The Wise - Issue 4 (Lost Books of Humanity) by Hasan Celiktas

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The Wise Editor

Hasan ‘Sonsuz’ Çeliktaş sonsuz@thewisemag.com

With Wide Open Arms… On September 21, 2011, Van, a city in the eastern part of Turkey, was hit by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake. Not only Van, but the whole country was shaken. In response to this crisis, everyone in the country mobilized to help those victims stuck under collapsed buildings and the families who lost their homes at the edge of a cold winter. The whole country was already depressed and full of sorrow beforehand due to the deaths of many soldiers in terrorist attacks in the eastern and southeastern part of the country. However, suddenly, all people in the country forgot their sorrows and rushed to help the people in Van. More than 600 people were dead and thousands became homeless. May the light be with them! When we observe this experience with a mundane point of view, we face many woeful cases; however, when we are more aware of events on a universal level, we just have one question in mind: Do we really have to experience bad experiences to remember our humanity, unity, wholeness, friendship and brotherhood? In 1999, we experienced another instance like this when relations between the Turkish and Greek governments were tense. Even though these two nations were not at odds with one another, the political developments had a natural effect on the nations, and we were on the verge of war. Shortly thereafter, on August 17, 1999, we witnessed the Marmara Earthquake where we lost thousands of people. Many countries stepped in to provide assistance, but the Greek people were the first to arrive with help. Then, although two governments had some political tension, the nations blended as one. When another earthquake hit Athens, the Turkish people promptly arrived in Greece to help their Greek brothers. What is the problem with humanity? Why do we suffer first and then hug each other? Why should we experience who we are not before remembering who we are? The reason: We always need a measuring stick. To see the white, you must know the black; in this universe if there is no black, the white does not emerge. If everything is pure white, then you can get lost within such whiteness. We all have a white canvas during this lifetime; the collective consciousness and humanity also have a canvas where we draw pictures on them individually, socially and collectively.

Our consciousness continues to learn how to use black on this white canvas of our existence. To learn the opposite of white, we create black experiences on our planet, but now is the time to put an end to this charcoal drawing. We already know black, but now is the time to use new colors in our drawings. In fact, in one-and-a-half months, we will enter 2012, the year of using new colors. We will color our charcoal drawings first by understanding the deep reasons of our suffering, and then we will begin using different colors in the coming years. In the fourth and fifth issues of The Wise, we want to explore the “Dark Ages of Humanity.” The fourth issue, titled “The Lost Books of Humanity,” discusses the history of our choice to forget all we know to experience the darkness, and the fifth issue will feature a “Farewell to the Dark Ages.” If you look at all these happenings with a mundane point of view, you may feel deep sorrow. The Alexandria Library and many others, where a thousand years of knowledge were stored, were systematically destroyed in the past. All this destruction created ignorance and ignorance created the darkness. However, when you delve into the depths of history, you realize that the wise people of these times already knew that we were about to enter such a dark era, and instead of fighting the situation, they searched for ways to transmit this information to the next generations. And, they succeeded; you are now reading these words. With a mundane point of view, you cannot abolish the energy in this universe. You also cannot abolish the information about the existence of humans. The only thing you can do is hide it for a while, and then one day, all this information gushes out. This is the day, my friends. This is the day to sow the seeds that our ancestors planted thousands of years ago. This is the day to invite our brothers from the darkness and say: “Come on, there are lots of different colors in the universe’s palette. Of course, we always need the black, but now is the time to use a variety of colors to color our lives.” We are ready and we are waiting with wide open arms for all our brothers on Earth. Let’s hug first and then work for the wellness of humanity…

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The Wise Content

The Wise Feature

Burak Eldem

LostBooksOfHumanity

Berk Yüksel

BurnThisLibrary

Erhan Altunay

Legend of Necronomicon

Filiz Baştüzel

The Epistles of the Brethren of Purity: Lost Encyclopedia

Esra Erdoğan

The Wise Soul Öner Döşer

of Islamism on Philosophy and Sciences I was Priest Bruno from Atlantis NeptuneReturnsHome

Hasan “Sonsuz” Çeliktaş Cem Şen 30

On Spirituality and the Masters

Zeynep Sevil Güven

Life Journey of Successful Men Searching for Their Mothers

A. Kerim Soley 40

Sufism as a Life Philosophy

Öner Döşer

Can We Change Our Destiny if We Change Our Characters?

Hasan “Sonsuz” Çeliktaş

Is It Possible to Foresee the Future?

Burçe Bosnak

A Constant Gravity To Change

The Wise Life

Dost Can Deniz

Silence of Unsatisfied Needs

Arzu Pınar Demirel

Becoming a Winner! But How?

Sibel Oltulu

How to Grow Flowers

How to Climb a Tree

Hakan Arabacıoğlu

Aycan Bolazar 59

Swings Within Life

Aycan Aşkım Saroğlu

The Spiritual Anatomy of Losing Weight

How to Charm a Spiritual Woman – Part 2

My Life on Wheels

Kaş: The Paradise Adorned with Bougainvillea

The Wise Humor Hasan “Sonsuz” Çeliktaş

The Wise Story Orkun Bozkurt

The Wise Travel

Metin Under

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The Wise Writers The Wise PublisherEditor Hasan “Sonsuz” Çeliktaş The Wise English Editor Beatrice Vanni The Wise Translators Feride Sabuncuoğlu Nur Banu Uğurlu Sibel Oltulu Ayşe Dağıstanlı Derya Yüksek

Hasan Sonsuz Çeliktaş originates from Mersin as his hometown. After attending Toros High School, he graduated from Ankara University with a degree in Public Relations. After working five years as a research assistant at the same University, he resigned and founded derKİ. Thereafter, he began writing for derKİ as well. Currently, he writes for Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Yeni Aktüel, and the Akşam Newspaper. The author of two books, he is married with two children. Burak Eldem is a writer, journalist and a former TV and radio program host. He is the author of “Hidden History” trilogy, a large three-volume set, published between 2003-2011. The first book of the series was titled “2012: Rendezvous with Marduk” (July 2003), followed by “Fraternis: Lost Books, Secret Brotherhood” (April 2006) and “The Cosmic Ocean” (April 2011). The trilogy in its entirety presents an unorthodox view of ancient history following the clues obtained from discoveries in archaeoastronomy, ancient myths and sacred texts and the symbols and iconography of the esoteric cults. He also wrote two novels: “Talismans Protect Thee” (November 2004) and “The Sunset Fandango” (November 2007). The first is a semi-fantasy novel on immortality, ancient mysteries thousands of years old, top secret research on the human DNA and international conspiracies that relate to “power games” with their political outcomes. The latter is a sequel to “Talismans.”

The Wise Design Tuğçe Gerek The Wise Writers A. Kerim Soley Arzu Pınar Demirel Aycan Aşkım Saroğlu Burak Eldem Berk Yüksel Burçe Boşnak Cem Şen Dost Can Deniz Erhan Altunay Esra Erdoğan Filiz Baştüzel Hakan Arabacıoğlu Orkun Bozkurt Öner Döşer Sibel Oltulu Metin Under Zeynep Sevil Güven The Wise Website www.thewisemag.com The Wise E-Mail editor@thewisemag.com

SPONSORED BY

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Aycan Aşkım Saroğlu is a Turkish journalist and writer. She graduated from İstanbul University, Department of American Literature and worked for many magazines and newspapers: TV’de 7 (TV Magazine), Hurriyet Newspaper, Top Sante (Health Magazine), Gezi Traveler (Journey Magazine), Aktuel (News Magazine), Aksam and HaberTurk Newspapers. Since 2000, she has specialized particularly in news about spiritual and esoteric issues. Aycan is also an expert in astrology and famous for her interview series with Turkish astrologers. She has one book to her credit, namely “Hour Glass of Passion” published in Turkish.

Öner Döşer is a leading Medieval Astrologer who earned his qualification (A.M.A.-Adepted in Medieval Astrology) from Robert Zoller. In March 2005, Oner founded the School of Astrology in Turkey and ranks as one of the leading lecturers there. He has eight published books. His first book “Astrology of the Sage” discusses Medieval Astrology, its history and techniques. Öner wrote his second book in 2007, namely “Turkey in 2008” which analyzed what 2008 would have brought to Turkey if applying Medieval and contemporary Astrology techniques. Öner’s last two books, “Time of Transformation” and “Great Awakening,” explained the issues of 2012. Since these publications, he has given seminars about the year 2012 and its comparative historical analysis with an astrology perspective.

Filiz Baştüzel received a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. She has worked in managerial positions in several multinational companies, and for the past seven years, worked as a European Union (EU) Funds Consultant. She has experienced and investigated different types of healing, energy transformation and consciousness techniques and teachings. Filiz has used her experiences to heal herself and others, and now works as a teacher and therapist in Istanbul, Ankara, Adana and Izmir, Turkey.

Arzu Pınar Demirel was born in 1973 in Istanbul. She has studied communications at University of Marmara. She has MA in PR and management certificate from NYU. She has started her professional career in 1996 and worked as Communications Manager at multinational and Turkish companies.Arzu Pınar Demirel never gives break to writing, reading and learning new things and share her thoughts in her 2 blogs named as birdenbire and ustagiremez.

Burçe Boşnak is the founder of Beeyond Yoga. A stylish and joyous yogini, who brings a love of creativity to life with her practice. Originally from London, UK, Bee began her yoga experience with Iyengar in a tiny studio in Los Angeles. After recently ditching the LA scene by taking a leap of faith, today she lives in a beautiful and vibrant city named Portland. Off the mat, Bee is a visual stylist, power vinyasa yoga teacher, cat lover, yoga blogger, tea consumer, and a social butterfly over at Twitter.

Cem Şen is a writer and spiritual trainer. In 1981, he took up training in Martial Arts and then in 1987, he was trained in Zen Buddhism. Cem’s first translation of books was published in 1990. In the same year, he concentrated on Taoism with training by such Masters as Mantak Chia, Master Weng and Eric Steven Yudelove. He was given a teaching certificate in various fields of Taoism. Currently, he is in contact with respected masters around the world and continues his search. He is the author of eight books and translator for about 40 works.

Sibel Oltulu, is a blog writer and translator. After graduating from Translation and Interpretation Department of one of the leading universities in Turkey, she began her professional life in banking sector. However, her love for astrology opened another path for her. Since 2005, she has been in the small team that translates Susan Miller’s monthly forecasts into Turkish to be published in www.astrolojist.com .

Hakan Arabacıoğlu He has worked in the areas of corporate structuring and institutionalisation, marketing and media at Ford Motor Company, Procter&Gamble and MLS Holding. After having practised life coaching based on his experiences, he is currently working as a life coach holding a Bob Proctor Life Success Coaching Certificate. He is continuing with my post as a Managerial Consultant at MLS Holding as well as his training at International Coach Academy. He is an ACC credentialed coach and a member of the International Coaching Federation.

Bea Vanni Editor

Ayşe Dağıstanlı Translator

Derya Yüksek Translator

Erhan Altunay hails from Istanbul, Turkey, and attended Hacettepe University in the Nuclear Energy Engineering Department. He also graduated with an MBA from Marmara University in Human Resources Management. Erhan owns his own company, and also works as a radio DJ for the state-owned Turkish Radio and Television. For more than 30 years, he has followed the goddess path and writes articles on paganism. Erhan also wrote a book on

A. Kerim Soley is a social anthropologist and writer. After graduation in political sciences and public relations, Kerim worked mainly on human behaviors, the history of religions and Far-Eastern beliefs. He attended many mystic groups and conducted spiritual research while studying western philosophy, eastern mysticism, the fourthway thinking, and Sufism.

Dost Deniz is the first Master Certified Coach accredited by the International Coach Federation in Turkey and Southeast Europe which serves leaders from all walks of life. Dost holds positions as a faculty member of the Gestalt Center for Organization and System Development in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. A best-selling author, Dost wrote Cesur Sorular (Courageous Questions), now in its sixth printing. He has practiced meditation for more than 10 years, as well as daily training in the fundamentals of Qi Gong. Berk Yüksel is a researher and writer. He was graduated from management school and he also got a master degree on the same subject. He has one book about spirituality and esotericism. He is married with one kid.

Esra Erdoğan is a blog-writer. She graduated from Istanbul Bilgi University, International Trade Management department. Due to her keenness on nature and animals, she has preffered ‘vegan nutrition’ style and she has also been writting a blog about it. Further, she works as a gourmet-line consultant for an international food corporation.

Aycan Bolazar is a doctor and blog writer. She has also practiced NLP practitioner, Reiki and hypnotheraphy. Now she is still working on a medical company as a consultant.

Feride Sabuncuoglu Translator

Nur Banu Uğurlu Translator

Sibel Oltulu Translator

Tuğçe Gerek Graphic Designer

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The Wise Feature

Burak Eldem

burak.eldem@thewisemag.com

Lost Books of Humanity

“Legends tell us about mysterious ancient sources carefully kept and preserved by a group of devotees who called themselves the Guardians of Wisdom.”

widely-known legend, which comes from classical Greek-Roman history, tells about an unusual or somewhat weird bargain that took place in the court of the fifth king of Rome about 2,500 years ago. According to various accounts of respected historians (among them, The History of Rome by Titus Livius), a spooky-looking old woman comes to Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of the early Roman kingdom, and offers him a set of nine ancient books for which she demands an unusually high price. Tarquinius rejects the offer without hesitation, and the woman silently nods, leaves the palace, burns three of the books and comes back again, this time offering him the remaining six volumes for the same price. The King, probably puzzled by this strange behavior, rejects the offer again; then the woman burns another three volumes, after which she offers the last three books for the price she demanded for the nine volumes in the beginning of the negotiation. Tarquinius suddenly feels that those books have some kind of extraordinary importance and quickly changes his mind, orders his court men to pay the woman what she demanded and buys the three surviving volumes. Many different accounts of historians tell us that this three-volume-set was kept in three important temples at the Capitoline Hill, those that were dedicated to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. The copies were preserved in secret chambers of those temples under extreme security measures and two special magistrates were assigned by Tarquinius whose only duty was to protect these books. No one in Rome could access this collection except this special duo, given the name of Duumviri Sacrorum by the king. The books were kept for consultation only during very important crises, when critical decisions needed to be made by the administration. During those times, the Duumviri were asked to access the books and find the relevant clues by searching through its pages, after which they were expected to come up with the “correct solution” to the problem faced.

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The entire story sounds really odd in many ways. First of all, one cannot help wondering about that mysterious woman who was supposed to have the courage to bargain with a mighty king in this way. Her strange method to convince Tarquinius does not make much sense either: Why would the king accept the price to buy the remaining three books after he rejected to buy the entire collection (before six volumes were burned) for the same amount? Then, of course, we cannot avoid asking the obvious question in this odd legend: What were written in these books that made them so important that a king kept them in the most sacred temples under strict security measures? Accounts by historians do not give us many clues about these questions, but we know one thing for sure: This is not a fairy tale; those books definitely existed and had enormous importance for the administrators of Rome for at least five centuries and could only be accessed by a special magistrate council during times of crisis. Details may vary in different versions of the legend, but the books were real, after all. Brief research on the subject could help us shed light at least on some parts of this strange story. Let us begin with the identity of the mysterious woman who brought the books to the king and followed an unusual path to bargain. She was known as the “Cumaean Sibyl,” the high priestess of an ancient cult, seemingly centered on the temple of Apollo in Cumae, southern Italy. No one knew her real name or needed to learn it; the title “Sibyl” was self-explanatory enough for the people who lived in ancient times, especially around the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. For them, a “Sibyl” meant a very prestigious and respected priestess, who was supposed to have access to a secret wisdom that belonged to an ancient tradition.

The Sibylline Books Marcus Terentius Varro, the librarian of Julius Caesar in much later times, tells about this mysterious cult which he tends to call a kind of “sacred sorority.” According to some specific accounts in Varro’s works, the Sibyls were the owners and guardians of ancient wisdom which had been preserved and passed through generations for centuries. There were ten Sibyls in various important cities of the ancient world, Varro says, responsible for the temples dedicated either to Apollo or to Demeter, but spending most of their times in their spooky caves around these temples. Other historians say there were nine Sibyls that existed in any given time, and the tenth one was not a real person but a metaphorical one, possibly symbolizing the “Great Mother,” the creator goddess of the oldest faith on this planet. So, the Cumaean Sibyl in our story was not the only priestess with this title; in fact, she was one of the nine specific wise women who lived in different cities of the ancient world and kept in touch with one another like a network. They regularly paid visits to other “sisters,” and at least once a year, gathered in a secret place, exchanging news and information, making important decisions about future steps of the “sorority.”Other important cities that hosted a Sibyl were Delphi, Samos, Erythrae, Phrygia, Libya, Palestine, Hellespont and Sicily, although the cities vary in different accounts by historians. But one thing is very certain:

There was a tradition among high priestesses in ancient times which created a special cult led by the wise women called “The Sibyls.” Furthermore, most ancient sources refer to Sibyls as the “keepers of ancient wisdom,” and each one kept and protected a single volume of a “secret book,” in total made up a nine-book set, as the one in our story. The entire collection was known as The Sibylline Books, named after the specific title of its keepers. Nine Sibyls, each one keeping a huge volume on different subjects like geometry, astronomy, medicine, botany and so on, each living in distant cities of the ancient world yet somehow managing to communicate with each other regularly. Considering the “secret sorority” circumstances, there is nothing very unusual here. We know that even thousands of years ago there were temple cults with devoted members who kept secrets of their own and sometimes had a unique collection of scriptures, divided into multiple parts for security. But even if this was the case with the Sibylline Sorority, how could Cumaean Sibyl have all nine volumes in her hands and why did she want to sell this valuable collection to a tyrant like Tarquinius Superbus? Was it a decision made by all nine Sibyls and the task for bargaining assigned to their sister in Cumae? Then why did she destroy two-thirds of a very important book set which she was supposed to protect?

Handbooks of the Republic The legend about the purchase of The Sibylline Books by Tarquinius have some flaws like those previously stated and also make us argue that those parts of the story were somewhat distorted by later historians and probably do not tell the plain truth. We only know for sure that the three volumes of the collection were brought to Rome in the last days of the ruthless king. It seems, however, Tarquinius could not even get the opportunity to make use of The Sibylline Books because a revolt took place a short time later which resulted in the king being overthrown and exiled. This was the end of the Roman Kingdom. Two leaders of the rebellion, Brutus and Collatinus, became the first consuls, and the Republic was declared immediately thereafter. It was the beginning of a new era for Roman history while the entire social and political infrastructure of the country was being radically changed.

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Fortunately, this was in perfect harmony with a book set obtained from the high priestesses of the mother goddess.

Followers of the Goddess The etymology of the title gives us many more clues about the character of this mysterious sorority. The origin of the word Sibyl was derived from the great Phrygian goddess Kybele. The Phrygians were an Indo-European people who came from the southern Balkans and settled down in western Anatolia around 1200 BCE. We do not know much about their belief system prior to migration, but like most IndoEuropean tribes, they were most likely worshipping warrior male deities and storm gods, which could suit well their patriarchal culture.

The traditional monarchy was replaced by a government headed by two consuls elected annually by public vote and after the candidates were advised by the Senate. The Separation of Powers became an essential principle in the Republic and several new institutions were formed to organize and rule the social and political life. One of them was among the most important ones: The Decemviri Sacrorum—a council which consisted of ten magistrates who had the privilege to access The Sibylline Books. So, amid all the turmoil of the revolution, the special books seem to keep their importance for the Republican leaders. There is also a detail that could be of more interest to us: According to the writings of Titus Livius, one of the leaders of the revolt, Brutus, was known to have had good, long-term relations with Cumaean Sibyl. It could be a simple coincidence, but some sources go further and say that Brutus got important clues from Sibyl during one of his last visits to Cumae, which would then help him overthrow Tarquinius. Were the revolt and the establishment of the Republic in Rome a deep conspiracy planned by the Sibylline sorority? It would be mere speculation to suggest that, but we can argue that The Sibylline Books could have been given to Brutus and his friends by Cumaean Sibyl herself, so the story about that strange bargain was a made up myth. We find solid records about the extensive use of The Sibylline Books during the Republic. Every time Rome encountered a serious problem and the consuls needed to give a critical decision, Senate members advised consulting the books, after which the Decemviri Sacrorum members went to the secret chambers at Capitoline Hill and examined the books carefully to find a solution to the problem. During the Plebian Revolts, the Punic Wars or in times of famine, the records show that The Sibylline Books were consulted by the council, and the Senate acted accordingly. Interestingly, the books advised either to build new temples dedicated to the Great Mother (Magna Mater) or to take steps that would strengthen the institutions of the Republic by reinforcing social justice, such as giving new privileges to the Plebs or establishing craft organizations (collegia) to help the economic situation of crafts.

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After they established their kingdom on their new land, the Phrygians seem to have adopted many elements of the native Anatolian culture, essentially matriarchal or more correctly “matrifocal,” and centered on a creator-mother-goddess. Kybele or Kubileya meant “She of the Mountain” and among the most popular names of the Anatolian mother goddess, whose earliest cult could be traced back to the Neolithic town of Çatalhoyuk in Central Anatolia, around eighth millennium BCE. Phrygians simply called this goddess Matar (Mother), but the ancient name Kybele survived for centuries, even after the Phrygian civilization collapsed. During the Lydian kingdom and the Hellenistic era of western Anatolia, the Great Mother was worshipped under many different names but Kybele remained to be the most popular of all. There appeared many local cults centered on the beloved Mother, each one having similar initiation systems and rituals, not only in Anatolia but also in Greece, Aegean Islands, Near East, Egypt and the Greek colonies in southern Italy, like Croton, Metapontion, Sybaris and Cumae.

The Identity of Sibyl The Sibyls of the sixth century BCE were actually the descendants of an ancient tradition that exalted Kybele, the Great Mother, so their title was selected in accordance with their creed: The Sibyls were in a way representing the Great Mother herself; they gave up their personal names after elected as the high priestess and only used the title Sibyl with the name of the city they lived in. Cumaean Sibyl was one of the most famous of those wise women in the sixth century BCE, like Delphi Sybil (also known as The Pythia) or the Erythrean Sibyl. Sibyls were also considered and respected as being “oracles”; they were supposed to have the wisdom of an ages-old goddess tradition—an accumulated treasure of knowledge about the world, the universe and the secrets of life and death. Their wisdom was kept recorded in huge volumes of books which they hid beyond the depths of their spooky caves. That is why many important persons, kings, administrators or noblemen used to try to learn about the secrets of the future by visiting those wise women.

Sibyls would accept those people only to the entrance of their caves, applied a simple “purification” process on them and lead the visitor to a dark cavern after passing through tunnel; thereafter, they would tell them what the near future would bring to their lives. Some of the famous classical poets were deeply inspired by those mysterious women, and certain verses in their best known epic poems reflect the shivering effects in Sibyl’s caves. Among them we must recall Virgilius and his well-known epic “Aeneid”: A spacious cave, within its far most part, Was hew’d and fashion’d by laborious art Thro’ the hill’s hollow sides: before the place, A hundred doors a hundred entries grace; As many voices issue, and the sound Of Sybil’s words as many times rebound. Now to the mouth they come. Aloud she cries: This is the time; enquire your destinies. So, it was this woman who brought the priceless Sibylline Books to Rome, according to the legend. She was a member of the “Mother Goddess High Priestess Network,” using her holy name as a title; she was a soothsayer, an oracle, a woman of wisdom, who had the most important books of history in her hand. Apparently, it seems she was ready to pass this treasure to Rome to help the young intellectuals’ revolt and overthrow the king, to establish the Republic. The Sibyls were also the most respected “teachers” of their time, and they only accepted a very few, extraordinarily intelligent and talented youngsters for the special education they gave. For example, Pythagoras, son of a priestess in Samos where another important Sibyl lived, was sent to Delphi Sibyl to have this special education which would help him become a “wise man.” The famous mathematician travelled to Egypt after the initial training from her, then went to Croton, southern Italy, where he established a school and started a very effective “fraternity” which eventually held the political power in a couple of cities at Magna Graecia. When a revolt and a civil war brought the end of the Pythagorean Brotherhood, many of his students (“brothers”) fled to nearby cities, including Cumae, where the home of Sibyl became a shelter for them. Brutus, a young nobleman, who later became the leader of the revolt in Rome, was among the people in those days to regularly visit Cumaean Sibyl. Considering the Republican revolt took place a couple of years after the Pythagorean Brotherhood dissolved, it seems we have too many coincidences here, and The Sibylline Books wink at us at the focal point of these puzzle pieces. Could the Roman Republic be a “Sibyl conspiracy” initiated by specially educated students of these wise women to establish a more idealistic state with advanced social and political institutions? If this was the case, what kind of role did the famous Sibylline Books play for this conspiracy, since they appear as a very important instrument to develop and fine tune the important Republican elements, such as the Twelve Tables Law, the Plebiscite, Council of Plebs or the collegiums?

