https://congress60.org/News/426347/%DA%A9%D8%A7%D8%B1%DA%AF%D8%A7%D9%87-%D8%A2%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B2%D8%B4%DB%8C-%D8%AC%D9%87%D8%A7%D9%86%E2%80%8C%D8%A8%DB%8C%D9%86%DB%8C-%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AF%DB%8C-%D9%BE%D9%86%D8%AC%D9%85-%D9%88-%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%AB%DB%8C%D8%B1-%D8%A2%D9%86-%D8%B1%D9%88%DB%8C-%D9%85%D9%86
The sixth session of the eighty-fifth round of training workshops of Congress 60 for travelers and companions, led by the master and the guardian of Congress 60, Mr. Dezhakam. Thank you, I appreciate it.
Hello friends, I am Hossein, a traveler. I hope all of you are doing well. I am fine too. Today is July 16, 2025 and it is 10:03 a.m. and we are in the Academy branch of Congress 60. Give me the book of “Love 14 valleys for Recovery”. Congress 60’s Holliday will start next week for two weeks, however, since it starts on Thursday, it will be a little bit longer than two weeks.
One of the issues is about the newcomer’s guide and the orange shawls for companions and travelers, both men and women. These will be distributed together on the second Saturday after the holidays, on August 16, 2025, at 7:30 a.m. in the Simorgh Building.
The next point: during the holidays, it's essential to continue transcribing your CD. Your only connection with Congress 60 during this time is through the CDs. Guides must assign this task to their students, making sure they transcribe their CDs each week and listen to the assigned CD, which is available on the app, and make full use of it.
Another point: regarding the Eighth Valley and the distribution of its badge—it's been decided that guides will give out this badge during the same sessions in which they hand out the 2-month, 3-month, and 6-month badges of liberation from addiction. In those sessions, there is no need for the traveler to give a full "travel announcement" (declaring their journey or cessation of substance use), because sometimes they want to announce their journey of curing addiction, or their cigarette cessation, or even their journey with Jones (weight loss journey), all of this takes up a lot of time. Instead, they will simply come up, receive their badge from the guide, and move on.
Before this decision was made, since I myself gave the badges, and the pupils were required to give me the envelope of money to show their appreciation, now they can also choose to give such an envelope to their own guide. There's absolutely nothing wrong with doing so—in fact, it’s a beautiful and meaningful job, it’s a way of expressing gratitude and appreciation. I'm not saying it has to be a large sum of money; it could be a thank-you letter and a note. Whatever the form, from my perspective, there is no issue with this kind of gesture.
Another important matter that we must take very seriously is this: in Congress 60, we have designated guides for companions and separate guides for travelers. Female companions are not allowed to approach male travelers' guides, whether in person or over the phone. They are not allowed to schedule private meetings or visit each other's homes— this is absolutely forbidden.
Why do we avoid certain behaviors in Congress 60? So that we can maintain peace and comfort. We do not come to Congress 60 to make friends, build family connections, engage in business or politics, or attend social gatherings. Congress 60 is like an isolated island, a sacred space—like the verse in the Qur'an [Surah Al-Ghashiyah, and Surah Al-Waqi'ah]
"Peace, peace! In a lofty paradise, where no vain or idle talk is heard—only peace, peace."
You won’t hear things like “Why didn’t you give me my money or check?” or “Why didn’t you take care of my task yesterday?” in this environment. We do not visit each other's homes under any circumstances.
It is the responsibility of newcomer’s guides—those with pistachio kernel-colored scarves, whether in the travelers’ or companions’ section—to clearly explain to newcomers that we do not engage in social interactions outside Congress 60.
A companion may not contact a traveler’s guide to ask what to do or not do. The companion has their own guide, and any support or answers should come through their own guide. Going to each other’s house might be good in 50, however, it only 10 cases may cause corruption, trouble, or damage to the atmosphere. It disrupts the order and can ruin everything.
So under no circumstances may female companions have any form of communication with male traveler’s guides—not even phone calls. If this is discovered, the legion will be immediately disbanded. If we find out that family visits are happening, and problems arise, that legion will be shut down.
