he entered the burgeoning folk music scene of the early 1960s. Initially forming a duo called the Kensington Squares, he later joined forces with Dion O'Brien and his sister Mary to form the group The Springfields. This folk-pop trio achieved some success with minor hits in Britain before Feild departed in late 1962.

Following his musical career, Feild turned his attention to spiritual and esoteric studies. He was significantly influenced by the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff and P. D. Ouspensky, and also engaged with spiritual healing and the Alice Bailey community. His path led him to Sufism, where he was initiated as a sheikh in the Sufi Order International by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan. He further deepened his studies with Bulent Rauf, a descendant of Sufi masters, and later became a sheikh within the Mevlevi order.

In 1970, Reshad Feild established the Beshara Centre at Swyre Farm in Aldsworth, England, which became a hub for spiritual learning. After a period of study and practice, including travels to Turkey, he stepped down from leadership roles in the Sufi Order International and the Beshara Centre in the early 1970s. He then began teaching independently, traveling to various locations and eventually settling in Boulder, Colorado. In these later years, he focused on making the universal essence of Sufi teachings accessible to people of all backgrounds.

A significant aspect of Feild's work involved introducing the sema ceremony, a practice of the Mevlevi Dervishes, to new audiences in America and Europe. Notably, he made this practice available to women for the first time in recent history and opened it to non-Muslim participants. His approach aimed to share the profound spiritual insights of Sufism in a way that transcended traditional religious boundaries, reflected in his extensive writings on the subject.