Osmanische Herbege

In the west of Germany near the village of Kall there is a Sufi dergah of the Naqshbandi order (that of the late Shaykh Nazim) called Osmanische Herbege (Osman-i-sha Hair-burger) - means Uthmani Hostel (did you picture a burger filled with hair?!) Set by a national park, it is a tranquil place in a quaint village, built in 1996 with the soul purpose (no pun intended) of providing spiritual nourishment to all. Despite our positive views on Zurich we were definitely ready for some quietude in Germany. The dergah is headed by Shaykh Hasan Dyck, a Sufi Shaykh and musician who regularly tours spreading good vibrations. I hope to meet him one day, his devotees are certainly very welcoming and gentle people, it would be a privilege to meet the source of their virtues.

We have spent our days walking through the local villages and countryside, on one particular occasion visiting St. Herman Josef, a saint revered by the local Muslims and Christians alike. He is known for offering an apple to Jesus, so visitors offer an apple to St. Herman by placing it on his grave. The basilica within which he lies is a very peaceful place, large yet somehow unimposing, perhaps due to the architectural style, or maybe it's St Herman's benediction :-)

Much of the time we have spent doing seemingly mundane activities, sitting on the swing, drinking tea, meditating. Yet we have still been travelling. To quote Rumi, "Everyone is travelling in this direction or that direction, but the saints travel in the direction without direction". I hope we have moved somewhat in Rumi's direction, and here is where words become inadequate.

Pictures: The basilica, me Mandeep and Nooriya (another person staying at the dergah), the dergah in green, our location, dergah garden

Are creativity and disciplined organisation diametrically opposed?'

Zurich is the most collectively organised and disciplined place I have ever visited, yet when enquiring about their arts I got a kind of blank answer - they don't really have any patrons of art nor is it a major part of their cultural expression. The Swiss pride themselves on precision engineering (for example in the watch industry) and quality. Quality being expressed as the degree of robustness, durability and the like - not of passion. Passion here meaning an untamed energy springing forth from within, expressed without inhibition, resonating with our freedom of spirit.

It got me thinking, maybe the energy which we use to cause social disorder is the same energy we use for creative expression, and the Swiss, in quelling social disorder have placed social barriers on the movement of that energy, in all situations, to the detriment of creative expression. Suppose a river bifurcated into 2 streams. One stream bursts it's banks and floods a village, the other remains within it's banks and provides fresh water and kinetic energy to another village. In order to save the flooded village, it would be a great loss to dam the river before the point of bifurcation.

We must be careful in how we repress the spirit. There are natural barriers for our energies, barriers like a cliff edge where it is dangerous to pass. Then there are barriers which we place, like a slick row of white fence posts marching through the countryside (to use a phrase from Gai Eaton). The Spirit is living, it moves toward it's source, it's goal. To place barriers beyond those inherent is a grave injustice.

It begs the question, what is the right balance? How can we encourage creative expression without affecting social order?

Zurich, Switzerland

We only went to Zurich to meet one of Mandeep's old house mates - Ignas,  but we ended up becoming really intrigued by the place itself. This was unexpected - we never like big cities - but this felt different to any other big city we've been to. With a population of 400,000 it's really small for a big city. It has all the tall buildings and commercial centres of a big city, but none of the overcrowding. The transport system is the most efficient and extensive we've encountered. Trams, trains, buses and boats all linked with the same ticketing system. It doesn't feel polluted either as everything runs on electric. Most cars are under 5 years old as the majority of people acquire them on lease, so emissions are low. The clean alpine air seems to channel into the valley where Zurich lies, unlike Athens where the surrounding hills give it a stifling feel. There is perhaps the highest degree of civility among people - no one litters, no one shouts in public, there is no petty crime etc. This tends to correlate with higher financial equality in a society and such is the case for Zurich and Switzerland as a whole - they don't have a 'lower class'. The minimum wage although unofficial is around 40,000 Swiss francs - about 26,000 pounds. Everyone is well paid.

Socially unacceptable behaviour is rigorously enforced by an intrinsic desire among the people to follow law and procedure, even down to things we would consider unnecessary. We were told by our host how they were once told off by their neighbour for using an unofficial bag to throw away their rubbish (they have official bags). Beyond that, should you ever get into trouble with police, fines are very high. For example, we were told about a person who was drunk and found by the police one morning, taken to hospital, checked for ailments, then taken to the station until he sobered up. He was fined 6000 CF for the whole thing, every stage of his recovery needing payment from him. That was probably the last time he drank too much!