Sometimes, a person will invite someone to their home, saying, “Come over,” or “Let’s meet up.” I, myself, receive many such invitations:
“Mr. Dezhakam, come to Dubai, we’ll provide a house, hotel, everything,” or “Come to the North [of Iran], we’ll give you a villa and so on.” Should I accept those offers?
Sometimes the student is still a substance user and doesn’t understand—thinking it’s just like relationships outside Congress 60—and then they invite their guide or others to their home or garden. We don’t do that here. We want to stay safe and healthy in this island that is Congress 60—a place where no vain talk is heard.
There have been cases where a first-travel-stage traveler invited their guide to their home, which led to serious problems —fights, violence, knives, police involvement—all simply because the guide violated the rules. This must not happen.
A first-travel-stage traveler is new and doesn’t know the rules yet—so it’s up to the agents, border-guards, and all of us to uphold this boundary if we want a healthy and safe community in Congress 60. These relationships must be protected, and there must be absolutely no family-like socializing and gatherings .
I’ve been in Congress 60 for 27 or 28 years now, and to this day, no member of Congress 60 has come to my house—none. I don’t even know where the Didebans live, even though we’ve been working together for 20 to 25 years. For 25 years, I’ve had no idea where their homes are—maybe I know the address of one, but I do not know the address of others. I don’t get involved, and I never invite anyone over for lunch or dinner.
Please, take this matter very seriously so that we don’t encounter issues or problems down the line. Right now, thank God, we don’t have such problems. And let me remind you: giving money is strictly forbidden. In the past, people used to do it—they’d come and say, “I gave so-and-so this much money, and they took it and didn’t return it.” And I would say, “Well, they got and spent this money—good for them! You were required and supposed not to give money to any Congress 60 members.”
At the beginning of the session, the master of the ceremony reads the sanctity script of Congress 60, and mentions that giving and receiving money to any individuals is forbidden in Congress 60. And we repeat the sanctity script at the end of the session: don’t give money. And still, the rule stands—if someone takes your money and spends it, that’s on you. It has nothing to do with us.
Newcomer’s guides should clearly inform travelers [in their first sessions of coming] that no one is allowed to give or lend money in Congress 60. If someone insists on giving money, it must be done with proper coordination. And if someone ends up taking your money and not returning it, our response will be “Well, good for them—let them enjoy it!” This policy is in place to prevent problems. Otherwise, we would constantly be dealing with conflicts: “So-and-so borrowed money and hasn’t paid it back.”
So far, thank God, things have been going very smoothly. We haven’t had any major issues recently. But I speak about these matters as a form of prevention —the moment I sense that something is getting off track, I immediately bring it up in the session, directly and without sugarcoating it. I do this to keep everyone alert and mindful, so that we don’t run into problems down the road.
Secondly, every person has a private family space, and you must respect that boundary. Just because you've exchanged a few greetings with someone doesn’t mean you should invite them into your home. There are rules and limits to this. There are family boundaries, religious boundaries, and personal boundaries—and all of these must be observed.
Now, regarding today's session topic:
In some locations, we’ve been experiencing frequent power outages. So my advice is: avoid using elevators whenever possible, especially in buildings with three or four floors. There is a high risk of getting stuck in an elevator during these outages.
Some clinics may even request that you not use the elevator at all. For example, there’s a clinic in a four-story building that explicitly asked people not to use the elevator—and you really shouldn’t. In general, these days, wherever you go, if it's a 14- or 15-story building, okay, that’s understandable, you might take the risk. But if it’s just two or three floors and people still use the elevator—that’s unnecessary, you can use the stairs instead. With the power going out so often, getting stuck is very likely. So please try your best not to use elevators.
And secondly, use your legs more —strengthen your leg muscles. If you never use the stairs, you'll eventually struggle to even climb two steps. Your leg muscles need to work. So make an effort to take the stairs.
Valley Five:
“In our world, thinking alone cannot solve everything; it must be accompanied by movement and achievement to become complete.”
Up until Valley Four, the teachings are theoretical—we’re essentially laying out a roadmap. But once we reach the Fifth Valley, after passing through the first four, we enter the realm of action.
Human development occurs in three stages:
1. Thought – the realm of ideas and reflection.
2. Speech – expressing those thoughts in words.
3. Action – putting those words and ideas into practice.
So, until the Fourth Valley, we are mostly engaged in thinking and speaking. But Valley Five marks the transition into action.
