I said to myself, “I only came here for business, but it wouldn’t be right to just go back without visiting you, the beloved universal human. I’m glad to be here.” Just at that moment, an inner voice told me to open my eyes and look down. I woke up on the plane and gave a deep sigh. Just for a moment, I forgot where I was and looked around with astonishment. I watched the view outside while the plane descended over the Konya Plain. I suddenly noticed female figures on the mountains, greeting me with their beauty. It was as if they were not mountains but female bodies laying down. While I was thinking about this, the plane landed on the airport runway. Soon afterwards, I met the person who was greeting me.

In Mevlana’s Mausoleum…

It was 8 o’clock in the morning. The sky was bright, but it looked half-dark, and the air was chilly. My friend turned to me and said, “This city is too gloomy, isn’t it?” I agreed. Maybe Konya was suppressed by its male energy, although it had a female energy inside. Could that be possible? Shams and Mevlana (Rumi) had passed beyond Love with the masculine–feminine balance, but how much of this energy had penetrated into the city and made it a symbol of love and tolerance?
At noon, we decided to visit Mevlana’s Mausoleum. During the many years of my Sufi education, my dear teacher used to say, “Our awareness should be focused towards comprehending people’s incomparable heritage of experiences rather than their tombs.” Therefore, I didn’t attribute any meaning to this tomb visit. As a matter of fact, I didn’t see anything fascinating or extraordinary when I entered, although I wasn’t expecting it either. As always, there were people there hoping to be helped by touching the tomb itself, but the staff were trying to keep them away from it.
I was slowly walking to the tomb when suddenly I felt an incredible movement of energy in my heart chakra. I didn’t mind at first, but the energy flow accelerated, as if it was trying to tell me something. However, I couldn’t understand it because I wasn’t attributing any meaning to the tombs. My heart beat like crazy, and something suddenly started to open up. I looked around with astonishment. The tomb was now looking different to me, as if I had moved to another world. I would later understand that it was the energy of Rumi. It was a very strong energy of love sucking me up like a vortex after forming in my body. All of a sudden, the sentence I had heard vaguely on the plane repeated itself: “Open your eyes and look down…”
I slowly entered the energy field in the depths of the tomb. It was a unique, deep, and emotional moment. I stopped, literally. I focused on my breathing. It was as if someone was calling me. As I opened myself up completely, the information started to flow.

That Voice…

“Do you know what the unknown is?” he asked. “It is the part of us we don’t believe. Beliefs cover the unknown, just like this tomb. People think I am in the tomb, but I’ve never been there. Most visitors feel the same energy in themselves that you felt earlier, but they don’t realize the very moment of the energy transformation they are going through. Here I like to see each visitor’s response to the frequency at which they can renew their energy. The regeneration period is only possible in people who realize their inner tombs, not with the deceased lying in these tombs.”
I asked myself, “What does a person’s inner tomb mean?” and the answer started to come: “Today, millions of people are stuck in the tomb of this three-dimensional universe. However, those who remember that the whole energy is devoted to the godlike man also realize that their inner tombs are their fields of consciousness. The ones who stay in their personal centers start an archaic study with the energy of their lives’ actions. Motions and actions are created by worldly man’s will, because the human essence does become involved in the process. As a result, they are not able to combine with the actions of our godly sides. We can only connect with our godly sides and reach the undefined field if we call the worldly actions and let them return to their essence, namely their home. Thus, a cycle begins. Come on. Let’s make a call together. I will explain the deeper meaning of it to you later. “Come, come, whoever you are: Wanderer, worshipper, or lover of leaving. It doesn’t matter, for ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times. Come, yet again, come, come.”