It's true, things are expensive here, but not too bad if you don't eat out. Everyday items are a little more expensive than the UK, but eating out is way more. Me and Mandeep easily spent 35 pounds on lunch, another instance me, Mandeep and Ignas spent nearly 50 pounds on 3 portions of spaghetti! It is normal for the locals, the system is such that everyone has a lot of disposable income. No-one has any real assets - 80% of the population rent their homes and most cars are leased. Tax is only 8%. Most of the properties in Zurich are owned by the bank Credit Suisse and rental prices are fixed according to the strength of the economy. Sometimes the rent automatically reduces!

We met a lot of people who work in banks - banks are everywhere. I remember reading 12% of the workforce is in banking (very high compared to other countries). Several people told us about the stress levels being almost unbearable at work, but the benefits of living in Zurich enough to keep them there. Should you become unemployed in Zurich, don't worry. The benefits system pays you 70% of the wage of your last job and helps you to find work suitable to your skills. Unemployment virtually doesn't exist, except for voluntary unemployment.

Switzerland has very strict immigration laws, you can't just turn up and stay. You need to be able to contribute to the economy before being allowed in the country - you need to have a job lined up. Anyone who turns up uninvited is simply ejected from the country. To become a citizen, you need to have worked in Switzerland for 12 years, be fluent in one of the official languages, not have a criminal record and be of sound character. Even then there 3 levels of citizenship!, each giving increased rights. To buy property in the country besides a LOT of money you need a permit (if you're a foreigner), and there's a quota system - so if the quota has been filled you could be a billionaire but that won't get you Swiss real estate.

After learning these things, me and Mandeep couldn't help but ask... how on Earth did Switzerland get so rich? Fortunately, Zurich has a fantastic museum - the Swiss National Museum - so we spent a day there quenching our thirst for Swiss related knowledge.

Due to it's location in Europe, what is now Switzerland has been conquered by many peoples throughout history. Since the bronze age the Celts had it for a while, Romans have had it, Alamanni tribes had a piece, then in became a Frankish kingdom and the Ottomans had controlled it too. With the Christianisation of Switzerland by the Romans from 300 - 600AD, many Benedictine monasteries were established which the museum cites as a source of Swiss punctuality and diligence. The Protestant reformer Martin Luther died in Geneva, so Switzerland was strongly affected by the reformation. The massive influx of printed material in the 18th century was cited as a reason for the secularisation of Switzerland. All this was interesting from a cultural point of view, but we'd arrived at 1850 on the timeline and Switzerland was still a very poor country. It was after this that wealth really started to increase in the land.

Becoming a federal state in 1848 was the first step. The rest of Europe was dominated by monarchies, so the Swiss were ahead of the game. It wasn't banks that gave the Swiss their initial boost of wealth - it was textiles. They were the biggest world exporters of textiles by the late 19th century. With textiles they were manufacturing machines (for production) and chemicals (for dyes). Alongside textiles, the watch industry took off.  The economic boom provided by the textile and watch industry, combined with the stable politics of federal state, meant that Swiss banks became an attractive place to keep wealth. From the earliest days the Swiss have provided banking secrecy and legal security to their clients. Politically, they remained neutral throughout both world wars. While the world was in chaos this small nation surrounded by mountains was quietly doing business... lots of business... and that's how they became so rich.

Their wealth was not formed by trading slaves, nor by looting conquered nations, nor by oppression. Yes, I have issues with the global banking system but in a 'lesser of the two evils' sense I must concede that I really like Zurich. It is safe, secure and efficient and if we were to live in a big city, we would rather live in a place like Zurich.

Mandeep cooked for 6 people one night 

Joined some of Ignas' friends for an Alpine hike

Paragliders lifting off

Ignas' local meadow

The lake at the centre of Zurich

Bosnian flood

It's surreal to think that we left Bosnia on Monday night, by Wednesday the floods began. 3 months of rain in 3 days with continued rain throughout the weekend. 3000 landslides unearthing land mines from the war. Damage comparable to that of the war (with less loss of human life). They say it is of almost Biblical proportions with 1/4 of Bosnia being affected. Please remember the Bosnians in your prayers

Bosnian Pyramids

There is something going on in Visoko that is causing a lot of controversy, Dr Sam Osmanagich - an archaeologist - noticed an unusually high degree of symmetry of some local hills when visiting the area in 2006. When investigating further, he found the hills were covered in concrete - a man made substance. Sending an embedded leaf for radiocarbon dating, it came back as being 30,000 years old!