We might know many things, but the most important—and most challenging—part is putting that knowledge into practice. The journey from words to action is long and difficult. Sometimes, you have certain thoughts in your mind, but expressing them out loud can be incredibly hard, especially in certain situations. You may understand something intellectually, but actually doing it is often far more difficult.
Valley Four teaches us that the first step is thinking —that with contemplation, structures begin to form. The second valley also reminds us that no being thinks about us more than we think about ourselves. Then, in the third valley, we are told that we have not stepped into existence for nothing —our life has purpose.
Valley Four is truly a masterpiece. It saves us from confusion and frees us from wishful thinking. It brings us down from the clouds of fantasy and helps us find solid ground.
“Call upon Me, and I will answer you.” [Surah Ghafir (in Arabic text: غافر), verse 60]
Yes, God does answer prayers—but we must also create the conditions for that prayer to be fulfilled. You can’t decide to pass the university entrance exam without studying at all, while spending all day praying, and then expect to pass. If you don't study, you simply won’t pass—no matter how much you pray. Your prayer is only answered when you move in the direction of it. If you take no action, nothing will happen and things will fall apart. Simply repeating “please pray for me” won’t fix anything. We often hear, “If someone else prays for you, that prayer will be answered.”
Yes— that’s true, and I fully agree. When someone sincerely prays for you, that prayer has power. But this doesn’t mean you just say, “You pray for me, and I’ll pray for you” —like some kind of free exchange. That’s not how it works.
Let’s say you install a drinking water fountain on a street corner. You’ve done a good deed. A passerby drinks from it and says, “May God bless the father or the mother of a person who put this water fountain here.” Since you were the source of something good, that person prays for you, and that prayer is accepted.
Or let’s say someone becomes a guide, takes on a student, works with them for a full year, and helps them recover. That student says, “May God bless your parents for raising someone who helped me this much.” That prayer is also genuine and accepted, [because it’s coming from a heart touched by your good actions].
The same goes for the family group of companions. Someone may say, “When I first came to Congress 60, I was in terrible shape. My guide helped me so much—may God reward them.” That prayer will be accepted —because that person was a source of goodness and others are naturally moved to pray for them.
These kinds of prayers are accepted 100 percent. But if all you do is say, “I’ll pray for you and you pray for me,” and constantly ask for prayers without taking action, I don’t believe those prayers will be answered. Instead of begging others to pray for you, take action. When you do, people will pray for you on their own—without you even asking them to pray for you.
Valley Five conveys the same truth:
“In our world, thinking alone is not the ultimate solution —it must be accompanied by movement and achievement.”
Prayer also works the same way: it must be joined with action and forward movement. Only then is it truly answered. As mentioned in the holy Qur'an:
“Whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it,
and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it.”
These are absolute truths. If you perform even the smallest act of goodness, you'll receive its reward. And if you commit even the smallest act of wrongdoing, you’ll face the consequences—without exception.
Another verse says:
“On the Day the quaking one shall quake…”
What does that mean? It means that anyone who causes others to tremble with fear will one day tremble. For example, someone who steals—picking pockets, robbing others—instills fear in people. But one day, that same person gets arrested by law enforcement and is taken before a judge. And there, he will tremble. The one who once made others afraid is now standing in fear himself. The one who once caused others to shake now shakes in the courtroom. So everything depends on action. Nothing happens by chance. Whatever you do, you will eventually be held accountable for it. There are no shortcuts, no tricks, no way out.
Tawba [in Arabic text توبه] or repentance means returning. Look it up in Arabic—it literally means to return. In other words, you’ve gone down a certain path, and now you’ve decided to turn back. You’ve fallen to the bottom of a well—now you decide to climb back up. You won’t be [magically] forgiven at the bottom. You must rise step by step, slowly and with effort.
Repentance means returning from anti-values —from wrongdoings. You may have descended into the depths of a well or hell, into darkness and despair. And there, in that abyss, you decide to return, but you must begin the climb gradually step by step.
For instance, say you’ve sunk deep into addiction—heroin, opium, meth. You’ve gone deep. Now, you choose to return [you can’t just make a vow or decision and be instantly redeemed]. You must take concrete steps, over time, and return from the way gradually.