Where Are Those Books Now? Whether there really was such a conspiracy to transform the Roman kingdom to an advanced Republic or not, our main concern remains unchanged: What were written in these books that made them so valuable for a “rising star” like the Roman Republic, and maybe more important than this, where are The Sibylline Books now?

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The answer to the second question is rather sad: After being used for almost five centuries, the entire book collection was destroyed in a fire in 83 BCE during the civil war between rival political and military forces—meaning, the original books were lost forever. After order was restored, Decemviri Sacrorum was ordered to collect new scriptures to substitute the original ones; this was rather a symbolic move by the victorious commander Sulla to make people feel safe by assuring them that the important collection was still in the administrator’s hands. Unfortunately, the original book set was completely burned, so the historians tell us. Ironically, the civil war, or the “social war” as the historians call it, became the beginning of the end for the Republic. After three decades, Rome witnessed much political turmoil, political assassinations, plots and military coups which eventually changed the political character of the Republic. After 30 BCE, it finally became an empire under Augustus’ reign. In other words, the Republic’s life was only slightly longer than the existence of The Sibylline Books in Rome.

Lost Books, Lost Wisdom After the Christianization of Rome, many copies of papyrus rolls appeared around the cultural centers of the big cities, called the remnants of The Sibylline Books, but these were rather religious Judeo-Christian texts which historians call “the Pseudo-Sibylline Books.” No one knows the contents of the original collection. We can only use our imagination by what was told by some Roman sources about the books, which could probably lead us to think that the original volumes had important knowledge of ancient times on astronomy, geography, history, botany, medicine and so on. But we can never be sure of it. The Sibylline Books are not the only example of popular myths about “ancient secret books” that once existed but now completely lost to humanity. For example, the legend about the “Emerald Tablets of Hermes Trismegistus” was very popular among the intellectuals in Renaissance Europe. The collection was supposed to keep the wisdom of Thoth, the God of Wisdom in Ancient Egypt. Another popular one is the Secret Books of the Chaldeans, mentioned in some medieval sources. We even have a relatively very recent special book set, namely, “The Voynich Manuscript” which was written in a completely unknown language and writing system that still cannot be deciphered. You can Google it to access the scanned pages of the manuscript on Yale University’s website for rare books. Unfortunately, we do not have enough clues to answer the first question. The Sibylline Books could only be accessed by the members of a select council under only very serious circumstances and the collection was kept under strict security measures. When the council was ordered to consult the books for a solution, they gathered behind closed doors, examined the books and came up with a suggestion to the Senate and the consuls, without giving any citations about the passages they read or discussed. The administrators never questioned the advice of the council, so there were no records to be kept about what the books said or how the Decemviri Sacrorum interpreted it. On the other hand, the historians wrote that the books were written in an “unknown” language, so only a very few, specially educated magistrates could read and understand what they said. 12 The Wise

The fact that The Sibylline Books really existed make them unique; the collection was such an important “tool” for the Republic’s administrators that a special council of magistrates was assigned responsibility to keep and read it in times of need. The writers or the keepers of the books were not mythical characters or pure fantasy but well-known figures of the era called the Sibyls. The books were extensively in use between ca. 500 – 83 BCE. One cannot help wondering the real contents of those ancient sources of knowledge which helped one of the most important civilizations of history to establish a republic out of a simple kingdom. We can only hope that some archaeologists working on an excavation somewhere will discover at least some parts of it, and in turn, shed light to our past on this planet.

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The Wise Feature

Berk Y端ksel

berk.yuksel@thewisemag.com

Burn This Library Down! The fabulous ancient Library of Alexandria, Library of Andalucia, ancient Mayan books and many more resources that housed the history of and indepth knowledge about mankind have been destroyed by people with similar motives throughout human history. So, what would be the motive underneath this destruction?

hroughout human history, people have always accused and pointed to each other whenever there was a deadlock but never claimed responsibility. Hence, different ethnic groups have built their cultures on the ashes of a former one; each time destroying another piece of the precious ancient knowledge that had accumulated for centuries. All through human history, books and the knowledge they embody have never been able to break away from the hatred of dogma. Each community acted quite selective about knowledge: They embraced some parts of knowledge that served their purposes and rejected other parts of information assumed to be a threat to the system they established. They also did whatever they could to destroy that knowledge and its sources, even if it meant harm to the people. Contained in human history, there are incidents where people with knowledge were set on fire. There have always been examples of these monstrous inhumane criminals who remained in the background and survived in the shadows; yet, when their time came, they broke out of darkness and set the books and their authors and owners on fire without a wince and destroyed them.

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The known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually, we stand on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability. Our business in every generation is to reclaim a little more land, to add something to the extent and the solidity of our possessions. —T. H. Huxley The Unprecedented Library of Egypt The great ancient Library of Alexandria, built in third century B.C., is one of the most significant creations man ever achieved. The Province of Alexandria was founded in 382 B.C. by Alexander the Great of Macedonia. In time, a considerable amount of knowledge had accumulated in the Library of Alexandria. Not only did these books contain knowledge about physics, chemistry, medicine, astronomy, math, philosophy, literature and physiology, but they were enriched with the ancient Egyptian traditions and heritage as well. Additionally, there was a botanical garden and an observatory included. The Library was the greatest center of wisdom of its time and the texts were written on papyrus leaves.

On the other hand, there were these officers who were responsible for traveling to foreign lands to find and bring books back. Consequently, many precious work of the time on a variety of subjects that were scattered and sunk into oblivion were gathered together in this Library. The Library of Alexandria also contained Greek writings and translations from Mediterranean, Assyrian, Chinese, Roman, Middle Eastern and Indic literatures. Greek, Iranian and Hindu manuscripts were traced all along Greece and Asia and were brought to Egypt. Moreover, Greek author Galen (second century B.C.) suggested that all foreigners to step foot on the harbor of Alexandria were obliged to declare and submit the books they carried with them. There were approximately 500,000 – 900,000 scrolls in the Library of Alexandria. Many books coming from different lands were copied by standardized copying techniques and classified with respect to subject. Callimachus of Cyrene prepared a systematic catalogue of the Library that consisted of 120 volumes.

Those days, all the books that had ever arrived in the land of Egypt were obliged to be taken to the Library.

The seven liberal arts featured by the Library were grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. All the schools or libraries in history that taught these subjects have influenced the intellectual developments and movements throughout the ages of intellectual history.

Then, the librarians made a copy of these books, kept the original at the Library and let the book owner leave with the copy.

Libraries in history acted both as a library—as we know it—and an institution that delivered academic and higher education. The Wise 15

Mostly hermetic knowledge was embodied in the Library of Alexandria. In his book On The Mysteries of The Egyptians, Chaldeans and Assyrians, Iamblichus refers to Egyptian Priest Manetho (who was the last worshipper of the Egyptian deity Thoth) to attribute to Hermes-Thoth 36,525 books. In his book Stromates IV, Clement of Alexandria attributed only 42 books to Hermes-Thoth; of these, 10 were on theology, 10 on rituals, 2 on hymns and kingly rules, 4 on astronomy and astrology, and 10 on cosmology, geography and like. According to one viewpoint, those who were accused to be pagan and forced to migrate from Egypt were welcomed by the Palace of Baghdad. It was these immigrants who contributed to the progress of the Arabs. All of a sudden advancements in science and education were detected in the region. This breakthrough resembles that of renaissance Europe.

And The Library Is On Fire… There are many theories about how the Library burned down. In some scripts it was mentioned that the first major destruction happened when Julius Caesar had taken the city under siege. It was believed to be a haphazard fire rather than a planned destruction. During his invasion of Alexandria in 47 B.C., the Library was blasted and partially pillaged. The Library was destroyed to a certain extent. What remained of the Library was transferred to the Library of Serapeum Temple. It is commonly believed that the Library was destroyed by Theophilus— the Egyptian Governor of Byzantium—during the holocaust of pagan temples in 391 B.C., when Christianity became the official religion. Theophilus declared all books other that the religious scripts to be “Christian heresies.” All the Works stored in the Library of Alexandria were gathered in the baths and ignited. This was how a tremendous treasure of science and culture in human history vanished. Another common belief is that the remaining works from this catastrophe were blasted in 639 B.C. by Conquerer of Egypt Amr İbnül-As.

Therefore, through time Alexandria had become an intellectual center for arts and wisdom. There are many valued people who honored this city with their presence and were proud to be a citizen of Alexandria, in return. Some of these were linguistic scholars who established the basis of ancient grammar; geographers who drew the very first maps; poets who served as models for their successor colleagues, and philosophers who founded new schools of philosophy and brought brand new perspectives to humanity. The Library is almost more famous than the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Many philosophers and scientists, whose work formed the basis of contemporary science, conducted their research and made their discoveries in the Library of Alexandria. Namely, Archimedes discovered the buoyancy of water, Eratosthenes calculated the diameter of earth, and Euclid established the rules of geometry in Alexandria, all thanks to the studies they had conducted in the Library. Ptolemy marked a new epoch about the foundation of the universe when he wrote the Almagest.

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Whether it was by the hands of Julius Caesar or Theodosius the First—Emperor of the Christian era in the fourth century—or the Conquerer of Egypt Amr İbnül-As, all the precious knowledge and wisdom accumulated in the Library of Alexandria vanished into thin air. Luckily, a limited amount of knowledge survived and was handed down from generation to generation thanks to esoteric systems. Throughout all human history, people always accused each other but never claimed responsibility. There is no point in taking sides and adopting a fanatical approach. Rather than accusing the “other” and acting upon early assumptions, it is always better to rely on concrete, objective facts.

Similar Biblioclasm Incidents For ages, libraries have been the target of blind dogmatism. Ignorant masses have always declared war against knowledge and have a tendency to burn down what they do not like or may be different from their beliefs. It is another example of destruction due only to it not serving their purposes, empires, kingdoms and religions. They stood against the knowledge of whose validity they were quite aware. In history, books were set on fire in Persepolis, Alexandria and Byzantium. In the thirteenth century, Cenghis Khan enjoyed the fire kindled by books in Alamut, Baghdad. In the fifteenth century, the Catholic Church destroyed the books in Andalucia, Spain.

About ten thousand scrolls of Ancient Celtic manuscripts are still missing. The Dead Sea Scrolls survived only because they were hidden in strict confidence. Under Chinese emperor Qin Şi Huang’s rule, a great amount of history and philosophy books were destroyed. In the early Christian era in Ephesus, many books were regarded to be ‘dangerous’ and were set on fire. In the Medieval world almost all books were burned. The chuch did not even show any tolerance to the interpretations of the Bible. The enormous fire set in Berlin in 1933 by the Nazis is unfortunately a haunting scene. Every now and then Jews destroyed their literature. Even ‘Harry Potter’ books have been declared to be ‘demonic’ and blasted by many churches in America. “Sibylline Books,” holy scripts and their interpretations, dissenting opinions and free thought have always been subject to destruction. In the thirteenth century, both Cathars and their entire collection of literature were set on fire by command of the Catholic Church. In 1562, many works of Mayan and Aztec literature were burned by the Spanish. In 1624, the Pope ordered the destruction of Martin Luther King’s German translation of the Bible. The Nazis labeled 20,000 writings to be abusive according to their ideology and burned them. When Iraq was under siege, the library and all contents were substantially damaged.

No Other Thought but Mine! Scientists contribute to the enlightenment and improvement of the society. According to Bacon, science should aim at the core of nature. Kant, the father of the concept of enlightenment, refers to intelligence as: Enlightenment is man’s leaving his self-caused immaturity. Immaturity is the incapacity to use one’s intelligence without the guidance of another. Such immaturity is self-caused if it is not caused by lack of intelligence, but by lack of determination and courage to use one’s intelligence without being guided by another. (Sapere Aude! Have the courage to use your own intelligence!) It is an ever-existing sick act to destroy the “other’s” books, literature, accumulated knowledge merely to emphasize one’s own. People were burning books even before the Common Era. They all have their rationalizations, for the sake of religion, moralty, race, etc. Burning books is a systematic mass censorship. Throughout history, man has always brought the others to their heels by destroying their knowledge, documents and cultural resources. It is of crucial importance to fight against ignorance and to learn and spread knowledge. To control and enslave a society, people replaced knowledge with dogma. That is why archives and libraries were burned down: to let ignorance rule. For those who fear knowledge and try to manipulate it for their own interest, access for masses to knowledge becomes a big threat. People who seek to control and keep knowledge only for themselves, as well as dogmatic people who are in denial of scientific knowledge, most certainly do not want knowledge to be accessible.

In 1562, many works of Mayan and Aztec literature were burned by the Spanish. In 1624, the Pope ordered the destruction of Martin Luther King’s German translation of the Bible. The Nazis labeled 20,000 writings to be abusive according to their ideology and burned them. Works have always been the first to be destroyed when people start to question life, think over customs, act on intelligence and figure out their own way when they indulge in esoteric writings, scientific studies, works of philosophy and literature. Whereas religion, race, ethics and moral values of the society are those things open to manipulation. That is why people who fear knowledge have always manipulated the masses and reached their goals through this method. These people think they can escape this threat and save the day by burning thousands of years of accumulated knowledge, as well as people who indulge in such knowledge. These inhumane creatures, however, should know that they can never erase the memory and the works of precious scholars. Referring to the burning of holy books in Andalucia, in 1821, German author Heinrich Heine stated: “Where they burn books, so too will they in the end burn human beings.” A century later the Nazis burned Heine’s books.

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The Wise Feature Erhan Altunay

erhan.altunay@thewisemag.com

The Legend of

Necronomicon

ited by legendary author HP Lovecraft, “Necronomicon” is a mythical book chased after by many and countless studies made to prove its existence. The question: Does this book really exist?

Beyond doubt, the most important work of HP Lovecraft is the series of books he wrote between the years of 1925-1935. Lovecraft is such an influential author that many people view his work to be based on ancient writings or myths and argue that what he wrote may indeed be real. At the center of these views is a mysterious book. In his writings, Lovecraft talks about “Necronomicon,” purportedly written by “Mad Arab” Abd-ül Alhazred, and gives citations from this book. Lovecraft’s style is so impressive that a book, never in existence, is believed to be real by many people. Although Lovecraft admitted that he invented the book himself, those who think the book is real did not give up their claims.

What Is Inside Necronomicon? For those who believe in the existence of the book, it is the paramount work opening the doors of other realms and involving formulas for the evocation of creatures living there. The book also recounts about the Old Ones. These are powerful creatures from ancient times. In fact, Lovecraft said these creatures “had always existed and always would exist.” The book frequently mentions some formulas, which remind us of ancient Mesopotamian gods/goddesses, and said to call forth creatures from other realms. The meaning of the book’s title still remains a mystery. “Necro” means dead in Latin. We can say that Lovecraft coined a name that is half Latin, half Greek.

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Today, there are many fictional Necronomicon books on the market; however, according to many people, this book had really existed and even passed into the hands of persons such as John Dee or Nostradamus. Yet, it is still not known how this book passed to Lovecraft. Believers say that he found this book thanks to the mysterious connections of Sonia Green, a pulp fiction writer and exwife of Lovecraft. Again, believers note that the original copy written in Arabic by Abd-ül Alhazred in Eighth-Century Damascus was lost. Its Latin Translation, produced in 1487, circulated in Europe and reached the hands of the period’s celebrities; whereas, the translation obtained by Lovecraft was from the seventeenth century.

Origins of the Myth Although Necronomicon is said to be a fictional book, there is a reason why so many people believed in its existence: During the Middle Ages, these kinds of Babel-origin evocation books purportedly existed— many of which passed around in Arabic that could not be understood. In other words, it was not so hard to believe that someone had actually written this kind of a book. Undoubtedly, the basic motivation for believing is the millennial desire of humans to dominate nature and his attempt to use magic with this goal in mind. However, in paganism, the religion of our ancestors and probably the system closest to human nature, the point is to harmonize with nature. Those who overstate and turn this into a desire for dominating nature became the creators of “ancient” book sagas having spread by word-of-mouth for thousands of years. Eventually, Necronomicon became an imagination of a non-existent book by a brilliant writer and a legend created by those who believe in it. It also has an important place in the ambitious search of the human race, while each age creates its own Necronomicon.

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The Wise Life

Filiz Baştüzel filiz.bastuzel@thewisemag.com

The Epistles of the Brethren Purity: Lost Encyclopedia of Islamism on Philosophy and Sciences What is this secret confraternity? Brethren of Purity is the group established in the Islamic world in the tenth century, who had religious, moral, philosophical and political targets and whose actions were based on fellowship, friendship, cooperation and solidarity in achieving these targets. Their doctrine was to redeem religion and philosophy that was spoiled by misinformation and superstitious beliefs. Therefore, to reach their goals, the Ikhvanus, namely, the Brethren, made an effort to establish a wide-based cultural infrastructure which would form the basis of their approach. Further, this fellowship always avoided becoming a religious sect and tried to keep their distance from them.

ore than a thousand years ago, the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity—a sophisticated encyclopedia—was written by an enigmatic group, still a mystery today. In history, people feared the knowledge in these Epistles so much that they wanted it destroyed. Why is this encyclopedia that important? What is so special about it? The Epistles are named after a confraternity who wrote, published and disseminated this encyclopedia known as İhvan-i Safa [inTurkish] [Epistles of the Brethren of Purity] today. In the past these Epistles were also referred to in Arabic as Epistles of the Brethren of Purity or The Brethren of Sincerity—a giant compendium of 52 epistles. Although some sources claim that these manuscripts were written by contemporary scholars during the years of A.D. 961986, these Epistles were written by a philosophical society, commonly known as a secret confraternity.

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Hence, they principally used all sorts of thought, regardless of origin. Basra was the community center of the philosophical organization. One could affiliate with the organization only through personal connections and fiduciary relationships. Confidentiality was of significant importance: Never in these Epistles were member names mentioned and no one but members was authorized to participate in the meetings. Indeed, this community was active during the final realm of the Abbasids, a quite chaotic and tense period: They conducted philosophical and scientific studies emphasizing unity, oneness, fraternity and solidarity with a religious and moral attitude, and re-emphasized the intellectual orientation of the Islamic world. The most significant feature of the Brethren of Purity was as the first secret debating society whose activities were stored in a written format. The doctrines of this society were compiled and summarized in an encyclopedia called Treatises of the Brethren of Purity. In one of these Epistles, characteristics of the members of the society were clearly depicted: virtuous, friendly, advising, mediating people who perceive the world with their heart and in divine light rather than their mind; do not let people slip off into fanciful dreams; live in bliss of the beauty and marvel of sciences; indulge in the spiritual world; mended their ways and entitled to eternal merits.

These Epistles contained knowledge that were compiled on a number of sciences—religions, cosmology, psychology, metaphysics, astronomy and mathematics—no doubt written by experts in their own subjects. Moreover, the Epistles provided a synthesis of the available knowledge of their time, with an effort to detach religion and philosophy.

What did these Epistles cover and why were they exposed for destruction? On a large scale, the Epistles consisted of religious motives and opinions of the Islamic philosophers, especially Al-Farabi’s. A summary of the Islamic sciences that were popular in that era are presented in the content. The Epistles were reflective of their time in every sense; hence, Islamic intellect of the era, Ancient Greek philosophy, Hindu wisdom, Farsi and Arabic literature and a variety of religions and cultures were intentionally blended and compiled. The content of the Epistles were irenic: They adhere to Pythagoras in mathematics; Aristotle in logic; Plato in metaphysics; Socrates in ethics, and Al-Farabi in religion philosophy. Especially it is easy to detect the influence of Pythagorean and NeoPlatonism in the Epistles. The most significant feature of this work of literature, which stands as the first known written Islamic encyclopedia, was the simplicity in presenting the content so that the most sophisticated and inexplicable matter became legible. Thanks to the Brethren of Purity, Aristotle’s philosophy became public, hitherto at the service of the high society. The Brethren of Purity regarded knowledge as purification; thus to live a pure life, one had to live in conformity with this knowledge. Likewise, according to the Brethren, there were two fundamental objectives of all theoretical and applied sciences: first to ensure physical well-being and second to ensure spiritual well-being and to assure blissfulness of the soul after death. So, according to the Brethren, apparent sciences realize well-being of the flesh; whereas, esoteric sciences realize well-being of the soul. In that regard, the Brethren initially aims at discovering what is available to the eye in this world of dichotomy (apparent and esoteric). Therefore, in the Epistles, knowing thyself is the first condition of metaphysics and to know the Divine. The Epistles were written in Arabic and composed of 52 volumes, embodying mathematics, botany, nature, geography, music, logic, astrology, numeric and philosophical metaphysical sciences. Out of the 52 volumes, 14 of them were about mathematics, logic and higher education issues; 17 of them about nature and philosophy, including psychology; 11 of them on theology, Sufism, mysticism, astrology and magic. All the accumulated experience of the three major religions is intermingled in the Epistles. Moreover, there are inputs from Zoroaster’s philosophy and Hinduism. Thence, the content was structured to the secondary and higher education programs. Depicting the spiritual and intellectual situation in the tenth century, the Epistles stood as the first study that compiled all the sub-disciplines of philosophy into a single book. In that respect, the Epistles seem to be the first written work intended for the education of society in terms of science and philosophy, a radical attempt indeed.

When was the initial destruction of the Epistles? In A.D.1150, Mostandjed, Caliph of Baghdad, commanded a recall of all copies of the Epistles from all libraries, private and general, and setting them on fire (the same caliph ordered the destruction of the works of Avicenna).

More than a thousand years ago, the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity—a sophisticated encyclopedia—was written by an enigmatic group, still a mystery today. Why is this encyclopedia that important? What is so special about it?” Even so, the Epistles were known to many countries; they were disseminated, translated to many languages and survived extinction. This literature reached each and every part of the Islamic world. Starting out from Mesopotamia and passed down from hand-tohand, the Epistles reached far out to Andalucía – thanks to a number of scholars. According to some researchers, before the Epistles arrived, Andalusians were keener on astronomy and mathematics; thereafter, they started to place more emphasis on philosophy. Likewise, these scripts had a great influence on the contemporary and next generations’ mystics: All contemporary and next generations’ scholars had read the Epistles; namely, Gazali (1058-1111), Ibn Arabi (1165-1240), Avicenna and Molla Sadra (1571-1640), etc. Also, the Epistles enlivened and influenced the Sufi philosophy of Ibn Arabi. In that regard, this work and the ideas that flourished respectfully had a remarkable effect on expansion and progress of Sufism in the Islamic world.

