A unexpected day

The morning was completely chaotic.  I went to sleep the night before having my morning completely planned out.  However, things did not go as smoothly as I expected.  I woke up totally disoriented and unaware of the events that were taking place.  I didn’t need an alarm to wake me up since Nerlin’s rustling back and forth along with Cidnee’s worried movements and words woke me up feeling concerned.  Something was definitely off, but I felt like I was completely in the dark.  

Everyone moved and talked quickly throughout the apartment.  Through the cryptic text messages and all the questions I was able to decipher that Alisha was in need of medical attention.  Dr. Mallery, Cidnee, Ron, and Alisha all took a cab and left for the hospital as the rest of us stayed and prayed for her health. 

Despite the unpredictable turn of events, we were still encouraged to go meet Dervish Earl who would give us an debriefing session of the sema we had experienced the night before.  I’ve always liked and admired his passion for his beliefs.  He exudes love and zeal every time he speaks.  What stood out to me the most of our time spent with him was his narrative of one of the dervishes during the sema the night before. 

I had noticed that there was one specific dervish that seemed to be in some sort of trance and he found himself in the middle at the beginning during the ceremony.  Dervish Earl explained to us that the dervish had some sort of vision in which he was somehow transported to a place where a girl was bitten by a snake and in need of medical attention.  The dervish took the girl to the hospital and was then transported back to his body in the sema when the Master slammed his foot on the ground.  He had experienced and remembered all of this. 

It was interesting hearing and learning about the beliefs of others especially of a mystical religion such as Sufism.  Learning about a different culture and religion is fascinating, especially in Turkey since religion surrounds the entire community and environment.  I am excited to continue learning about it more.