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WHIRLING into the DIVINE
Rumi’s legacy of unity spirals through time finding a home in today’s Dances of Universal Peace.
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One after another they unfurl crossed arms like flowers blooming under a warm spring sun. Yet it is wooden reed flutes, the sacred chanting of God’s name, the time to turn, that opens them.
A vision of billowing white skirts spinning around the floor, dervishes enchant me. In prayer, with right hands reaching up to the sky receiving light from God, with left hands facing down giving back to Earth, they turn. Melodious music inspires their whirling. A drum calls out Be! I am. I join them, traveling deeper into an exquisite mystery.
Through this beautiful prayer in motion, I am gathered with all present to commemorate Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi in his home city of Konya, Turkey. Rumi was a 13-century Sufi mystic whose followers established the Mevlevi Order known as the Whirling Dervishes.
The dervishes quietly turn towards their own hearts with intent to lose their egos, drop their material selves, and create a union with the Divine. Spinning in a state of prayer, offering everything to the Divine, they are turning to enter a place of stillness within.
It was after a transforming encounter with his teacher, Shamsuddin Tabrizi, that Rumi embraced poetry, music, and whirling. These art forms became his supreme expressions of love and ecstasy at the heart of his personal experience of God.
Rumi and his followers integrated music into their rituals as expressions of faith. He emphasized that music uplifts our spirit to realms above. “We listen and are fed with joy and peace.” No one was turned away from Rumi’s dervish lodge; he welcomed all regardless of age, race, gender, or state of being. This year marks the 800th anniversary of Rumi’s birth. Yet, it is Rumi’s death, December 17, considered his wedding night or reunion with the Divine, that is commemorated every year during a week of ceremonies in mid-December.
Thousands of pilgrims visit Rumi’s tomb, celebrate his life, offer prayers, and witness one of the nightly semas, sacred whirling prayer ceremonies. Sema takes place in a salon with a large circular wooden floor, a chamber formusicians, thousands of seats in the round, and white lights dancing above like stars. Created in the spirit of traditional dervish lodges, Mevlana Cultural Center was developed especially for these events.
Sitting among other pilgrims as dervishes whirl, I am reminded that everything revolves. Atoms spin, seasons cycle, and planets circle the sun. We are all connected through circular movement.
As I look to the floor a small dervish, perhaps ten years old, captivates me. I see his skirt floating up and down as he spins, yet I no longer feel him as boy or as dervish. He is purely deep peace emanating in every direction. Witnessing him, I become like a dervish; a doorway opens within me and through it pours light and serenity.
I move closer to the floor and watch as a dervish comes before me. His feet do not spin him; rather, I sense an unseen force moving through him. He is no longer the one turning; he is being turned. Utter stillness and serenity envelope his face. While there is no jubilant laughing out loud here, pure joy emanatefrom within the dervishes and spills out over the arena. If one is open to this joy, it rushes in and chases everything else out, leaving a serene bliss.
Home in the Bay Area, I dance my way into a modern inspiration born from this ancient whirling tradition. Entering a new circle is an adventure, another divine mystery.
I am taking part in a Dance of Universal Peace, and our leader has been inspired by her recent immersion in the teachings of Sufism. She starts with the phrase La illa ha il allah: “There is no reality but God.” We begin intoning after her, harmonizing our group voice. Within minutes, hands joined together, we move in a circle as she guides us. A guitar player sets our rhythm, helping us chant and dance into remembrance of God.
Sufi teacher Samuel L. Lewis collaborated with modern dance pioneer Ruth St. Denis to begin Dances of Universal Peace (DUP) in the 1960s. Drawing on circular dervish motion and sacred Sufi verses, 50 original dances were created to attract Westerners into peaceful gatherings of movement, music, and inspiration.
Since that time, DUP has expanded to include thousands of published dances using sacred phrases, music, and movements from the world’s many spiritual traditions. While diverse, all give praise and come from a place of gratitude for life and creation. Cycles, seasons, and rituals are celebrated and honored resonant to each tradition.
For two hours our circle sings, chants, and dances through Sufi, Hindu, Hawaiian, Christian, and Jewish traditions. The simple folk-like movements are easy to learn. At times, we dance with partners, progressing through the circle, connecting with everyone present. Joyful and meditative as I dance, I leave content and uplifted.
Circles meet worldwide and are inclusive and participatory. In the Colorado cities of Boulder and Denver, hundreds take part, with guidance from dance leader Timothy Dobson.
On any given night, he guides circles of 30 to one 100 people dancing, singing, and joining together in creating peace. Attending a conference on Human Unity, Dobson had his most powerful experience of unity dancing in a circle of Universal Peace, not in any of the weekend’s lectures. This launched him on his journey to become an educator and leader of sacred movement ceremonies and embodied prayer services. Inspired from realizing the power of engaged experience over passive listening, he participated in week-long dance camps and apprenticed to become a certified DUP leader.
When asked how these dances help us to develop peace, Dobson says, “By participating, one is taking time and effort to create peace, and this evokes spaciousness within. It opens doorways for new possibilities and experiences, including increased feelings of acceptance and unity, to enter.” These feelings, he believes, allow for change in many unforeseen ways, including a better understanding of the Creator and of ourselves.
Encouraging openness and diversity, dance circles help us to cultivate peace: internally, with our family and friends, and within communities. A Boulder woman recently shared her gratitude with Timothy, saying, “now that I have participated and am aware of the dance circles, I feel more connected and at peace in our community.”
Whether you are an avid dancer or have never danced, you are invited to join a circle in the movement towards Universal Peace. In the spirit of Rumi, “Come one, come all!”
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For more information, visit:
hayatidede.org
dancesofuniversalpeac