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The Wise Feature

Esra Erdoğan

esra.erdogan@thewisemag.com

Priest Bruno

from Atlantis

“Bruno and I meet from time-to-time during my work with the subconscious. As different aspects of the same soul, we work together in this context, and with the intent that it is for the good of the whole.”

he amount of smoke in the air was suffocatingly dense. With one hand I was trying to cover my nose with the edge of my wet tunic, but I was not very successful in so doing because of the load I was carrying in my hands. What I was carrying was so valuable that after a while I gave up struggling to cover my nose. I did not care about dying anyway, as long as I survived long enough to save what I had to save. The Library of Alexandria was burning down, and along with it, so much human knowledge was burning as well. My friends with whom I worked together for many years were caught in the fire, begging me to rescue them, but the fire was so intense that there was no way for me to reach them. Considering what I was trying to do, I thought none of our lives mattered. I was tossing documents wrapped in heavy bags, previously identified and marked as the most important, into secret passages of the library which was filled with water. Interestingly enough, the scrolls I threw into the water were not harmed at all. There must have been some other reason than the way they were packed, and I had a strong feeling that all this knowledge would surpass thousands of years. During our studies, our masters kept saying that these documents had some very powerful spells. Now I was witnessing it. The fire was increasing every minute, and I did not have time to stop and wait. I woke up coughing. It was like the smell of that intense smoke was still burning my nasal cavities. I had watched a scene too real to be a dream. I looked around and it was still daytime in October 2010. 22 The Wise

I was researching my family genealogy, as I often do. While working, I had a thought telling me to go down into the depths of my subconscious mind to find my origins. At that point I had fallen asleep and watched the scene I just described. In fact, for a long time, I was interested in working with my subconscious mind and trying to do it. I was stripping myself layer by layer and trying to stop my past from creating my future by tenderly wrapping all traces of the past. Getting closer to my subconscious was giving me a lot more self-confidence more than anything, and as my self-doubts were diminishing, my perception was opening up. In fact, the vision I saw must have been triggered by my work, and I wanted to pursue it to learn the essential points of this vision. So, I followed my vision. I had no intention to leave it to pursue other matters.

An Atlantean in the Library of Alexandria I was Bruno, a priest working in the Library of Alexandria, and he had lived as an Atlantean in a previous life. I was a little different from my friends in the library due to the fact that the connection with my life as an Atlantean had not been broken, and I remembered that life vividly. I could distinguish what information was the most important more than anyone before me. In addition, I had very strong psychic abilities. The most important thing I remember about my Atlantean life was that most of the information obtained through the studies comprised the truth that, in fact, humanity was God. Our main task as priests was to transfer the basic information on tablets, thus ensuring they reached future generations. The hammers we used to write on tablets were very special and sacred. Hammers, in fact, were like a magnetic force in our hands, and they were using us as a means to create whatever needed to be written on the tablets. Indeed, at one time I remember holding the hammer in my hand and watching the emergence of the word “Priest” on the tablet. Forms similar to Egyptian hieroglyphics were appearing on the tablets, and that experience reminded me how Egyptian script was connected to Atlantis. The Library of Alexandria, originally commissioned by the Hellenic Dynasty of Ptolemy in third century BC, was full of tremendous energy forces. In fact, there used to be an energy transfer from Alexandria to the whole universe. This was such a strong transfer that everything happened within milliseconds. The library was under a great protection which disturbed me because I believed information could not manifest if highly guarded and hidden.

The Big Fire Many say, “If you try to keep something out of harm’s way, it usually ends up getting damaged”; the library burned down to ashes. Although Bruno did the best he could, Bruno spent the rest of his life in great guilt. He had not been able to prevent the Library from burning, neither had he been able to save his friends. As I was following Bruno in my work with the subconscious, I came up with this information: There was a reason for wise people to die by fire. Burning helped the mind to free itself from the illusion of the physical body and to enter into multi-dimensional universes.

There was a reason for wise people to die by fire. Burning helped the mind to free itself from the illusion of the physical body and to enter into multi-dimensional universes. During my visions I tried to remind my “old” friends I saw dying in that fire about this and the importance of freeing ourselves from our physical bodies. Finally, I started to feel the sense of guilt begin to leave me. In fact, the incinerations, as history tells us, continued happening throughout the Middle Ages. Actually, many wise women were incinerated by the authorities in power to destroy knowledge and keep the people in ignorance. But these authorities, although they achieved in the short term what they wanted, in the long term they ended up with the results they desired the least. The energies of these sages transformed and became immortal. The knowledge and flow of energy beyond the ages would be possible. Indeed, such a transformation had taken place during the burning of the Library of Alexandria. Yes, humanity had been buried in darkness for thousands of years, but energy also had transformed; this same transformed energy would pull humanity out of the darkness in an irreversible way. Knowledge, using the energies of Alexandria, was transferring itself and those Atlantean Priests; they did not lose their connections with their previous incarnations and had an important task in this transfer. As information was unravelled and resolved, the library closed itself down and turned into a “library of energy.” Consequently, looking at it from a universal plan, the accumulated energy of the fire changed dimension and waited until the time it would come back to earth. At that time mankind was about to enter the Dark Ages, and on the basis of these ages, lied about the statement “In order to remember again, humanity should first forget

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people were not like us; they lived in the dimension of immortality. The way for these immortals to transform their energies was by fire. This is what I was trying to remind my friends in Alexandria. Then I woke up. Due to my work with the subconscious, my dreams with Bruno had become stronger. It was like watching a film, not having a dream. The amount of information received was incalculable, but also a very powerful energy flowed. For this reason my body in this world was struggling to receive this energy. My joints ached; my blood vessels shrunk and almost disappeared. I did not care about the physical problems; I wanted to know Bruno. I found some information about him when I researched the Internet. Mostly, this was information you would find in books, but they could affect the subconscious work, so preferably should not be used. Anyway, I did not pay attention to the books—I wanted to know Bruno directly, and myself. So, I invited the Priest Bruno’s aspect into my consciousness.

Meeting Bruno, the Priest In spite of the confidence in my feelings, I have to admit that in a way I was afraid. This is very natural to occur, especially at the beginning of work with the subconscious. For the sake of the flow of this work, one should allow a sense of fear to come, and then let it go the same way. Likewise, you must be able to distinguish between your feelings and your intuition. The intuition is so lucid that you would not doubt them; yet, feelings may also be very confusing as well as temporary. So you must be careful.

itself, and when the time comes, should be able to create a new world.” The Library had to go into another dimension, and the fire prepared this transition.

Bruno, After Alexandria After the burning of the library, Bruno fled to Rome, or rather, allowed to escape. Bruno was a very good tablet reader and his work precious. Throughout human history, tyrants always burned libraries; hiding behind each tyrant, there have been dark groups pushing tyrants to the front, while hiding their own purposes. These groups have always sought to obtain the knowledge for themselves. On the one hand, while encouraging some people to burn the libraries, they, on the other hand, were using their powers under cover to collect the knowledge. They were trying to get power by using it. And, in fact, they were also all part of the universal plan; this is what I came to understand through my visions. Although we now get angry about it, their instincts were what brought the realization of the universal plans. Bruno was not the kind of man the universe would force to burn a scroll, let alone a library. Bruno had refused to work for these forces and died by fire of his own free will. I know that this kind of death would be incomprehensible for us, but we need to see beyond the visible. The reason Bruno wanted to die in the fire was because he wanted to change his energy dimension. In fact, I had read in some sources that some of the oriental masters chose this method as well. I once watched a film titled Spring Summer Fall Winter and Spring [South Korean, 2003]. In the film a Chinese master using this method to leave the world, set himself on fire. It sounds incredible, but these

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When I met with my Bruno aspect, I saw that he had different powers. He was full of information, but he also had a blockage of energy because of the guilt he felt. It had to be solved. We started working together. Obviously, this was a difficult process. I felt depressed, and even if I wanted to stop working, I could not do it because of the compassion I felt for that aspect of mine. When I stopped due to fatigue, I remembered seeing the burning faces of my friends, although they were not very clear. Furthermore, the feeling of guilt that I thought had left me was again filling up inside of me. I was thinking, “Well I was over this; I had gotten rid of this feeling of guilt.” Suddenly I understood why I was faced with this feeling again. Bruno had understood it when telling it to his friends, but I had not yet seen the impact of guilt on my life. How much of my own life had been blocked by guilt? Maybe some of it, perhaps all, but the amount did not matter. The important thing for me was having lived without being aware of the guilt. Actually, I was helping myself, while I thought I had intended help Bruno. As the work progressed, both he and I started to lighten our burden of guilt, and we began to observe a changing in our energy as the burden got lighter. In my own life, I was observing great changes, and I saw Bruno increase his powers. Bruno and I meet from time-to-time during my work with the subconscious. As different aspects of the same soul, we work together in this context, and with the intent that it is for the good of the whole. I carry on working, not just with Bruno but my other aspects as well, and above all and foremost, I do this work with selfconfidence and the feeling of trust that I am in safe hands. The result? My life journey goes on... Even brighter...

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The Wise Astrology

Öner Döşer

oner.doser@thewisemag.com

Neptune ReturnsHome! Neptune will enter Pisces on February 3, 2011, and remains there until March 30, 2011. The critical question: How will it affect our lives and our world?

ccording to contemporary astrologers, Neptune is the ruler of Pisces. Depending on classical astrological knowledge, although Jupiter rules Pisces, we must consider that Neptune shows many similarities to Pisces’ characteristics. When a planet sits in the sign it rules, it reflects the characteristics of that sign in a powerful and real way. Pisces characteristics will be felt clearly when Neptune stays in that sign emphasizing voluntary self-sacrifice, global love and friendship. Pisces symbolizes the infinite cosmos of the imagination. Between 2012 and 2025, Neptune situates in this sign which allows the doors of a new world to open to humanity. Pisces is the last one of the twelve signs. Thus, it represents the completion of the cycle and the last step of individual evolution. Consequently, this is the most difficult step because now is the time to move beyond social patterns and towards global subjects to realize the power that constitutes the cosmos. This step also requires a submission to “divine” power. Pisces, as the last sign, symbolizes 26 The Wise

both an ending and a new beginning. The Zodiac is not only a circle but also a spiral. Neptune closely relates to the pineal gland, the center of the intuitive brain, a spiritual center. It symbolizes inner wisdom, high cognition capacity and intuitiveness, unconditional love, self-sacrifice and forgiveness. Like Pisces, Neptune has the ability to go with the flow by submission and also the ability of initiation. Neptune’s passing from the end point of the cycle—Pisces—means submission of the mature individual will give important opportunities to reach the “İnsan-ı Kamil” [person who achieves perfection] level. People who reach this level will realize the secrets of existence, seemingly impossible for ordinary people. Mature minds will realize there is a total unity in the cosmos and align with the cosmos and increase their vibrations; however, people who are not ready for such an understanding will be confused and fall into chaos. The latter ones may get stuck in their realm of fiction and fantasies.

A humankind helpful and good for society will emerge, and thus man will reach perfection. In Sufism, this mankind is called “İnsan-ı Kamil.” Azizuddin Nefesi, one of the greatest Sufis, defines “Insan-ı Kamil” as consisting of good morals and knowledge, good words and good actions. These values do not only depend on moral actions but also on knowledge. What we call knowledge here is not limited to technological and scientific knowledge. This knowledge understands the Creator and his works, learns the principles of the cosmos, retains consciousness of evolution and contributes to that evolution consciously and serves it. This is what nourishes the human soul and what fills the emptiness in our hearts. We must realize the divine unity, universal love and infinite existence of oneness, and the divine rules which draw the path of our destiny, movements of the cosmos and the heavens, and how they affect us and the meaning and purpose of our lives. Astrology as one of the most important teachings lets us realize the divine order. When spiritual and humanistic values integrate into our daily lives, we gain modesty, altruism and forgiveness, and we may easily overcome this severe process and mature; more importantly, we may evolve collectively.

The End of an Inappropriate Era

In Sufism, this mankind is called “İnsan-ı Kamil.” Azizuddin Nefesi, one of the greatest Sufis, defines “Insan-ı Kamil” as consisting of good morals and knowledge, good words and good actions. Neptune brings disintegration of the qualities of the sign that it is in. Pisces is related to beliefs. Beginning in 2012, people will question who they are, their purpose, and the validity of institutional religious structures and its rules. Reality may be difficult to conceive. In this environment of chaos, people may easily be deceived, and some fake prophets may emerge. Everyone should be very careful during this period!

The Emergence of “İnsan-ı Kamil” = The Perfect Man Neptune relates to purification, banishing materialism, disintegrating structures, forms and flexibility. It increases intuition and telepathy and encourages empathy towards the needs of others. It tends to unite people under spiritual instead of materialist values. During Neptune’s transit in Pisces, our moral values, ideals, self-sacrifice to our beliefs and sharing all we have with others will have greater importance. Neptune in Pisces opposes the individual ego and all egocentric approaches, yet supports social integrity. It is constructive and prefers love. This love, both individual and social, goes beyond all of these. This universal love is immense and binds with divine power. It represents going beyond boundaries and to be “one” with the cosmos. It relates to acting towards wellness of the whole. This creates the “İnsan-ı Kamil,” namely “The Mature Man” or “The Perfect Man.” We are entering into an era where we will gain real knowledge and realize everything came out of one single source.

The existing order based on materialism that human beings formed is about to end. This order is a rotten one and has been strongly distorted. Everything has been based on materialism while moral values have been forgotten. The existing authorities in power think about their own benefits and use science and technology to try to dominate human beings. As long as technology improves, we face more necessity. While trying to cope with daily conditions, humanity gets further from silence and finds only confusion and chaos. Today’s science cannot satisfy a human’s spiritual nature because it only sees mankind as “material structure.” This false perception of civilization weakens spiritual themes. Science can only observe material structures through material realities: It does not accept anything unless it proves the laws via experimental methods. It does not deal with the spirituality of mankind; thus, it leads a development of civilization in contention to the real structure of mankind. Such a distorted order and civilization cannot last long. Humanity has reached a point where the order built will collapse, and he will pay for his faults. Depending on our place in the planetary transits, this era is part of a process gaining consciousness and awakening. Within this process, we can wake up easily and keep pace with necessities of the New Age only if can control our ideas and strengthen our willpower. As we head to the Aquarian Age, there will be an important jump in the evolution of mankind. If we realize that we are responsible for our ideas and actions, then we will be more careful about not taking unconscious steps. This is what we call free will; only then will freedom be possible. We should not forget that the aim of our lives in this material world is to gain consciousness. This is the awareness that we should learn in this School of Earth, in turn, it will lead us to first know ourselves and then to know the holy Creator. Ergun Arıkdal, who was one of the leading representatives of spiritualism in Turkey, said: “For the one who does not know himself, The God is him. He worships himself, to his own reality. Without awakening, it seems impossible to stop worshiping himself.

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to the continuity of life. When we evaluate all these astrologically, we easily see that this process will be more rapid than we think. This will lead to some problems with agricultural products, and we know that because Pluto is currently transiting in Capricorn, an earth sign.

Neptune’s Entrance into Pisces in History

Neptune usually stays in one sign for approximately 14 years. Its one tour around the Zodiac lasts for 165 years. After deceiving himself for a long time, it is time for awakening.”During this difficult process, humanity will be in great turmoil. We are reaching to the center of great crisis. We will be living through many changes, and while passing through these stages, we will feel that everything gets worse. Conversely, don’t forget that after each period of darkness, we face the light again. This is the dawn of the Aquarian Age! As we approach the Aquarian Age, social and universal consciousness, oneness, equality and justice ideals will get stronger. This period sees the removal of our mental curtains and changes in the values and assumptions of our era. All conflicts due to a low-consciousness level will be solved in time. We will have the opportunity to discover our real abilities, to expand their capabilities and to reach higher understanding. The conditions that prevent our development and understanding of universal principles will disappear, so our minds will be freed and our brains will function optimally.

Poseidon – The God of the Seas According to the ancients, Neptune’s entrance to Pisces brings chaos. Neptune, known as Poseidon in mythology, is the god of the sea, oceans and earthquakes who creates earth-shaking waves with his truncheon. Poseidon rules all the creatures of the sea. He creates huge waves with his chariot driven by dolphins. Since Neptune is associated with the sea and the oceans, some researchers think Neptune’s entrance to Pisces will trigger some disastrous floods. Some researchers think this movement of Neptune may also point to biological wars since Neptune also links to petroleum, liquids, tobacco, chemicals, gases, drugs and anesthetic substances. When Neptune begins its transit in Pisces starting in 2011-2012, we will face some water problems. For a long time, scientists have declared that due to the melting of the poles, the rising sea level would lead to floods. Furthermore, 40 percent of the world’s population will face hunger and thirst because of the decrease in the amount of drinkable and agricultural water. Lack of water in Asia, where the great majority of the population lives, already experiences a danger

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Just like the other generation planets—Uranus and Pluto—Neptune also emphasizes change; however, a very important difference exists when compared with the other two. Neptune’s energy of change is softer. It does not mean changes made by suppression and violence; indeed, it’s like a silent revolution. It filters into the collective consciousness and allows change to occur in an innate and impulsive way. Of course, we have to evaluate it together with other planetary cycles. For example, when Neptune entered in Pisces in 1520-1521, we also had a Saturn-Uranus cycle. In 1848, the Uranus-Pluto conjunction occurred, and in the coming years, these two caused a conjunction first with Saturn in Aries and then in Taurus. In general, Neptune is associated with beliefs, morals and spiritual values. When we looked at the former Neptune ingresses into Pisces, we see that humans tend to change the existing institutional and strong systems (Saturn). These institutional systems are sometimes economic, sometimes religious and sometimes juridical. Neptune usually stays in one sign for approximately 14 years. Its one tour around the Zodiac lasts for 165 years. It traveled in Pisces between the years of 1520-1534, 1684-1698 and 1848-1862. During these periods after entering into Pisces, Neptune retrograded into Aquarius for a while and then turned to Pisces again and stayed in this sign for 13 years. Now we will examine two of these periods of Neptune in Pisces which seems similar to the era we are going into.

Between 1520-1534 When Neptune entered into Pisces in 1520, the Catholic Church lost its efficiency due to Protestant reform. In Germany, Martin Luther threatened the hegemony of the Catholic Church. Protestants refused the Pope’s authority, however, did not replace this authority with another one. So, Protestants became more tolerant (Neptune) when compared with Catholics. After 1520, the world became a more different place. Many countries established national churches. Many new religious orders and trends emerged. People began to read the Holy Books and to individually interpret them. As a result some Protestants realized the truth (Neptune=reality): The New Testament did not cover any information about the Trinity, the basis of the Catholic religion. In the New Testament, God was defined as “the One and the only” and nothing written about the Trinity. Christ was not the son of God and a messiah but a religious leader who was one of the prophets of Jewish tradition. The Holy Book should have been read in the light of mind and science, instead of being seen as an absolute source of information; it should have been evaluated as a book which was written by a human. The Protestant trend led by Luther and then by some priests like Calvin and Zwingli was a rebellion towards the Roman Church and the Pope’s authority. This rebellion was also a bloody one; Europe has faced lots of wars

between Catholics and Protestants. During this period when Neptune was in Pisces, Pluto was also in Capricorn as it is now. So, we believe that this period will shed light on the development that we could see in our near future.

This shows the integration of purposes, ideals and also the concept of sharing. A characteristic of Neptune gathers people around the same ideals. I think that Neptune has a magnetism that gathers people together. We actually know that it encompasses empathy. For a decade following 1848, some very radical feminist movements existed. Of course, we cannot explain this only with Neptune’s entrance into Pisces. Women’s rights are also related to SaturnUranus and Uranus-Pluto cycles. Interestingly, Neptune is a feminine planet and Pisces a feminine sign, too. This explains why this entrance also has a feminine emphasis.

In 1848, when Neptune entered into Pisces, it was considered the beginning year of world revolution. This revolution started on February 22, 1948, and in one month spread across Europe, from Paris to Vienna, Berlin and Milan, except for England. Neptune’s entrance to Pisces was on February 17, 1948, just five days before the revolution movements!

Between 1848-1862

In France, imperialism stopped as of May 23, 1848. Neptune in Pisces is related with universal human rights, conscience and wholeness concepts. In the same year, the second republic was established. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was elected president, but then he subverted the republic in 1852 and declared himself the emperor. Thus, the second republic constitution lost its validity. At that time Saturn, Uranus and Pluto were all aligned in Taurus. Now that we know some about what happened in the last Neptune in Pisces periods, we will see more details in the Neptune Ingress Chart. Neptune Ingress Chart Neptune entered into Pisces on April 4, 2011, when two collective planets—Jupiter and Saturn—are in opposition.

1848 is seen as the fall of feudalism and capitalism (Saturn). Of course, this is not only the result of Neptune’s entrance to Pisces. At that time Uranus and Pluto were in conjunction in Aries. Thus, this was a rebellious, harsh, active and innovative period. Uranus and Pluto will again be in conjunction in Aries in 2011 and 2012, after Neptune’s full entrance in Pisces. This time Pluto will not be in Aries but will square Uranus. As a result, we see lots of insinuations about 2012, the year of change. This earlier period was a time when capitalism was challenged and changed. While nowadays the crisis emerges again on the agenda, economists declare that this is the end of this system. 1948 is also known as the beginning of ascension of modern proletarians. By that time, socialism (Neptune) was in the forefront. To be honest, some economic and social conditions met with political ineptitude and all these created the 1848 revolutions. This is just like the situation today, isn’t it? Due to economic crisis, food prices increased and the government conflicts with itself. In 1848, with the Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx emphasized that capitalism should collapse, and proletarians should have better rights. Today, we are nearly on the same track. Uranus in Aries is forming a square with Pluto in Capricorn and opposition with Saturn in Libra: All these show that we may face a similar scenario. In 1848, Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention was also held. This movement was the beginning of “the shift in consciousness and individualization” (Neptune). During this time, Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott arranged a women’s rights convention for the first time in history in Seneca Falls, New York. The representative in Congress published a declaration that they requested equal rights with men, the right to vote, and equal rights in employment and education. This is the integration and grouping feature of Neptune.

In 2000, these two planets were in conjunction in Taurus. Taurus, as a typical earth sign, is aware of material reality and related to security. It likes the physical world. In the latest decade, we experienced a very material world. Beginning in 2000, getting loans and accumulating debt to live a better life gained wide acceptance. Nearly everyone wanted better things, and they desired to live in comfort as soon as possible. People excluded those who preferred to manage with what they had and considered a traditional lifestyle. Beginning in 2010, we headed towards a period where we should watch out for our excessively-material attitudes. Neptune and Saturn-Jupiter opposition helps us to do just that. When Pluto, as the other piece of the puzzle, entered in Capricorn in 2007, we began to see the results of our excessive spending habits. Neptune is the number one enemy of capitalism. Pluto in Capricorn also undertook the job to transform the capitalist system. Uranus and Mars with square to Pluto reflect the rebellious energy of Aries that forces change. The world wants transformation!

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The Wise Soul

Hasan ‘Sonsuz’ Çeliktaş & Cem Şen

On Spirituality and the Masters

hat is spirituality? More or less, we all have some ideas about it. Let’s delve deeper and see the meaning of spirituality in this conversation between Cem Şen and me—Sonsuz, editor of The Wise magazine. Let’s begin our conversation by asking the meaning of a concept everyone talks about, yet a genuine answer escapes us when we ask what spirituality means.

As you may know, spirituality is derived from the word “spirit.” If we investigate the Latin or Greek root of this word, we will see a deeper meaning (breath/life/spirit); however, let’s call it “the science of spirit” for the best known meaning. Further, we can say that spirituality is what we do for the evolution and understanding of the human spirit. Of course, this is the basic meaning of the word, but if you ask me, if this is what everyone understands from spirituality, then, the course of our conversation may change.

Sonsuz

What does spirituality mean to you, Cem?

Good point. Everyone is talking about spirituality; everyone deals with a different part of it, so it cannot be expressed clearly.

Cem First of all, let’s have a look at the literal meaning of this word. 30 The Wise

Do you think everyone should understand the same thing from spirituality?

Can everyone have an individual understanding of this subject?

