Physical Description
Location: The Abode of the Message is a Sufi community, retreat and conference center, cradled in the Taconic-Berkshire Mountains of Upstate New York, owned and operated by the Sufi Order International of North America. This 400-acre Berkshire Mountain sanctuary consists of a complex of historic Shaker buildings and a secluded campground conference center capable of hosting up to 200 guests in tents, huts and cabins. The temple (and previous Sanctuary site) is located in the secluded campground center. No electricity or other utilities are available, nor are they planned for the Universel. A generator will provide electricity for construction.
Geology: The rocks that create the foundation of the land include shale, source rock, interbedded with sandstone. The sandstone is mostly composed of quartz. The shale is also intercalated, on a more gross level, with carbonates, specifically limestone. The rocks are in the phyllite grade of metamorphic process. The result is massive beautiful white quartz veins, like a neural network, throughout the rock of meta-sediments. Quartz stone lines the current foundation, and because of its high vibrational quality, is a preferred building material.
Forest: The forest on the four hundred acres of Abode property is a second growth consisting primarily of beech, ash, evergreens, maples and oak.
The Building Space: Maps provided by Nur Alima Schuckman:
The Sanctuary Foundation: The foundation left after the fire is roughly square in layout with an with an undulating outer form representing the knees of four meditating Buddhas sitting back-to-back. The inner space is about 15 feet square (15' x 15') and 6 feet high. The walls of the foundation are a combination of shale stonework and concrete on a concrete footer. The outer wall is built up of unhewn quartzite with the interstitial space filled with rubble and capped with a concrete deck and marble paving. The foundation is aligned approximately 15 degrees east from true north. There are steps set into the south outside up to previous the deck level. An access door to the lower level is located on the north side through an arch that needs some reinforcement. A structural engineering assessment (post fire) of the foundation is available. See post-fire photos and foundation measurements from previous design.