If you’ve written 50 bad checks and handed them out to people, you can’t just repent and expect them to disappear. You must repay every single one of them —one by one. Repentance doesn’t erase your financial obligations.
If someone has committed murder and now repents, that doesn’t mean he’s automatically forgiven. He must pay the price —whether it's legal justice, blood money, or other consequences. So the core message of all this is clear:
In the universe, and in the divine system, action is everything.
The Qur’an says: “...and they did righteous deeds”, and elsewhere:
“Indeed, man is ever anxious”, or “Indeed, man is ungrateful to his Lord.”
Except for those who believe, who encourage one another toward love, and who perform righteous deeds, and they did righteous deeds.” “...and encouraged one another toward truth and mercy.”
In other words, all human beings are ungrateful, except for those who guide others toward love, toward patience, and who engage in righteous or peaceful action. All divine teachings eventually lead to one key point: “...And they did righteous deeds.” That “and” is essential—it means action is not optional.
You can advise people to be kind, to be patient—but if there is no righteous action, the advice alone won’t achieve anything. It all comes down to action. Everything we do must be put into practice. Even if you love someone, this love must be shown through action —not just words. Saying “I love you” without showing it means nothing. You must prove it through your actions.
How do you prove love? Through your behavior. Do you actually show that love? Can you act on it? Or is it empty talk? As the saying goes: “As long as you have money, I'm your friend—bless your wallet.” That’s not real friendship. True love must be shown through deeds. Therefore, putting things to action is of the utmost importance.
Now consider this reflection:
When we look at the sea, we see the water, the waves.
When we gaze at the sky, we see blue skies, with sunshine, or clouds.
And when the sun sets behind the mountains to give the earth a moment of rest, the sky fills with stars.
However, what if we could go beyond just looking? What if we could truly see within ? Human beings are the same. At first glance, a person may appear to be nothing more than a few dozen kilos of flesh and bone, walking, talking—fat or thin, black or white, pale or red. But if we could truly look inside a human being, we would witness a vast inner universe, no less magnificent than the outer cosmos. The grandeur and depth within a person is so immense that it defies imagination.
Now, a simple question: even with this brief look at the human being, how many worlds do you think a person lives in during this earthly life? This opens the door to a deeper discussion—within this very world we inhabit, we are actually living in several worlds at once.
We live in the physical world. We also live in the mental world—our thoughts are constantly active there. And another world we engage with is the one we experience in our sleep.
This passage highlights a few important points. In order to do anything, a process is required—like climbing stairs. If you want to get to the roof, you must go up the ladder step by step. If you want to reach the fourth floor, you must climb gradually. Likewise, if you want to come down, you must descend step by step.
But we human beings like to go up step by step—yet when it comes to returning, we want to come down all at once. That’s what leads to a free fall ! Take, for instance, addiction treatment today: someone has used drugs for twenty-five or thirty years—even up until the very last moment—and then suddenly quits. In effect, after climbing all those steps down [and getting addicted and now they suddenly stop using drugs], this way, they throw themselves straight down to the ground. Naturally, they end up damaging their arms, legs, back—everything gets shattered. That’s why you’ll see someone who went through "sudden withdrawal" fifteen or twenty years ago and is still not balanced—they're still craving.
So, there are certain steps we must take. Here, the text says: if you want to enter the stage of action, what should you do? I’ll just read out the key points for you: The first is returning from anti-values. This is essentially repentance, but I haven’t used the word “repentance” because some people are sensitive to certain terms and may interpret them differently. We simply say “returning”—meaning, the path you’ve taken must be walked back. There is no magical forgiveness or instant fixing. You must return the way you came, otherwise, the person is not forgiven and they will not experience balance and peace.
The second principle is “restraint”. What should we do when practicing restraint? If you're unsure whether something is good or bad, don’t do it. You want to rent a house but aren’t sure if it’s a right decision? Don’t rent it. You want to buy a motorbike but don’t know if it’s good or bad? Don’t buy it. You want to travel but aren’t sure if it’s the right time or place? Don’t go. You’re thinking of making friends with someone, but you don’t know if it’s a good idea? Don’t do it. You want to invite someone to your home, but you're unsure if it’s right? Don’t invite them. In short, if you don’t know whether something is good or bad, you shouldn’t do it. That’s restraint. If there’s doubt, avoid doing that action.
