Whirling
is an open secret. The Whirling Dervish
tries to get out
of the way to reveal it.
"Dervish" literally means "doorway" and is
thought
to be an entrance from the material world to the spiritual world.
Within the Sufi Mevlevi Dervish Order, founded in the 13th century by
the Persian mystic philosopher and poet Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, lies
the origin of the Mevlevi Sema, or dance of the Whirling Dervishes.
The whirling or turning, is a prayer during
which the
dervish’s body can open to channel the divine
invisible
energy which pervades the universe. For this to occur, the dervish
attempts to be empty of ego or sense of self.
Turning in place with
one
symbolic palm extended upward to receive and one extended downward to
give, the dervish does not attempt to keep this energy - the intention
is to be a vessel through which the energy can pass on to others. But
as in any type of meditation, it
is a struggle.
Everything in the universe
revolves - the
planets around their Sun, our Earth on its axis, the protons, electrons
and neutrons in our body. The Whirling Dervish aligns him or herself
with that cosmic movement so that when the dervish turns, the invisible
world opens.