These days in Istambul

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Dear Friends,
This is what happened in the last few days in Turkey:
On Saturday we had the weekly gathering of the Message in the salita. Jöntürk was there, as well as Dani (the Brazilian girl), Canan, Canan's friend, Cengiz, Eduardo and me.
It was a nice gathering, with good people in a friendly atmosphere. Before the ceremony Eduardo gave some explanations (Jöntürk translated) and then we did a Service. Jöntürk in Turkish, Eduardo in Spanish. It was a very good experience for me. Dani said she recognized her tensions first and by the end of the ceremony she felt much more relaxed. Cengiz, who speaks a little English, and who participated for the first time, explained us that because he is coming from an alevi background this sensibility is not new for him. Unfortunately with Canan we do not understand each other, although she and Eduardo try to speak in Turkish as much as day can, and Jöntürk tries to translate. Canan proposed to create a facebook group for Silo's Message - Kadiköy. We all thought it would be a great idea, espceially if it was in Turkish. It was also her idea to get together more often, given that she, Jöntür, Cengiz and we all live in the same nighborhoud. Finally we agreed to gather for a dinner on Sunday. And we did.

We had a wonderful dinner the next day: Eduardo made fish, Canan brought salad, I made vegetable soop and the others brought drinks. The others were: Aris (a Cuban guy whom we met in the mesa espanol on Thursday), Ebru (a friend of ours we have not met for a long time ago, and a few days ago wrote to me in facebook), Ana and Alberto (Eduardo's children), Canan, Cengiz and his wife, Eduardo and me. We had a great food and a great time together. There were lots of conversations about everything, including  the Message of course and what we are doing in Tukey.
Jöntürk told me that one day when we have good translator with us, he would like to talk more about the Message, in more detail, more deeply because he is having trouble when tryning to explain it to others. And yes, although we know that the Message primarily is an internal experience, we all know how enriching and inspiring conversations about our experiences can be, and yes, this is definitely a difficulty we are having here. So, we agreed that for this Saturday we are trying to find someone who could translate for us, even if only for one occassion, and will try to initiate a conversation about the Message with those who will be present. It could be something like the presentation of the book, but in a very informal, interactive way.
Today we arrived to Ankara with Eduardo, and tomorrow we will gather with the friends here.
I am sending some photos.
A big hug,
Judit

Conversations at Promethe Café

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Here are some pictures of the cafes where we went these days with Judit, and had some very interesting conversations about Silo's Message.
We met the person who started the Spanish table, more than 3 years ago. In the beginning hardly anybody came, then little by little (week after week) a group of persons started forming itself and it grew and grew so that now, besides Taksim, there are groups in Kadikoy, Ankara, Izmir, Antalya etc.
Very interesting how people began including themselves and how it is a good ambit to meet people and talk about our issues with those who ask about our activities in Turkey.

Some of the people you see, invited us from the Turkish table to go to the Spanish table and now we are inviting them to our ceremonies.
So, next Saturday there will be some ceremonies at 7:00 p.m.

A big hug
Eduardo

Ceremony day at the salita-house

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Here is a picture I took of the last ceremony day at the house-salita.
Two Italians came, one of them knew Tommaso since he had participated a while ago and was on a trip on his scooter from Milan, with the idea of going to Pakistan and India passing through Persia. It seems though that he didn't calculate the time and seasons very well, so he was going back to Milan. He invited a friend who joined although they had to leave soon.

The most interesting thing was that Jöntürk comes and feels the ceremonies, the work with the Force and Well Being are positive, are more and more conforting.

We will meet at Promethe cafe, where we went for the Spanish-speaking table on Thursdays, but we will meet on Wednesday this time, to inform on the Message. 

We gave two books of the Message to the cafe owner, one for the public library and another as a donation for prisoners. They receive all kinds of books to read, so we thought it might be useful, since it is in Turkish and who knows in which hands they will fall.

We also met a friend of Ana Facundes, called Dani Sou, who is an artist, singer, dancer and music student. She is very nice and interested in participating, so we had very interesting and inspiring conversations.

We are continuing with contacts and inviting people we've met from the Spanish table in Kadiköy and the Turkish table in Taksim, with lots of contacts, table, a bunch of languages, but a very interesting mundialization process we are living.

A big hug

Eduardo

Sunday, November 11th: Couchsurfers Day

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We wake up early for a Sunday... to go to Chuch! Today we will take a walk in Eyüp, to mister Pierre Loti, passing by different Orthodox churches.

