Trying to Touch the Cypriot Sky

I recently spent a few days in Cyprus with family. When I first told friends I was going, they'd assumed I'd be going to the infamous clubbing destination Ayia Napa & I was told "not too get to licked fam" (colloquial London slang for 'don't drink too much'). They then confusingly asked why I was going with family. Fortunately this wasn't an episode of Channel 4's 'Holiday Showdown' & we didn't spend the week in an epileptic-fit inducing sweat bath with dry-humping teens.

We went to the other side (North-East) of Cyprus in a village called Lefke. On one side of Lefke stands imposing mountains (Trodos mountains) and the other is the Mediterranean Sea. Lefke is a beautiful village were orchids of tangerines, lemons & pomegranates grow (even in the winter!) Arriving in Lefke, I felt like I was in a time-warp, the ancient walls & narrow streets resembled majestic 13th century cities like Damascus or Jerusalem. This place is a far cry from the neighbouring cities lit up with artificial burger-joints & seedy night-clubs.

The reason for our visit was to go and see Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani - The head of a Sufi Order and descendent of 11th-century of Sufi Saint Abdul Qadir Jilani and 13th-century mystical Persian poet Rumi. The village of Lefke is centred around Shaykh Nazim's house & mosque. The only example I can compare it to is Hogwarts, an enchanted place of wooden beams, orchids & wandering stray cats. I hoped to experience & learn more about the Islamic science of Tassawuf (commonly known as 'Sufism') which promotes the breaking of ones ego through 'purification of the heart' and spiritual cleansing..

Our accommodation was a lovely, quaint guest house with a beautiful courtyard. Although the front door was stapled together along with weak plywood & our insulation was a thin plastic sheet which acted as a substitute to what we in the UK call 'Windows..'

The phrase 'don't let the bed-bugs bite' went from mythical childish saying to literally "no seriously, don't let the bed bugs bite." So we decided to employ the tactic of sleeping with our clothes tucked in, hoods up & socks tucked into our trousers. Subsequently, we looked like Jedi's, This also helped when night-fall turned temperatures from pleasant 21 degrees to 3 degrees Celsius. The concrete slabs underneath our mattresses were meant to provide solace that our beds won't spontaneously combust into dust which resulted in a 'solid foundation' for our spines when we slept. Again, we employed the tactic of approaching sleep semi-conscious having wandered around like dervish's all day.

Despite all of this, our guest-house certainly humbled us, after a few days we all felt we could stay in Lefke for an unlimited amount of time. We learned to love our guest-house and living in conditions which most of the world live in today is an important element in breaking your ego. Our host in the guest-house: Khaled made the transition from "Sky-plus-western-comforts-Living" to "This bed-bug-just-bit-my-toe-Living" much easier. Khaled is 19 (the same age as me) and has spent 8 months (coming from Belgium) in Lefke working for the community by doing manual labour all day. Everyday he'd make us a delicious breakfast & give us gas canisters to heat us in the cold nights.

It seems cheesy & cliché to say the trip made me thankful of what luxuries I have in this country, but it's true it really did. Mostly though, it made me realize the differences in the societies in London & Lefke. In London, we all walk around & depending on the clothes we wear, or our aesthetic beauty or wealth, assume a sense of hierarchy over one another. Contrastingly amongst the Sufi's of Lefke, being 'somebody' in the Western world or even the Eastern world meant nothing.

Coming from the 'dog-eat-dog' world of the West, where the disease of the 'chosen one syndrome' sickens the spiritual health of man-kind, it was incredible to experience the company of blessed beautiful human beings surrounded by the beautiful surroundings of Lefke.

The biggest problem of humankind is 'position.' - Shaykh Mawlana Nazim Al Haqqani

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