When the Nightingale Sings

And the heart swells

I have grown accustomed to the cyclical patterns of nature in the village where I have been living for the past ten years. Some of my most beloved companions and teachers are pomegranate trees and bees. Oblivious to the ever-quickening human chaos in the world, they follow their own rhythm like clockwork. Pomegranate trees shed, blossom, bear fruit and bees are in search of sweet nectar, thankfully … For them, it is business as usual and I am grateful for that. One more precious spring in this human life to witness our blessed earth doing what she does best: a carnival of colors, textures, sounds and fragrances.

Same pomegranate tree in front of my house, blooming, hosting bees and bearing fruit

And then there’s the nightingale. Ahhh the nightingale …

The nightingale is ethereal; sometimes I feel like they sing to us from another world, bearing good news of simply being alive. They are not as visible as the other songbirds in my village. I often see sparrows, bluejays, swallows, blackbirds, robins and I even occasionally come across the shy owls in my neighborhood but I have not once seen a nightingale. It is a mystery!

When the nightingale starts its heavenly song, a divine presence embraces me; my mind goes quiet, no matter what it is chattering about and my heart swells with awe. At a mundane level, a male bird is singing his mating song to procreate; mythopoetically speaking, it’s simultaneously a praise and a lament of the longing heart for the Beloved. It is no wonder in Sufism bülbül (the nightingale in Turkish) has been the symbol of the Lover seeking for Beloved’s nectar, for divine love and truth.

A moment of prayer during the Dances of Universal Peace retreat

Singing praises for the Beloved has also been a form of expressing longing for humans. Perhaps we imitate the natural world (of which we are also a part). I recently participated in a Dances of Universal Peace retreat called “United in the Heart” led by two elders of this global community, Halima and Abraham¹. In this four-day gathering we sang and danced for six hours each day, in the morning, afternoon and at night. The form is quite simple: musicians sit in the middle around an altar, the group forms a circle (or two concentric circles) around the center. We sing sacred songs from a wide range of different spiritual traditions around the world - hymns, mantras, dhikr², prayers - and dance to them in the circle.

When I arrived at the venue, I was stressed and worried about the political situation in my homeland, and frankly quite tired from the non-stop chaos in the world. My mind was full of doubts and questions and I was hardly present in my body. I literally took refuge in a space filled with prayer, which was based in sacred sound and movement. My kind of prayer.

I allowed the spirit of music to empty my rogue mind and enliven my body throughout the days; I held hands with and looked into the eyes of 70 people, laughed, cried, mourned, celebrated, and sang gratitude. I don’t know anything which quiets the mind and penetrates the heart faster and deeper than breathing, singing and dancing together. And being in a circle. Which by the way have been the go-to rituals of our faithful and wise ancestors.

After four days of actively letting go of self-importance and futile attempts to control reality, I felt the united heart-field wash over me, purifying and softening me at all levels. I was aglow with a feeling of having come home to myself. In Turkish we have a saying pamuklara sarmak (to wrap someone with cotton), which means to be handled with deep care and affection. That’s how I felt at the end of the retreat, like I was wrapped with a cotton ball of loving kindness. I emerged with a serene heart and quiet mind. Isn’t that what we need more of in the world? It’s not just a feel good strategy; it is absolutely necessary to respond to life from one’s center rather than incessantly reacting to a groundless reality.

My heart aches with the normality of violence, aggression and polarity in everyday life. Most people, when given a chance to be seen and held with respect and care, when they drink from that well of compassion and intimacy, would want to pay it forward. Because generosity is our nature and it is contagious. Each of us simply waits for someone to knock on the door of our heart-temple.

There are so many people in the world feeling bereft of Spirit, waiting out in the cold, starving for connection. Sometimes it’s me, sometimes it’s you. Can we be the nightingale song for each other?

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
There is a field. I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
The world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
Doesn't make any sense.³

Today on my walk, swallows accompanied me. They were everywhere, flying all around me, swaying, swooping in an effervescent dance. Every time one flew close by, I praised the Creator who obviously showed up for me in the form of a swallow today. I was still in the field of united hearts, singing love songs and walking along my fellow beings.

So the dance continues. Do let us know how and with whom you are dancing this spring. How do you tend to your heart and body in the midst of change? What Beloveds accompany you on your path of loving and learning these days?

So much love from my heart to yours ❤️

Filiz

1. Murshida Halima and Murshid Abraham Sussman are senior mentor teachers in the Sufi Ruhaniat and Dances of Universal Peace lineages of Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan and Murshid Samuel Lewis, inspired musicians, and experienced guides in the path of the awakening heart.

2. A form of devotional practice, associated mainly with Sufism, in which God’s names or attributes are rhythmically repeated. It means “remembrance” in Arabic.

3. Rumi’s poetry, translated by Coleman Barks.