Unfortunately, there are many people who desire to have a real master but cannot find a one. Yes, Sufism says “Devil is your sheikh, if you do not have a sheikh,” but we are surrounded by devils dressed like sheikhs.

Cem These are crucial questions, so thank you for asking them. I am sure you asked them on purpose. The problem actually is a belief that “Yes! Everyone must understand the same thing from spirituality!” In fact, everyone understands different aspects which is the reason why people confuse “the truth” and “the reality.” Spirituality mentions the reality, but if we perceive it as a basic science of spirit, then it mentions the truth. There can be numerous realities; however, there is only one truth. Consequently, since spirituality mentions the spirit and the spirit is truth, then we should talk about a single spirituality where everyone understands the same thing when we say spirituality. However, people who teach and receive training on spirituality do not perceive it in the level of truth. Why do we keep away from new age trends? Because we see that the truth is confused with reality and distortion. Recently, one of my best friends attended a meeting of scientists who were working on the Biosphere in Canada. They witnessed lots of interesting experiences. After these experiences the moderator said something which I fully admired, “Don’t contaminate the information.” He meant don’t distort information and chose the word “contaminate” which means to get infected by microbes. He used this word to imply that people should not distort information coming from the universe with their minds, experiences, judgments and fears. The word he chose was fascinating—contamination; I was so impressed. Yes, if something is contaminated, its residue may be transferred from one person to the other which results in an epidemic. This epidemic makes people ill and distorts their perceptions. Spirituality, when parted from the truth, does the same—distorts.

Sonsuz So how can we differentiate “the truth” and “the reality”?

Cem We need to refer to Sufism: “The Devil is your sheikh, if you do not have a sheikh.” You know, I have an immortal master, and he has his own masters. Masters have masters, as you see. So, why do these masters exist? The answer: They are the guardians of information and truth. Thank God, they exist. Thanks to them, the information can be transferred to future generations without distortion. This is very crucial. Information coming from these masters is real spirituality and the truth which leads the spirit towards evolution. If we want to differentiate truth and reality, we should find a real master.

Sonsuz And this is the hardest part, isn’t it? You were lucky to know lots of precious masters due to your connections with China.

What should we do? How shall we find the masters of truth? Who shall we trust?

Cem First of all, we should refer to the second proposition of spirituality: It is the master who finds his apprentice. According to a Chinese belief, if you are kind to a person for 100 years, then in your next life, you will be on the same path; if you are kind to a person for 1,000 years, you will share your pillow with him. More is needed for a master to find you. To find the master of truth or to be found by him, you need good karma which must be developed for unlimited lifetimes. If in this life you have such a calling in your heart, it means you have completed a long way in your path. For example, unintentionally, I tried to raise my students to a higher level than me. I did not know why I did so, but then I learned from my master that I was doing this to pay my karma. Can you imagine what it is like, Hasan [Sonsuz], to raise your student to a higher level than you? To help them achieve this? The one that pretends to be a master never does things like that; I knew that. Yes, apprentices who meet with fake masters will have things to lose, but the ones who pretend to be a master have much more to lose. If I could, I would like to cry for the ones who call them Masters; I would like to cry for their destiny. Do you really want to meet an immortal [a master]? Here is the formula: Keep your heart pure, motivate people for spirituality, help them and knock on all doors where you can learn something. Strengthen bonds with your ancestors, solve problems with your family and earn money; you will need money on that path. When you do all that, you may have the chance to meet a master. Without these things, it is very difficult. If you really want to meet an immortal master, then clean your karma, make an effort to look for real knowledge, don’t live in a dream world or lose pureness of your heart. Perhaps, you can find an immortal then. Recently, I met some people in an organization who call themselves master. My God, I really felt pity for them. They are living in a fantasy and also attracting others to this fantasy. I really felt sorry for them.

Sonsuz I have lots of things to add, but let’s first make something clear for our readers. You talk about the immortals. Who are they? What makes them so precious? What happens when a someone meets an immortal? And are these immortal beings in terms of their physical body?

Cem Yes, they are immortal people with immortal bodies; however, they do

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not stay in this world because they travel in other dimensions.

to do more. If my students pass these preparation levels, they may have a chance to work with an immortal. Of course, they may do so only if God and their own karma gives permission.

I will tell you the system that my master told me to make this clear. I hope I neither transgress a rule nor offend my masters. There are some basic ways for the evolution of the spirit. One of them is Lei Shan Dao which means the way of lightning. There are some important levels of Lei Shan Dao: the first level is to create yang energy in the body. The second level is to reach the full awareness of consciousness. If we die at that level, the conscious stays alive. The fourth level is a milestone. At that level, yin and yang energies in the body combine to create tai chi within the body. This is the first step of immortality. After this level, some supernatural abilities can be noticeably used, but the most important circumstance is that individual karma ends. I hope I can clearly tell you the next levels.

Sonsuz Did you skip level 3?

Cem No but this third level is not a milestone. I will mention the important levels only because there are lots of levels.

Sonsuz OK, let’s continue.

Cem If I am not wrong, the eighteenth level is the next milestone; at that level the spirit can leave the body and travel in the universe and other dimensions. And if I am not wrong again, Kundalini energy can rise through the spine at that level. There are lots of Kundalini meditations nowadays, you know. Do you think these meditations really work and do you think these are real Kundalini exercises? As you see, to stimulate Kundalini you must be immortal already. As far as I remember, at the fortieth level, death disappears. Until this level you can live a long life, but when you reach this level, you do not die physically. And if I am not wrong again, at the forty-eighth level or fifty-second, you reach real enlightenment. The seventy-second level is the last stop in this dimension. There, you become one with God, you integrate. Again, as far as I learned from my masters, in the next two dimensions, there are 72 more levels. This is why the masters are such precious people.

Sonsuz Can you tell us about your studies and what you teach to your students?

Cem What I teach now are only preparation exercises. You must be immortal

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The basic exercises are simple. There are three basic exercises—harmonization of the body, mind and energy. The first step is to harmonize the body. After reaching a fit form, we move to the second step. In the exercises for harmonizing the mind, we set up a platform for the spirit to land. So, the spirit enters the body and integrates with it. After this level, the basic energy storage for the body is created and energy gets stored here. Then the hermetic exercises to create the “pearl” begin, which I mentioned in my book. All these exercises make you closer to immortality. Of course, before all these exercises, you must purify your heart and improve your relationships. You need to study with a pure heart, a sharp willpower and conscience. This path is so beautiful that it can easily take your breath away, so you need to work properly. I mean, I do not cleanse people’s chakras in a weekend seminar. I do not channel anyone’s alpha or theta frequencies; I do not even believe in such things. These have nothing to do with the truth. I only present my students with the basic information received from my masters and if I can contribute to their spiritual development. Of course, we also obtain some initiations. Believe me; these are not even similar to the said initiations. Our initiations are mostly traumatic experiences. I cannot give initiations because I am not yet authorized. Only the immortals can do it. Thank God, this path is not closed. I hope the people, who have a calling in their heart for spirituality, stop losing time with such unnecessary methods and begin to take real steps for their spiritual development.

Sonsuz I want to know your thoughts about actual spiritual workshops. Personally, my name for it is “the discovery of spirituality by capitalism.” This is a matter of the supply and demand rule; some people demand pills and others supply them. Is there anyone looking for real enlightenment? This is open to question.

Cem Yes, this is one of the consumption units and makes the situation evident. There are many people who make lots of money out of this. There are two extremes here: On one side there are those who pay a fortune for useless but well-packaged workshops, and on the other side, there are those who think such spiritual studies should be free. I suppose these new age masters and gurus are divided into two groups. The first group is really malicious and market enlightenment, health, etc., to gain power and to make money from it. The gurus and the masters of the second group believe that the things they do really work; they live in a delusion.

They contaminate the information and spread it through their students. Both groups are dangerous. Sometimes the second group may be more dangerous than the other because they seem basically fine. Unfortunately, 99 percent of the masters who claim they study spirituality belong to these two groups. I am not sure if they are really looking for enlightenment because they have no idea about it. Can you believe that some of them think that being a vegetarian or holding their anger is enough for spiritual development? A path can only be strong if the previous masters of this path transferred the power and information without any distortion and contamination.

Sonsuz Can someone draw their own path by reading, thinking, making judgments and blending information? Should he be a follower of a discipline? Is it a must?

Cem Yes, it is a must. Of course, reading, learning and blending different information is very crucial because it prepares us for the path. All this information, all our sincere efforts and purification of our hearts, prepare us for the path. They even help our spiritual development, but the more we target, the more we need to follow a certain path. I am aware all new age teachings may express the opposite. They say we have all the things we need, and we are already immortal; however, if you want to progress, we must choose a path and work with a master. Of course, some exceptions exist for it. I know such people but these people are somewhat different. They possess a power which I find hard to define. Strange! You know, Buddha reached enlightenment on his own path, but until reaching it, he had lots of teachers. A master is one who has surpassed the path you are on, so he can guide you on your path. Walking without a guide on that path is not impossible, but unfortunately, it is very difficult and dangerous. Spirituality should not be underestimated.

Sonsuz Personally, I have learned lots of things from many people. Yet, the ones whom I thought were “masters” behaved so strangely that I lost all my trust in them. In fact, those were the ones more developed than the ones who pretended to be masters, but they were so weird that I gave up looking for a master. I began to follow my own intuition.

Cem It is really a rare thing to meet with real masters. Until you meet this master, you will be grateful to your other teachers and masters. To be honest, I experienced the same things. I had too many would-be masters. I also had very good teachers. I left many of them. I progressed more than most of them. I respect some of them; although, I am more advanced now. İlhan Güngören and Eric Yudelove are two examples. I am grateful to them; I will love and respect them always. Fortunately, meeting a real master is a totally different thing, and so is being on the true path. It is where confusion ends. It is the point where you continue to develop and know the direction of your path. It is the point where you entrust your life to your master and will sacrifice yourself for your master. I hope everyone will get this chance in this life. I also hope this will be a call for our readers.

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The Wise Soul

Zeynep Sevil Güven zeynep.sevil@thewisemag.com

Life Journey of Successful Men Searching for Their Mothers T

hey say, “If a person is deprived of the love of their mother, they become wise or cruel.” Let’s explore together how our relationships with our mothers affect our lives, and how it can even change the world. Your mother is the earth for that very special seed that embodies only you. No matter how strong that seed may be, if it is not sown into the earth, in time it will rot. Its transformation into a crop will only be possible if it reaches the earth. Mother is water. Mother is food. Mother is a gift. Mother is life. Father provides water. Father brings food. Father bears the gift. Father is the path to life. The child learns this fact by experiencing it personally at the moment of impregnation. A child spends the first months of its life in water, swimming in nutrients and life and develops a lifelong unbreakable bond with the mother that can never be severed. Literally, it is dependent on her. The child would not exist if the father did not put that seed in that earth at that moment. The potential for the child to reach life depends on the father. Once the seed falls into the earth, the father’s role in the child’s life will be excluded from its capacity of perception for a long time. Without seeing the father, without witnessing all he does, before drinking water from his hand, without experiencing a father’s caress on its head, the child will never be able to grasp the importance

34 The Wise

of the father. It would know it instinctively but unable to grasp it at the level of consciousness. Whatever the mother has, she gives to the child from the first moment. For example, although she may be hungry herself, she would let the child consume her own resources. The mother’s teeth will become calcium for the infant’s bone, her flesh protein for its cells, the infant feeds itself, and the mother surrenders. The child takes from the mother in every case, while the mother gives to the child in every case. At the moment of birth, a sphere of magenta-colored light emerges from the mother’s body, and as the mother takes the baby into her bosom, the sphere wraps around them both and connects the two vibrational systems together. At that moment, a lifelong bond between mother and child is formed. The child, especially between birth and two years, will want their mother every moment. When the child wakes up and cries, the mother comes. When hungry and cries, the mother feeds her child. When unhappy, the mother caresses, kisses, and comforts her baby.After two years, the baby begins step-by-step to develop individuality. Despite the unbreakable bond to the mother, now the child wanders away from the level of dependence on her. The child’s own identity and their personality begin to emerge and start to make individual decisions. If the mother dies or abandons the child or for any compelling reason she is absent for more than 15 days during the first two years of life, the child, whether male or female, will, in the

future, enter into a mental state called “early cut-off of orientation toward the mother.” The baby will feel helpless, unprotected, and unloved. If no mother, neither is there a child. The child cries, grieves, wriggles, desperately beats itself up, so the mother will come; unfortunately, she does not come or maybe she cannot come. The child notices its greatest support in this new world, this support so familiar, is no longer there. The child is not cared for any longer—its doubts begin to turn into anxiety, anxiety into fears and fears into hopelessness. In the end, since the child’s logic of mind is not yet sufficiently developed, it begins to believe that even their mother abandoned them, they can trust no one. All it knows about life is now stuck in the sentence, “Life cannot be trusted.” Men especially get battered from the “early cut-off of orientation toward the mother” experience. The patriarchal world expects them to be strong. They are responsible for starting a family; they are responsible for the safety of their wives and children, for feeding, and of ensuring all their earthly needs and providing shelter for them. Once a man becomes a husband and father, perhaps, he says to himself, “How strange, I do not even have a tree branch I can lean on, but I must cling to my own roots and be a support for all these people.” Internally, he searches for his mother who left him. He wants to prove himself to her, show her his success. Despite the fact that she abandoned him, he hopes internally for his mother to see and appreciate how he continued to live, how strong he became, and how he was able to become Adam.

Adam’s Fruit The name Adam comes directly from the Torah, from the story of Creation in the Old Testament. “Adama” in Hebrew means “earth.” Adam was named personally by the Creative Source, meaning “coming from the earth.” Throughout his life, Adam feeds himself from the earth and gets strengthened. After the day he ate the forbidden fruit, he ate and fed himself with everything that came from the earth. Before tasting the forbidden fruit, he did not have to think about food or spend labor; earth nourished him all by itself. It gave him whatever was necessary, just as it is true for the unborn baby during pregnancy and in the early years after birth. Earth was merciful. It was fertile and sustaining. Then he ate from the fruit of the tree of knowing good and evil; his eyes were opened and so too his awareness. The first thing he became aware of was his nakedness. He found out that to eat the fruit, he needed to produce fruit. To get fruit, means effort. Fruit means hard work. Fruit requires care and dedication. To get fruit, it hurts a little bit. This is just what the infant coming out of the womb recognizes with the smack on its bottom: To get oxygen from the air, it needs to make a special effort. The Creative Source saw the situation and said to Adam: “Since you chose the knowledge, from now on you will eat through the labor of your hand.” Adam was banished from the garden. The infant does the same as its ancestors. After coming out of the womb and as it grows up, it becomes able to hold a spoon.

On the one hand, the mother continues to feed the baby, yet on the other hand, begins to teach the baby to feed itself. In the end Adam learned to hunt, plow and raise animals. He had children and taught them the same. Just like the baby learning to hold a spoon to feed himself, many years later, he taught his own children to hold a spoon. According to the Old Testament, Adam lived 930 years and had many experiences. He had a lot of children and transferred different information to each of them. As he learned, he passed down the information. He experienced countless encounters that he could only have lived in the state of knowing. Throughout his 930 years of living, Adam acted like a path of life. As he passed knowledge to his children, he took care of them without judging.

At the End of Success The path of life has its own unique content. It moves the same way for everyone. Whether good and bad, smart or stupid, beautiful or ugly, honest or deceitful, honorable or dishonorable, all types of existence hold a special place on the path of life. As we walk along the path, we keep meeting with these same aspects. We decide ourselves what to do as we encounter them. The path does not interfere with us and our choices. Whatever our choice, it does not judge us.

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When we make a decision, we usually use the energy coming from our roots as our reference point.

He uses his wisdom and achieves privilege in Egypt, both for him and his descendants.

Could this be because a person meets the energy coming from his roots for the first time while inside the womb? Or could it be because it meets the pain, grief, sadness, indecision, evil, discouragement, despair, aches, and everything we fear in life while still in the womb? We can never tell which is correct. We know that the infant considers the womb a shelter. When it realizes that there is no going back, it accepts the bosom in its place.

The Jewish race had many privileges in Egypt, but in time lost their very special rights.

Just as Adam tried to satisfy the earth he came out of by making it more beautiful and fertile, the male human always struggles to please his mother. If his mother died or she has left him at an early age or for any other reason she led him to the “early cut-off of orientation toward the mother,” he feels helpless. When this feeling wraps all around him, to prove himself to his mother, he struggles to gain power and growth.

According to the story, he ordered the killing of all Jewish male children born in Egypt.

Man usually manages to get power and growth, but when he gets to the highest point and reaches out to his most important achievement, he loses everything. There are people who lose everything they had gained while still living and in their old age. You meet many people, who are most productive and make lucrative salaries in their middle ages, but encounter heavy diseases, separations, feelings of grief and mourning. We often see people who leave life altogether at a point when they had reached the best in their life. These are the kind of people I am talking about.

Moses’ Quest Let’s look together at the story of the Prophet Moses as an example of someone who exits life when at its best. As the story goes, Joseph, Moses’ ancestor, was separated from his motherland. Since his uterus [motherland] was so far away, Joseph became desperate to earn his living and life with his own hands.

In fact, according to the Torah, they fell into a situation that we now call slavery. For some reason (according to the Koran, the Creative Source had special plans for Moses), the pharaoh of the period chose to sacrifice the Jewish race to satisfy his need for atrocities.

Moses’ mother, who was pregnant at the time of this happening, was concerned. She thought, “If my child is male, he will be killed.” While she was searching about what to do, she had a revelation to release her baby into the waters of the Nile but that she shouldn’t worry because his life would be guaranteed. Afterwards, the child was adopted by the Pharaoh’s daughter. The Koran says that after his adoption, Moses refused to take milk from anybody. Accordingly, the news was sent in all directions, and women from different locations in the country applied to be wet nurse to the prince. The baby’s real mother participated in this call, and in the end, she became the designated wet nurse for her own son in the palace. The time period of Moses’ separation from his mother to his reuniting with her is not known. It seems that it was sufficient enough for Moses to develop the mental state of “early cut-off of orientation toward the mother.” Then Moses, (who according to some sources was educated as a Priest of Osiris) became a fair Prince of Egypt in his adult life. He was happy in the land he lived. He felt responsible for the order and harmony. One day while he tried to separate a man of Egyptian descent and a Jew, who were having an argument, he caused the death of the Egyptian. He was forced to leave the country when he learned a death warrant had been decreed on him. Spiritually, just like the earth, a country is associated with the principle female of energy or with the mother. In other words, the descendants of Joseph are tied to the identity of Moses, once more separated from his own mother, his adoptive princess mother and Egypt, “the motherland” as he knows it. As every man who suffered an “early cut-off of orientation toward the mother,” he was forced to leave all those he called mother, and he continued to search for his mother forever. Who knows how he must have felt to be separated from all his three mothers. Wherever he went, he met with Tsipora. He found himself in the middle of an experience where he protected her and her sisters from the harassment of shepherds. He was raised as a fair prince, and he was always taught that he needed to be with the weak and to protect them. With his fair and courageous attitude, he won the girls’ hearts and gained the trust of their father. He asked for the hand of Tsipora and they were married.

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I think from the perspective of Moses the new country never reached the position of “motherland.” In other words, it was no substitute for his mother. This new country, prosthesis in a sense, could only have substituted for his adoptive mother, the princess. This was very natural because Moses did not have any roots in this land that came out of these territories. It was the womb of other people’s mothers. A period of time passed by and the Pharaoh died. Moses takes his wife and the others and returns to Egypt which he considered his “motherland.” He did not go to the palace, but, according to the Torah, he went beside his people who lost all their privileges and fell into slavery. He met up with his brothers, and he and his family settled with them. After a while the Creative Source got in touch with him. I wonder if he had asked for this connection during his quest for his mother. This, we do not know. During his connection with the Creative Source, he was given the duty to take his “maternal people” out of those lands to the land of “milk and honey.” It was time for the descendants of Joseph, who was thrown into the well by his brothers, to return to the “motherland,” to the womb that brought them into the world. The Creative Source had designated a leader that could understand their pain and longing because he himself had been separated from his mother. If he had not grown up motherless, would he have become like one of his people, who longed for their motherland but were unaware of their longing and had become property of the Pharaoh? Perhaps he would have said slavery is preferable to starvation, and the reunion would be left to another spring.

He took his people there and told them, “Here’s your heritage; it is all yours.” Then he left and went away. According to the Old Testament, it is not known what happened to him after this point. In the Koran, it is written that during his Ascension, Prophet Muhammad saw him and even gave information about Moses’ external appearance.

Man in Search of Their Mother

As far as I understand, for Moses, the positivity in growing up motherless may have actually reached its purpose—he gained wisdom. He became so wise that, in spite of their impiousness, their distrust and even their ingratitude, he was able to embrace a whole population with willingness and love. All through many challenges, he was able to take anyone who was strong enough to the land of Joseph, the homeland of their ancestors. Along the way he trained them, gave advice and unconditionally provided all the support he could for them to allow their inner peace. Of course, Moses learned in later years the reason why his mother had abandoned him. Yet, another record had already entered his subconscious. Perhaps, the record already existed because of Joseph’s ancestors, and due to his mother’s action, it had manifested itself and had given Moses an inherent positive purpose. This is how he achieved wisdom. However, his wisdom did not work for him. After all, it is very difficult for a person to act objectively for himself.

Although Moses was possibly looking for his mother, I do not think that he was consciously aware of this. Still, looking for his mother gave him a very important identity; his story turned from misery into a very significant mission. When we look at the continuation of his story, his unconscious disappointment toward his mother is never finished. Perhaps while living great experiences during the forty years in the desert, all he desired was to prove himself to his mother. He would be able to prove himself and say to her: “If you had not left me, now you would be proud of my success.” Actually, Moses proved himself to his mother, and according to the story in the Torah, his mother saw it. Although he may have proved himself to his mother, he never gave up his anger toward her for leaving him for whatever reason. He was never able to give her a place in his heart filled with love and respect. For this reason, although unaware, he was very angry with himself. Due to this anger he felt the need to punish both himself and his mother. Despite all his sense of justice, Moses did some unjust acts during his experiences in the desert that prevented him from entering the “Promised Land.” Eventually he caused the Creative Source to say at the end: “You will go there, and you’ll see inside, but you will not enter.”

As a result, Moses was disappointed, even angry, toward his mother who left him. At the other end of the same energy, self-accusation is highly probable: “Who knows what I have done that even my mother abandoned me.” That’s why, although he brought his people to the Promised Land, to Joseph’s motherland, he himself did not enter and remained outside the womb [so to speak]. The anger and sadness of being motherless had made him wise for others, but in fact, cruel to himself.

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Buddha’s Sadness For Buddha, who partially, completely but definitively, positively influenced about 2.5 billion people around the world, Bert Hellinger said the following: He was a sad boy whose mother died at birth. Throughout his life he tried to suppress his sorrow and struggled to reach inward and cleanse himself, and at the end, he was able to produce a huge philosophy of life. According to what I see now, I cannot help but agree with him. In addition, these words coming from Hellinger formed on the basis of my thoughts in this paper. I thank him once again. Buddha, just like Moses was able to become wise for his people and even for all humanity. But in his own life, he had left his wife and child, and by overwhelming them with great grief, he had in one way tortured his own family. In addition, the Great Creator had chosen him and sent him to the world as a prince in great wealth and opulence and having everything in the world. Buddha rejected his princedom and the abundance of his life and devoted his life to contemplation. He was not even aware that he was torturing himself while he was searching for the Creator in his meditations, the same Creator whom he had indirectly rebelled against by rejecting everything that had been bestowed upon him. Creative energy is feminine, and of course, also related to the mother. Buddha was able to meet with his creative energy when searching for his mother. He remolded his pain with creativity, turned it into a great gift and then donated that gift to Mother Earth. In all probability, his feelings of guilt were caused by the death of his mother thus, he did not, he could not accept the gifts bestowed upon him at birth.