The next topic is contentment. Contentment means making the most efficient use of what we have—not being miserly or acting poor, no. It means using our money wisely, buying things that are truly useful to us, and practicing sensible saving so that we can have reserves for the future.
The next step is “saving”, if we want to save money, we must also be content—that is, we must use things efficiently and responsibly. For example, when we buy bread, we should buy just enough so that it doesn’t go stale and end up in the trash—even if the bread is free. The same applies to water. If you step into the shower and leave the water running from start to finish, that’s not contentment—that’s wastefulness. Once you’ve gotten yourself wet, turn off the water while you soap and shampoo, then turn it back on to rinse. As Amin once said, back at Congress 60’s summer camp, we used just two bottles of water to shower—one to soap up and the other to rinse off. That’s what contentment looks like.
Another example: a woman is washing dishes while the tap is running non-stop—she’s washing, talking, maybe even watching a show. That’s wastefulness. Or when unnecessary lights are left on—that’s wasteful. When air conditioners are left running without need—that’s wasteful too.
Speaking of that, Amin shared something with me today that I want him to explain to you directly. He said that split air conditioners and gas coolers are actually harmful in dry climates. They’re better suited to humid environments—places like Bandar Abbas, Abadan, or the northern regions where there’s plenty of moisture in the air. But in dry places like Tehran, Yezd, Kerman, or Isfahan, these air conditioners not only remove what little humidity there is, but they also dehydrate the body and damage the skin. When he explained all this to me, I told him to record a CD and explain it scientifically—why these kinds of cooling systems are not suitable for dry regions and can even be harmful.
In contrast, the old-fashioned evaporative coolers (or water-based coolers) are much better for the body, as they add moisture to the air. That too, is a form of contentment.
The next principle is patience. Patience means enduring the passage of time to reach a destination or goal. For example, when we plant wheat, it takes eight months to harvest—we can't just leave it alone and expect it to grow on its own. We have to water it regularly, protect it from pests, make sure it doesn’t rot or get eaten by animals. In other words, whatever we do requires care and endurance. That’s patience—being committed and steady over time. That was the fourth point.
The fifth issue is extremely important: spying, judgment, and backbiting —we need to let go of all of these. Don’t pry into other people’s affairs, and don’t gossip. Usually, it starts with spying, then leads to judgment, and ends in gossip. Gossip is basically acting as judge and jury, deciding what’s right and wrong and passing sentences in people’s absence. But really—what business is it of ours to ask questions like: Whose house is this? What business is it of ours to know how many people live there? Not our concern. What does her husband do for a living? Irrelevant. Does his wife work? Again, none of our business.
How many kids do they have? What’s it to us? Someone once asked me, “How much do you make?” I said, “Why does that matter to you?”
They asked, “Is your house big?” I said, “What does it matter whether my house is big or small? How does that help you in any way?”
Some questions simply have nothing to do with us. But as soon as we sit with someone, we immediately start sizing them up. Someone might run a business and try to calculate how much he can earn from the person he’s talking to, so he starts with, “What do you do for a living?”—to see if he can squeeze something out of him. We constantly ask people what they do or don’t do. This needs to stop.
All of these values— returning (from wrongdoing), contentment, restraint, patience —are found in spiritual and mystical teachings. The great masters have spoken at length about practicing these things. But I added spying, judgment, and gossip to the list because these are extremely important items too.
Another concept I’ve added is saving. Saving plays a vital role in everyone’s life and we really need to work on it. Maybe twenty years ago, I gave a talk, a CD, called Gold, in which I told women to start collecting gold. Back then, gold was cheap, but even then, people would say, “It’s expensive!” The truth is, from the beginning of time, gold has always been expensive—even if we consider it cheap for that time.
Someone once said, “My father died of hunger during a famine.”
Another person then asked him, “How much was wheat back then?”
He said, “A whole sack was just one qeran (an old Iranian cheap coin).”
The person replied, “So wheat was that cheap and still your father died?”
He said, “Well, if he had that little money, he wouldn’t have died!”
