Spinning Sufis and Spinning Planets: The Correlation

Sufis Spinning

Sufis spin in a meditative, active dance. The Dervishes of the Mevlevi order are a beautiful orchestration of the human body dancing away its ego and moving closer to the Unlimited One. Within the different Sufi orders, there are varying traditions, which encompass vocalization while spinning in some, and in others, just the quiet spinning dance.  At its core it is a gender and class neutral practice, as all are offered the chance to ‘spin’ away the ego and realize the great Oneness. The poet, Rumi, was a Sufi. He exclaimed his ecstatic realizations of this ego-less state in volumes of poetry, considered a ‘sin’ by those who adhered to the Qu’ran and its fundamental teachings. Not unlike the Catholic Church who tried to sell the right to free one’s soul from the devil – translation – release the ego in order to commune with Infinite Awareness – Sufis did not need an arbitrary intermediate to get to this realization. They found it through dance – a natural expression of joy.

Mark Twain once said, “Humanity has unquestionably one really effective weapon—laughter. Power, money, persuasion, supplication, persecution—these can lift at a colossal humbug—push it a little—weaken it a little, century by century; but only laughter can blow it to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.” It is through practices like dance, spinning like a child, rolling down a hill, laughing like you have no care in the world, that you can find a true expression for your Highest Awareness. The same perfect geometry in a spider’s web is inherent in our highest thoughts. As the spider spins, innately knowing where to place the next silk chord, so do we when we coming into an ego-less, or ego-integrated state.

Yoga is just ONE of many tools to spin higher thoughts. The poses of yoga, the asana, are all similar to those of the animals in nature, because they live closer to an ego-less state. You will never see a dog wondering why it can’t drive a new Mercedes. It is happy with a full stomach and a pat on the head. While animals do not have the same upward drive to be enlightened that humans do, we can learn from their simplicity. It is like that of a child, like that of a spinning Sufi, dancing away his troubles.

Home Spirit Mystical Orders and Practices Sufi Dance – Poetry and Spirituality in Motion (with video)

Sufi Dance – Poetry and Spirituality in Motion (with video)

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“We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust” Rumi Dervishe Dance or Sufi Dance is a turning meditation that originated among Sufis, which is still practiced by the Dervishes (also called semazens) of the Mevlevi order. The explanation for the spinning is that it is a way of letting go, of finding your center and balance and abandoning your ego and personal desires by being taken away by the music to the heart of the universe, God. The dance usually starts with the Sema ritual, in which they wear a Sikke (camel’s hair hat), representing the tombstone of the ego and a white skirt covered by a black cloak. The removal of the black cloak represents the removal of the veil of ignorance and rebirth to the truth. By holding his arms crosswise, the dervish represents the number one, thus testifying to God’s unity. While whirling, his arms are open: his right arm is directed to the sky, compared to the orbiting of the planets in the Solar System around the sun, ready to receive God’s beneficence; his left hand, upon which his eyes are fastened, is turned toward the earth. Revolving from right to left around the heart, the semazen embraces all humanity with love. Admit It and Change Everything Define and narrow me, you starve yourself of yourself. Nail me down in a box of cold words, that box is your coffin. I do not know who I am. I am in astounded lucid confusion. I am not a Christian, I am not a Jew, I am not a Zoroastrian, And I am not even a Muslim. I do not belong to the land, or to any known or unknown sea. Nature cannot own or claim me, nor can heaven, Nor can India, China, Bulgaria, My birthplace is placelessness, My sign to have and give no sign. you say you see my mouth, ears, nose–they are not mine. I am the life of life. I am that cat, this stone, no one. I have thrown duality away like an old dishrag, I see and know all times and worlds, As one, one, always one. So what do I have to do to get you to admit who is speaking? Admit it and change everything! This is your own voice echoing off the walls of God. (Rumi, 1207 – 1273 AD)