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Rick Steves' Travel as a Political Act Blog

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On a visit to Turkey, I met a dervish. Dervishes — who are sort of like Muslim monks — follow Rumi, a mystic poet and philosopher of divine love. (I like to think Rumi and St. Francis would hit it off well.) They're called “whirling dervishes” because they spin in a circle as they pray. The dervish allowed me to observe his ritual on the condition that I understood what it meant to him.

The dervish led me to his flat rooftop — a peaceful oasis in the noisy city of Konya — where he prayed five times a day. With the sun heavy and red on the horizon, he explained, "When we pray, we keep one foot in our community, anchored in our home. The other foot steps around and around like this, acknowledging the beautiful variety of God's creation…touching all corners of this great world. I raise one hand up to acknowledge the love of God, and the other hand goes down like the spout of a teapot. As I spin around, my hand above receives the love from our Creator, and my hand below showers it onto all of his creation."

As the dervish whirled and whirled, he settled into a meditative trance. And so did I. Watching his robe billow out and his head tilt over, I saw a conduit of love acknowledging the greatness of God. This man was so different from me, yet actually very much the same. This chance interaction left me with a renewed appreciation of the rich diversity of humanity...as well as its fundamental oneness.

Experiences like this one can be any trip's most treasured souvenir. When we return home, we can put what we've learned — our newly acquired broader perspective — to work as citizens of a great nation confronted with unprecedented challenges. And when we do that, we make travel a political act.

Posted by Rick Steves on April 28, 2009
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