Wise Armies of Cruel Hitler Adolf Hitler grew up motherless. His mother was there beside him, but due to the pain created by the loss of four children and living with a cruel husband, she was not able to give anything to her son. She was an unhappy woman. Her cruel husband was opposed to the wishes of one of the two surviving children, so he beat and tortured him which she could do nothing about.

Adolf was always a successful child in school. He wanted to become a painter; his father would not allow it. Apparently, his mother did not support his request either, so he never received their permission. According to the story, after the death of his father, he applied to the academy but was not accepted because his drawings were not good enough. With my present day perspective and searching deeper into the subject, I understand that young Adolf struggled all of his life to please his mother, while at the same time trying to prove himself. I think that as the architect of so many murders, tyranny and pain, he was not able to mature to adulthood and continued to live like a child, who could not distinguish between good and evil. Perhaps for him, all those affected by his cruelty were no different than a cat—the way children enjoy themselves by attaching a can to a cat’s tail or cutting its whiskers. Hitler’s steps in life were always about promotion. He served in the army and the National Socialist German Workers Party, and he was always very successful. When all this was not enough to please his mother (or so he thought), he devoted his life to purify his motherland from all those who were not like him. First, this started as a verbal act. He became wise enough to convince people when he talked of purification. As he became more convincing, he expanded more. He might have reached more supporters than even he could have thought initially. Although born in Austria, Germany was the place he called motherland. It was a great representative of his mother’s womb in the outside world. He decided to leave only anything pure there, in that womb, and persuaded others to do so as well. He invoked a huge slaughter. He was throwing out of the uterus [so to speak, out of the land] all that did not carry his blood. There must have been a price to pay for dirtying his mother’s womb; therefore, he used numerous torture methods against the others. When there were enough supporters, he began to believe that the territories of the motherland must grow. Now he was trying to grab lands from other countries, and in this context, from the wombs of their people, for himself and his supporters. He started wars—burned, destroyed and tortured. To purify, he used every known and newlydiscovered way, without ever getting enough of it at all. A child’s naive play to make his mother happy turned itself into the biggest story of the world’s worst atrocities. Of course, he worked very hard to achieve them. He studied diligently and became wise. He was a “wise-tyrant” in his own way. I asked myself what was the positive purpose of his experience. One day, suddenly a light was turned on in my consciousness. His circumstances helped me to face all the aspects of this genocide and its consequences. The content and the consequences of such an act against humanity were clearly grabbed by the world-at-large, and a consensus was reached to say this should never happen again. The creation of wise armies was triggered by Cruel Hitler’s actions. Armies now continue to abide by the philosophy “To keep the peace; not to fight.” This is a change in consciousness.

38 The Wise

Above all, I say: One Hundred percent YES to wars of all kind; I am allowed to [think about] all wars and I choose to always live in peace. Then, I continue my affirmation with the following: All the memories that I have been holding alive in my mind until now belonging to my ancestors and to all of humanity, memories of wars, won or lost, I apologize for forcing you to live with me in my mind until now; please forgive me, thank you, I love you. Once I feel the energy start to evolve, I try to strengthen the effect and accelerate the transformation by creating a short visualization.

Every day I see people around me who are more accepting of others, so I know my work is useful. A World with No Army I hope that one day we may, as mankind, make the decision to create a world with no armies. Instead of holding this as only an intention, I decided to support it through effective internal cleansing. Its effectiveness lies in giving a place in my heart to everyone, so that they can at least experience the womb that they have always been longing for. Of course, I was not the first to think of a world with no armies. For example, in Costa Rica they have lived without an army for over 60 years. I hope this example will increase, and a day will come when the whole world will pass through life with no army and no guns. I am aware that for the realization of such a desire, there must first be an understanding of the need for a new internal education and purification about the military, war, guns, and the economic growth that guns provide. Ancient knowledge says, “Outside is the mirror of the inside.” In this case, first it is necessary to purify myself from all vibrations, near and far, to and about anything related to armies. I must transform into love, large and small, all thoughts and memories of war, belonging to my own country, my ancestors or any other countries unknown to me. I should erase the pains of war and transform them into the light of love; replace my fear of “getting hurt” with the idea that sharing is supportive and brings UNITY. I know this. I’m constantly working on this issue, I am purifying myself continuously, and I humbly give support and services to the purification of others. Since each individual is only a mirror to others, even if one single human can be 100 percent purified about this issue, I am sure all the vibrations of war will be transformed into light. To purify myself, I continuously use an affirmation that I created using a mixture of Ho’oponopono method and ZSG Deep Balancing Philosophy [the author’s own technique].

During my visualization, I picture the Creative Source’s pure golden light wrapping around and embracing the world. (Sometimes I do not see anything, but just think it is happening. Since I know the law says, “energy follows thought,” then the moment I think about it, I know it happens.) Afterwards, I see the world being wrapped in this light; I see the same light penetrate rapidly into the world and reach into the layers of magma. All the while this is happening, I continue to purify and to transform and be transformed by saying: I ask the pure light of the Creative Source to wash away within me, inside and outside of me, belonging to me, all that is about war, and to enter into all my cells, and invade them so as not to leave any space for anything else. I think this works. Every day I see people around me who are more accepting of others, so I know my work is useful. So if you want to help me and help hasten the process as soon as possible to support establishing a world with no armies and to achieve peace around the world, do the work as I wrote above (re-programming the subconscious) exactly or according to your own methods. Finally, honor the warrior men in search of their mother; you can strengthen your contributions to permanent peace in the world by using the Ho’oponopono affirmation and saying the following: All those who grew up motherless and who thought they could stay alive only by fighting, I now see all of you. I honor the fate of every one of you with all my being. I apologize for holding you in my mind until now. Please forgive me, thank you, I love you.

On my behalf, I want you to know: All of the memories alive in my mind about successful men growing up motherless, I now see you, and I honor your presence. I could only have written this article by maintaining your presence in my mind. I thank you for agreeing to stay within my mind as a memory all this time. Now it is time for you to transform into light and to be free. I apologize for not being able to set you free before, and I transform you into light with love. Please let the light within you unfold; join the light; be with light. Thank you, I love you. So I say, and I conclude my article with love and light.

The Wise 39

The Wise Soul

A.Kerim Soley

kerim.soley@thewisemag.com

Suf ,ism A Life Philosophy I

n the second issue of The Wise, you read the article “Sufism as an Existence Philosophy.” In this article let’s explore how Sufism stands as a philosophy within life. When on the path of Sufism, you do not become a part of the system hard coded by systemized beliefs and rituals. In other words, you do not need to leave your mind, your personality and “worldly things.” In fact, even people who claim to do so could not really leave those things behind. If you are a real Sufi, everything falls away naturally. If all goes well, you just leave leaving! This means moving away from all criticisms, condemnations, interpretations, judgments and ego. Until then, however, all of these tools are necessary. You will be fully purified when the right time comes. Until you are purified, you must be ready and willing to ask questions, interrogate and be interrogated about your life and everything you experience.

Consequently, Sufis do not suffer the difficulties of being a stranger like Taoists, Buddhists and Shamans. In a way, they own everything and are a part of everything since infinite life cannot be limited by our bodies or a subjective being, but by changeable conditions we perceive in this life.

As in the Tao, Buddhist, Zen and ancient Egyptian and Shamanic traditions, Sufis believe that the life we experience here on earth is part of a holistic universe. We not only belong to the life on earth, but we should be conscious contributors and integrators of this infinite energy on our path of evolution. According to Sufis, the world is “the place where life has limits” because there is an “infinite” life which began before we were born and will continue after our death.

In Sufism, if you become a dervish, you are not expected to be a priest/priestess, clergyman, sheikh or guru. There are no such titles in Sufism. Being a dervish requires humility, volunteerism and a conscience. A Sufi master is always a student during their lifetime; they are a dervish. In Sufism, there are no authorities.

According to Sufis everywhere is their home. They will always be “at home” as they were before and as they are now. Everywhere, every place of existence is their own place; so, they do not care about relative time and temporary place concepts.

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Sufis do not submit to conditions but to existence. This submission holds a conscious one on the path of wisdom and evolution, not an approval of captivity. If we go beyond the “me-you” dilemma, this is a self-submission or self-acceptance. In such matters, the problem becomes only considering superficial meanings of words and concepts and not going beyond these meanings. We do not spend enough effort and we cannot be as open as we should be since we fear being misunderstood.

A clergyman sermonizes, talks about rules and imposes an ideology; however, a Sufi is a reasonable and tender person who removes any fanaticism. Sufism, while not in conflict with the mind or against it, neither does it focus on the mind directly. Mental purification is a side effect of the evolution on the path of Sufism. In fact, progress is experienced on a mental level with understanding and consciousness because Sufism operates on the path of love.

Sufism signifies such a free, independent and inquiring mind that it can easily consent to knowledge which may actually prevent us from reaching the unknown. Sufis know that to some extent everyone, including themselves, have some mental prejudices. They believe “a person who does not know his deficiencies cannot be a wise man.” They are aware that wise and devout people should never give up their efforts to search and find themselves and their reality. At that point, they also become aware that reality could be relative and momentary. In short, a Sufi is always a learner no matter how much they have progressed on that path. According to Mevlana, “Humans evolved a lot to reach that point they are now, however there is still room for evolution and enlightenment beyond the existing perception, knowledge and understanding.” [a translated quote] Sufis never had a special effort to increase the number of their followers. They never aimed to form a religious community. One of the Sufi masters, Cami, was asked why Sufi masters do not train more students; he answered: “There are lots of people supposedly looking for reality; however, many of them are pursuing their own personal interests. There are fewer candidates who can really walk on the path of reality.” To be what we can be is only possible by knowing ourselves and finding the mysteries of existence one by one. A good mystic is patient. Like a Zen monk, he tries to evolve on the path of the guide without any hurry, but he is also aware that enlightenment cannot be reached with a limited mind. A disciple, ready for the inner journey, tends to that journey with their free will. They do not pretend to be like the others or obey others unconsciously. To be a disciple, there are four rules. A real disciple should be deliberate, contemplative, sincere in their efforts and humble. As we just mentioned the inner journey, we should emphasize that Gurdjieff explains this with the usage of higher and subtle energies. According to him, we are beyond our physical bodies; we have temporary and variable structures formed of subtle energies inline with our development level. Some people call this “essence.” We know that our physical bodies are real as we can feel and touch them; however, we forget that it changes constantly, develops and ages or we ignore it. Our knowledge, personality, beliefs and ego are also formations that come into existence due to outer influences. Consequently, we can realize a different reality each step taken towards our real essence; we can reach another level of awareness. The important thing here is to be on the path. Thanks to this, we can reach new levels of personal development and free ourselves of artificial structures. This is also the original theme and aim of all religions and belief systems.

Any person who begins to work on themselves can easily realize that their previous knowledge was insufficient and one-sided, their mind inadequate, and the ego artificial and faulty. Thereafter, one can begin to differentiate their personality from their real spirit. As they progress in their practices, they will observe, know and realize that they have spiritual, mental and astral structures together with their physical body. By being aware of other life energies, they will understand the meaning of life easily, and go beyond their physical senses and reach creative and connective energies. Meher Baba, one of the greatest Hindu Sufis, answered the question what’s God: “God is the infinite existence.” This is the concise expression of all mystics and Sufis. If we personalize God with our subjective mind, we grow apart from divinity. Although we experience psychological problems, dilemmas, sorrows visible and invisible, known or unknown traces of the physical universe and other universes, it means we are still mentally incongruent with this path if we are unable to enter the path of contributing to existence. That’s why the beliefs of great Zen masters, great mystics, Sufis and Christ require starting the journey of wisdom and evolution from the mind of beginning. Although there are some written guides and compilations of oral advice, these are mostly about behavior principles of new dervishes. Below are eight attitudes of dervishes which can be practiced before advanced exercises. To ensure proper training, learn about the other principles from the masters, guides or their assistants in charge of this cherished evolution. Say “yes” to existence, respecting all humans. For enlightenment, open your heart to the sun of love and light of this sun. Have a peaceful and graceful life, which suits the natural flow and the rhythm of it. Focus on the heart and contemplate. Use mantras of “Asma Allah al-Husna” (99 names of Allah). Get support from mentors: Benefit from their knowledge and experiences to avoid confusion, increase awareness and get rid of all stressful things through patience, and don’t get lost in the complexity of a material life. Give up your ego consciously and willingly, practice a new and sober life with patience and determination. Without the fear of “being” or “not being,” realize that existence and non-existence are ONE.

Definitely, reaching our higher self in this life is possible; however, first of all, we must work on it and progress on the path of knowing ourselves. The Wise 41

The Wise Soul

Öner Döşer

oner.doser@thewisemag.com

Can We

Changeif WeOur Destiny Change Our Characters? We may be creating traumatic events and diseases via our negative thoughts that we produce unconsciously. We weaken our bodies and damage ourselves. But how can we change that?

he research of modern scientists now accepts that our planet and the life forms on it are one single living organism together. If we want to advance to a higher state of existence, we should be in balance with Mother Nature just like the Native Americans. If we stand on the opposite side, we will be faced with a huge destruction as mentioned in holy books and in legends of ancient cultures. Perhaps, the reason for the polar shift may be that humans could not control their thoughts, and these thoughts caused negative actions. Must we face such results? If we are aware of our responsibilities and try to change some situations consciously during this period, we may have an effect on the energy matrix of the earth and change it from negative to positive. there is a beautiful phrase in modern astrology: “Our character is our destiny. If we can change our character, we can change our destiny.” Some researchers claim that if through group meditations we can direct the collective consciousness towards a right focus and create a harmonic wave, this wave can communicate with the planetary energies and magnetic fields of the planets. They also believe that through this interaction the collective consciousness can be affected positively, and all these collective intentions will help the shift in our consciousness to create positive results for our planet. Can this conscious harmony really have an effect on the negative global problems such as wars, social disorders and brutality? Can it bring an end to global warming? Can it affect the intensity of natural disasters such as earthquakes, tornados, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis? Can it help us to find a solution for problems like diseases, famine and poverty?

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According to the researchers of HeartMath Institute, a non-profit research organization established in 1991 to discover the potentials of the human heart, the answer is YES! The researchers explain how this will be achieved by putting our hearts in it, and they say that such groups of people can change the planetary energy fields to affect the collective consciousness. The researchers from GCI Research Center also believe that we can increase our individual frequencies by meditations and using the brain of our hearts to balance and control our mental and emotional systems. We can increase our energy to the creative possibilities and benefits level which can reach us through the next solar activity cycle. (To read more detailed information about this research, visit www.hearthmath.org.) Can these findings be true? Why not? If we can attune our hearts with love, tenderness and appreciation, consciously perhaps, we can create a good wave that helps us to overcome existing waves of planetary stress, disharmony and conflict. Thus, the shift in consciousness can be achieved more easily, and negative energy can be transformed into positive. As a result, we can make our world an ideal place to live, and we can change our destiny. A paragraph from the book What the Bleep Do We Know!? explains it clearly: “The consciousness is the most important thing; energy and substance are produced by our consciousness. If we can change our minds about who we are, we can perceive ourselves as beings who create our own physical realities and contribute to this experience in a creative way, then we can see our world differently and create it.”

Holographic Universe Information received from psychics of the near past shows us that the future is present in Akashic Records, and we can make changes through our individual efforts. Any conscious effort can change the direction of events or postpone them. By controlling our thoughts and visions in a positive way, we can change events positively or we can lower negative effects to help us better shape our future. The basic philosophy of the hologram concept is that each small piece includes the knowledge of the whole and that everything is linked to each other. Let’s explain it with an example. Think of a picture of an apple and that we use small mosaic pieces to form this picture on which the same apple image exists. To understand the big picture, it is enough for us just to look at one of these pieces. The hologram model is also seen in the proposition of the ancients: “As above, so below.” Everything in cosmos is a part of the whole and cannot be separated. Each part has the knowledge of the whole. Concepts like present, past and future are determined in the hologram which makes the whole, while the part just “One.” Their frame is set. If we delete one of the apple images on the mosaic and draw a flower instead, this does not change the whole image. However, if a certain amount of apple mosaic decides to change into flower mosaics when the critical majority is sustained, then the picture does not look like an apple, but it transforms into a flower picture.

“There is an interaction between the individuals, in line with their thoughts and actions and within the framework of spiritual laws.” Edgar Cayce This shows us that our future is shaped by the decision of the collective consciousness. As the human is given free will, the details of his life are not determined exactly. Azizüddin Nesefi explains this in his book The Human in Sufism: When the cosmos and stars are the book of Allah, when everything from the past, now and future is written in the book of Allah and when your pen dries, everything in the book of Allah will be apparent in this realm. However the judgments that are written in cosmos and stars are not small decisions but big ones. The things that become apparent on earth are the results of these big decisions. That’s why, there is something called free will. If we want to achieve something or if we want to get rid of something then we must work and make an effort for that. If small decisions were written in the cosmos and stars, we would not have any choice and all our efforts would be in vain. The future is shaped according to our choices and our way of living. The human has the right to choose a path on his journey, and by choosing a certain path, he also chooses to experience every possibility on that road. It is no doubt that if we change our path, the things we will experience and see will also change. It seems that time flows consciously, places change consciously, and our choices determine what we will live and what kind of situations we will face. As much as we strengthen our will power, we can rule our thoughts and shape our future consciously. If we cannot rule our thoughts, we move away from our real path towards our evolution, and we walk on a different path which does not fit our main plan. Due to the conflict between our desires and plans, we lose track and begin to be afraid and worry. We lose control of our lives. Consequently, we begin to move away from our mission on earth.

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The Wise Mystery

Hasan ‘Sonsuz’ Çeliktaş sonsuz@thewisemag.com

Is It Possible to Foresee the Future? “The girl you are going to marry will come to you upon reading your book… It looks like she is a graduate in International Relations… As for her name…. let me see… Maria? No…Not really! But you are going to marry a Turkish girl with a foreign name…”

n 2003, I had come to İzmir for the book signing of my first book and fell head over hills in love with the city. As I was walking along the streets of the city, I also had fallen in love with my friend’s suggestion, “Let’s go and visit Gül. We will both have a great day conversing with her, and if she is in the mood, she will tell our fortunes.”

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Upon hearing fortunetelling, I jumped at the idea and we set forth. After some conversation with the fortuneteller and finishing our Turkish coffee, we questioned her regarding her mood. She then told us to turn our cups upside down [with the coffee grounds inside]. On that day, I had no idea I was to meet a great friend and a seer who would fill me with great knowledge.

Gül’s Fortunetelling That day, dear Gül (Yerlikaya) told me many things—much about spiritual development and very valuable to me. Since she was an Anatolian spiritual healer, she was rich in such knowledge and could deliver it easily. But what shocked me the most was what she told me about the girl I would marry. In fact, two years after I met that blonde, curly-haired great lady [Gül], I was to visit her with my wife. My wife had sent me an email after she read my book, and she was also a university graduate of International Relations. What’s more, her name was Talia! I recall telling her [Gül]: “I understand you could foresee her reading my book, but how could you know her name? I did not even know such a name existed until I met her! Is it possible to foresee the future? Can the future be seen by so many fortunetelling methods? If so how do these people do it?”

Is It Possible to Foresee the Future? I will respond to the question you are dying to find out! Yes and no… Before I clarify this response, let me tell you how the “seers” obtain data about the future. I had a friend called Pırıl at the university, and she was very good at telling fortunes from a coffee cup. There was nothing she didn’t know, especially the past and the present. If truth be told, whenever she read my fortune, I would be flat on my face. I couldn’t even raise my head because I would be so tired. Later, when I started dealing with spiritual matters, I began to understand how Pırıl would do this. She had a telepathic ability and could obtain knowledge about you through your aura. And while doing this, the flow of energy would tire both of us. The seers (better than a fortuneteller in what they do), who are good at seeing the past and present, knowingly or not, use this ability—telepathy. A person’s aura not only contains information regarding the past and present but also information pertaining to the future. (I could explain all of this in detail, but for brevity’s sake, I’d rather not.) Seers are like decoders who read codes and solve them. Telepathic power, however, can only decipher information regarding the past and the present. When the subject is about the future, a new concept is added—precognition.

Which Future? When speaking of precognition and telepathy, it would be wrong to limit the context to fortunetelling. Pırıl was a telepathist. She was unaware of her power because her ability appeared once she began reading the coffee cup [coffee grounds] due to her concentration. But her perception regarding precognition was limited; hence, her failure to see the future better. As for Gül, she had both the telepathy and precognition. She was also in part a medium and the reason her visions were much better. But since both friends did it only for fun, they both had no intention of taking it further.

All along, I have encountered many an old lady as a fortune teller, many a soothsayer. Among those, the worst are the ones with low levels of consciousness. In fact, we meet a lot of such people and their abilities surface once they try to tell our fortune. At this point a question comes to mind. What if these people were to take up their abilities, would they be able to see the future clearly? And, the question I asked earlier: Is it possible to foresee the future? Yes, because it is possible to see scenes of the future. No, because these are not absolute; they are only the visions of a possible future. In short, the seer can obtain information regarding the most possible scenario depending on your psychological state and your choices at that moment, and tell you by decoding them. Conversely, there are many parameters that will affect your life, and any change among these parameters can change your future. Further, you can change your own future after hearing about the visions, consciously or subconsciously.

Is Fortunetelling Dangerous and Frightening? The answer to this question relies on the “seer,” their abilities, and their psychological state. In the experiences I have had with both Gül and Pırıl, I am aware that they were not telling fortunes but rather having a psychic experience while merely holding a coffee cup. All along, I have encountered many an old lady as a fortune teller, many a soothsayer. Among those, the worst are the ones with low levels of consciousness. They look at the cup with certainty and give exact dates and happenings: “In a short while you will buy a car.” “I see the evil eye! Watch out!”

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“Someone close to you will offer you a great present. You might at first perceive it negatively, but don’t disturb yourself. Try to see the present.” The seer will do so in a sensitive way because in the spiritual dimension there is no “evil. ” There are only “experiences” and “gifts” that spirits present to each other, despite the fact that they may be viewed as problems to you in the natural flow of life. At this point I would advise you not to consult with such fortunetellers. I would also advise you to stay away especially from those that foretell negative situations. The fortunes people tell usually reflect their state of mind. I always ask my jolly friends to tell my fortune; I stay away from gloomy people.

Where May We Find True Seers? I am sure the following question is on your mind: Okay, dear Hasan! You told us to stay away from these [negative] fortunetellers, so how do we find true seers? I really wonder about my future? You can reach these people by word-of-mouth only. Of course, this does not mean every person spoken of highly is a seer. “Hey my neighbors went to someone the other day. Oh, how she knows everything! So, a highly spoken of fortuneteller is not the one you are looking for. An example is what we experienced. Someone advised my wife to see that fortuneteller. My wife was pregnant and we went. After the fortune was told, my wife was almost in a coma. She told her, “You are going to be so sick you won’t be able to even leave the bed!” They look at the shapes of the residue in your coffee cup, relate them to shapes, and tell your fortune adding values of their societal culture. A camel means abundance because it brings to mind the richness of the camel caravan. A snake is an enemy because they relate it to the evil snake in the Adam and Eve story. To see a man shows attaining ones goal. This is, of course, related to the place given to men in the patriarchal society. In fact, what these people do is interpret the subconscious of the community. In fortunetelling of this type, many a bad happenings and unlucky events are told. This, in fact, is dangerous because it tends to direct the person. In other words, by believing the teller, you can create the future she told you. In the societal subconscious, we are all unaware of the fact that we create our future with every word spoken and every thought we believe. When a fortuneteller tells you someone evil in your household is trying to harm you, you automatically start thinking about which person and end up in paranoia. However, a spiritually-developed seer would not use these words. Even if they see this type of energy, they would first balance it within their self and then relate it to you, such as

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I hadn’t liked the fortuneteller’s energy! Later, we learned that she had problems with her husband and told a fortune with that state of mind and reflected all her negative thoughts to us. So, I told my wife not to worry and not to pay any heed. And in fact, not only did my wife not go to bed, but she went shopping and had fun the day before she delivered. If we are to go back to the question of how to find them, life will present them to you. You don’t need to look for them. To summarize, we can say stay away from fortunetellers. Don’t let people near you only to fill you with negative energy! If however, you think you found a true seer, first ask your soul about what you have been told. Perfect, if she is telling you things that will guide you in your life. In the meantime, of course, your life journey does not necessarily need that someone. What will be lived will be lived. I think the presence of such a seer in your life might help you be more aware and more careful. Besides, something that Şanal Gülseli said has affected me much: “If you want to know your future, then write on a piece of paper what you want to happen in your life and read it every day. You will see them realized.” Whether you try to foresee your future or let everything flow or try to create your own future, the choice is yours. Whatever you choose, I hope you choose that which will be the best for you.