Getting off from the boat, we go towards the Egyptian bazaar, meeting point with the international troops of couchsurfers. The group becomes bigger as the participants arrive. It will be an English speaking day since the troops are multiple... Turks, Iranians, Israelis, one guy from Quebec, a girl from Holland, another from Armenia, two Spaniards, a girl from Morocco and 3 French… The world meets there: Istanbul is always a bridge between cultures. It is very touching to see that all the stories told by media and politicians don’t touch us, we simple humans, joyful in discovering each other… We like couchsurfing more and more, it testifies to a new sensibility. Walking all the while, we have some good interchanges, little by little the conversation becomes more fluid and “unity” draws itself… We discover a world hidden between each person, we are delighted to meet 3 young Iranians and we feel this emotion that cannot be expressed: there are so many beautiful things that attracts, our desires go to the East, especially this country.  

On the walk down the Golden Horn, we visit some richly decorated monasteries and trek on the narrow streets of run down houses of the Jewish neighborhood. We discover on the way another Istanbul reality, poorer and more popular. We eat, and I discover a young officer of the Turkish army , maybe also a poet, who talks about his love for his birthplace, Konya, city of Rumi and the dervishes. We go up stairs and the bare slopes of a cemetery, in this sacred Muslim place. Our deep desire of another humanity elevates itself, since our group could be the forefront of the world we hope for tomorrow. On the place, faced with the magnificent mosque, the day ends with email exchanges, promises of future meetings in Teheran or Kadiköy.

We say good-bye but, curiously, looking for the way back, our groups meet again various time as if, by now, it were impossible to separate us. We get back to the ferry tired but happy with these magnificent encounters. We buy some fish, Eduardo will cook an excellent meal for us... then we go back to the port and by chance we meet Jonturk with his couchsurfing guests who are going to Nepal. A new meeting with this new dimension of humanity: travelling, discovering, sharing without too many means, expressing one’s sensitivity.

Silo’s Message is transmitted slowly, humbly, softly, adding meaning and giving faith and energy to these new generations. The night falls on Istanbul and we can already see the dawn of another world.

Denis

Saturday Nignt à Kadikoy, céremonies, before and after.

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Everyone arrives at 7:00 p.m. carrying something to eat or to drink.

We sit down and chat. A little bit in every language, 3 words in English, 2 in Turkish, a sprinkle of French. A translator arrives! Finally an English-speaking Turkish friend, Murat, can translate Canan’s questions. “What is most important in the Message?” Canan asks Eduardo. He answers in English and Murat translate “overcoming suffering” and we have started.

Jonturk is also there “but where does this name come from?” A Multilanguage explanation takes place where we are confused with the French words for “peoples” and “young”  in the context of a faraway rebellions. But Jonturk, whom we met during the World March in 2009, takes his name from the young Turks who rebelled.

At 9:00 p.m., Christophe, the man from Toulouse has been Master of Chai (the tea we drink in Istanbul), and it is time for ceremonies.

Eduardo asks tentatively, “Will you understand me if I read the ceremony in Turkish?” Our friends answer yes. Eduardo guides the Service in Turkish.

It is so moving and inspirational to be there, in this salita, in the Eastern coast of Istanbul, and to listen to this ceremony in Turkish for the first time. I cannot understand the language but it seems to me I understand its sense even better. And I smile.

Driiiing. The doorbell rings and I get up to open to Elena. We go to the kitchen to let the others finish the experience.

They finish and we join them for the Well Being. This time it is Murat who guides the ceremony.

The after, like the before, in Turkishfrenchspanishenglish. With some extra sly moves, like using google translator. The Master of tea is still active, passing bakhlavas, chatting, laughing.

Lots of laughter with Elena’s (young Italian artist, passing through Istanbul) breathtaking story. She tells us in French, translating a little in English, passing to German, which she speaks well since she lives in Berlin for Canan, who wants to understand and without hesitations, calls her daughter on the phone, who explains it to her mother. The telephone ends up in Eduardo’s ears, who tries to explain to the daughter why so much laughter instead of meditation.

We are overcome, the situation is so surreal and so funny. Everything is so serious and then it isn’t. We laugh until we cry.

The evening ends with a little walk through the neighborhood streets. We take some cool air. We speak of today and tomorrow.
Nelly

