Dedication - Essay for the 7th Anniversary

I Dream Therefore I Am - III

Selfportrait of Bircan Ünver, February 2007

For being a whole within the self,
the country and the globe...

by Bircan ÜNVER

The source for this essay and the dedication theme of this issue is SARVODAYA, the largest civil movement of Sri Lanka. It has been an inspiration and dedication theme because it carries the essence and mission of personal awakening and consciousness from villages to cities through its multi-contented and highly participated programs and activities that count nearly 50 years. An interview conducted for the Light Millennium with Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne, the founder of Sarvodoya Movement on November 29, 2005 in Sri Lanka is the inspiration for this essay (http://www.lightmillennium.org/2007_20th/atariyaratne_sarvodaya.html). This interview made me think about the need for each one of us to ask ourselves some essential questions. We can create better solutions and make progress only within the frame of our honest answers to these questions. For this reason, I ask the below questions to myself as well as on behalf of all of us. Should you wish to send us your own questions and answers (to: contact@lightmillennium.org), we would be excited to e-publish them on our global e-platforms. http://www.lightmillennium.org or http://www.isikbinyili.org (in Turkish)

To what extent are we in harmony or a whole within ourselves intellectually, emotionally, physically within daily relationships and daily activities?

To what extent are we in peace with ourselves?

To what extent we make decisions in daily life based on ours instincts and follow our instincts?

To what extent we have a connection to the person we share our lives with, or the profession/job we have? To what extent does our job feed us spiritually and intellectually?

To what extent we are in accordance and in peace with other colleagues of ours, whether they are our juniors or seniors?

To what extent we share life with someone to complete us, to harmonize with us, and do we increase this love and spread it around us?

To what extent the job/profession we have and our inner self complete each other or how many of us has a profession/job in such a quality?

Looking from all aspects of life, to what extent we can reflect our self and essence in different dimensions of that essence from a single aspect as a whole?

Within the capacity of our skills and instincts, how many of us can turn the wheel of life by having a job/profession that we most associate with our desires and character to say “this is the reason for my coming to the stage of the earth and this is my role” and so can turn the wheel of life making it stronger and developing it together with our surroundings?

Work, daily politics, traditional values, religion and the family value systems that are manipulated highly and very variable (based on different communities and countries), within the imposing rules, especially for women, how many of us has the power of an inner journey or has the need for it? If we cannot survive under those impositions, then we face almost a common chorus and judgment: “You have no right to live in this world we have established!” and generally, there are no bases for alternative environments and solutions.

In a world that has been imposing for especially women, and where women have chosen the easy way in the name of living, and while those women are the mothers, wives, sisters, dear ones of those who maintains the existing systems, how many of us support each other and contribute to each other’s self development and existence, overcoming both all sort of manipulations and meaningless jealousy?

Do we have a common effort to have the inner wholeness for each individual, being in peace with ourselves and our loved ones, having self confidence, tolerance and love, against the impositions of daily life, work environment, and the politics affecting and forming us either directly or indirectly? Or to what extent we can protect our inner selves against the impositions of outer world no matter what the conditions are; or do we have such an effort or search?

What percentage of our daily life that we can devote to the work we really would like to devote ourselves? Or what percentage of our capacity and resources we spend to supply rent, food, health, education and social etiquette?

If we are worn to shreds within ourselves, to what extent we can share life and become a whole with the people we live under the same roof? To what extent we are honest to each other; or are they honest to us as we are to them?

Why are we pushed away from ourselves, being pushed to the endless depths of our inner selves, being covered by countless layers? Or why have we been thrown so far away from ourselves?

Why are we afraid of even questioning these and why cannot we concentrate on reaching the inner centers of us, inner selves of us, by destroying those layers that have almost turned into rocks? Nonetheless, we canalize all our spiritual and material resources for status of etiquette and it seems all mechanisms are established for this!

Of course, we can buy status and etiquette within the limits of our financial power and social capacity, if this is our purpose. And of course, for what cost? The increasing inner rupture, alienation to our inner selves, and by giving credit to temporary values only achieving some pragmatic results through the mentality of "what's there for me?" and being distanced from our inner selves and the essence of life.

To what extent we question that the one we call "dear" is really dear to us, the values that we call "ours" are really ours?

Even more dangerous, whether it's the most developed or undeveloped countries, we still are the victims and slaves of the basic life impositions like in primitive ages! Despite all technological advancements, space science and the assertions of development, the mankind has been turning his inner fractures into sand grains and for this reason, today still there is neither inner peace, unity within self, nor peace amongst families, communities, countries, nor global peace!

And for this reason, the economical power and resources gathered in one hand has made mankind turn into sand grains within his essence. Like molecules breaking within themselves, each sand grain continues to break within itself into millions of new grains.

The key of every transformation, formation and development is, with no doubt, within us, within a pure unification of our soul and minds. Without any further delay, it's time for us to go on the spiritual and intellectual journey of humanity by becoming a whole within ourselves as soul-mind-body as ONE. By acknowledging and owning ourselves as whole is the starting point and the key factor for our evolution to the next step. Otherwise, most of us, if not all, will not only destroy our inner selves but also we will accelerate a destruction of the country and the world as we become more and more the puppets—and even moderns slaves-of a few hands and power sources!

Since the beginning of humanity until today, how far could we go in terms of our inner spiritual, intellectual and physical formation, maturation and wholeness? Or how many of us can say that "I am COMPLETED within myself and within my outer WORLD"?

Wishing that we can claim the inner wholeness among mind and body, multiply during the journey of completing that inner wholeness, become stronger, advance together and turn all the wheels of wholeness all together...

- Translated from Turkish by Figen BINGÜL

Note: So far, "I Dream Therefore I Am..." originally written as three essays in Turkish, and e-published in ISIKBINYILI.ORG. Part II is also available in English> NOBEL 2025

©Bircan Ünver, March 30, 2007, 7th Anniversary of the Light Millennium.