The Wise Soul

Burçe Boşnak

burce.bosnak@thewisemag.com

AConstant Gravity To Change

ave you ever noticed your brain’s tendency to focus, fixate and ruminate over the negative? Then with that same audacity, your brain negates or places less emphasis on the positive things working in your life. Your brain is wired towards a bias for negativity. Negative emotions, news and facial expressions tell our brain: Warning there is danger or harm ahead that you need to pay attention to. The price to pay for avoiding the negative is much larger than the price one might pay for avoiding the positive. Say you submit a piece of writing to a yoga magazine, and they respond to your submission with “Good job. Please use the spellcheck feature next time since there were a few spelling errors.” What are you likely to fixate on? The feedback that the content was good or the typos? Another way to think about this is that in some ways the default setting of our brain is negative. When left to its own devices, your mind will chatter about all the things not working in your life, all the things you need to get done or how you don’t measure up. Think about it! When was the last time you were up all night, unable to fall asleep, ruminating about all the things going right in your life?

Chances are it’s been quite a while, if ever. This means that if you want to experience more positivity or happiness, you need to do something. That “something” will vary depending on the situation. And if you don’t do something different, your brain will default towards neutral or negative. For example, adaptation is a well-researched theory in psychology. We adapt to the things in our lives... You buy a new yoga mat (top of the line) and for the first few months, you are in love with it. You feel that your practice is so much better because of your new mat. You show it off to your yogi friends; they are excited for you. After a year or two, your level of happiness decreases. You’re done with the mat; you need a new one. You think it’s too old or you no longer like the color. If you don’t do something different—like savoring your experience on your yoga mat and expressing gratitude for it—your brain defaults to taking it for granted. So next time, if you find your brain swirling from one negative thought, judgment or worry to another, recognize that tendency to be both normal and controllable. Be aware of your thoughts: They are very powerful!

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The Wise Life

Dostcan Deniz

dostcan.deniz@thewisemag.com

The Silence of Unsatisfied Needs Stop what you are doing now. Just stop for a while. Listen to your body, your feelings and your thoughts for a moment. They are telling you something; do you hear them? For example, you may feel that your mouth is dry. This is the way your body informs you about its need for water. Okay. Did you know that you were thirsty before I told you to listen to your body? No, you realized it after I asked. I see. It means you unconsciously ignore the signals of your body. So, why do you wait? Do you wait to finish this article? Okay, I promise this article will not destroy itself while you satisfy your thirst. This is not so critical a mission. This is not â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mission Impossible.â&#x20AC;? Postponing your needs will not bring you any extra benefit. Now I am waiting; go and drink something.

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Part 1: The Silence of Unsatisfied Needs What did you drink to quench your thirst? Did you drink water or something else? Coke? Fruit juice? Tea or coffee? But you were thirsty, right? Why didn’t you drink water? Is this what you always do? Do you always replace your need for water with something else? I wanted you to listen to your body; however, I did not only ask about your physical needs. Your body hides your emotions; so if you can listen to your body and be present in your body for a few minutes each day, you will get lots of precious information. Track your emotions formed from your neck to your legs; be willing to see them and brave enough to face them. Then, you will be able to know yourself better than before.

Dear Paradox Simple, isn’t it? But sometimes the simplest things are not that easy to do. Just like life itself. In fact, everything is so simple; from the moment we are born, our needs determine our next steps. Like other living things on our planet, if we only go after our needs and only try to satisfy them, everything would be easier! For example, oxygen is one of our fundamental needs, but we never wake up in the morning with a hurry to breathe and store oxygen. We are not afraid of being without oxygen. If someone comes and says, “Do you know you need oxygen?” We do not say, “Of course, I do not need it.” No one told me, “Dost, I feel uncomfortable because I am badly in need of oxygen.”

Why do you think it is risky to confess these needs? Because if we confess, we prove that we have unsatisfied needs which control us, and even if we ignore them, they drag us from one conflict to another, from one job to another, from one relationship to another. As long as we ignore them, they become more powerful and begin to shout at us, “Hey, look at me, I am here!” Moreover, when you accept that you have some needs, then you must undertake the responsibility of satisfying them. For example, if you accept your need for approval by others and position this need as a fundamental motivator for all of your relationships, life path and career, you will have to accept something else. You cannot achieve satisfaction of your ignored needs with your traditional methods!

Who Has Control? Let’s assume that you discovered your needs one by one with the help of a friend, a life coach or a therapist. You will have the chance to evaluate things from a different point of view and be assured the fog in your life will dissolve; you will see. You will suddenly realize that you are not a leaf drifting from one place to the other, but a human being who can act predictable according to your needs and make your own choices and act accordingly.

Emotions? Where Are They?

Are these needs bad? I don’t think so. Are they good? I don’t know. But the fact is “these needs” are here and now. Judging and labeling them as bad or good will bring no benefit and may give serious damage in turn. Such judgments guided us behind the scenes for a long time, didn’t they? And they will do the same unless they are satisfied.

When someone questions our emotional needs, we feel as if faced with a monster. Yes, our bodies tell us everything that we need to know, but who is so brave as to listen to them? Not only our needs, but who is ready to face the feelings?

If we assess our needs and their effects, everything will change. If your only life purpose was to meet these needs, then it means you do not have control over your life. Perhaps, you do not prefer to live in that way, but this is the choice of your needs.

As in the above example, we do not realize our needs; we ignore them. If they come to the surface accidentally, we only react. If they shout so loud that we cannot avoid hearing them, we do everything to take no interest and make lots of excuses. When we finally take action, we try to satisfy them with other things not really needed.

When you assess your needs and own them, you will get control of your life and set up some systems to satisfy them. You will then see that they are not the source of sorrow, but a huge power from which you derive benefit.

What are these needs that we fear so much? The need for acceptance, the need to control, the need for love, the need for approval, the need to be the center of attention, the need for freedom, the need for clarity, the need for trust, the need for success, the need for recognition, the need to be right, the need for compassion, the need for communication, the need for strength, the need of appreciation, the need to be needed…And many other needs that you can add to this list.

Part 2: The Return of Needs When we hear something about needs, nearly all of us immediately begin to defend ourselves. We do not want to depend on anyone or anything. We ignore and deny our needs as if they are contagious diseases or something that we should be ashamed of. When these needs come to the surface, we again try to find a way to forget them. Thus, our needs continue to live under a shadow and control us.

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I advise you to stop playing this game with your needs. Realize that if you always strive to satisfy your needs, you cannot get control over your own life. Whether we accept our needs or not, control over our life belongs to these needs. Most of us rebelled at some point in our life; we stopped wrestling with life and lived the way life came and left ourselves to the hidden needs. The result was not as we assumed, right? We were again in struggle with life and the cosmos; we did not love ourselves and continued to serve our hot tempers. Perhaps, resigning to life was resigning to the needs, what do you think?

May We Get Acquainted? If you let your needs openly represent themselves, they will not hurt you as they did earlier behind the scenes. Our needs are not bad on their own. If you always need to be the best or the winner and don’t name this need, you prove to be more competitive and undermine others. You’ll be hard on yourself when you are not the best, and as a result, you’ll question your own identity and become depressed. However, if you determine what you need and make peace with it, you begin to think how you can satisfy that need in the most creative and joyful way, and then begin to take action. Furthermore, the result will be more beneficial to others and satisfy you more than you had in mind. We should also realize another thing about our needs: Needs always come to the surface in bulk, not one-by-one. Sometimes there can be a fundamental need that motivates many other needs. At times, you may have conflicting needs as well. For example, I once had a need for freedom and one for success. Whenever I gave myself free time, I felt I was giving up success. So, what shall we do with these needs? Shall we meet them or just give up? It is impossible to give up things we do not already own. So the best way to meet our needs is to realize and accept them. I have a method called “No Need” program, and we try to discover four main needs out of 200 basic needs. Here’s a great step to meet these needs: Confess these needs, get on the same page with them, and do so without judging yourself and feeling guilty or helpless. I have more advice for you: Find a peaceful place where you will not be disturbed. Take a hot bath, listen to some meditative music, calm down and relax with the help of meditation or another method. Then take a paper and pen, look inside and ask yourself: What are my unsatisfied needs? Then listen for the answers. Listen to everything that comes to your mind, especially those you did not want to hear. Now write them down without making any judgment. Let out all feelings of anger, sadness, guilt, helplessness, sorrow and joy. Cry, if you want to. By revealing your needs, you will be able to declare your imprisoned and ignored emotions. At the same time, you will feel a real healing. Don’t worry! Your emotions cannot hurt you—at least not as much as they did when they were hidden within your body. Please write down all of your needs. Remember the cases when you gave a reaction, the events where you felt threatened, moments you lost control.

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Why did you react like that? What was the underlying need? If another person behaved in the same way, what would you think they needed? When you finish, review your list. Now, you will choose four needs among your list which have priority. Make comparisons and choose those that best suit you. If you felt grief when writing some specific needs, focus on them.

Focusing After determining your four basic needs, write them on a piece of paper and explain each of them. Why are they so important to you? When unsatisfied, how do they affect your life? When are they satisfied and when are they unsatisfied in your life? Ask questions like that and give answers. Please fill a full page. Be sure about the importance of these needs for you. Let your needs say what they want to tell you! After giving permission to our needs to voice themselves, we must love and accept them. The problem arises when we ignore them, like not having needs. Imagine a hungry baby. They will cry until full. Can you blame them?

We all have similar needs. You may have slept well and rested today, but this does not mean that you will not need to sleep again tomorrow, does it? If you allow yourself, knowing your needs can really be an impressive and life-changing experience. Don’t forget, your needs want to recover. The first step to achieve recovery is to reveal the needs and give them the chance to express what they are. Give them this chance!

Part 3: Individual Limits and Needs In the first step of our exercise, we wrote down our needs and chose four basic ones. Then we had an in-depth interview with them and began to know them better, accept and even to love them. To have needs is part of being human, and if we enjoy being human, we can have a high-quality life. This is a simple and cheap way to have a better life. Now, our next step is to set up the necessary structures and systems to satisfy our needs. Satisfying our needs means to get control of our lives and get a grip on them. It means hearing these needs and saying, “I hear you, but what you want from me will not do you or me any good” or trying to satisfy them directly. The first thing you need to satisfy your needs is individual limits in which you feel secure. If you cannot say “no” to others’ demands and actions which do not serve you well and conflict with your own needs, you can neither control your needs nor your life. In Limites [Spanish edition] which is one of the best books on that subject, Cloud and Townsend says: “Just like the fences around the houses which represent ownership, we need to determine mental, emotional and spiritual limits for ourselves to define our responsibilities.”

Saying “No” To have such operative limits is to declare to others what they can or cannot do to you. To absolutely meet your needs, you need limits to protect you. You must learn to say “no.”

The solution can be very simple. One of my clients had a need for responsibility and leadership which did not fit his current position and responsibilities at work. When he tried to satisfy this need outside of his workplace, he had to give up some hobbies. Trying to satisfy this need was about to create problems both at work and at home.

This can be difficult to achieve. Many people are unable to define limits for their lives; consequently, they cannot reach the results they desire. If we cannot define limits to others whose demands and actions hurt us, this can also be a result of our unsatisfied needs and may lead to a problem fed by it. Defining operative limits is an important, life-long process.

There is something, however, you should be aware of: Although you meant to use the word “no,” you have again faced all the negative situations you feared. If you define your limits and obey them, then sometimes violate your own limits; you will do better! This is one of the sweetest paradoxes of life. Believe me, this is where I came from! Although it seems difficult, your reward is very great!

I advise you to review your individual limits and get some help if needed. Expect to get a reaction when you start to define and announce your limits. You will probably see very serious inner and outer reactions and resistance. So, if you have difficulty in defining your limits, I advise you to get some help.

Freedom Behind the Limits

Defining your limits demands obedience from these limits, the resistance you will face. This seems to be a long, difficult and frightening process, doesn’t it? Up to now, you were in a comfort zone—with or without limits. You also had some logical and valid reasons for having no limits. Perhaps, you feared being lonely, not accepted, losing love, being left, or maybe just losing “the good man/ woman” in you.

Try a new way for satisfying your needs from now on. Define your limits. Remember your four main needs and define three operative limits for each of them. What will people not be able to say or do to you? Will you say “no” when your limits are violated and have a chance to satisfy a specific need? Let’s give an example and assume I need to be successful in my career. If others do not respect my time management and interrupt me to satisfy their immediate needs, this can conflict with my need. I should refuse to respond to their demands except for some specified—and short—periods within the day.

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It was hard to believe, but now I can see that I satisfied many needs with one shot. The solution can require courage and sincerity. One of my clients had the courage to satisfy her need for love by talking about it with someone who loved her. She began to call her loved ones more often and express her love for them. Telling people what you need and asking for it may require some courage in the beginning. Conversely, I believe ignoring your needs is also bravado because we do not know when the bomb will explode and in what way it will take its damage.

When defining your limits, question if your weakened individual limits contribute to your unsatisfied needs. To whom or to what didn’t you say “no” and which need controls you? After determining three limits for your needs, now is time to apply these limits. As I mentioned before, defining individual limits is easy for some people; whereas, it is difficult for some others. If you are in the second group, you must work seriously hard on that topic.

Part 4: The Light at the End of the Tunnel Your unsatisfied needs are like unproductive lands widened due to no watering for a long time. If you give them enough water, they will reveal the hidden abundance in them. Perhaps the trees that will grow on these lands will form their own climate and bring rain; there will be no need to water them. Then, the trees will have a productive life within their own eco-system. The second step is to set up an automated irrigation system. Our goal is to set up this system once and let it work alone automatically. The only goal of this system is to bring solution to your need. The system you set up should satisfy your needs in an automated way! The purpose of this irrigation is to satisfy our egocentric needs so let’s call it Egocentric Automated Irrigation System (EAIS). SO, what is this EAIS? I have no idea! However, when I worked on “No Need” program with my clients, we found highly different and creative solutions; we set up many EAISs. At this stage, you will use all your creative energy and intent to persistently satisfy your needs. You will begin to have fun; you will give permission to yourself for fun. The solution can be very simple. One of my clients had a need for responsibility and leadership which did not fit his current position and responsibilities at work. When he tried to satisfy this need outside of his workplace, he had to give up some hobbies. Trying to satisfy this need was about to create problems both at work and at home. A miraculous chance knocked at his door, and he became the building manager. The residents in his building allowed him to step up and work out his needs while taking care of their needs. The solution can include more radical changes. For example, only after a major career shift could I satisfy my needs of freedom, feeling useful, helping others and achieving success. I quit my job which did not satisfy me and prevented me from using my abilities.

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You were afraid when you read all these, right? Perhaps you imagined yourself in the same situation as the above examples. Perhaps you thought that if you demanded love from others, it will lose its value. Who said so? If you do not express your needs and demand to satisfy them, then you will continuously complain, react and be unhappy. What are other frightening and annoying things about this process for you? Needing others and being dependent? I have some bad and some good news for you. The bad news: We are in need of each other for all our emotional needs. If you make peace with this reality and cooperate with others to mutually satisfy your needs, your life will become more balanced. The good news: Your needs want to be healed! As soon as they express themselves and as soon as they are accepted and satisfied, they disappear.

Individual Standards We have to take one more step to have a sound individual background. Increase your individual standards. High individual standards mean making our choices according to these high standards. Increasing your individual standards is important for satisfying our needs till the end. As soon as we create a satisfactory life, our needs are satisfied naturally, and then they disappear. Of course, first of all, you should choose three individual standards which will help you satisfy these four needs, and these same standards should be validated then. For example, if among your four main needs is to be loved, regardless of your individual standards, then you may need to have a positive inner dialog. You may want to stop judging people and love them unconditionally. You may want to spend a certain part of your time for the well-being of society.

Congratulations! Now there is only one step left. To celebrate! Yes, you did a good job and you should celebrate it! You were highly creative during the process of satisfying your needs, and now use this creativity for a nice celebration. This is a long and enjoyable process. The above mentioned principles are the fundamentals of my “No Need” program. During this process you should focus on a life which you can control and where needs do not rule you. Yes, this is a long and somewhat difficult process, but it is worth it, isn’t it?

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The Wise Life

Arzu PÄąnar Demirel

arzu.demirel@thewisemag.com

Becoming a Winner! But How? Do not bother to read this article if you are among the people who would rather indulge in negative actions and thoughts that make them go round in circles than to make progress through hard work, or if you are a putterer or cast down everyone.

Winners always have a positive manner in their speech. They are quite aware of the significance of and the truth in Gandhiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s words below: Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny. Winners are visionaries; they set their goals high and make action plans and strategies in advance to achieve these goals. They take actions in a timely fashion; they never postpone anything. They do not victimize themselves: They never pull themselves down, feel sorry for themselves or blame others. They are not stuck in the past. They learn from their mistakes and never judge themselves harshly and hurt their sense of self. And, they always keep going. Although they are assumed to be lucky, they do not miss but utilize opportunities. They are willing to take risks, and they are hard workers.

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Their sense of social responsibility improves. They would like to add value to society. The more you give, the more you get. Most important of all, they are not afraid. Even if they are, they are quite successful at keeping their fear under control. They claim full responsibility for their own destiny.

To Win and to Lose

Behavior patterns can either be useful or of no use. I have read about these patterns in books or observed and witnessed them in my colleagues’ attitudes, who are successful executives. This is what I would like to convey in this article. I hope what you are about to read may change your life. Most successful people exercise regularly and take it seriously. For example, there are many business professionals who say they wake up at 5 a.m. and jog in ice cold weather. Not only does such exercise instill discipline but also strengthens self-control and empowers as well.

Unfortunately, everything coexists with its opposite. That is, if there are winners there will also be losers. No matter how we define winning—on either a concrete or spiritual level—it is not possible for somebody to win all the time. Still, we can learn from our mistakes and our losses: It is our mistakes that gear us up for success. We usually notice successful businesspersons, players or artists when they are at their best. So, we think they are lucky and we are not. We assume life is playing hardball with us, but not with them. We never think that these people might be working day and night while we are sound asleep. Indeed, we know nothing about the price they had to pay. Somehow we ignore their past: We do not know what they have been through before they got there or how many times they have been defeated or how they handled situations. Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years for his fight against racism. For us, 27 years is just a numeric expression, something abstract. Seldom do we think of his condition or remember that he was still standing when he was let out.

Usually they get up early. They do not sleep much. They use time efficiently. Hence, they are timely.

Atatürk [founder of modern Turkey] was arrested at the age of 24 and at age 25 exiled. When he was 30, he was unemployed. At 38, the Minister of Defense discharged him. At the age of 39, he was sentenced to death. What do you think: Was he more of a winner or loser in all these years?

Regardless of their position, they are all life-long learners.

It is important to take life as it is with bad times and the good:

They cannot be manipulated easily by others.

Never give up on life.

They value people and their relationships with them. Still, they never waste time on negative people who may depress them or cast them down.

Seize opportunities.

They don’t talk out of turn.

Learn that everything may come and go.

They are focused and to the point. They steer their energy toward meeting goals.

Whatever you do, don’t lose focus!

Einstein says, “You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created.” They manage to think differently—on a different level. They seize opportunities, not the problem itself. He who establishes the right team wins, rather than he who does everything himself. They are ambitious. They do not give up easily. They are fighters.

Know when to step back or take it easy.

We shall go beyond the win-lose dilemma. It is important to keep in mind that both victory and defeat are for all people. To develop such an understanding, one must make compromises. In my opinion, the real winners should live through such phases; then, these people may realize everything is momentary, fragile and changeable. Power should be managed with modesty, dignity and tolerance. Otherwise, we would be a slave to money, title and power. A real winner is the one who is free. “The key to success in any field has nothing to do with talent. It’s simply practice, 10,000 hours of it.” –Malcolm Gladwell

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The Wise Life

Sibel Oltulu

sibel.oltulu@thewisemag.com

How to Grow Flowers

or many years, she has been reading books on floriculture without ignoring her friends’ kidding. While scanning the pages of these books, she was dreaming of having lots of flowers in her own garden one day. She achieved everything she wanted by reading; she found all the remedies from the books. If she wanted to have a garden full of colorful flowers, she first had to get sufficient information on that specific topic. If she had enough information, she could find success with everything. In the garden of her dream house, she would have flowers of every color: red, pink, orange, yellow…and a swing for two, just like the ones in the films. Sometimes, on hot summer nights, she would sit on the swing and watch the stars while leaning her head on the man’s shoulder with whom she would get old. Sometimes, she would fall asleep while reading her book, and perhaps one day she would read stories to her children on that swing.

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She did not want huge trees in her garden, but all the ground had to be covered with flowers. To achieve this, she had to know everything under the title of how to grow flowers. Since she learned everything from books, now her main references were books again. She read so many books that if she took an exam on floriculture, including questions like “What is the right time to plant jasmine?” or “How often should you give water to roses?” she would get the highest score. After reading books on that topic and assuming she knew everything about it, she went to a bazaar to buy some seeds. On her way home, she summarized all she knew to herself once again. What is the best time to sow them? How often should she give water to them? She remembered all she read from the books. Yes, she was good enough.

She did not yet have a house with a garden or a swing on its porch. For the time being, she was going to exercise by planting her flowers in pots. This was a kind of hands-on exam to test her knowledge.

looked at herself in the mirror, tidied her hair. No one would see her at that time of the morning, but she had to look fine. Afterwards, she went to the balcony.

She did her job diligently, as the books say. She did not make any mistakes; she sowed them just on time and watered regularly. Then there was nothing left to her. Since nature knows its timing, now she had to just wait.

She saw a branch growing from the soil. At the end of the branch, a small red bud quivered with excitement after spending too much time hiding in the pot. It was waiting for the correct time! Perhaps, the correct time was not written in the books, but sooner or later the time would come and this bud would open its petals joyously. When the correct time comes...

As she was sure she did everything written in the books, there was no reason for failure. The seeds would turn into flowers in a short time. Unfortunately, the sun did not show its smiling face. And sadly, she had to wait for a long, long period. She lost faith in her beloved books. Although she did exactly everything and applied all the rules described in these books, she did not succeed. She looked at other balconies; the flowers there had already blossomed. Surprisingly, she did not feel unhappy or think about where she had made a mistake. Success did not depend on doing only the right things. Other conditions should also be suitable: Everything should work according to lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inner clock, and everything should be for the sake of everyone. One day, she woke up early in the morning as if someone wanted her to get up. She carelessly put on her bathrobe and slippers. On her way to the balcony, she stopped by the bathroom door for a while and

Everything was not written in the books, but it was just like that. Everything has its correct timing, and whatever you do or how much you know about the process does not change the moment of existence of anything. Perhaps, the bright light of last nightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s full moon watered the soil, and now was the time for culmination; a flower decided to turn her face towards the sky. In other usual mornings, if she woke up that early, she would be angry and want to sleep even for five more minutes. However, today she wanted to inhale this fresh air before her daily routine. She went to the bathroom and combed her hair. Yes, she had to look fine, even though, no one would see her. She prepared a glass of tea for herself and sipped it watching her little pot in the coolness of this sunny morning. She thought she had to read more books hereafter.

