RUMI: SOARING TO ECSTASY: Page 3

Light 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 1> & Page 2

HOW LOVELY TO FIND FOR EACH NEW DAY SOMETHING FRESH TO SAY. THAT WAS THE ESSENCE OF RUMI’S GENIUS. HE INTRODUCED TO HIS OWN AGE AND TO SUCCEEDING CENTURIES POWERFUL NEW IDEAS AND MORAL VALUES.

HIS UNDERSTANDING OF WOMEN’S RIGHTFUL PLACE IS EXEMPLARY:

WOMAN IS NOT A CREATURE, BUT A CREATOR.
WOMAN IS GOD’S LIGHT:
NOT THE MERE OBJECT OF MEN’S DELIGHT.

IN THE EARLY STAGES OF THE MEVLEVI SECT, WOMEN WERE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN RITUAL WHIRLING – ALBEIT IN A SEPARATE, ADJACENT ROOM. THE DOOR WOULD BE OPEN - - AND THERE WERE OCCASIONS WHEN A WOMAN WHIRLER WOULD GO THROUGH THE DOOR AND WHIRL ALONGSIDE THE MALE DERVISHES.

AFTER THE 16TH CENTURY, WOMEN WERE NO LONGER ALLOWED TO JOIN THE CEREMONY. IN RECENT YEARS, HOWEVER, SOME MEVLEVI GROUPS, FOR INSTANCE IN ISTANBUL AND OUTSIDE OF TURKEY, HAVE OPENED THEIR RITUALS TO A FEW WOMAN WHIRLERS.

RUMI STRESSED THE EQUALITY OF HUMAN COMMUNITIES, OF RELIGIONS AND NATIONS. HE REMINDED EVERYONE IN THE 13TH CENTURY:

INDIANS, KIPCHAKS, ANATOLIANS, ETHIOPIANS –
THEY ALL LIE PEACEFULLY IN THEIR GRAVES,
SEPARATELY, YET THE SAME COLOR.

ONE OF HIS MOST FAMOUS QUATRAINS INVITES ALL HUMAN BEINGS, REGARDLESS OF CREED, ETHNIC BACKGROUND, SOCIAL STATUS, OR NATIONALITY TO HIS SHRINE:

“COME, COME AGAIN, WHOEVER WHATEVER YOU MAY  BE,  COME:
HEATHEN, FIRE-WORSHIPPER, SINNER OF IDOLATRY,  COME.
COME EVEN IF YOU’VE BROKEN YOUR VOWS A HUNDRED TIMES;                                                                    
OURS IS NOT THE PORTAL OF DESPAIR AND MISERY, COME.

INCIDENTALLY, THIS POEM - - ARGUABLY ONE OF THE THREE BEST-LOVED POEMS AMONG THE TURKS TODAY - -IS NOT ACTUALLY BY RUMI – BUT BY A POET NAMED EBU SAID BIN EBUL-HAYR WHO DIED 225 YEARS BEFORE RUMI.

PEACE IS A VITAL COMPONENT OF RUMI’S CREED OF HUMANISM. ONE OF HIS STATEMENTS COULD BE A POWERFUL MOTTO FOR THE UNITED NATIONS:

WHEN WEAPONS AND IGNORANCE COME TOGETHER, TYRANTS ARISE TO DEVASTATE THE WORLD WITH THEIR CRUELTY.

SUFISM REFUSES TO DENIGRATE THE HUMAN BEING. IT HAS NO CONTEMPTUS MUNDI. LIKE GOD, HUMANS ARE NOBLE. THE HUMAN BEING IS ENDOWED WITH DIGNITY. HE AND SHE ARE WORTHY OF LOVE. RUMI’S HUMANISTIC MYSTICISM IS REGARDED BY SOME IN TURKEY AND ABROAD AS A VIABLE ALTERNATIVE TO THE STRICTURES OF ORTHODOX RELIGION. RUMI’S MYSTICISM REGARDS HUMANS AS HAVING GOD-LIKE ATTRIBUTES AND OFTEN HUMANIZES GOD.

