TURKISH DELIGHTS
Sylvia Shanti Vowless QSM
Warm friendly people, the Whirling Dervishes, a truly awesome international Symposium, exotic bazaars with wonderful scents of spices, sounds of sultry music and insistent voices pressing you to buy or bargain, graceful minarets and mosques every few blocks with their regular calls to prayer, incredible ancient mosaics of Christ in the Haghia Sophia, millions of exquisitely beautiful blue tiles lining the huge interior of the Blue Mosque which has the largest inner columns you can imagine, the famous Topkapi Palace with the Royal Jewels, a duck-egg sized diamond and the fading splendour of many Sultans' lavish and voluminous garments including protective 'paper' undershirts completely covered with the words of the Koran, the eerie underground Basilica water storage cistern with its three hundred plus columns, and yes, even the Turkish Delight confection which is more like a nougat than we're used to ......... these are just a few of the many delights and experiences of my recent visit to this fascinating country of Turkey. Then there's the heart-stopping weaving in and out of cars on the packed roads with barely a centimetre clearance, crowds of people wherever you go, crumbling ruins and derelict buildings in between modern western ones, stray dogs and cats everywhere, incessant noise and seeming chaos - these are some of the other impressions of my flying six-day visit!
You may be wondering why one would go so far for such a short time, something I found myself wondering while sitting for what seemed an interminable eighteen hours in the plane from Melbourne to Dubai en route to Istanbul – the whole journey took thirty-eight hours! However, even just being part of the 11th “Call to World Peace from the Universal Brotherhood Symposium” was in itself enough reason. Organized on November 1st each year by the Turkish Sufi Muslim members of the World Brotherhood Union Mevlana Supreme Foundation in the beautiful modern Istanbul Concert Hall, it attracts over a thousand people from countries as diverse as Russia, Poland, Israel, Lebanon, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Spain, South Africa, the USA and England. With instantaneous translation into several languages, the thirty-piece Istanbul Orchestra - the first time I’ve been played on and off the stage by a live orchestra! - two enormous screens on either side of the stage so the far away back rows could see Hosts and Presenters close up, plus my own personal uniformed hostess for the evening, the whole event was so professionally produced I felt its standard was equivalent to that of the United Nations! Of all the many international events at which I have presented, this was by far the most professional and far-reaching. And it’s considered an important enough global event in Turkey each year that a special commemorative postage stamp is issued!
So what draws so many people annually to this Symposium? It is the shared understanding that we’re in the preparation era of the Golden Age, a future time based on Love, Tolerance, Understanding, Cooperation, Brotherhood, Unification, Peace and Beauty. Its aim is to lay another stone to the foundation slowly building in the mass human consciousness of the future path of Love-Peace-Unification by bringing together people who are working towards this goal of a unified humanity, thus forming a magnetic, positive energy network on our planet. This universal event only invites four internationally-recognised Presenters who serve as Ambassadors for different parts of the world and who, while working in their own unique way for the same higher goal and purpose, represent and share different aspects and knowledge from the same Divine Source. This year's theme was "Spiritual Messages and Suggestions to be given to Humanity on the Path of Unification and Peace in the Globalizing World".
2005 was the first year anyone from New Zealand or Australia or indeed the whole Southern Hemisphere had been invited as a Presenter so it was a great honour to address such a powerful and focussed international gathering. I was invited as the founder/director of the Order of Melchizedek Mystery School International and Qabbalah Foundation of New Zealand, both of which actively promote the Universal Laws and Principles of Love, Unity, Peace and Fellowship. The other three Presenters were Dr Eric Pearl, founder of “Reconnective Healing,” Ingrid Keminer a 'Living Light-Geometry' and 'Sirius Light Merkabah’ consciousness worker from Germany, and Barbara Wolf from the USA, founder/coordinator of a vast internet organization called “Global Meditations Network.” We were all flown from our home countries to Istanbul - I was given Business Class seats! - and royally hosted throughout our stay.
One day we spent at the Foundation's centre situated in the Asian half of Istanbul, the only city in the world which has one half in Asia and the other in Europe. Turkey itself is unique too in that it’s the only Muslim country in the world which has secularism enshrined by the republic's founder Ataturk, in its Constitution. At the Centre we met Board members and spent hours talking with its amazing founder, Mrs Bulent Corak who at eighty-two has the energy and appearance of a seventy-year-old! In the 1980's she received by Divine Revelation through an Izolan 'Atomic Language of Light,' a vast, comprehensive body of spiritual information for this era of the 'Awakening Consciousness' of humanity that links us with the Sirius Mission and other Universal Brotherhoods. Called “The Knowledge Book” it took twelve years to complete and print in Turkish, but now it seems to be answering a deep need for thousands of people worldwide for there are dedicated ‘focal points’ study groups in eleven countries with thirty-two in Turkey alone. To cater for this growing interest the book has already been translated into thirteen other languages with introductory sections completed in another seven - its English translation takes eleven hundred and eleven A4-sized pages!
Both the Foundation and Book acknowledge all religions, all spiritual teachers, all sacred books and spiritual knowledge as coming from the same Source, God or Allah. This is the Sufi philosophy of Mevlana (or Rumi) the great thirteenth century Islamic mystic whose doctrine advocates unlimited tolerance, positive reasoning, goodness and awareness through love, who taught people to speak always of love and to love all creation as being from the same Creator. In this mystical Mevlevi Order, freedom of thought is encouraged and its approach is entirely free of fanaticism. The Whirling Dervishes are part of this beautiful expression of Islam, and I was privileged to witness one of their monthly mystical Sufi music and 'Sema' ceremonies held in their ancient circular Galata Mevlevi Temple - an incredibly moving and meaningful experience. The Sema, part of Mevlana’s inspiration as well as part of Turkish-Islamic philosophy, history, beliefs and culture, represents a mystical journey of man's spiritual ascent through mind and love to Divine Truth and the Absolute, a universal philosophy that welcomes all. In Mevlana's own words:
"Come, come again, and again whoever you are, come!
Unbeliever, fire worshipper or idolater, come!
Come even if you broke your resolve a hundred times, come again........
Ours is the portal of hope, come as you are."
This annual Symposium demonstrates that the more we can come together in love and acceptance as one human family, so understanding deepens that will surely lead to a future of peace and harmony.
Sylvia Shanti Vowless QSM, Rev. is a leading highly-trained Master Spiritual Educator and international Presenter of the Ancient Wisdom teachings, author, and mystic with over thirty-five years’ experience. Founder of the Order of Melchizedek Mystery School International and Qabbalah Foundation of NZ, further information and our summer programme may be found on our website: www.melchizedekacademy.com or Email: sylvia.melchizedekacademy@xtra.co.nz; Ph: 07 544 7243