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The Wise Life

Hakan Arabacıoğlu

hakan.arabacioglu@thewisemag.com

How to Climb a Tree I

get messages all the time from people who want to change some things in their lives and say “I don’t know where to start?” Fundamentally, coaching is not about giving answers but more about expanding one’s perspective by asking questions. It’s about someone finding their own answers. Nevertheless, I’ve listed below a few points to guide you and for your consideration:

“I won’t do it.” Instead of broadcasting the negative, take the first step by repeating phrases like “I am ready to climb the tree.” “I have the intention to climb the tree.” Thereafter, you move your focus towards doing—action.

Questions

Ask yourself, “What is the smallest step I could take to climb a tree?” Many answers would cross your mind, e.g., put on sneakers, choose a smaller tree.

Thinking starts with questions. Those who change their questions, also change their thoughts, actions and results. I give only two categories to these questions: the disempowering ones and the empowering ones. For instance, the question of “Why can’t I climb a tree; why can’t I do that?” reeks disempowerment; whereas, “How can I climb a tree, how can I do that?” empowers you. While the first question puts you in a vortex, the second question puts you in action and moves you out of your current situation. Asking questions towards your desired situation creates more benefits than trying to figure out the reasons.

Thoughts and Expressions “I would like to climb a tree, but I can’t.” Your expression in this sentence does not serve your desire. Namely, you cannot climb a tree by saying “I cannot climb”; saying this has no benefit for climbing a tree. Moreover, as if you are holding a megaphone in your hand, you are exclaiming to the whole universe and to all your cells,

The Smallest Steps

Focus No matter how many times you have tried, always keep your focus on “doing” even if you are not getting the results you are after. If you fail, you have just learned another way of how not to climb a tree! After your attempts you may ask yourself the following: In every attempt, have I tried to climb the tree via the same spot and in the same way? What have I learned from my experience? For the next time, what can I do differently?

Support If there are people who have already climbed that tree or a similar tree, you could get support from them. You could learn about how they climbed, what type of obstacles they encountered, and how they managed to overcome them. You could read this article one more time by replacing the example of “climbing a tree” with any type of subject in which you want success. One day, we went camping in a deserted place. Due to the impossibilities, we were saying, “We can’t do this.” One of my friends declared, “What are you talking about? Some people are riding to Mars in a special vehicle!” Whenever a person comes to me and says “I can’t do,” this remark about “Some people are riding to Mars” comes to my mind. Therefore, I get very surprised when I see people who want to climb a tree but are unable to do just that. As a last word: Reconsider whether you really want to climb the tree or not!

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The Wise Life

Aycan Bolazar

aycan.bolazar@thewisemag.com

Swings Within Life

ifteen years ago, I was in my early twenties. My ideas about life and existence were so sound, clear and stable that I wondered about the direction of the remainder of my life. I felt as if I had the answers for all questions, walked through all the paths and reached every destination that should be reached. I was full of love, empathy and good faith. As a constructive and resultoriented person, focusing on the moment, enjoying the path as much as reaching the end of that path was not theoretical rubbish but an internalized existence for me. When I faced great tragedies, lost a loved one in death or witnessed unbelievable injustice, I reacted, got angry, felt helpless and rebelled. Fortunately, it was a temporary response because I was only angry with that specific event or person, not my whole life, God or destiny. I never generalized things. When something bad happened, I did not expect it to continue as such.

Then slowly, I changed without realizing the change. I realized it later on. I am sure people around me realized it before I did because we grew apart and they left me. I also left some of them and found new friends on my path. This new “me” did not care about love and empathy: She focused on power and determination. Yes, I began to act impulsively, swept away all obstacles on my path and got rid of friends who contributed nothing to my life. I was a mother now! My single friends, whom I used to brainstorm and share opinions with on life and such, could not get accustomed to this new “me.” I had a baby; I had a career, and then the second baby arrived. I also had a cat and a dog, a busy professional life, business trips, additional weight—30 kilos—after two births. I was married to my closest friend; we used to shoot the breeze and like each other’s company.

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These were things that parents taught their children. Moreover, I was also raised with a great love for Atatürk [founder of the Republic of Turkey], just like many of my peers. Each year on November 10, we honor the memory of Atatürk. I used to cry for him, and if enemies were to attack our country [Turkey], I was ready to die if needed. Yes, this was what we were taught. Then I realized that I should take care of myself as much as I cared for others. I used to give my seat to others in public buses. As soon as I got into the bus, I looked for people to whom I could give my seat. If I drove to school, I would drive slowly by the bus stops to see if anyone needed a ride. Not just sometimes, always…without differentiating the people— women, men, the young and the old—without thinking if these people could be thieves or murderers. If anyone I offered a ride harmed me, I thought I would be a martyr for the sake of being a good person. I am not exaggerating!

Life goes on. For now, most of us think that we will find the answers to all of our questions; we will resolve our problems, progress and live a life full of good memories. After the birth of our babies, we found that we did not speak a word, yet napped on the sofa at the end of exhausting days. We tried to fix things a few times. We bought good wines and cheese to enjoy on our balcony. I began reading again. We bought a piano for our home, and after a long time, I started playing. Instead of working at the office for long hours, I tried to turn off my computer at 5 o’clock. Unfortunately, as mentioned, we tried to fix things a few times, but our relationship did not survive. We came up with lots of theories about how we could be successful in our marriage. To remember our earlier relationship, we watched old videos, looked at photos and met with old friends. I am not joking; we began to look for the very things we had lost. Then, I found something. I remembered how I perceived life when I was in my twenties. I saw how much I changed. Yes, evolution means progress; it never changes you for the worse, although, you can lose ground. I thought if I fully digested my point of view based on love, peace and empathy, I would not lose ground, and nothing would destabilize me. As a youngster I was programmed to love and forgive those who willingly harmed me and not to feel hostile toward anyone. Like Christ pleading mercy for a Nazarene, I thought devoting myself to others was a good thing. Early in my childhood, I was told to be a “good person.” Yes, being a good person was something like that: never antagonistic toward anyone, shared instead of being selfish and always full of love.

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I was not a fool, and I was not a romantic person. I do not remember what I used to tell people about such attitudes. What I see now is that when we were small we were told to be warmhearted. Perhaps, this was how they were also taught. In time, some became bad people, but I was not like them. I was the best and the smartest student in my class; I should have been the best person in the world!” Ha, what an ambition! All these things held a lot of meaning and seriousness for me. I used to believe in being a good person. Even if everyone in the world was wrong and I was the only right one, I should have been loyal to all the things I believed to be right, even if I knew this would not change the world. These were the selected rights. There were also some unselected rights, like the ones coming from my inner self. My instincts would say nothing about what is right, but if they perceived something wrong, they would warn me loudly. The liars, the betrayers and the malevolent people would make me sick. I used to believe our choices might change in time, yet our essence would not. For example, I never gave up loving animals. What a victory! After making a lot of effort, I realized I had only two main characteristics: I love animals and enjoy helping people. Kemalism [Ataturk’s principles for Turkey], being a hippy and a fondness for spiritual rubbish were totally my choices because I found these things reasonable at the time. Reasonable? What is that? Our reasons for making certain choices may change, so how can we look for stable reasonable things? For example, when you are an idealist as a university student, you may be willing to die for your country. Then when you become a mother, you will betray the secrets of the government if your child is in danger. Let’s not get into being a mother right now. You forget all your principles when you have your own children. As I said before, I love animals but if an animal hurts my child, I will kill it without any hesitation. Being a mother is a strange thing; you don’t make choices; you just act spontaneously as the person you are at your core.

While I was struggling to find out who I was at my core, what happened to me and how I wanted to be, I suddenly realized one thing: I was just going with the flow, swinging one way and then another. When I was in my twenties, I took the pendulum to the max and mounted it on a love axis then released it. Again, I was thrown into the air and found myself in a dilemma between home and work. Then, I reached a turning point and stagnated for a while. Now again, I am swinging towards another direction. This pendulum metaphor is a fine one, but I am not swinging back to my twenties. My direction has changed into a new direction. Now the line between the good and the bad is not as sharp for me. I listen to my instincts better instead of strict principles, and I evaluate every situation as it is instead of within a frame of rules. I am more spontaneous, and as you see, this is a bona fide direction yet again. Life goes on. For now, most of us think that we will find the answers to all of our questions; we will resolve our problems, progress and live a life full of good memories. At least, I do. With the comfort of this belief, I postpone some of the things I want to do. Sometimes, I watch a traumatic film or witness a death around me. Once again, I confirm that life turns on a dime. Sometimes, I want to scream “Carpe Diem” but I postpone this too. I postpone being a better person. Whatever it means. I continuously postpone—learning Italian, playing Moonlight Sonata as I once did, quit smoking, lose weight…I imagine how beautiful it would be if I did all the things I wanted to. I am satisfied with this imagination, and I lose all my motivation to realize any or all of them. Yes, life goes on. I continually remind myself that life does go on “for now” and ask myself if I really wanted to do the things I always postpone. When we postpone these things, we believe life grows longer and feel hopeful. Conversely, some of these things lose their meaning without any notice. For example, I want to begin reading Anna Karenina from the page where I left off. I want to think I want to do this, yet I don’t really want to. It has been nearly 20 years that I read the first half of the book; in the meanwhile I watched the movie instead. Should I obey my word? Should I really finish reading this book? Should I keep my promise of 20 years ago? While life goes on, I also postpone writing. Sometimes I try to write, but after reading what I wrote, I’m not pleased; however, I like my writings from 15-20 years ago. What has changed since then? I used to write for myself before; then I began writing for people I do not even know. Consequently, I am unable to be that intimate. I try hard to be well understood, but this makes my work boring. Life goes on. For now, I feel frightened when I remember that it will end one day. I am afraid of death, both for my own and my loved ones. Strange, but I feel my death may be prevented because I cannot imagine what it is like “to be” or “not to be.” This is a kind of immortality belief; my husband believes the same, and I like thinking in that way. I know the meaning of heaven: I rest on the carpet in my living room while my youngest sits on my neck and the oldest on my belly. They shout and jump all over me. My youngest laughs and I feel her spit on my face. The older one hugs her. My husband looks and smiles at us, lifting his head from the computer screen.

Sometimes, I want to scream “Carpe Diem” but I postpone this too. I postpone being a better person. Whatever it means. I continuously postpone—learning Italian, playing Moonlight Sonata as I once did, quit smoking, lose weight… He wants to say something, but he gives up which I can understand from his face. Our dog, Lokum, wags his tail and wanders around us. I feel tired after a busy working day. I suddenly visit an uncertain future and briefly touch the moment of my death. I paste this memory to that moment. I do not know when or at what age death will come, but I know this should be my last memory—my children jumping on me with joy. I imagine that I distill all the ideas about life. When I look at the thing that came into being, it reminds me of only one word—innocence. I give an ear to the muttering voice. It asks, “Why do I exist?” I remember lots of explanations, theories and ideas about existence, so I whisper, “Who knows?” If we knew the reason of our existence, would this journey be more fun?

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The Wise Life

Aycan Aşkım Saroğlu

aycan.saroglu@thewisemag.com

The Spiritual Anatomy of Losing Weight This is the story of a woman saying goodbye to her weights and making peace with her body who tried out all types of diets but could not achieve to have a stable weight before.

eing thin or fat may be a relative concept but I do not think that the spirit could be happy in a deformed body. Of course some people may contradict but let me say “I was not happy”. Like the majority of the women, I had a strong desire to have a well shaped body and make shopping without hiding myself. On the other hand, I sometimes could not cope with my feelings and overeat. For nearly forty years, there were two women in me who continuously fought with each other. One of these women would want to eat eggs with sausages in the middle of the night and the other would hope to wear mini skirts and high-heeled shoes. Sometimes one of them would win the fight and say goodbye to sausages, pasta, rice, chocolate and cakes and then walk on high-heeled shoes with pride. However, the other would always wait at the corner insidiously and when the time comes, conquer the other. The high-heeled one was the winner in summers, and the obese one was in change in winters. Throughout many years, these two enemy souls had a fight with in the same body. Sometimes one of them, sometimes the other was the winner however my spirit had suffered always. One of them had the joy of being adored, flattered and complimented for her feminity while the other looked for the happiness in the serotonin within the chocolates. A miserable body accompanied my bewildered soul and when I was 40 the bells began to ring. My body was deformed, my metabolism was about to stop and the cost of this was so high: Hypothyroid.

Alarm Rings Now the flirtiest woman of the summers who wear high-heeled shoes was gone and I could not lose even one pound. I went to doctor and returned with a diagnosis: Because of hypothyroid, that means because of the collapse of my endocrine system my metabolism was so slow. I already had a tendency to put on weight easily and now by this disease the two women in my body made peace and integrated. I had to make peace with my obesity; this was my only option. I did so… on the other hand, I began to think why I had this disease. In fact, it was not hard to find the reasons: malnutrition, a stagnant life, heavy stress, being sleepless till late hours, eating in the middle

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of the night and smoking cigarettes…Not enough? Add heavy depressions I had. Under such heavy conditions, it would be a miracle not to be ill! With panic, I wanted to take some actions but all were in vain. Both my body and my soul were tired of losing and gaining weight continuously with all these years. I even did not want to stir a peg!

The Change Begins… One of the milestones of my life was after a conversation I had with my cousin Esra. Esra is a teacher and she has to be energetic whole day, and she is. I asked her what her secret was. She told me about a book named “Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth”. She was exercising “Five Rites” that were mentioned in the book which were some Tibetan energy rejuvenation exercises. If she felt her tired at school, she was going to the gymnasium and performing these rites. Of course she was going back to her class with an increased energy! On the contrary, I was not energetic, I was depressed, fat and a smoker. In addition to all these, I was about to lose my job. Being unemployed meant more emotional trauma, being home and sitting all the time, eating more and putting on more weight. So, I took Esra’s advice and decided to read this book immediately. The book was magnificent which was telling the lives of priests who were living on the high hills of Tibet and promising a limitless youth only by performing five rites. For a woman who is at the edge of being forty, this was the magic word: Youth!

Each movement had to be repeated for twenty one times but I was so stiff that I could repeat each of them for five times only. I was sweating but surprisingly, I felt energetic and well. In the coming days, I wanted to perform these exercises each morning. As much as I exercised these rites, my hips became tight, my belly began to get smaller, my energy began to increase and I cigarettes were no longer tasty for me. There was a change in my soul. After some time, I quitted smoking and then lost some weight. Now I was performing Tibetan Yoga each day.

Meeting with Yoga

As mush as I practiced, I realized that old me was disappearing each day so I decided to advance in yoga. I was not slim yet but I was fit and energetic. People began to compliment me but still I had some extra pounds. One day, I came across a Yoga Center and I began going there twice a week.

With a regular and disciplined work out, my body began to get more flexible and young and my soul felt better. I felt as if I entered from a sunny door and began walking towards a new realm.

Meeting with Franz After attending to that Yoga Center for two years, I was fit enough but I was not a slim person however my soul was now ready for that. By the way, I was fascinated by the “gratitude”. After giving your thanks for the things in your life each day, you also give your thanks to the things that you want to have as if you already have them. So, I began saying: “Thanks for being healthy and having the ideal weight”. Yes, that was what I said; I never used the words “losing weight” because the word “lose” had some negative meaning. Now, I was feeling beautiful and I was pronouncing my thanks everyday. Then I met a man and my life fully changed. This was a miracle for me. His name was Franz Andrini and he was from Slovenia. He was practicing yoga since he was eighteen and he lived in India for ten years. He also knew Ayurveda and he was an expert on Slimming Yoga. He was also very cute with a sympathetic nature. He had the discipline of his German ancestors, an Italian appeal and the persuasiveness of Indian. When I first met him, I had a look at his face and I believed him. I also persuaded a friend of mine who was also a hypothyroid patient and we began practicing with Franz.

A Life without Milk First of all, Franz identified our Ayurvedic types: I was a kapha type. As kapha people have excess earth element in their bodies, they have a slow metabolism and they are slow-paced. Their metabolism does not run in the early mornings and after 6pm. Milk and dairy products, cold meals and meat are toxicant for them. When Franz told me not to consume cheese and milk, I asked him: “What about calcium?” His answer was: “These nutrients cannot be digested because of your extra pounds and calcium cannot be absorbed by your bones”. And I trusted him. The key feature of Franz’s program was breathing techniques because with the help of these techniques we were lighting a fire in our bodies and this fire helped our digestive system to work better. The nutrients were also easily burnt by the help of these techniques. These breaths helped our metabolism to be regular in addition to changing hunger and fullness patterns. Then you stop craving for eggs with sausages and prefer healthy foods. This was a real miracle because I really stopped craving for unhealthy foods and my energy began to increase. Of course, the whole program was not based on breathing techniques but it was the key. By practicing four basic breathing techniques, we were lighting a fire within the body and activating the Prana – the energy – there. Franz told me that I could stay slim during my lifetime by doing some certain exercises and of course I had to take care of my eating habits. Moreover, while doing yoga exercises you do not crave for pizza and pastry. I also began to arrange my eating times according to the needs of Kapha type; thanks God I said goodbye to eating at nights.

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Could you tell us what is the importance of nutrition during yoga classes? Nutrition is one of the most critical factors. I give customized diet program for each student. Some recipes are really customized. This system is based on cleaning the digestion system and ignition of the fire inside. At the beginning of the program, meat, fish and dry fruits are prohibited. Then these may only be consumed rarely avoiding the distortion of digestion. What do you think is the reason for being unhealthy? There are three reasons for that: toxins, mental stress and inappropriate lifestyle. Why are some people obese? Is it congenital or is it due to eating habits?

For a Kapha, the best time to eat is the noon when the Sun is at the top of the sky because Kaphaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fire element is scarce and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why they cannot burn the calories. When the Sun is at the top, by the help of this fire element their capacity to burn calories increase. A Kapha should never eat early in the mornings when their metabolisms run idle. Eating before 10:30am is not good for them.

Result Do you wonder how much weight I lost by the help of this process? Just 44 pounds! And now I had peace with my body.

Slimming Yoga with Franz Andrini What is the basis of your yoga teaching? Slimming is composed of four parts. These are breathing techniques, physical exercises, diet and lifestyle. You begin to see the best results after 60 days. Together with slimming yoga I am also interested in yoga therapy. Many diseases including ulcer, diabetes, back pains, cardiac problems, infertility and neural diseases may be healed by the help of this therapy. I have a traditional approach towards yoga and ayurveda. I also use some herbal medicines which I bring from India or prepared by myself. I also get some support from the mantras. In addition to all these, I use some practical exercises. In the advanced levels, we use advanced breathing techniques, tantric meditations and also advanced yoga asanas, yoga poses I mean. 64 The Wise

Some people have strong nature. We classify them as kapha (heavy). Other body types are Vata (air) and Pitta (fire). However, obesity is not linked with this strong body characteristic. It is of course linked with inappropriate eating habits and consuming some wrong food at wrong periods of time. Sugar, even white or brown, is very harmful and is one of the main things to blame. Other harmful foods are fats and processed foods. When we consume wrong foods, we lose our endurance for illnesses. When the intelligence of the body is confused and when the body is bombarded by harmful foods, the immune system of the body collapses, secretion system and liver functions are distorted. Our yoga program targets to regularize Prana -the life energy of the body- and to balance the three elements; Kapha, Vata and Pitta.

How much weight can be lost through this 60 days program? If the program is exercised for 2-3-4 times in a week, it is possible to lose 33 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 39 pounds. There are some people who lost more weight. The person should obey my directions fully. Some people may need more time because their capacity to inhale may be harmed or they may have some disabilities in their bodies. I also help them. Could you tell us about your online course? Toga Andrini Slimming Course in 60 days may be watched from www. zendle.com . What do you promise the students who attend your courses? I promise them a hard work. I also promise them I will be guiding them in their yoga practices as much as they do not lose interest.

Ayurveda Body Types Which fits you?

Suggestions

It is no doubt that a person only belongs to one specific body type. According to Ayurveda, everyone carries these three qualifications but to different extents. A person is classified in one of these types according to the weight of each. So some people are Kapha, some are Vata and some are Pitta. Each body type rules the different parts of the body. Each type is prone to certain diseases and each has separate nutrition systems. The imbalance of these result with several diseases. The aim of Ayurveda and yoga is to balance these three elements with in one body with the help of appropriate energy.

Ask yourself what you really want. How do you want your body to look? (Write down your intentions and read every morning.)

The Characteristics of Vata types • Thin • Restlessness • Irregular appetite and digestion • Disturbed sleep, insomnia • Jovial, lively and imaginative • Tendency to get excited, unstable moods • Quick mind and learning skills but forgetful • Tendency for anxiety • Tendency to constipation • Easily exhausted • Mental and physical energy bursts The Characteristics of Pitta types: • Medium built • Medium strenght and stamina • Entreprenous and likes challanges • Shrewd mind • Strong digestion, strong appetite • When under stress, easly become irritated and angry • Skin fair or reddish, often with freckles • Uncomfortable in sun or hot weather • Sharp, sarcastic, cutting speech • Cannot skip or wait for a meal • Blond, light brown or red hair

Then imagine that you have the body that you would like to have and the lifestyle you imagined. Write down these and read every morning. Can you breath correctly? Learn it. Do you know your body type? Ascertain your body type according to Ayurveda. Consult an expert if you need. Be ready to leave your sedentary lifestyle. A sedentary lifestyle does not only cause obesity but also is the reason for all the diseases and lowers the energy of your spirit. Accept that having a healthy weight is not a temporary thing but a lifestyle that should last throughout your whole life. (You will be limited for a period and you will not eat everything you want; you will only be able to make small escapade rarely, really rarely.) Begin yoga; yoga helps you to maintain the mind-body-spirit balance. When you do all these things, you will find a suitable method for yourself but I absolutely advice you Andrini yoga.

The Characteristics of Kapha types • Physically strong and with a sturdy, heavier build • Easygoing, relaxed, slow-paced • Slow to anger; strive to maintain harmony and peace in their surroundings • Soft and oily skin • Slower to learn, but outstanding long-term memory • Heavy and long sleep • Tendency to gain weight • Slow digestion, mild hunger • Forgiving, compassionate and faithful • Tend to be possessive and hold on to things

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The Wise Humor

Hasan ‘Sonsuz’ Çeliktaş sonsuz@thewisemag.com

How to Charm a Spiritual Woman

– Part 2

If you want to meet a spiritual woman, you need to make your demand to the highest authority of life. If you think that I am kidding and ask, “Should I ask it to the President, haha!” then my answer is “No, much higher please.” In short, the institution in charge of this meeting is “the cosmos” and before coming down to this planet, you sign an agreement with the cosmos. This agreement carries some fixed and some changeable articles. If you need to arrange these changeable articles, you have an agent named “the higher self” who takes care of this work on your behalf. He arranges meetings; he arranges what you will live, and sometimes, he asks you your preference. Amongst the fixed articles of your contract, if you make a comment such as: “This guy behaves like a woman-chaser, rabid dog on Earth every time he incarnates; thus, he shall never meet a spiritual woman or even a little bit of a spiritual mosquito in his lifetime.” Sorry mate, you will never have this magnificent, unbelievable, amazing, unforgettable chance in your life. However, if you were such an unlucky type, you would not come across this writing, would you? (Wow! That was a small lesson on destiny!) If one of the fixed articles of your contract says, “This man has the right to meet a spiritual woman. There is no harm in it.” Then you should get in contact with your agent. If your interest in spirituality is only at a “let’s have a popular thing to talk about” level, then the best thing you can do is to pray. I advise you to add phrases like “Please mend my way; please remind me who I am” to your prayers.

