religion - Metin Bobaroğlu

The Problem of Akhlaq in Sufism

2021-02-15T03:35:08+03:00By Metin Bobaroğlu|Categories: Essays|Tags: akhlaq, God, Hermes Thoth, Holy Quran, Love, Morality, Prophet Jesus, religion, Spiritual purification, Sufi Ibn Arabi, sufism, wisdom|

“Religion is morality in practice. Knowledge is but an instrument.” Lütfi Filiz Any treatise on akhlaq (morality/character) and Sufism (Tasawwuf) needs to make references to specialized literature and a set of concepts. The concepts of Sufism have both a philosophical and a poetic character, meaning that philosophical concepts alone would not be sufficient to explain Sufism. If philosophical concepts are like “day and night” to the mind, and mystic concepts are like “light and dark”, then Sufi concepts are like “dawn and twilight”, in that the language of Sufism contains both concepts and symbols. It addresses both aql (reason) and [...]

The Problem of Communication

2020-07-16T00:36:54+03:00By Metin Bobaroğlu|Categories: Essays|Tags: alienation, art, Communication, consciousness, Existence, globalization, Language, Love, peace, philosophy, religion, spirituality, spiritualization, wisdom|

As is well known, communication is a relationship in which messages are conveyed between two sources. If the messages flow only in one direction, no communication takes place. Feedback is a must for communication. Today, the word “communication” has mostly technological connotations. When we hear the word communication, we think of radio, television, newspapers, phones, computers, the Internet, and the like, and this technological dimension means that information can today flow between countries, nations and individuals in an unrestrained way, crossing borders freely. Communication provides the infrastructure for interaction, but is commonly used in a sense that covers interaction [...]

People Are Born Thrice

2020-07-16T00:34:35+03:00By Metin Bobaroğlu|Categories: Essays|Tags: consciousness, contemporary societies, cultural setting, dependence on authority, education, enlightenment, positivism, religion, revolutionary, tradition, Understanding|

The first birth is surrounded by the “cultural setting”; the second birth is into “education”, when the person is shaped via pedagogical, psychological and scientific methods; and the third birth is when a person “gives birth to themselves”, referring to time when one can shape one’s own life through one’s own free will. When we are born, we enter the world with nothing but genetic features, abilities and natural tendencies. We start to become shaped by the references of the cultural setting into which we are born. We cannot choose our parents, race, religion, locality or history; in short, [...]

Jerusalem: The Heart of the World – Part 2

2020-07-01T19:12:02+03:00By Metin Bobaroğlu|Categories: Transcripts|Tags: ancient wisdom, compassion, Ethiopian Jews, Golden Dome, Holy Bible, Jerusalem, Jesus Christ, Kotel, Old Testament, Prophet Muhammad, Qabatullah, Qubbet’us Sahra, Quddus, Queen of Sheba, Quran, religion, temple|

When we were in Jerusalem, we wanted to go into Qubbet’us Sahra, the building with the golden dome, where Prophet Muhammad ascended to miraj and the Muallaq Stone is kept, but the attitudes of the guards there were displeasing. They treated the visitors very rudely and scolded them angrily. They urged people to recite the kalima shahadah or a verse from the Quran. They said if they did not recite it, they would not be allowed to go in. These were really offensive and not pleasant at all. I say that the heart of the world is Jerusalem, but [...]