RUMI:
SOARING TO ECSTASY: Page - 2
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Millennium proudly presented...
RUMI:
SOARING TO ECSTASY
Live Documentary with Slides and Original Music
Date: Thursday,
November 18, 2004
Time: 7:00 PM
Presented by:
Prof. Talat HALMAN,
First Minister of Culture of the Republic of Turkey
& Defne HALMAN , Actress
Introduction by Clifford JACOBS
Original Music by Jeff PERETZ & ABU
GARA>
For
Page I>
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IT WAS BUILT ON WHAT HAD ORIGINALLY BEEN THE ROSE
GARDEN OF THE SULTANS… AND THE SULTAN OF LOVE CREATED
IT AS A NEW ROSE GARDEN OF THE SOUL.
IT
IS IN THE RUMI MAUSOLEUM THAT THE MEVLEVI SECT AND CEREMONIES
EVOLVED - - MAINLY AFTER HIS DEATH. WHIRLING WAS A DOMINANT
METAPHOR IN HIS SPIRITUALITY. HE WROTE: “WHIRLING
IS RISING TO YOUR FEET PAINLESSLY LIKE A SPECK OF DUST
BLOWN AROUND IN THE WIND. WHIRLING IS WHEN YOU RISE ABOVE
BOTH WORLDS TEARING YOUR HEART TO PIECES AND GIVING UP
YOUR SOUL.”
FOR THE MYSTIC, THE ULTIMATE END OF ACHIEVING
ECSTASY IS TO CATCH A GLIMPSE OF GOD THE BELOVED.:
AS RUMI WROTE IN A COUPLET:
“WHAT NURTURES OUR SOUL IS THE WHIRLING
DANCE
WHERE THE LOVED ONE EMERGES IN OUR TRANCE.”
THE MEVLEVI MOVEMENT, INITIATED BY HIS SON AND
FOLLOWERS AFTER RUMI’S DEATH, SPREAD FROM KONYA
TO OTHER COUNTRIES. IT HAD CONGREGATION PLACES IN 14 CITIES
AND 76 LODGES - - FROM INDIA TO NORTH AFRICA, FROM FORMER
YUGOSLAVIA TO BAGHDAD AND ALEPPO.
THE WHIRLING DERVISHES SECT PLAYED A MAJOR SPIRITUAL
AND CREATIVE ROLE IN THE OTTOMAN STATE. STARTING WITH
THE FIRST SULTAN OSMAN, THE MEVLEVI SHEIKH WOULD BE PRESENT
AT EVERY NEW SULTAN’S ACCESSION CEREMONY WHERE THE
MONARCH WOULD BE GIRDED WITH THE SWORD.
SÜLEYMAN THE MAGNIFICENT WAS A STRONG SUPPORTER.
HE MADE A GIFT TO THEM OF THEIR WHIRLING HALL IN KONYA.
HIS SON SELIM THE SECOND HAD A MOSQUE BUILT FOR
THEM NEXT TO THE GREEN DOME IN KONYA.
SELIM THE THIRD WAS VIRTUALLY A MEMBER OF THE
SECT. A POET AND A COMPOSER, THIS ARTISTIC SULTAN COMPOSED
A CYCLE OF MUSIC FOR THE MEVLEVI CEREMONY – A WORK
THAT IS STILL PERFORMED TODAY.
THE REFORMIST SULTAN ABDÜL MECİD ATTENDED
THE SECT’S CEREMONIES AND LENT IT HIS SUPPORT.
RUMI’S LIFE HAS BEEN DOCUMENTED IN A VARIETY
OF SOURCES. LEGENDS SURROUND SOME OF THE EVENTS. A FASCINATING
SOURCE IS A BOOK ENTITLED “THE LUMINARIES OF THE
LEGENDS” WRITTEN IN PERSIAN IN 1353, TRANSLATED
INTO TURKISH IN 1588 – AND ILLUSTRATED WITH 22 DRAMATIC
MINIATURE PAINTINGS. HERE IS ONE SHOWING THE DERVISHES
WHIRLING.
PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THE MEVLEVI ORDER IS OF
SUNNI PERSUASION REGARDLESS OF THEIR HETERODOXY AND NOTWITHSTANDING
HOW RUMI AND HIS FOLLOWERS STOOD AGAINST ORTHODOX STRUCTURES.
THEIR CEREMONIES ALWAYS STARTED, AS THEY STILL
DO, WITH ABLUTION AND RITUAL PRAYERS, RECITATIONS OF QUR’ANIC
PASSAGES, AND THE WHIRLING WAS PRECEDED, FOR MANY CENTURIES,
BY INTELLECTUAL DISCUSSIONS AND DISCOURSES. IN MODERN
TIMES, WITH THE WANING OF MEVLEVI INTELLECTUAL CREATIVITY,
THESE SESSIONS HAVE BEEN ABANDONED.