Our Godly Side…

“Ok but what is this essence, and what is home?” I asked. “Home is where a person lives through his real existence, namely his godly side. It is his realization that he never left that place. Here I am speaking to the unbelievers. The real meaning of an “unbeliever” is one who obscures the truth. You might also think of it as hiding your godly side with your human side. If you think your being exists apart from God, this illusion of separateness causes you to subconsciously not forgive yourself. Thus you create subliminal children who feel guilty, and who we also call “our different sides.” These subliminal children wander around with a single aim: To return home, namely to you, because they cannot stand the pain of being apart. They desire to be embraced and accepted by you. They want to be free to play their games and turn their faces to God again. They say, “We are not apart from each other. We are pieces of you and your creation. We are You.” They try to draw your attention with several different games while you ignore them. However, because your mind is still in an illusionary world and constantly judging, it is impossible for them to return home. This loop can last for ages…
Compassion is the antivenom of judgment, whereas forgiveness removes the gap between human and godly actions. It brings all your subliminal children—whom you labeled sinners, because you thought them unbelievers—home. You didn’t free. You judged, you hated, and you didn’t forgive. You were afraid, you were worried, you didn’t love, and you thought they were wrong or didn’t see the power inside you to create them. The easiest thing is to define the “Godly” one and worship Him by giving Him only one identity. However, it is a requirement of evolution to know Him with His other sides as well. Do not forget this has one condition: You must be at home when they arrive.”
At that moment, a sentence from the Sufi discipline came to mind: “An idolater would become a true believer if he knew the truth in the idol he worshipped.” Because I notice my idols (my other sides) and do not hide them, I create new fields of experience for myself. This way they become freer. In my opinion, the ones who develop themselves by realizing their truth (essence) with the help of their other sides are the ones who can exist bravely in worldly games, embracing both darkness and light.

Realizing our sides…

“Of course!” the voice replied. “These sides aren’t necessarily naughty children. Sometimes our hidden sides can be leaders, managers, artists, composers or poets who also want to be free. If you realize one or more of your sides, you also allow your hidden talents to emerge. You can then complete your journey of integration easily and painlessly. Ok, now please call your sides with joy and start freeing them. Use the power of your breath and inhale them with compassion.”
Actually, I thought I’d already started doing this. I had been embracing my other sides with compassion without knowing they were called “sides.” I also knew I would continue embracing them. Being nonjudgmental allows me to love myself with all my sides. The best example of this is the moment when I integrated with my healer side. If I hadn’t believed in myself and embraced this side of mine, which occurred intuitively, I would be unable to help other people discover their healing sides as well. I understand it more clearly now. Our sides are also the means of our enlightenment. They expect to be realized and served in return.

Shams and Rumi…

While I considered whether our relationships also represented our sides, a question came to mind. Could Shams be a side of Rumi? Suddenly I wanted to laugh loudly. Yes, Rumi and Shams were definitely sides of each other… If this were not the case, they wouldn’t be able to unite as much, and the story of their universal love would not be told from generation to generation. Shams was the feminine (teacher-master) side of Rumi, and Rumi was the masculine (practitioner-student) side of Shams, so love appeared out of their union. What a nice example it was that the sides, which were accepted without judgment, would lead to universality. The energy from this love was so strong and fascinating that the human side, which was intolerant and controlled by a limited mind, was unable to comprehend it. I took a deep breath. Because I knew that even one person’s awareness was important for the universe, I saluted and dignified this Love spreading from my beloved country to the whole world.
Integrating with our sides, both inside and out, can only lead to a pure essence of consciousness. As we balance the masculine and feminine sides, we also create a world where we all begin our awakenings, don’t we? So come on. Let us read Rumi’s universal call again with the version I adapted for our other sides, and let us call to them…

Rumi’s Universal Call

Come, my side. Come, whoever you are: Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving, malcontent, coward, writer, teacher, cook, artist, prime minister, politician, lover, gay, man, woman, cleric, atheist, or invalid. You can be impatient, over-tolerant, intolerant, feeling worthless, scared of death, free, confined, lonely, insufficient, guilty, skeptical, abandoned, a cheater or the cheated, happy or miserable, tricky, competitive or cooperative, adaptable, a misfit, faithful, ungrateful, thick-skinned, gloomy, vengeful, poor, rich, deprived, dramatic, joyful, aggressive, a mother or father, elderly or young: It matters not. Ours is not a caravan of despair—It is a caravan of acceptance, love, and compassion. Come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times because you couldn’t integrate.
I am you, and You are me, so come, yet again, come.

Esra Erdogan