Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: "Rumi has psychotherapy and antidepressant effects"

Rumi Celaleddin International Symposium was organized in cooperation with Üsküdar University Institute for Sufi Studies and Berlin Humboldt University. On the first day of the symposium titled "Rumi in Today's Education: Rethinking Methodologies", President of Üsküdar University Prof. Nevzat Tarhan made the opening speeches in the online session. Emphasizing that Rumi's ideas should be brought to the present day instead of bringing him to the present day, Tarhan underlined that Rumi had a psychotherapy and antidepressant effect.

Üsküdar University Advisor to the Rector Cemalnur Sargut and faculty members of the Institute of Sufi Studies also participated in the online session.

The symposium, which was held in the Senate Hall of Humboldt University in Berlin between October 11-13, attracted great attention.

The main danger is the destruction of spiritual signs...

Delivering the opening speech of the symposium, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan underlined that Rumi diagnosed the spiritual fire and built spiritual signs. Tarhan stated that "I think it is a historical practice to talk about Rumi in Berlin, to make analyzes, to deal with it within the scope of a university, to deal with scientific measures and standards. It is a historic development. When Rumi set out from Khorasan with his father, someone said, 'We burned the love log and threw it into the Diyar-ı Rum.' Rumi really came to Diyar-ı Rum and burned the log of love here. When he burned it, the 1200s actually laid the intellectual foundations of the Ottoman Empire. He diagnosed the spiritual fire of that period and built spiritual bastions, and after laying the foundations of an idea he established in those bastions, the Ottomans rose on the spiritual foundations here together with Edebali. When there was a Mongol invasion, the Mongol commander Baycu Noyan invaded Konya. Mongol soldiers have entered, they are slaughtering people as well as destroying everything. As a spiritual leader there at that time, if we make sure that the Mongols don't kill people, if we make sure that they don't burn the libraries here, that makes them make more concessions. Then Baicu Noyan writes letters during the Mongol invasion when everyone is in a panic. They are called 'Sevakıb-ı Menakıb'. In this work, when there was a Mongol invasion, he said about this period, 'The walls and bastions of this city were not made of stone and earth. It is made of the mercy of God's hands. Do not be afraid,' and Baycu Noyan does not kill any people. It I s just damaging property, saying, 'I swore here, I have to tear down the bastions. I am going to tear down a sign to keep my word.' He informed about this, 'The bastions of this city are not made of stone and earth. It is made of the mercy of God's hands. Do not be afraid.' He really says that it is not as if it is made of stone and earth, but that it is under the protection of God and that this place will not be invaded unless the spiritual spirit there is blown away. Most of the settlers who stayed there from the Mongols became Muslims in the next generation. In other words, Rumi actually conquered that invasion spiritually. says, 'The real danger is the destruction of the spiritual signs.' That is understood from that."

"The disease is difficult to treat, but it is easy to maintain health"

Expressing that the people of this time need Rumi's ideas very much, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan stated that "I say this as someone who deals with human psychology. In other words, it is necessary to work so that people do not get sick. It is difficult to treat the disease of a sick person; however, it is easy to maintain health. Primary protection so that he does not get sick. When I researched what can be done to protect mental health, the principles of positive psychology emerged. When I look at positive psychology, they took and turned it into the conditions of this time, it was systematized, the methodology was developed, and Western culture offers us this. In 2009, a positive psychology congress is held. Therefore, I said this flaw is our fault. In other words, I can say that this is one of the motivations for writing the books Rumi Therapy, Yunus Therapy and Love Therapy. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was such a prophet of love, and the Islamic civilization of love was such a compassionate person that, for example, referred to a prophet who went to condolence with a child whose bird died. Again, he is a romantic enough to drink from the cup of Aisha and from the side where her mouth touches. Can we see this in the patriarchal culture of the Turks today? We cannot see it, it seems funny to us, but the Prophet did it. In fact, he is such a Prophet that he did not curse his Ummah even though he was stoned in Taif to the point that his shoes were filled with blood."