ONE DAY IN KONYA, RUMI GIVES HIS BELT TO A BEGGAR.
WHEN A RENOWNED PRIEST VISITS, RUMI KEEPS HIS
HEAD BOWED IN HUMILITY, WHICH INSPIRES THE PRIEST TO CONVERT
TO ISLAM.
THE CANDLE RUMI LIGHTS IS SMALLER, BUT KEEPS
BURNING LONG AFTER THE OTHERS HAVE MELTED AWAY.
A YOUNG MAN GREETS THE PILGRIMS ARRIVING IN KONYA
AND INSPIRES THEM TO BECOME RUMI’S DISCIPLES.
RUMI PROTECTS KONYA DURING THE BATTLE BETWEEN
SULTAN SELIM AND BEYAZID.
RUMI RESCUES A SHIP AND ITS PASSENGERS FROM A
WHIRLPOOL.
RUMI REBUKES SOME OF HIS FOLLOWERS FOR BICKERING.
RUMI TALKS WITH A MONSTER THAT COMES OUT OF THE
WATER.
AT A BATH, RUMI ADVISES HIS FOLLOWERS TO ENLIGHTEN
THEIR HEARTS INSTEAD OF IMPROVING THEIR OUTWARD APPEARANCES.
RUMI WARNS HIS SON VELED TO AVOID SIN.
A STINGY VIZIER IS FORCED TO PAY A HIGH PRICE
TO A POOR POTTER.
RUMI KEEPS A VIZIER WAITING.
SHEMS ABOUT TO BE STABBED TO DEATH BY A BAND
OF ASSASSINS.
RUMI WHIRLS IN ECSTASY OUTSIDE A GOLDSMITH’S
SHOP. THERE IS A LEGEND THAT HE CONCEIVED OF THE IDEA
OF THE WHIRLING RITUAL AFTER THIS SPONTANEOUS EXPERIENCE
HE HAD.
TWO MEN LEAD AWAY RUMI’S SON.
RUMI CURES A BOIL ON THE NECK OF HIS GRANDSON
ARIF.
AFTER RECITING FROM THE KORAN AND THE MESNEVI,
THE DERVISHES WHIRL TO MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT.
Prof
Halman, and his daughter and actress Defne Halman performed
RUMI: SOARING THE ECSTASY, accompany
original music by Jeff PERETZ & ABU GARA on November
18, 2004 at the Turkish House in New York City.
IN MODERN TURKEY, NOT ONLY RUMI’S MORAL
FORCE BUT ALSO THE CEREMONIES OF THE WHIRLING DERVISHES
EXERT A STRONG IMPACT. WHEN TURKEY WAS IN ITS NATIONAL
LIBERATION STRUGGLE UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF MUSTAFA KEMAL
PASHA, THE MEVLEVIS GAVE THE EFFORT THEIR SUPPORT THROUGH
A BATTALION OF THEIR OWN. AFTER THE TURKISH REPUBLIC WAS
ESTABLISHED, PRESIDENT MUSTAFA KEMAL PASHA WENT TO KONYA
IN 1924, HE VISITED THE RUMI MAUSOLEUM AND WROTE IN THE
GUEST-BOOK IN HIS OWN HANDWRITING:
“EVERY VISITOR TO RUMI’S MAUSOLEUM
IS A REFUGEE FROM REACTIONARY DOGMA…THE IDEA OF
SOARING TO GOD STANDING, WHIRLING, IN MOTION IS A NATURAL
EXPRESSION OF THE TURKISH GENIUS…RUMI IS A LOVER
OF TRANSFORMATION WHO TRANSCENDS THE AGES, A GREAT REFORMER
WHO WELDED ISLAM TO THE TURKISH SOUL… HE UPHELD
THE PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL REVOLUTION AND THE FREEDOM OF
CONSCIENCE.” IN 1925, THE TURKISH REPUBLIC
INITIATED AN AMBITIOUS SECULARIST PROJECT, AS PART OF
WHICH ALL SECTS WERE ABOLISHED AND THEIR CONGREGATION
PLACES CLOSED. BUT, ON MARCH 3RD, 1927, ON ORDERS FROM
PRESIDENT MUSTAFA KEMAL PASHA, THE RUMI MAUSOLEUM OPENED
ITS DOORS AS KONYA’S MUSEUM OF ANTIQUITIES. YAKUP
KADRİ KARAOSMANOĞLU, PROMINENT INTELLECTUAL
AND NOVELIST, COMMENTED THAT SUFISM HAS A MOMENTOUS POTENTIAL
FOR MODERN LIFE: “SUFISM PROVIDES TOLERANCE AND
FREEDOM OF FAITH. IF SUFI LITERATURE HAD DEVELOPED EFFECTIVELY,
IT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN NECESSARY FOR US TO ADOPT SECULARISM,
BECAUSE SUFISM IS A SYSTEM OF BELIEF BASED ON FREE THINKING
AND LIBERAL FAITH.” TODAY, RUMI’S IDEALS AND
MEVLEVI CULTURE INSPIRE COUNTLESS INDIVIDUALS IN TURKEY
AND ABROAD. RUMI’S POETRY BOOKS ARE BEST-SELLERS
IN THE UNITED STATES. IN FACT, BOTH LOS ANGELES TIMES
AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR HAVE IDENTIFIED RUMI AS
“AMERICA’S BEST-SELLING POET.”