Now, for example, people say gold is expensive—but everything is relative, including incomes. Ten years ago, gold was cheaper, but incomes were lower too. So it makes no difference whether you say, “Oh, that advice was for the past.” No—it still holds true today. Even if it’s just a small piece of gold, buy it. Many people actually followed this advice and ended up owning homes. Because women, in a sense, are like the foreign currency reserves of the family —and I say that seriously. Some women act as the family’s reserve fund, they bought small pieces of gold and then when their husband wanted to buy a house, the woman sold her gold reserves. However, there some women who are consumers of that reserve—whatever savings exist, they spend them immediately on this and that [clothes and unnecessary things]!
This practice of saving has a long history. In the past, women would set aside a small portion from household expenses, quietly saving bits here and there to buy a piece of gold. There used to be banks known as “Kar-Goshaayi” (Problem-Solving Banks). Say a woman had some gold—if a problem arose in the family, she’d pawn the gold at the bank, get a loan with low interest—just 3% or 4%—solve the issue, and later repay the loan and retrieve her gold. Over time, these small pieces added up. And when it came time to buy a house or something big, she would help her husband, help the family. Bit by bit, she collected and saved from unnecessary spending and helped build the financial foundation of the household.
So, saving plays a crucial role in family life. All of us should have savings, within our own capacity. From the moment I started saving, I was able to accomplish a range of things. If I hadn’t saved, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything. Even if five people have only one loaf of bread to share, they can set aside a single bite and eat the rest. No matter how little, it’s still possible.
After saving, we come to the next concepts: trust, being well-pleased, and surrender. I won’t elaborate on those here—you’ll read about them or listen to the CD that explains them.
So in the end, we realize: beliefs by themselves have no value unless they lead to action. The first four valleys were theoretical—guiding principles, a map. But starting from the Fifth Valley, we move into practice. As I mentioned in the Fourth Valley, the most important point is this: in vital matters, you cannot hand over responsibility even to God. God has placed your destiny in your own hands —why would you give it back to Him?
You say, “I’ve come to believe that You, God, will solve my personal problems!”
Why would God handle your personal issues—do you think He has nothing else to do?
Or: “I’ve come to believe that You’ll help me quit addiction.” What belief exactly have you come to? What matters is action.
Don’t hand responsibility to God. If your child needs money and you say, “I leave it to God, He will provide”—no! Go work. Yes, God provides, but you must move! We cannot dump our responsibilities on God. We must accept them. But sometimes we like to hand everything over and say, “I am content with God’s will. I entrust it all to You.” You entrust what, to whom exactly? God has entrusted it to you —to take action.
And that is a very, very important point.
In any case, I hope that the Fifth Valley will be discussed thoroughly in the meetings and, more importantly, that it will be put into practice. Thank you all for listening and paying attention to my words. I truly appreciate it.
One more point I forgot to mention: in some branches, when the electricity goes out, the entire hall goes dark. There are rechargeable fluorescent lights available—they can be plugged in and also come with a built-in battery. Some branches could purchase two or three of these for the hall. It’s not absolutely necessary to go out and buy an electricity power generator. When the power cuts out, at the very least, these rechargeable lights turn on and provide a minimal level of lighting so the session can continue. So if any branch needs it, they should definitely consider buying and using these lights. There’s no need to buy a generator. And if the air conditioners go out during the outage—that's okay, it's not a big deal.
Alright, it seems we have a ceremonial scarf here—for the Assistant position. Mr. Amirhossein Sasani and Mr. Majid Salami, please come forward.
Mr. Dezhakam: What section is the Assistant assigned to?
Mr. Salami: He is the Assistant for the province of Isfahan, responsible for visiting and supervising the branches there. An Assistant to the Didebans is essentially a support. For example, the branches I currently work with—Amirhossein can now also visit those and carry out the same duties. So they act as an additional resource to assist the Didebans. It’s different from being a Dideban’s Aide. I myself can have an Aide—like a Financial Aide. But Amirhossein is an Assistant to the Guardian, which is a different role.
Mr. Dezhakam: Very well. Then go ahead and sign this. Proceed. Face the Qibla. You just hold the microphone. Keep the letter in your right hand, and raise your left hand. The Qibla is that way—face south.
There was a guy once who wanted to pray. He kept adjusting his prayer stone, saying it wasn’t aligned—moving it here, then there. Someone finally said, “Man, are you trying to take a penalty kick?” (laughter)
Translated by Elahe
