Istanbul and The 40 Rules Of Love
Istanbul Nightscape, November 2024
Strolling the city of Istanbul felt like a spiritual experience. Walking the cobblestone streets. Rummaging through the grand bazaars. Exploring landmarks such as the Hagia Sophia and Sultan Ahmet Mosque, at two peaks overlooking the city — to delving to the depths of Istanbul, exploring the undergrounds at the Basilica Sisterna underlining the city. Standing at the boundaries of the Bosporus River - dividing Asia and Europe, East and West.
Throughout the journey, I had a copy of The 40 Rules of Love by the Turkish author Elif Shafak.
The novel traces the story of Jalaluddin Rumi, the famous Sufi Poet, and his companion, Shams of Tabriz. Shams is credited with transforming Rumi from a scholar to a Sufi mystic through his redirection of Rumi’s vision. He pushed Rumi to peel away the organized, formal nature of religion and instead focus on divine love. To go behind the holy verses, the divine decrees, and plunge into the direct connection with God that will unlock one’s own version of the divine. The key here is that there is no one version of divinity, of spirituality, of religion -a concept shared by the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, who chose to name his philosophical treatise after a poignant biblical verse, “The Kingdom of God is Within You.”
Elif Shafak established that, according to Shams, one of the first rules of love is that how we see God is a direct reflection of how we see ourselves. As Shafak writes, "If God brings to mind mostly fear and blame, it means there is too much fear and blame welled inside us. If we see God as full of love and compassion, so are we.” This emphasis on interpretation is a deeply powerful concept. The same way one can pick up a copy of essentially anything - be it an Elif Shafak novel, Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, or even Harry Potter. If one is looking to find violence in any of them, one shall surely find it. In the same vain, if one approaches these texts searching for peace or compassion, one shall also find it. These texts are just that - texts. It is our own individual cognitive processes that will assign the meaning we desire.
Another rule of love - “You can study God through everything and everyone in the universe, because God is not confined in a mosque, synagogue or church. But if you are still in need of knowing where exactly His abode is, there is only one place to look for him: in the heart of a true lover.” The truly supernatural force - one that goes beyond any comprehension - beyond any creed or conviction - is love. A force that even crosses the bound of the physical and the spiritual.
There is a concept in Physics that puts forth the notion of a space-time continuum. The space-time continuum approximates multiple dimensions of space and the single dimension of time. The notion is meant to help visualize when and where events transpire. It is - of course - limited to the earthly dimension. For some, the earthly dimension is the limit of what exists. For others, there is a divine dimension that is far beyond any earthly comprehension.
But love - love is not limited to a space-time continuum. It is the single element that has the ability to cross the earthly through to the divine. For us on earth, its forcefield is so powerful it can penetrate through to our deepest cores. Even alter our own biochemistry. Whether we intended it to or not.
It has the power to bring a new dimension of meaning we hadn’t known possible. Our hearts already dashing forward in the 100 meter race, well before our minds can catch up to what our feet are doing. Because, as Sufism, Shams of Tabriz, and Rumi attempt to show us - heart and mind, though vital and complementary, are still separate forces. The head may cloud what the heart knows as intrinsic. To borrow from Shafak - “Intellect and love are made of different materials. Intellect ties people in knots and risks nothing, but love dissolves all tangles and risks everything.”
Intellect focuses on scripture, while love feels the protections underlying them. Intellect teaches us morals in a practical sense, to safeguard the fabric of a civilized society. Love drives the true “why” behind it all. Intellect attempts to analyze biochemistry to determine how we can feel so much for another. Love knows it is a force that transcends understanding.
Intellect is vigilant. Love takes the plunge.