Istanbul, November 8, 2012

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The way back to Istanbul was much quicker. Our bus stops midway, like before, for a rest at a shopping mall. Christophe tells me it is the same one, I tell him it is the double. On the other side of the highway, like a mirror, is the exact same building outside like inside! That gives me a strange sensation, of a world which builds smooth things, without spirit, uniform and misleading. It is terrible that in the heart of the Anatolian lands, where humanity has taken some of its greatest steps and  expressed its most beautiful creativity… quick! Let’s go back to Istanbul, its diversity and joyous bazaar!!!
We are welcomed by Eduardo who comes from his siesta and have some good Italian Arabica coffee and some cakes… We savor his testimony inspired by reading a letter sent by a friend. Together, we go back to Silo’s words which resonate in the present moment. We evoked the correspondence between David and Silo “Is profound and essential change possible in the human being?... Everything that has been done up to this moment has great meaning, but it will not be enough until the people (even the nicest and most kind) decide to Convert their lives, realizing the need for a profound mental change. It is of this that our work speaks in its last phase; it is of this that the Message speaks. I believe that in the current situation in which Humanity is living (and of course ourselves), if we do not work to overcome all censure and censorship, including what is self-imposed, throwing ourselves into the meanings and works of the Message, then essential change will not be possible. The direction must be toward the Profound of the consciousness, to connect with the meanings that have been slowly driving forward the evolution of the human being. Now it is urgent and we have no other way to make this impulse known….” (Manual of Formative Themes and Practices for Messengers – Seminar of profound and essential change, pg. 56).

Later, Christophe and I, went to look at the sea. It was sunset, the sky was composed of a magnificent blur going from orange to deep blue. It is hard to describe this beauty, especially if it mixes in my spirit with questions raised by our interchange on profound and essential meaning. Then we spent the evening with Elena, a young artist who showed us her collage exhibit and asks us, “is it possible to be constantly happy and relaxed?” Good question! And we go together to the couchsurfers’ meeting who want to speak Spanish... There are more and more persons around the table: Spaniards, Colobians, Cubans, Turks wanting to learn Spanish... Istanbul is a mosaic. We meet around beers and chai (guess for who?) while the Turkish salsa dancers are shaking. I take out my cards for the game of the Message for the latinos who actually decided to stay at the table. All the while I asked myself if I would be able to overcome all censure, enter in the world of meanings and produce this conversation. Like in Elena’s collages, I can try to acknowledge the sacred that exists in everyday life and in those around me, or like in another work: being in the present moment, trying to look at the details and the colors of everyday life, like a path towards a future that is less gray. 

Denis.

Ankara - Wednesday, November 7

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A surprising, joyful and dynamic day of the Message in Ankara
We started the day with the works to install the new heater. Denis went to deepen his studies on Mani at the park close to the Salita, while Yüksel and Hüseyin were busy at their jobs.
At 1:00 p.m. the new flaming heater worked perfectly. We will notice later that is uses too much gas and we will need to fine tune it.
Later, Yüksel invites us to visit his mother.
There we go crossing the big and busy city of Ankara. We stopped on the way to visit some of Yüksel’s clients and then  we have tea with one of his friends and we quickly propose the game of the Asking. We are welcomed with smiles and lots of sweetness. We quickly feel close to one another and it is clear that sharing Silo’s Message helps a lot.
Finally, we decide to go take the bus to Yüksel’s Mother’s house. Due to the endless traffic jams of the city, it takes us an hour to get there. We arrive with the night on top of a mountain towering over Ankara, giving us a new and luminous view.
“Why not a Park here?”, exclaims Yüksel.
Our visit to Yüksel’s family will be a very short one. We will live there a deep and delicious moment  when we proposed his mother and brother play with us the game of the Asking.
It is always moving to see the eyes of the other light up once they read the sentence of Silo’s Message written on their chosen card after having asked an inner question.
At that moment, we shared the deepness of Silo’s Message in an inexpressible, brief instant, a moment of contact with another time, another space...
The sentence in the card chosen by Yüksel’s mother fills us with joy “Contradictory or unifying actions accumulate within you. If you repeat your acts of internal unity, nothing can detain you.”
But we must go back to the Salita, the weekly ceremonies on Wednesday are waiting for us.
In the city, Yüksel leaves us to continue his visits to friends.
At seven-thirty at the Salita, we are 3, Hüseyin, Denis and Christophe. Our guests seemed not to have been able to join us. We decide to wait until eight and do the ceremony anyway.
Just before eight, Yüksel arrives with 3 other persons: Reyhan, Yilmaz and Anil.
Hullaballoo in the kitchen, before doing the ceremony, we prepared the meal.
In the meantime we got to know our new friends.
Yilmaz explains that he had already been to the Salita on a Wednesday but he had never wanted to join the ceremonies. Today he has decided to try his first ceremony.
Hüseyin guides the Service and Reyhan the Well Being. Two beautiful and unitive experiences.
Seven joyous Messengers share a meal after the ceremony. Ending the feast with delicious pears in orange sauce...
While our 3 friends went back to their homes, we (Denis, Yüksel, Hüseyin, Christophe) went to the other side of the city to have some tea in a cafè of Yüksel’s friends...
And so this humble and brotherly journey of Silo’s Message  in Ankara...

A strong abrazo
Christophe