THIS YEAR, THE TOTAL NUMBER OF VISITORS TO THE
RUMI MAUSOLEUM IN KONYA WILL REACH A RECORD ONE AND A
HALF MILLION. WHEN THE DERVISHES PRESENT THEIR CEREMONIES
IN THE UNITED STATES AND ELSEWHERE, THEY CREATE TREMENDOUS
EXCITEMENT.
THE “SEMA” CEREMONY IS A POWERFUL
SPIRITUAL SOARING TO ECSTACY, EXHILARATION OF LOVE, INNER
ENLIGHTENMENT DURING THE SOUL’S HEIGHTENING TOWARD
GOD. RUMI’S WHIRLING DERVISHES SEEK ECSTASY.
IN THEIR RITUALS, WITH MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT, THEY
TURN GRACEFULLY -
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, LEFT: BECAUSE LEFT IS WHERE
THE HEART IS, THE HEART IS WHERE LOVE VIBRATES.
THE RIGHT HAND OPENS UP TO HEAVEN, THE LEFT HAND
POINTS DOWN TO THE GROUND. THAT WAY, THEY RECEIVE THE BENEDICTION
AND THE BLISS OF GOD THE BELOVED
- AND
TRANSMIT LOVE TO OTHER HUMAN BEINGS.
THE WHIRLING IS A SPIRITUAL SOARING, THE PERFECT
TRANCE.
WHEN THE DERVISHES EXPERIENCE A TRANCE, IT IS
AS IF THEIR FEET RISE ABOVE THE GROUND OR FLOOR. THE GREATEST
BLISS FOR THEM IS TO GLIMPSE, DURING THAT ECSTASY, THE
BEAUTIFUL FACE OF GOD. RUMI EXPRESSED THE SENSATION OF
TRUE LOVE’S SUBLIMITY AND PURIFICATION IN AN EXQUISITE
POEM:
PERFECT, PERFECT, PERFECT
THIS LOVE IS THREE TIMES PERFECT;
EMPTY, EMPTY, EMPTY
THIS FLESH AND ITS LUSTS.
SACRED, SACRED, SACRED
THIS LIGHT IS THREE TIMES SACRED;
SOARING, SOARING, SOARING
TO MEET ETERNITY TODAY.
SINCE THE 13TH CENTURY RUMI’S POETRY AND
SPIRITAULITY, HIS HUMANIST VALUES, AND THE STIRRING CEREMONIES
OF HIS FOLLOWERS HAVE FOSTERED A “CLIMATE OF LOVE”:
THE VOICE OF LOVE IS DESCENDING FROM LEFT
AND RIGHT:
WE ARE BOUND FOR PARADISE. JOIN US.
WATCH THIS SIGHT.
THIS IS SUCH DAY: THE SUN IS DAZZLING TWICE
AS BEFORE - -
A DAY BEYOND ALL DAYS, UNLIKE ALL OTHERS -
-
SAY NO MORE…
LOVERS, I HAVE GREAT NEWS FOR YOU: FROM THE
HEAVENS
ABOVE
THIS DAY OF LOVE BRINGS SONGS AND FLOWERS
IN
A DOWNPOUR. LOVE IS THE WATER OF ETERNAL LIFE,
CURES
EVERY
WOE;
GARDENS WHERE LOVERS RE-UNITE DRIVE AWAY
ALL SORROW.
THEY SAY THERE IS A WINDOW THAT OPENS FROM
HEART
TO HEART;
IF THERE ARE NO WALLS, THERE IS NO NEED FOR
ANY WINDOW.