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If in your contract, there is a fixed article saying, “This man can have a reasonable amount of conversation with everyone interested in spirituality,” then you would not be the reader but the author of this article.

even write a book about. In short, you need to find some online groups that are interested in spiritual subjects. The girls in these groups are generally serious types, and in front of their computers, they feel stressed and stuck in deep thought.

To summarize, meeting this type of woman is not bound to your abilities and tactics but to the permission of the cosmos.

You do not understand much from their messages and emails of what they mean.

Oh Lord, Give Me Patience!

On the other hand, these women do not even understand the messages themselves but want men to figure it out. You can just accept what she says, but this time the response is “This guy does not listen to me.” But believe me, it is the same if you listen to her. These women are interesting life forms. If you listen to them carefully and do everything to understand them, they will tell you “You are my best friend, you are the only person who understands me, and I never want to lose you.” Not enough? You also have to listen to her problems with her boyfriends.

Okay, let’s say you arranged a meeting with your agent and he told you “Don’t bother bro, I will find you someone,” what will you do next? The best thing to do is to wait and see. You may ask, “How could I meet this woman if I only wait? Will she fall from the sky?” Yes, why not? When walking on the street, a girl can fall from a building and hit your head, and if you are still living, you may fall in love with her. This is how the cosmos works! This is called the Trickster. When this bastard puts his oar in your affairs, you can even marry the nurse who gives you an injection in the butt. (Did I say I am married to a nurse?) If you are a type of man we call a spiritual geek who always stays at home, yet in need of finding a spiritual woman and wants to help the universe in this business, let’s give you a few hints. The places where you can easily find this type of woman are the charities or spiritual groups. You can find more than you imagined in such places as if you would find a vineyard while searching for a tiny grape. Although there are some younger ladies, most of them are too old for you. However, my experience shows me that all these spiritual old ladies have very beautiful daughters! If these old ladies think well of you, you are a lucky man. Women look to other women’s opinions on how to feel about a man, but if positive comments come from their mother, you get bonus points. You can also find these spiritual women on the internet, but this is one of the most difficult ways because most men use these online connections to satisfy their manly desires. First of all, you need to know this online realm well. This is a complicated issue which I could

Sleepless in Seattle Mode On… The most important phase of online dialogues is to meet in real life. This is like a lucky charm, and I hope you are lucky enough. These girls always talk about the importance of the “soul” and “sharing”; although, they usually evaluate your physical appearance. Conversely, your intelligence and your ability to express yourself are the more important factors. Some friends think that if they make some silly jokes, they can charm these ladies, but they would be totally wrong. I heard it from many girls, “He was a fine man but he should not talk.” Men! Sorry, I can’t help you more if you are moron. You have to train yourself. If not, you should leave your desire for a spiritual girlfriend behind.

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And, if you tell the girl you’re interested in, “I want to discuss that book with you tomorrow when we meet,” you’ll get blown off just like before! When I was in high school, I was deeply in love with a girl and did not know what to talk about and suddenly said, “A war will break out if the Serbs occupy Macedonia.” The girl was so straightforward and told me, “You are so boring, Hasan.” Yes, I experienced this! I still feel the same embarrassment when I’m reminded of this memory. What is the logic of talking about the war in Macedonia with a girlfriend? This is why I never had a girlfriend during my high school years. There is a third option: A spiritual woman comes and finds you! And, as this girl will come into your life as a result of a contract, she will be a highly “special” one. If you are not a blockhead, you do not miss this opportunity, and you can have a very nice experience together. With a high potential to fall in love with such girls, you do not need to read such articles. But never forget: Each contract has a termination date and it is never “forever”!

Yes, Get to the Point! Okay, let’s get to the point: Do these girls go to bed with you or not? The answer is very simple: If you as a man know how to want it, all the women will go to bed with you! This can be a rude expression, but it is true. We, the men, want to scatter our seeds to as many females as we can due to our primitive drives. As these drives get civilized, we tend to have a monogamous life, just like a primitive society’s acceptance of monotheism as they evolve. If you are going towards a monogamous life, you do not mind if a woman goes to bed with you or not. And, in response, if you are civilized and evolved enough (on monogamy), it is not hard for you to go to bed with any woman. (I like the way the cosmos works.) On the other hand, the woman starts with “Who is the father of this baby?” After being more civilized, they evolve to a monogamous life and begin to think how special I am. So, if you show them that they are special, you are luckier. But the way to show this is not to buy presents and utter beautiful but cliché words. No, first of all, you have to be a “special” person. If you are an average one, just try to trap a girl with an IQ of 80 or 90. Of course, she will also demand to be “special” but at least she will have lower standards.

To me, you should take your chance with other girls; the spiritual ones won’t give you the time of day, sorry! By the way, there are other extreme types: They try to prove how intelligent they are by talking about the Stephen Hawking theories and want to open discussion with similar girls. Or if the girl is also a psychopath, they talk for long hours, and if there are flowers on the table, they all die. These conversations really S-UC-K!

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There is another point to keep in mind: Sexuality is not only for the men; the women also have the same needs and willing as much as we are. The only difference is that they hide these needs because of their nature. Moreover, sexuality is not a bad thing. If you believe it is something to feel ashamed of, and utter sentences like “I do not have a bad intention,” the women with high IQs will underrate you. What she really thinks is “Boy, you are too weak for this girl. I need a real man who is at peace with himself; I cannot deal with feelings of guilt, you oversexed idiot!” Further, she just sends you away with some “kind” words. If she needs to be more straightforward, she also dishes out that. But no women find straightforward expressions sexy, like “Come on babe, let’s do it.” The best thing to do is to accept the situation and be honest with yourself and don’t indulge in self-denial. The rest will come naturally.

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The Wise Lİfe

Orkun Bozkurt

orkun.bozkurt@thewisemag.com

My Life on Wheels Cypriot author, poet and basketball player, Orkun Bozkurt, gives an inspiring true account of his life story, in his own words.

was only a child when my parents started seeking remedy for my situation by visiting a great many doctors. They were shocked by the answers they received. The doctors told them that their child was a “cripple” [term used during that time], and if they wanted to keep him alive, they had to consider a number of difficult and critical operations. The first two operations were hip replacement surgeries. Next, another critical operation—a platinum rod implant in my spine—bent toward my rib cage caused trouble for my heart and lungs. Still, it was not over. After my body did not accept the platinum rod implant, I had a subsequent surgery for them to fix the distorted part of my spine.

Meanwhile, I was growing up and discovering myself. After the surgeries, I had to spend months in the hospital to recover. When I was discharged from the hospital, I had to live in plaster casts. That was more or less how I spent the days in my childhood. In short, after all these surgeries, I was a child with a physical disability condemned to a wheelchair. Two paths lay before me [at the time]: Either my parents would be ashamed of me, and like most parents hide me from society leaving me to live in isolation, or they would choose the more difficult but right way and try to raise me to become an individual, even though no one or even an institution would give them consent to do so. For the latter choice, I would then be a lucky “cripple” [term used at that time]. My parents chose the more difficult but right way. They raised a boy who became an award-winning author and poet of Turkish Cypriot Literature; an Olympic player who was part of a pioneer team and the national team; a senior executive in various NGO’s who works for social development of the society, and works as an editor on two periodicals. My parents were the greatest opportunity I had in my life; yet, they only lent this chance to me. I would be most upset if I had not returned their favor.

A Student on Wheels When I look back, I realize that against all those painful and difficult times, I still had a good childhood. Despite all those surgeries and treatments, I lived my childhood like a normal child rather than someone with a physical disability. I was a lively, social person.

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The laboratories were on the third floor: My challenge was to either skip classes or take the risk and climb up and down the stairs in a few minutes with the help of my friends. My friends did not let me skip classes. Each time, five or six of them grabbed my wheelchair and carried me to the third floor and back down again. I do not even remember how many times I almost fell down. I had a permit to not take gym classes. During gym classes and recess, I used to stay in the classroom. It was not easy for me. Together with an adolescent’s psychology, I was a shy, introverted boy. I used to pretend I did not care; I now recall that was the hardest of all. High school was so problematic that I even considered not attending a university. Our school was a three-story building; whereas, there would be tens of buildings on the campus. How was I supposed to deal with the classes and the problems of being physically disabled at the same time? Would it be worth it? Had I known it then, I would have definitely done the contrary. But, I was such a youngster! Although my older brother suggested he would support me during higher education, he admitted he would probably fail his classes; nevertheless, he would not leave me alone there. Thus, my education ended there because already there were two people [my parents] who devoted their lives to me. I could not bear the third one.

A True Friendship on Wheelchair There are some milestones in people’s life where the course of your life changes. My milestone was 5 September 1992. During those days I was such an introvert that I was sick of living. I owned a small stationery shop and my life was restricted to home and work. Every once in a while I went to the theater, that was all.

I do not even remember how many times I almost fell down. I had a permit to not take gym classes. During gym classes and recess, I used to stay in the classroom. It was not easy for me. In primary school I participated in many social activities; most of the time I was at the forefront. In school during recess, I remember being a goalkeeper and jumping from my chair to catch the ball. Even when my body was cast in plaster, I still participated in the game with my wheelchair and tried to score goals with my head, with respect to exceptional rules. I came across barriers for the very first time in second grade. I was to tackle these barriers for the rest of my life. They were both abstract and concrete. The very first barrier that came along was architectural restrictions. It was then I had realized that architectural barriers may affect my life. There I was a child with a mobility disability condemned to a wheelchair; yet, people in charge never thought in their minds that a physically-disabled child would also like to attend school. Thanks to my father, they built the ramps that helped me access my classroom. He made the attempts and he paid for it. Yet, it was not enough. Yes, I was able to access my classroom, but still I could not go the restroom. For all of those six years, I never once saw the doors to the restrooms, not even once. Later on, architectural barriers never left me any peace.

It was those days when I met my true friend, Mustafa Çelik, who also lived with a mobility disability. He was the one who taught me how to survive in a wheelchair. He used to call himself a paralytic, but in my opinion, he was tougher than the toughest person. I must admit: Before I met him, I did not have any idea about how someone’s life would be if physically disabled. I was a very lively child; rather than sitting in a wheelchair, I preferred to crawl on the floor. This meant that ‘barriers’ did not come my way very often. Back then, I used to see the wheelchair as a toy to climb up and down on. I faced my first barriers in early adolescence—environmental. Still, I had no clue about how a mobility-disabled life would be since I had always had somebody around to help me. Yet, even a small number of problems were enough to make me isolate myself from society. Mustafa Çelik was my teacher, my brother, my father, my friend. He taught me how to stand up for myself and be proud of who I am, even though, I remain in a wheelchair. He taught me how to struggle and survive. With this awareness, I realized how my family protected me without my knowing it. Yet, with the help of my true friend, I broke free from it. It was not easy to do so. My parents did not want to let go. They still do not, but I never blamed them. They, too, were also all alone throughout the whole process. If there is someone to blame, then it is the people who left them alone.

What Is It Like to Live in a Wheelchair? I was supposed to tell you about my life in a wheelchair. Indeed, it is not easy to tell. It can only be learned by experience. Suppose that I would like to take a walk outside.

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First, I would be confronted with the pavement [or sidewalks]. I would either have to find an accessible slope or risk my life to carry on in the traffic. If I was lucky enough to find one, I could hardly use it because it was never of the appropriate height or angle—thanks to the thoughtful road engineer! Usually, I used my hands or asked for other people’s help. Don’t despair! I have been telling you about the positive side of this story, which quite often I don’t find one. Let’s keep going. After a while the pavement ended, but I was lucky enough to find a sloping curb. Still, I cannot access the road because there would always be a car parked right in front of the curb. Usually, the owner would not be around; yet, if I ever found the driver, he would tell me that he parked his car just for two minutes. It didn’t matter to him that I had been waiting for him more than ten minutes! Indeed, that person is not even aware that the accessible curb existed. He is not aware that the sloping curb is there for the physically disabled, an elderly person, a mother with a stroller or even for his own parents’ or wife’s benefit. Recently, I was out to lunch with some friends. While we were about to leave the restaurant, we ran into a friend, who invited us to his place to chat over coffee. He lived on the fourth floor, but there was no elevator available. We accepted his offer with pleasure but wished we hadn’t. True, there was an elevator in the apartment. Unfortunately, one had to climb fifteen steps to reach it. I have had so many similar examples in my life. This is just the beginning, only the tip of the iceberg.

It Is a Journey in a Wheelchair! We live and we die. That is it. Yet, the whole process is an art and human beings are artists. Some artists have a good life and some do not. You may call it destiny, luck or something else. The way you live does not necessarily mean that you are a good or bad artist. All artists survive in different conditions, and the most they make out of it, the better they will live. My conditions required struggle then and still do. It is a fight and I keep fighting. My true friend, Mustafa Çelik, always says, “Our fight is to let us be recognized by our personality, not by our disability.” I am physically disabled and I live my life on wheels. It is true that being in this state, I have certain restrictions in terms of movement. Still, there are many ways to overcome them. A story I like to tell is about a boy who dreamed of becoming a successful martial artist. Unfortunately, he had a car crash and lost one arm. His parents hired a personal tutor for him. At the first lesson, the master showed him some moves that could be done with a single arm. The boy started practicing. Weeks later, the tutor was still teaching him the same moves, in spite of the boy’s objections. The boy trained so long on that particular movement that he was almost perfect at it. One day, the master told the boy that he was ready for a tournament. 72 The Wise

The boy objected at once: He only has one arm and he can only do one move. Still, he could not resist the master’s will and attended the tournament. In his first match, the boy was hesitant, but the master told him to “step up and do his move.” The boy wins all the matches in a row one-by-one by doing a single move. He makes it to the final and beats the champ. The boy was surprised. He asks, “How has it happened, master?” The master replies, “Listen lad, there is only a single counter-movement for this move and it is to hold your rival’s left arm…” As you see, it is not what we do not have or what we have in excess or which limbs we use to do what, but it is how we use what remains, what exists. The limbs we lose may not affect our lives; they should not. I compensate for their absence with my soul and my mind to keep up with all the “normal” people. I may even say that I am better than most of them. Still… An English proverb states “If the sentence continues with a ‘but’ overrule the part before ‘but’.” Unfortunately, it is the “normal” people who disable the disabled like me. Well it is all right! It is a part of my struggle and I should keep going!

Editor’s Note:

Orkun Bozkurt grew up on the island of Cyprus, the part that belongs to Turkey in a quasi-way. Turkish Cyprus has a different government than the mainland, yet shares culture, language and some governmental associations. Accessibility to both public and private places and on the local streets is still mostly non-existent.

The Wise Travel

Metin Under

metin.under@thewisemag.com

Kaş:

The Paradise Adorned with Bougainvillea

walk out of a white building covered by bougainvillea and move slowly to the sea which glows under the unique Mediterranean sun. I notice the charming breeze coming from the hills behind me with their peaks reaching up to the skies. Phellos and Antiphellos, now Kaş, are two towns that received their names from each other. I stroll around the streets of Phellos above, one of the major cities of fourth century BC, which faces its harbour Kaş (meaning “eyebrow” in Turkish). Saluting Phellos from the middle of the water sits the island of Meis, meaning “eye” in Greek.

According to legend, when a man died, his wife would go into the sarcophagus together with him and close the lid from the inside. Unfortunately, the fact that a woman would sacrifice her life for her husband’s dead body must stay a mystery around these tombs covering the land of the Lycians, famous for their heroism. But, we do know one thing however: As Phellos lost its importance over the years, Antiphellos turned itself into an important and rich town attributed to the trading of trees from its cedar forests and sponge fishing.

These two towns of the Lycian civilization serve as corridors opening to thousands of years of history. The main evidence bringing history back to the present are the tombs perched on the mountains blinking their eyes to those who enjoy the sea and the tranquility. So are many more of the sarcophagi you see around Kaş. The most famous of all of them, the King Sarcophagus, made of a mono-block piece of stone, is located on the high end of Uzun Çarşı [long shopping district] near some carpet shops.

Center of Attraction

You will encounter very few places in the world with a sea in such color. The underwater currents of sweet water filtering through the sands give the sea its crystal clear, cold and turquoise-colored waters.

As one of the important touristic centers in Turkey, this magical region in the center of many ancient cities is no coincidence. When you go from Kaş to the west, you reach Kaputaş, Kalkan, Patara, Xantos, Letoon, Sidyma, Pınara, Ölüdeniz, Fethiye and Göcek, where each one proclaims another corner of paradise. If you head east, you go by Üçağız, Kekova, Kyneae, Simena, Trysa, Demre, Myra, Finike, Adrasan, Olympos, Tekirova, Phaselis, Kemer and Göynük, ending up in Antalya. Kaş, a focal point of antiquity, gives myriad reasons for attracting those ordinary vacationers and tourists interested in history. As you walk along the ancient walls facing Meis, you can take the road going to the Çukurbağ Peninsula to the west, where within walking distance, you come to the amphitheater, one example of these reasons. With its 26 rows capable of seating four-thousand people, this Hellenistic theater is known for unique carvings on its walls.

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The closest point to Meis Island, Çukurbağ Peninsula, is also a nature paradise covering a 3 km walking path. The famous Lycian trail passes through Kaş as well and became popular over the recent years to attract visitors. Especially in spring and fall, there is heavy traffic of trekkers around Kaş and Kekova.

Between Sea and Mountains For those who desire closeness to nature, two special spots should not be missed: Yeşil Göl (Green Lake) and Uçarsu Şelalesi (Flying Waters Fall [waterfall]) in Gömbe Yaylasi (Plateau), situated 80 km from Kaş at an altitude of 1800 meters. When you climb up the hills on your way to Gömbe, a volcanic lake and a wonder of nature welcomes you. The dirt road from Gömbe Plateau to Uçarsu extends about 8 km. Only your courage will tell you whether or not to dive into the ice cold waters of the little pond, but since you came this far, I would say try it. The waterfalls flowing down from Aygır Gölü (Lake) about 60 meters are worth seeing. Also in the vicinity, Tekke Köyü (Village) has a Shrine to Abdal Musa. The Alevis living in the area organize festivities every year in June; they dance semahs [a ritual of twirling dances] and make wishes at the waterfall. In Gömbe, eating goat meat in May is a mouth-watering experience. The trekking season starts at about the same time as the yearly migration of villagers from Kaş to the plateau of the Akdağ Mountains. This is the course most preferred by trekkers. The route begins at Subaşı Yaylası above Yeşil Göl and follows glacier lakes to the peaks of Akdağ. The beaches of Kaş count many: Akçagerme to the west within walking distance; Büyük Çakıl and Küçük Çakıl Beaches to the east; Bayındır Harbour and Limanağzı to the southeast and İnceboğaz on the west at the start of the peninsula. There are no sandy beaches inside Kaş; however, the famous Kaputaş Beach sits only 10 minutes by car. You may encounter very few places worldwide with such a distinct color of the sea. The underwater currents of sweet water filtering through the sands give the sea its crystal clear, cold and turquoise-colored waters. Kaputaş Beach, in particular, reached by going down 187 steps, offers rainbows of unusual colors in the evening. Incidentally, Kekova is one of the must see places before leaving the area. Reach it by boat or car from Kaş. Also, don’t miss going to Üçağız for a boat ride; it’s thrilling to see the sunken city under the water during the boat ride. The restaurants on the shore of Üçağız are priceless for lovers of fish and raki [anisette-tasting alcohol] at sunset.

Diving and Nature Sports Paradise One of the main characteristics that make Kaş popular today is their ranking as one of the world’s most beautiful diving centers. In the Kaş bay where, there are some 70 dive sites available. There are also a variety of diving experiences available, such as wreck diving, canyon diving, cave diving, Nif diving, wall and tunnel diving. This is the richest region of underwater Turkey. In October 2006, an underwater archaeology park was found in Hidayet’s Bay. In addition, the wrecks make the region very attractive for both amateur and professional divers. You may find a great opportunity on holiday by taking a fiveday training trip from one of the many licensed dive schools or getting your internationally-recognized certificate to step into diving.

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Kaş and the surrounding vicinity offers numerous opportunities for nature activities like trekking, mountaineering and rafting. Also, this is one of the best places for paragliding in Turkey. Kaş and its vicinity offer numerous opportunities for nature activities, such as trekking, mountaineering and rafting. Also, this is one of the best places in Turkey for paragliding. After a short ride of half an hour or so, you arrive at the flight take-off point on the hill. You enjoy the beautiful views while flying in tandem with experienced pilots. If you have a taste for adrenaline, ask your pilot to perform acrobatic moves. Gliding in to the port of Kaş ends this great experience. Walking, cycling, jeep safari tours and canyon crossing are all organized in Cyprus Canyon about 50 km from Kaş center. Kaş also holds one of the most popular sports in the sea—sea kayaking. It’s possible to see five different ancient settlements on a Kekova kayak tour. Another route is Saklıkent (Hidden City) Canyon where tours leave from Kaş. The Saklıkent Canyon hike takes about an hour and a half for a 15 km walk. It entices you through ice cold spring waters running from the Bey Mountains. After the walk, you will never forget the tasty food you eat seated on wood platforms above the water.

Restaurants - Bilokma Restaurant: Reservations required most nights, so don’t chance getting turned away. A windfall for anyone wanting homecooked food with reasonable prices. - Garden Restaurant: Don’t pass up the fish and meze here! (Meze = variety of delightful appetizers). Reservations essential. Prices in line with quality. - Çınarlar Restaurant: From pita to kebabs, fish to fast food, they offer a rich menu with something for everyone. Reasonable prices.

Where Should I Go Swimming? Çınarlar: At the center of Kaş, where you swim in the sea and dine at the same time. With a view of Meis, the garden terraces will welcome you. Cheap prices.

Most Saklıkent Canyon tours also include Patara, one of Turkey’s longest beaches at 18 km long. Archaeological excavations still continue in Patara, another ancient Lycian city. Kaş ranks as a center where nature, sea, history, archaeology, tranquility and endless activity meet. This land of Lycian people, a people too dignified to surrender to the enemy and preferred to commit suicide collectively. The unique and fertile land of the people of ancient Lycia wafts aromas of oregano, cedar and apple trees and bougainvillea that appear everywhere—the streets you walk through accompanied by a visual feast. With so many things to do, you will be unable to get to them all during a short vacation. You leave this piece of paradise promising to “come back next year.” This land of unforgettable beauty will be waiting for you to once again rest your soul.

Where Shall We Go? Bars - Mavi Bar (Blue Bar) welcomes people of all ages as their meeting place in Kaş Square. At night the crowd gathers, sits across from the bar on the stone pavement and listens to the music while reflecting on the spirit of Kaş. - Red Point: For those who say “holiday means music and dance,” this is the right address.

Kaputaş: Between Kaş and Kalkan with the only sandy beach in Kaş. You climb down 187 steps go down to the beach to get your real exercise. Limanağzı: You can go from Kaş to Limanağzı in a short 15 minute trip by boat departing from the port. More isolated for privacy with loads of sand. Very attractive. Üçağız: A little farther away by car, but don’t worry. Hanging over the sea, its famous restaurants serve delicious side dishes. Many people stay the night beckoned by beauty. Tips: On roads without lights, stop on the side of the road to look skyward. You will not get enough of watching the Milky Way.

Ancient Cities near Kaş Kaş stands as a reference point in history and offers an important privilege. When you go to Kaş, you go to the heart of the ancient Lycian civilization. Track down ancient civilizations through rock-cut tombs, an amphitheater and unique architectural structures. Kaş, Antiphellos Felen Yaylası, Phellos Kalkan, Kalamaki Gelemiş, Patara Minare Köyü, Pınara Kumluova, Letoon Arif, Arykanda Kekova, Kaleköy Üçağız, Theimussa Sıçak İskelesi, Aperlai

- Hide Away: Listen to beautiful music with the bar decorated in cool natural furniture situated in a tasty garden.

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