It was looking like a pyramid so he decided to look for other signs. It had geometrically pyramid shape - unusually triangular for a natural hill. It's 4 sides pointed toward the cardinal points, with greater accuracy than other famous pyramids. And when he started digging he found a network of tunnels running around the pyramid site, a network which he believes will ultimately lead to the pyramids themselves.

Bearing in mind the ancient Egyptian civilisation is ~ 5000 years old, the Mayan goes back as far as 4000 years, this is a really groundbreaking discovery. A 30000 year old civilisation with the means to build huge structures. This would shatter the view of primitive man being ape-like and stupid, unable to take a bath never mind build a pyramid!

Then came the fallout, claims of falsified data and bogus science undermining Osmanagich's discovery. Claims he's made in the past (really unconventional claims) used to indicate that maybe he's coming out with crazy stuff again. Official archaeological boards publicly denouncing Osmanagich.

In any case, I felt it was worth visiting to see for myself. My first impressions of the pyramid, seeing it through the bus window, was that it wasn't as symmetrical as it looks in the pictures. The 'concrete' blocks covering the pyramid were interesting. I can verify that at the excavation sites on the side of the pyramid, I could see several large rectangular blocks of large pebbles bound with a clay-like binding substance. They did not look natural, but I am not a materials expert. Osmanagich has had a sample professionally tested and verified as man made, but critics say the sample was off a nearby hill (not the pyramid), and that the material is in keeping with the landscape i.e. it is natural.

Much more symmetry from the angle shown below:

Above: concrete blocks

Below: close up of concrete block

For 2.5 euro you get a tour through the underground cave found 3km away from the pyramid. The tour was fantastic and I would certainly recommend it, our guide was enthusiastic and willing to answer any questions I had. The cave contains a huge stone megalith, which they say is man made with an ancient form of ceramic. Covered in ancient inscription (which critics say were later added), it's purpose is yet unclear, but the guide mentions it functions as an air purifier. Independent measurements show that the oxygen concentration within the cave is higher than outside the cave - very unusual. There is also a very high concentration of negative ions - air which has therapeutic qualities and is produced in western countries by air purifiers. Still water within the cave has maintained it's purity - perhaps for over 1000 years - due to the purifying effects of the negative ions.

The tunnel network we waked through looked man made - layers of stones set in an arch pattern. Most of the tunnels today are filled with soil - a completely different soil to the stone arches lining the tunnels. This soil filler is 5000 years old. The theory is that the tunnels were made over 5000 years ago by an ancient civilisation, and a successive civilisation filled them up for an as yet unknown reason. Not only did they fill them with soil, but they sealed entrances to tunnels with dry stone walls. Whatever the theory, the dry stone walls were self evident as were the manufactured appearance of the tunnel arches. Not all tunnels have been filled with soil, after several hundred km of digging the researchers found a network of unfilled tunnels - a real progression in their findings.

Sam Osmanagich has opened the tunnels / pyramid to research for anyone who is interested. This attracts all kinds of people - scientists who are interested in empirical measurement and spiritually inclined people who feel the energy currents of the place. As such a lot is said about the pyramids from people of all persuasions, but the modern mind seeks to validate claims through empirical measurement alone before placing faith in something. Those who place no value on non-empirical measurements run risk of throwing the baby out with the bath water, ignoring all the empirical research that is being done on the pyramid.

So to summarise, I will put forward some reasons to believe that something extraordinary is happening in Visoko:
-The pyramid faces toward the cardinal points
-The walls seem to be covered with artificial blocks of concrete
-There is a network of tunnels running near the pyramid complex, the structure of which appears artificial
-There are a high concentration of negative ions in the tunnel, this is measurable and self regulating
-There is a measurable beam of electromagnetic energy above the pyramid

And as we are not people who regard empirical measurements as the truest form of knowledge, it is important to note that we felt at peace in the tunnels. Mandeep felt that she resonated with the surroundings, leading to a feeling of contentment.

Reading around on the internet can be difficult sometimes, in that I never seem to get to the bottom of something. Seeing the pyramids in person was really worthwhile, helping to consolidate some ideas I had regarding them.