WHOEVER JOINS THE CIRCLES OF OUR FAITH TO
GO OUR WAY
SEES THAT IN OUR BODY HUNDREDS OF LIVES HAVE
THEIR
HEYDAY;
WHOEVER DRINKS NECTAR FROM THE PITCHER OF
OUR SPIRIT
FINDS SUCH BLISSFUL ECSTASY THAT HE TAKES
OUR NIGHT
FOR
DAY. AT ONE TIME WHEN LIFE WAS REAL, YOUR SOUL WAS ONE
WITH
MY SOUL:
ALL WE WERE, OPEN OR SECRET, WAS PART OF
THE
SAME WHOLE,
IF “YOU” AND “I” ARE
PRONOUNS I USE, THEY ARE ONLY TERMS -
IN TRUTH, THERE CAN BE NO SEPARATE YOUR OR
I AT ALL. WHEN I HAVE YOU, THE PASSIONS OF LOVE MAKE ME
STAY
AWAKE;
WHEN YOU ARE NOT WITH ME, I CANNOT SLEEP -
I MOAN,
I ACHE;
I’M AWAKE THE NIGHT YOU STAY WITH ME
AND THE NIGHT YOU
DON’T -
BUT HOW THOSE TWO NIGHTS ARE WORLDS APART,
LOOK, FOR
HEAVEN’S
SAKE.
TO BECOME A MYSTIC, FEEL NO LONGING FOR THE
PAST. GAGE
THE AFFAIRS OF BYGONE DAYS - - AND YOU SHALL
TURN A NEW
PAGE;
YOU SHALL THEN BE THE CHILD OF THE TIME, ITS
YOUTH, ITS
OLD SAGE,
AND NEVER LOSE THE HOUR YOU ARE IN, THE CORE
OF THE AGE.
TONIGHT IS SUCH A NIGHT - - THE CORE OF THE
DARKEST
LAYERS;
TONIGHT IS SUCH A NIGHT WHEN ANSWERS ARE FOUND
FOR
PRAYERS - -
THE NIGHT OF GIFTS, GRANTS, AND OFFERINGS,
THE NIGHT OF
BOUNTY.
SUCH A NIGHT: WE SHARE THE SECRETS OF GOD
LIKE
SOOTHSAYERS.
THERE IS A ROAD THAT STRETCHES FROM SOUL TO
SOUL IN
GRANDEUR:
MY HEART REMAINS AWAKE: IT SEEKS ON THAT PATH
LOVE’S
ARDOR.
THIS HEART OF MINE IS SO LIMPID – LIKE
WATER THAT IS PURE.
PURE WATER GLIMMERS: TO THE MOON IT HOLDS
A PURE
MIRROR.
BEYOND BELIEF AND FAITHLESSNESS THERE LIES
THE SPACE
IN WHOSE HEARTLAND THIS LOVE OF OURS HAS FOUND
ITS
PLACE:
IT HOLDS NO ROOM FOR RELIGION AND SACRILEGE
- -
THAT’S THE GROUND WHERE THE MAN OF WISDOM
RUBS HIS
FACE.
IN THIS WORLD AND IN AFTERLIFE THERE IS HE,
ONLY HE:
WE WORSHIP HIM ALONE, FOR EVERY OTHER ENTITY
IS FALSE: SKIES AND THE SUN, ORCHARDS AND
GARDENS ARE A
SHAM;
IN ALL WORDS, ALL MEANINGS, HE IS THE SOLE
REALITY.
THIS SEASON IS NOT THE SPRING, IT IS SOME
OTHER SEASON,
THE LANGUID TRANCES IN THE EYES HAVE A DIFFERENT
REASON,
AND THERE IS ANOTHER CAUSE FOR THE WAY EACH
SINGLE BRANCH
DALLIES BY ITSELF WHILE ALL THE TREES SWAY
IN UNISON.
I TOOK A VOW THAT SO LONG AS LIFE DOES NOT
FADE AWAY
FROM MY HEART, I SHALL STAY ON THE STRAIGHT
PATH AND NEVER
STRAY;
BUT THEN I LOOKED TO MY RIGHT AND TO MY LEFT
- - AND I SAW
MY BELOVED RIGHT AND LEFT - - LEFT AND RIGHT
- - EVERY WHICH WAY.
HOW LOVELY TO HALT AND REST – AND THEN
TO GO ON
YOUR WAY,
NOT FROZEN NOR MUDDLED, TO STAY FRESH BY FLOWING
AWAY.
YESTERDAY IS PAST AND GONE – SO ARE
YOUR WORDS OF
YESTERDAY:
HOW LOVELY TO FIND FOR EACH NEW DAY SOMETHING
FRESH
TO SAY.
For Page
3>
For Introduction by Cliff
JACOBS>
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