Swirling Rumi

Swirling Rumi (Oil on Canvas)

Background:

A gyroscope is an interesting piece of toy. 

I was probably in my early teens trying to understand the law of conservation of momentum. I did learn it well and scored well in exams. As years passed and just when I thought I have mastered the law of conservation of momentum someone introduced me to this wonderful piece of science (A Gyroscope). When you first see it and try to explain it by yourself with what you know, it mocks your very understanding of physics. The physics around this device is beautiful and the principle itself is very common in daily life that lets you know the orientation of the airplanes you fly into the smart phones in your hand indicating your location http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyroscope

As usual, just when I thought I knew well about the applications of a gyroscope, Mavlana Jalal ad din Mohammed Rumi (aka Rumi) changed my very notion of a gyroscope. 

Rumi was a Sufi saint, mystic, and poet. His way of connecting to his almighty Allah was to go in this indefinite spin, swirling round and round and round. Just like a gyroscope, a swirling Sufi rotates around a fixed axis, resisting any external disturbances.

Try taking a few spins and maintain your balance when you stop. We all have tried this before at some point in our life and we know its tough. A human body has it's built-in gyroscope too. It's known as the vestibular in your inner ear. The fluid revolving in a canal system is sensed by hair cells and the brain adjusts your reflexes to maintain balance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestibular_system

Today, in modern Turkey, the swirling dervish of Mevlana order still follow Rumi’s practice. The number of swirls sure should disconnect them from human gyroscope making them off balance. But strangely they keep swirling about an axis trying to connect with Allah, the almighty. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufi_whirling

Painting:

As always, I don’t go painting with a fixed subject in my mind, but as I was brushing the canvas with random splashes of paint, Rumi and gyroscopes were alternating my mind. I did not know how to paint or what to paint. 

As a Turkish would say if you are in doubt – read a Rumi poem for answers. I did so and read the following quotes from his poem and got going with this painting.

“Respond to every call that excites your spirit.” 

“What matters is how quickly you do what your soul directs.” 

By the time I finished the painting, reading along with random quotes from Rumi, I now have a new superstar to follow – Rumi.

 This painting also made me feel proud following Hinduism, a religion that allows to experiment,find and appreciate different ways to the Truth. In computing, when your problem is big beyond comprehension, crowdsourcing is the best way to reach closer to the solution http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdsourcing that is what probably what Hinduism does, with million point solutions (Multitheism) trying to reach one goal.

I go back to reading my Rumi again:

“Moonlight floods the whole sky from horizon to horizon;

How much it can fill your room depends on its windows.” 

 

Yours truly,

A Curious Engineer with paintbrush and Rumi's quotes in hand.