"Rumi has psychotherapy and antidepressant effects"

Mentioning that they use the stories of Rumi as a metaphor, Tarhan said that" has a psychotherapy and antidepressant effect. Let me tell you one, for example, do not worry when people misunderstand you. What they hear is your voice, but what they think is their own thoughts. Therefore, that is typically the intention reading method that we use in psychotherapy. Intention reading and mind reading method. One is misreading your mind, and that is how you will see the truth when you read their mind. They say it is not worth your upset. This is a word that we can use in awareness studies of erroneous value judgments in psychotherapy. As a metaphor, we use the stories of Rumi. In psychotherapy, there is a method called Bibliotherapy. This method is referred to as the use of selected reading materials to provide guidance in the solution of the person's mental problem. In this therapy, you take the selected reading material and interpret it, and make an analogy with those stories and metaphors there, correcting that person's thinking error, negative thinking and negative thoughts that bring them down. As that person progresses on the path of life, their path is opened. If we do not do anything here while we have treasure like and we sit on it, it is our fault. Instead of asking them why you use them without referring to Rumi, I tried to write the metaphors in the book Rumi Therapy by writing my own comments, saying that it is because we cannot write this, and that it is one of the metaphors used in psychotherapy that provides preventive mental health services."

“Rumi's ideas are not the ideas of that age."

Emphasizing that instead of bringing Rumi to the present day, Rumi's ideas should be brought to the present day, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan stated that  "The ideas of Rumi are not the ideas of that age. We are going to take it from that era and put those ideas in today's clothes. Instead of bringing Rumi to today, we will bring the ideas of  Rumi to today. When we explain it with today's methods, clothes and today's style, there is nothing contrary to science. Humanity needs a project right now to understand and analyze man, a project that touches the soul. All of humanity, civilization is advancing. Material well-being is increasing. Gross national product has increased 3.4 times in many countries around the world compared to 50 years ago, but the level of happiness is not the same. Happiness is the opposite. Spiritual well-being is going downward. Suicides are on the rise. We know the events taking place in Türkiye. These events are global events. In a statistic that I learned in the world today, the USA is the first country with the highest number of violent incidents in the world, and Türkiye is the second country with the highest number of violent incidents in the world. This does not suit us. For this reason, we need to bring Rumi to more people here. The university environment is a scientific environment, an environment that will influence influential people. The information produced in this environment is ideas that will have a widespread impact, original impact. I see this work as very valuable."

Many cultures in Europe, many societies in many countries need it...

Stating that Rumi is the only source that people who burn with the love of truth can reach, Tarhan said that "There is a wild energy in all of us. Modernism cannot train that wild energy. Savage capitalism cannot educate. On the contrary, it turns it into more uncontrolled energy. He also taught the method of controlling the wild energy within us. In our culture, it is referred to as exquisite manners. 'If the enemy wants it, it is enough,' he says. It teaches manners. I consider these studies, which combine the mind and the heart by synthesizing them with science, very valuable. Right now, many cultures in Europe, many countries and societies need it. Because Rumi is the only source that can be reached by those who are completely representative of religion, doctrines and ideologies and who are burning with the love of truth. For this reason, his works were above religion, doctrine and ideology. That is why it is our responsibility to tell them. If we do not take responsibility, history will hold us accountable. Tomorrow, when we go to the divine presence, we will be under the plague of knowing this information."

"If we become our own leaders, we become the leaders of others"

Emphasizing that the principle of starting to change the world from ourselves was learned from Rumi, Tarhan stated that "One day, comes home and his son is very sad. When he sees his son very sad, he immediately looks at him and does not say anything. He takes the wolf's pelt. He opens his arms in it. He makes some funny moves. His son starts laughing and says, 'Dad, you made me laugh.' At that time, Rumi says the following wonderful sentenseces, 'Look, son, I did not do it to make you laugh, this is the world you are sad about. Why did you actually laugh at this wolfskin? You laughed because you knew that you were not a real wolf but that your father was in the background, but you have the trouble you are sad about right now, this trouble you are sad about is like a wolf's skin. If you see the hand of Allah's mercy in the background, why should you be sad if you see that nothing will happen without Allah's permission?' He gives a very good historical lesson there against the calamity. In other words, this is actually an opportunity education made by Rumi. There is an event, an opportunity, he turns it into education with his son, and then he has come this far in the form of examples. In other words, if we read more of these examples in Anatolia and today and correct ourselves as a mirror in this regard, if we become our own leaders, we will be the leaders of others. We do our duty as mothers and fathers better. We do our duty as brothers. We do our job as managers better. For this reason, we learned the principle of starting to change the world from ourselves from Rumi."

The opening session titled "The Meaning of and Sema" was held

After Tarhan's speech, the opening session titled "The Meaning of and Sema" was held. Üsküdar University Advisor to the Rector Cemalnur Sargut also took part in the session moderated by Prof. Tuba Işık.

 

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)