Day 09 16 October 2005 Sunday Douglas Hart   doug.hart@speakeasy.net
ANTIOCH OF PISIDIA, HIERRAPOLIS,PAMUKKALE

Museum of Mevlana (Rumi) in Konya, known as the ancient city of Iconium.

Rumi is known as author, poet, philosopher. He wrote on the importance of Love - known as the "Sultan of the Sultans, both worlds bow at his feet." Rumi is his identity, but not his name. RUM = Roman, his actual name was Jelallettin. His writings were in Persian because that was the language of literature at that time. Born in 1207 and died in 1272, he was buried in the graveyard in Konya. In 1274 his son built a memorial building and moved his bones to a large sarcophagus. Later his son was laid to rest in a sarcophagus next to his father, but the sarcophagus was mysteriously found upright, next to his father, giving great honor to his father. Rumi has two turbans, showing great wisdom. (female followers do not wear turbans). Rumi had many many followers.

The Mosque and tomb of Rumi are richly ornamented and is used for the Whirling Durvish - an important part of Turkish culture. Later the building was made a museum, not a religious place to worship, thus protecting it from destruction during the war of independence.

The entry was designed by Seljuk during the Celturkian era. The main symbol: The Tree of Life, showing continuous civilization. The crescent and thrown with hat on top represents love, more important than ruling power. Islam is "ICONOCLASTIC" no icons or statues are allowed - calligraphy became very important.

1299 - 1923: Ottoman Empire. The Sultans reigned; their signature is beautiful calligraphy with Rumi’s hat next to the signature. Horesien: the material over Rumi’s tomb given by the Ottoman Sultan, acknowledging he is the source of their most treasured principles.

The beard of Mohammed is here in this museum. Also the NEY reed flute: breathing the breath of life with haunting music.

The KORAN teaches no original sin. People are not born sinners. Sin occurs if you don’t take care of yourself during your lifetime.

Rumi philosophy: one of many excellent writings, but his has remained fresh and popular for over 700 years. Rumi was born in Balkh, northern part of Afghanistan - the hub of the Silk Road. Many people of different languages and cultures blended in this area, much like New York city of San Francisco. Emphasis was on multi-cultural education and Rumi’s father taught many languages, religions, and mathematics- his students were like disciples. Gangues Kan was disturbing the Silk Road commerce and Rumi’s father wanted to continue teaching, so he moved his family to Mecca. After 6 months they felt very uncomfortable with the culture; the Arabians were burying their female children alive and the harems of Arabia were against the Turks, so he moved his family again to another center of culture: Baghdad, the hub of Mesopotamia. After settling there for 6 months, again there were problems, so they moved to Damascus (present day Syria), but after a short time they moved again to the land of Rum. The father and his students settled in Konya in 1228. At age 28 Rumi started teaching just as his father. The Celturkian Sultan loved Rumi’s teaching. Another man: Shems e tabrizi and Rumi helped each other and taught together. After 40 years of teaching, the two men started reviewing what they were teaching and stopped having any new students. Suddenly Rumi’s long time friend disappeared, and Rumi began writing universalism. (Meli remembers her mother quoting sayings of Rumi). Rumi taught religious non-conformity. Dogma of religions can be restrictive. "Only fools praise the Mosque while they oppress hearts full of faith" says Rumi. "Not only is man the creation of God, but we are the reflection of God; we are all the same, no ‘you’ or ‘I’. If you don’t see man as God’s reflection, you don’t see God". His teachings are very much against organized religion.

WHIRLING DERVISH or Semazen in Turkish. "one who roams". Spins with one hand up - taking from God, and one hand down - giving to the people. Every individual can be a whirl, be in harmony with the universe. It is not a dance, not always done to music. The whirl or ENEL HOC reaching a state of perfection. The energy source is love.

"Don’t brag about the old days, be a child of the time, open up a new page."

Definition of humanity: "We are the masterpiece of perfect art" - Rumi

"Law divides, Love unites"- St Paul. Find God in your heart, not in a place.

Western philosophy teaches: "I think, therefore I am" Rumi had three main points:

Wisdom - making right judgements

Feeling - sensitivity, listen to your heart

Conscience - rights that feed your dignity

Sin is lacking those three things, not being complete.

After lunch, we made a stop in Antioch of Pisidia, to the temple of Agustus and the theater (elevation 1800 meters), with a commanding location in the mountains. This was a garrison of Roman legion. Since people needed water to live, the size of the aquaduct was a good indicator of the population at that time. Also the size of the theater (multiply theater capacity - 11 to 12,000 times 10) and that also was a good indicator of the population. This theater was not buried very deep, so it was easily excavated. Here was found plumbing for a sewer system. They had a good understanding of gravity, they had clay to make pipes and they had water. This indicates Antioch was well developed. 4000 years ago this was a thriving community. The temple was built to honor Kybele before Augustus, but was changed under the rule of emperor Tiberius - the Propylon or main gate was a monument to his immortality. Augustus built on the original alter of Kybele. When the Blue Mosque was built in Istanbul, it was across from Aya Sophia. This church was built near the temple of Kybele; it could be built over the top of a synagogue. When St Paul was here, there was no church building. Only bishops could baptize. In the 6^th century the baptismal font was introduced. People would come from 100’s of kilometers away to be baptized. Usually there is a cross etched on the font.

Stay overnight at Pamukkale Thermal Hotel.