Bosnia, breakdown of Yugoslavia

Our initial plan when we left the UK was to spend a week in Croatia working our way up the coast and to do a day trip to Visoko, Bosnia to see the pyramids (oh, you didn't know about the Bosnian pyramids? More on those later!) After leaving Greece we decided on more time in Bosnia and just to pass through Croatia. I'm sure Croatia's really nice, but we kinda weren't feeling sun sea and sand, hotels and island hopping (crazy isn't it). This trip has been defined by the people we have met and we wanted to meet Bosnian people. They are famous for their kindness and hospitality, something laid in the foundation of their capital - Sarajevo. The first building in Sarajevo was a tekke. This is a place where travellers can rest for a few days before moving on, they traditionally had free kitchens and accommodation, with devotional activities (zikr - chanting) on offer for people to take part in. Old Bosnian cities - like all old Muslim cities - are filled with fountains, clean drinking water available to everybody. That priceless commodity recognised as a gift from God to all humanity, a stark contrast to the increasing privatisation of fresh water supplies today.

We wanted to stay in a tekke but unfortunately couldn't find one that runs in a traditional way. Many tekkes still function as centres for devotional activities but not as  places where travellers can rest. Sarajevo seems to have lost it's purpose somewhat. We had been told that there were more Sufis around the more rural areas of Bosnia, but as is the norm with Sufis there is no organisation as such, they can be somewhat elusive. A world of spirituality can very quickly blossom before you if you meet the right person - if you find the door - but that door is seldom found on the internet (a fact I kind of like) - and the Bosnian tourist office couldn't help either! It turned out that a zikr festival was on which we missed - thousands of people gathered to do zikr and no one we asked knew about it. It was a Bosnian Sufi in Zurich who told us - see what I mean about elusive!

So we took some time to learn about the history instead. Here is what I (loosely) gather regarding Bosnia after WW2.  After the war the 6 states of Yugoslavia were liberated from the axis powers (Germany etc) and became a communist republic under the rule of Tito. He dealt strongly with any hint of disunity among his people, which included several distinct cultural identities. While the Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats are all ethnically south Slavic, they have religio-cultural differences in that the Bosnians are Muslim, Serbs Orthodox and Croats are Catholic. After Tito, Yugoslavia became increasingly unstable leading to nationalistic tendencies among the 3 ethnic groups. Slobodan Milosovic, against the wish of his peers, played these tensions against each other. He eventually became president, and in his hopes to create a nation for Serbs led to a genocide campaign against the Muslims. Things got really messy, all 3 groups warred but the Muslim Bosniaks seemed the least prepared and suffered the worst for it. Torture, mass rape - you name it. Around 100,000 people died. Too often I hear of wars bringing out the most evil characteristics in people. Even if you really believe in the cause you're fighting for, why rape your opponents? Overnight, friends of different religions became enemies, we really couldn't understand why.

We met a 32 year old guy called Midhat. While walking around his home town of Visoko he pointed out, "Snipers would shoot and tanks would come down from that hill. School was closed, we stayed in all the time. My grandfather was killed in the war". It was hard to believe, hard to put ourselves in that position as we walked around the quiet village surrounded by hills. How frightening for a 6 year old boy to be faced with that. It all happened so recently - in the 90s! Walking round Sarajevo, we could see bullet holes in some of the buildings. Weird to think this all happened in our lifetime.

Shaykh Nazim, upon him be peace

Shaykh Nazim, the one at the head of the community we visited in Cyprus, passed away on May 7th. We found out whilst in Bosnia on the 11th and it definitely knocked me. I just never actually believed it could happen, but it must happen to all of us.

He was the king of all saints to some, and to others simply a lovely old man. To me he was one like no other I have known. His rapture with the divine presence was always evident when he spoke. He never planned a speech, only spoke what would come to him, "I am like the moon.  When the sun goes, the light of the moon goes.  If the light of my Master leaves me, I am in darkness.  I am nothing.  Whoever sees me as this one or that one sees me through the Light of my Master." His humility made me feel ashamed of myself, how could I possibly see myself as something when he considered himself nothing, "We ask to be no one and nothing.  For, as long as we are someone, we are not complete."

Despite him showing me the greatest things I have seen, I can not claim to be a devoted one. No, I am a weak one, very weak. But perhaps the greatest gift he gave me was hope. Knowing the prevailing confusion among the masses, he looked beneath the surface towards the essence of people and sought to remind us of who we are. Reminding us of our essential nobility and helping us to realise our dignity as human beings. "If you saw the true value of people, you would see everybody around you wearing golden crowns". Yes, for weak people like me he is a great source of strength. Before talking about Islamic rules let us remember who we are and the magnanimity of God. Surely, isn't the one who reminds us of God's magnanimity the one who saves us from ourselves?

So I say thank you. What can I give to one so gifted as Shaykh Nazim? One overflowing and generous. Thank you ya mawlana, may we continue with goodness.