THERE IS A STORY THAT INVOLVES RUMI’S DISCIPLE SÜRYANOS WHO WAS TAKEN BEFORE A JUDGE. THE JUDGE ASKED SÜRYANOS: “IS IT TRUE THAT YOU SAID RUMI IS GOD?” “NOT TRUE,” SAID SÜRYANOS, “I SAID RUMI IS THE CREATOR OF GOD. I AM GOD.” THE JUDGE DECLARED SÜRYANOS INSANE, AND RELEASED HIM. WHEN SÜRYANOS TOLD RUMI ABOUT THIS INCIDENT, RUMI STATED: “YOU SHOULD HAVE SAID TO THE JUDGE: “PITY YOU FAILED TO BECOME GOD YOURSELF.”

THE MAN OF THE SPIRIT IS ALSO THE MAN OF REALITY. ENAMORED AS HE WAS OF FLIGHTS OF MYSTICAL FANTASY, RUMI REMAINED INVOLVED IN THE WELFARE OF THE PEOPLE OF HIS CITY, IN SOCIAL JUSTICE, IN AFFAIRS OF THE STATE. THAT IS WHY HE WAS “MEVLANA” (GUIDE, LORD, MASTER) NOT ONLY FOR HIS DISCIPLES BUT ALSO FOR LAYMEN. HE SCORNED TEMPORAL POWER:

     BE THE SLAVE OF SOMEONE WHOSE HEART GLITTERS
     INSTEAD OF WEARING THE CROWN OF THE SULTANS.

HE MAINTAINED THAT HIS SPIRITUAL POWER IS SUPERIOR TO ROYALTY:

     I AM NOT ONE OF THOSE KINGS WHO MUST STEP DOWN
     FROM THE THRONE TO TAKE THE RIDE IN A COFFIN.

RUMI SOMETIMES DEFIED AND TOOK TO TASK AN UNJUST SULTAN OR

VIZIER. ONCE, WHEN THE SULTAN SOUGHT HIS GUIDANCE, HE ANSWERED SCATHINGLY: “WHAT COULD I POSSIBLY TELL YOU? THEY EXPECTED YOU TO BE THE SHEPHERD. YET YOU ARE THE WOLF. THEY WANTED YOU TO BE THE GUARD. YOU TURNED OUT TO BE THE THIEF.

IN A REMARKABLE LYRIC ODE, HE VENTED HIS FURY ON KINGS WHO OPPRESS THE POOR PEOPLE:

I AM SUCH A DARK NIGHT THAT I AM ANGRY AT THE MOON;
I AM SUCH STARK-NAKED PAUPER THAT I AM ANGRY AT THE SULTAN.

THEY TRY TO DECEIVE ME WITH GOLD OR HIGH STATION OR TROOPS;
I WANT NO GOLD, NO MATTER WHAT, I AM ANGRY AT POWER AND                                                                                   
                                                                POSITION.

ON DECEMBER 17, 1273 RUMI DIED.

IN THIS OCEAN, THERE IS NO DEATH,
NO DESPAIR, NO SADNESS OR ANXIETY.
THIS OCEAN IS LOVE, BOUNDLESS LOVE:
THIS IS THE OCEAN OF KINDNESS AND GENEROSITY.
NO, HE BECAME ETERNALLY WED TO GOD.

DEATH IS REUNION WITH GOD:

THE NIGHT OF MY DEATH
WILL BE A BRIDAL NIGHT,
THE NUPITAL WITH SUPREME LOVE.

HIS FUNERAL WAS ATTENDED BY NOT ONLY SUFIS AND MUSLIMS, BUT ALSO BY CHRISTIANS AND JEWS AND OTHERS. THEY CALLED THAT NIGHT ŞEB-İ ARUS “THE NUPTIAL NIGHT”. IT IS CELEBRATED EVERY YEAR.

RUMI HAD SAID: “DO NOT LOOK FOR OUR GRAVE IN THE GROUND. OUR GRAVE IS IN ENLIGHTENED HEARTS.”

RUMI HAS BEEN CLAIMED BY SEVERAL COUNTRIES AND CULTURES – IRAN, TURKEY, AFGHANISTAN, THE ARABS, AND SOME MOSLEM COMMUNITIES OF RUSSIA – ON GROUNDS OF GENEALOGY, BIRTHPLACE, LANGUAGE, CULTURAL ORIENTATION, ADOPTED COUNTRY, BURIAL PLACE, AND THE TERRITORY OF IMPACT. THE STRONGEST ARE THOSE ADVANCED BY IRAN, BECAUSE HIS HUGE OUTPUT WAS IN PERSIAN, AND BY TURKEY, BECAUSE HE LIVED AND CREATED IN TURKEY AND HIS STRONGEST IMPACT WAS ON TURKISH CULTURE.

