Kfer means “village”.
Nahum means “mercy”.
These are Aramaic words.
Currently, in Western usage, it is used in the sense we call “tangled mess” or chaos, where everything intertwines and thus becomes a symbol of disorder. It can be quite a jumble.
Kafarnaum also has narratives in which it is said that Jesus healed a demon-possessed person. This could also be a symbol: in a place of disorder, there might be madness. Order is the work of the mind/God, while disorder is the work of chaos/the devil.
So why Kafarnaum?
Because this topic actually reflects the state of the world we live in. Perhaps it could also be a symbol; those who know me are aware that I often speak through symbols.
By the way, I want to mention that there is a movie called “Kafarnaum”; I highly recommend watching it. It is a story that shakes you a bit, but you should watch it…
A person is born into the world and, after meeting basic needs such as eating, drinking, shelter, and accumulation, realizes that there must be another meaning to life. At this point, numerous people come forward, telling what is right and what is wrong. Religions do this, congregations do this, sects do this…
There are many people saying, “Fulfill your life, and you will go to heaven.”
Of course, we can see all of these as various ways: all in the name of belief, in the name of a religion, in the name of a prophet… they provide these teachings.
We have divided humanity so much that bringing it back together as a single piece is no longer possible.
Spiritual guides came to guide humanity on the right path; they were all valuable individuals.
However, many fraudsters emerged wanting to manipulate people using the teachings of these guides. Let’s say offering a false promise.
Unfortunately, the greatest deceptions have always been made through beliefs and continue to be made.
It is time to tell the true face of spirituality, I believe.
Sadguru has a story:
In a lush valley, there lived a very happy bull whose only activity was grazing. From morning till night, all it did was eat grass. One day, it got so lost in its pleasurable activity that it found itself deep in the forest. In the forest, there was an old lion, not strong enough to chase its prey. As soon as it saw our bull, it thought, “What a beautiful piece of meat!” and pounced on it. After devouring the entire bull, the lion felt an overwhelming urge to roar in happiness.
It roared, but at that moment, a group of hunters heard its voice, hid, and killed it.
The moral of the story is this:
When your mouth is filled with so much nonsense, you shouldn’t open it.
Yet, despite being filled with such absurdities, these charlatans still don’t keep quiet.
Spiritual devotion cannot be taken from a book, nor can it be taught in a seminar. It means diving into life, reaching the heart.
Reaching the heart means delving into the details of life.
Nothing in your life will unfold unless you pay attention to it.
Anything you focus enough on must unfold for you.
The created and the Creator open up to you, as long as you give them enough attention.
There is a story of an American businessman who lived in the early 1900s: Andrew Carnegie.
When this man was very rich, the government investigated how he became so wealthy and found nothing illegal. They asked, “How did you amass such wealth?” He replied, “I can focus my attention on only one thing for 5 minutes.” Can you do that too? he asked. Upon this,
the government conducted many experiments, and no one could focus on a subject for more than a few seconds.
Carnegie said, “How are you managing this country?”
If you focus enough on a subject, it is inevitable that it opens up to you. Nothing can withstand focus.
It goes against the structure of existence.
So, the functioning of spirituality is simply focusing on life.
You must deepen your focus even more.
In the end, even existence itself opens up to you.
Let’s say reaching oneness at every station, using Sufi language:
Names, attributes, qualities, and essence.
In this sense, we either evaluate our lives merely in terms of eating, drinking, and roaming from a human perspective, or we engage with life and move with the Creator’s radar.
Living like this is living spiritually; I cannot imagine otherwise.
Everyone wants to be someone more than they are; when they reach that, they want something superior and so on… always seeking higher and higher.
Thus, a person dies only desiring something, dying as an unfulfilled desire.
Attaining perfection is very rare.
Desire or wish is good at the beginning of a project, but it cannot be ultimately good.
Ultimately, reaching completion must be the goal.
Coming back to Kafarnaum:
This world that seems chaotic to us, saying “may this world sink,” is a being that desires everything but has achieved nothing. An unsatisfied being.
Because we have no focus, no knowledge, and we don’t want to learn. We are insatiable, wanting this and that, and oh, let’s try this too…
Like a taste test.
A life of taste testing is a life wasted. Like the buffets in 5-star hotels: people fill their plates and leave them unfinished, and those plates become waste.
What is needed then: what I call focus is meaning.
There is no meaning, only rituals.
There are seminars.
And people think they’ve become something after two seminars. Shams says, “One who says ‘I have become’ has died.”
Spirituality is the language of the Divine.
It is a code.
It needs to be deciphered.
I emphasize this because only when humans find meaning will they calm down and find peace.
Someone wrote on the back of their car, “Islam is the religion of peace,” but they curse the car in front of them.
How can a person in conflict with themselves invite peace?
