mystic whirling dervishes*

One of these beautiful days I will post about the rest of our holiday in Malaysia...I would also love to post photos of gorgeous and vibrant Istanbul, but the SUN! and the BIRDS! and the giggles of children, the barking of the dogs, and villagers walking and chatting is calling me to come play outside! 

Today I feel overwhelmed....which is difficult to write about, as it is part of life.  It is about people being heartless, people whom I know, some that I don't and my head cannot get around how heartless some people can be to others. I always bring things back to myself and ask myself how I would have acted in such a situation. I seems not many people are open to just being human and loving towards their neighbors....I don't know... the extent of it all is too big at this moment. 

So I choose to concentrate on the positive things in my life right now.  I'm sure I'll come around to write about all these things, but for now, I'll leave you with a little piece of Istanbul...

for me the most precious! 

The last evening of my visit we went to have dinner at this restaurant, which had a program with all things traditional Turkish e.g. belly dancing.

When we went to sit down, the waiter came around and put a South African and Turkish flag on the table, representing the countries we come from. M3 and I looked at each other and we knew how touched each of us felt. I could see the tears well up behind his eyes and new how much his country and being South African means to him. I knew how much he missed his country... our families and friends.  The Turkish people made  us feel special, acknowledged and welcome in a country that is not even our own.  

The most special/spiritual thing for me was the dervish dancer. The 'sema ceremony' represents the human being's spiritual journey and they bring it in the way of Rumi, the great Muslim mystic and poet.  It is like a meditation....I watched how this dancer twirled...in my mind I was twirling with him...to wherever it was I was at that specific moment in time. 

Just by closing my eyes....I'm there twirling with him again...

round and round and round....

and round and round and round....

I end off with a beautiful poem of Rumi...which is bit rebellion from my side...but I love it! (the rebellion and the poem!) 

There are many guises for intelligence.
One part of you is gliding in a high windstream, 
while your more ordinary notions
take little steps and peck at the ground.

Conventional knowledge is death
to our souls, and it is not really ours.

It's laid on. Yet we keep saying
that we find "rest" in these "beliefs".

We must become ignorant
of what we've been taught,
and be, instead, bewildered.

Run from what's profitable and comfortable.
If you drink those liqueurs, you'll spill
the springwater of your real life.

Distrust anyone who praises you.
Give your investment money,
and the interest on the capital, 
to those who are actually destitute.

Forget safety.
Live where you fear to live.
Destroy your reputation.
Be notorious.

I have tried prudent planning 
long enough. From now
on, I'll be mad.

Rumi : Part of A Spider Playing in the House