INTERNAL REFERENCES FOUND IN HIS WORK SHOW THAT RUMI WANTED NO “NATIONAL” IDENTIFICATION OR “CITIZENSHIP” IN TERMS OF OUR MODERN CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS. HE SOUGHT, RATHER, TO BELONG TO MANKIND AND TO TRANSCEND RELIGIOUS SCHISM AND NATIONAL ALLEGIANCES. HIS MYSTIC SPIRIT CAN AND MUST BE CLAIMED NOT BY ONE COUNTRY, ONE CULTURE, ONE RELIGION, BUT BY ALL HUMANITY.

HE EXPRESSED HIS TRANSCENDENCE IN A MEMORABLE POEM:

I COME FORM NEITHER EAST OR WEST,
I AM NOT FROM LAND OR SEA.
MY KINSFOLK ARE NOT HUMANS NOR ANGELS NOR GNOMES;
I AM NOT FIRE NOR FOAM,
NOT DUST NOR DEW.

RUMI BELONGS TO THE ENTIRE WORLD, TO ALL OF US, HUMANKIND AND ALL AGES. SIGNIFICANTLY, THE WORLD IS NOW LIVING ITS RUMI SEASON. IN AMERICA, ENGLAND, EUROPE, RUMI AND THE MEVLEVI CULTURE ARE A PROFOUND SOURCE OF INSPIRATION.

THE RUMI HERITAGE IS EXERTING A POWERFUL IMPACT ON MANY ARTS AND ACTIVITIES. FOR DECADES CHOREOGRAPHERS HAVE DRAWN INSPIRATION FROM THE WHIRLING CEREMONIES - - TED SHAWN, SWEDISH BALLET, MAURICE BEJART.

GREAT FILM DIRECTOR PETER BROOK USED THE WHIRLERS SO SUPERBLY IN ONE OF HIS FILMS. AND ROBERT WILSON INCORPORATED THEM SPELL-BINDINGLY INTO HIS MANY STAGE PRODUCTIONS.

DONNA KARAN MADE USE OF MEVLEVI MUSIC IN ONE OF HER FASHION SHOWS IN NEW YORK CITY FOUR YEARS AGO. MADONNA SANG RUMI SONGS. A RUMI OPERA IS BEING COMPOSED ON THE WEST COAST.

RUMI WAS – IS – WILL ALWAYS BE A MIND FOR ALL SEASONS, A CLIMATE FOR ALL THE SACRED AFFIRMATIONS OF THE HEART. TRULY UNIVERSAL IN ART AND SOUL.

WHAT IS THIS WHIRLING OF OURS?

A GREETING FROM THE INMOST FRIENDS OF THE HEART.

WHEN THEIR MESSAGES ARRIVE
THEY GIVE THE WEARY SOUL VIGOR AND COMFORT.

CAUGHT IN THIS WIND, THE MIND’S BRANCHES
REACH OUT AND BLOOM ALL OVER AGAIN.

A STRANGE SWEETNESS, NEVER FELT BEFORE,
SPREADS THROUGH THE FLESH,
AND THE MOUTH REVELS IN THE LUSCIOUS TASTE
OF THE REED FLUTE AND THE PLAYER’S LIPS.

WE HOLD NO DRINK IN OUR HANDS,
YET THE HOUR OF A THOUSAND JOYS WHIRLS AROUND US.

THOSE WHO ARE FROZEN FOREVER
UNMINDFUL OF THIS MUSIC
THOSE WHO ARE LOWER THAN THE DEAD
SHALL NOW TURN INTO THE QUINTESSENCE OF DUST.

WORDS CAN NEVER CONTAIN OR PORTRAY
OR PRAISE THE BEAUTY OF THE VISIBLE FACE;
LOOK DEEP WITH A THOUSAND BORROWED EYES,
IT STILL LIES BEYOND SIGHT.

TO FIND YOUR JOY AND BLISS
LOOK THROUGH YOUR OWN WINDOW.
LET THE WHIRLING RUN WILD AND TAKE FLIGHT,
FOR YOU ARE LIFE ADDED TO THE LIFE OF
                                                 WHIRLING ECSTASY,
YOU ARE THE GLITTERING JOY OF THE AGE.

For Page 1 & 2>
For Introduction by Cliff JACOBS>