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Talat Halman

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About Talat Halman

Talat Halman

Relationship Status:: Married

How did you find us?: Referred by a friend, Email invitation, Member of Another Ning Network, God sent me here

About Me:: Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim

Born into and gently nurtured into tasawwuf by my father, later in my teens I first encountered at his hand the musical ecstatic love poetry of the foundational Turkish poet-singer-sage Yunus Emre (1241-1321). Thanks to Kathleen Berger of the United Nations Int'l School I was introduced to the study of comparative religion in 10th grade, started practicing yoga, and fell in love with all humanity's spiritual expressions. In addition I developed a passion for the great American mystic Walt Whitman.

In 1972 I experienced the Mevlevi Semazen during their first visit to New York. When, at the end of the sema, they said "Hu......" I was catapaulted into an ecstatic moment of deep recognition.In 1979 my father invited me to my first zikr, a Helveti-Jerrahi zikr at the Sheraton Hotel in NYC.

From 1974 to 1979 I practiced Buddhism until I found through my experience of and work in the est training that Buddhanature is in each of our own selves and is the space in which our selves arise.

In 1988, I met Abdal-Wahid Cyril Glasse, who kindly tutored me in Islam and with whom I took shahadah and attended a zikr at the Westchester Helveti-Jerrahi tekke. Shaykh Dawud there was most gratious and the salat and zikr moved me deeply.

In September 1988, I began graduate studies at Duke in the History of Religion, specializing in Islam and Sufism. I was especially privileged to study with Bruce Lawrence, Carl Ernst, Vincent Cornell, Rkia Cornell, and Gordon Newby, among others.

Later that month I took ba'yat with Sidi Bendi Murad al-'Alawi (2nd-generation lineage-descendent of Shaykh 'Isa Nur al-Din Ahmad al 'Alawi, the subject of Martin Ling's famous book, A Sufi Saint in the Twentieth Century).

In 1989, in Chapel Hill North Carolina, I met Jem Williford who was also developing and deeping his explorations into Islamic Turkish Sufism. To Jem I am grateful for many treasures, especially the musical gift of a saz and for bringing Sherif Baba (with whom I would later take hand) to North Carolina where a converging community of people including then Pirzade Zia Inayat Khan, Omid Safi, Seemi Ghazi, drank in the nourishment of fresh waters of life.
Music, expressed in singing, songwriting, guitar and saz-performance has been an important dimension of my being and devotion.

In 1992, I was archetypally and tangibly, though non-physically, embraced by Khwaja Khidr, Hermes, and Hermes Trismegistus (Idris).

My most extensive and continuous experience of, and in, tasawwuf has been gratefully absorbed from Shaykh Sherif Baba (1992), Pir Zia Inayat Khan (1993), and Pir Shabda Kahn (2006). From these three I have gratiously received their spiritual hospitality of ba'yat. A fourth teacher of great significance in the path has been my wife Shakura's murshid, Murshid Khabir Kitz of Heartsong Retreat Center in the Ozark mountain woods in Arkansas, a master painter and iconographer. Murshid Khabir has hosted me on many levels, in many ways, and has deeply encouraged me. He lives tasawwuf beyond talking about it.

Four visits to Bawa Muhaiyedeen's mazar, home, and masjid extended my appreciation for the beauty of tasawwuf and its saints, shaykhs, and qutbs.

In the summer of 2000, I received initiation into the Sufi Healing Order from Himayat Inayati and later secondary initiation of blessing (ba'yat tabarrak) into the Sufi Order, at the encouragement of my Murshid Sherif Baba.

In 2001 , a slowly developing relationship with Meher Baba, nurtured by Michael Black, Daniel Fink, Paula Saffire, Wesley Joiner and one anonymous patron (and one matron), broke through to the surface in a powerful way. Often my heart would find deep relief in waves of weeping as I watched Meher Baba's flashing and flickering eyes and hand signs and gestures. Through his darshan I felt more deeply grateful for my own murshid. And Meher Baba opened me up to appreciate the Zardushti (Zoroastrian) dimension of our human spiritual experience.I appreciate Joe Bender, Carolyn Ball, and Phyllis Ott for their hospitality into this rich spiritual transmission.

From 2002-2007 I worked to find ways to share Sherif Baba and Jem's gifts with friends and brothers and sisters in Arkansas. I espcially appreciate the assistance in this hospitality from a host of lovers including Sidi Mansur al-Mujahid, Murshid Khabir Kitz, Espabad Babbs, and too many others to name here.

In 2005 while on a Fulbright in Indonesia I had a profound experience with Hazrat Inayat Khan that while reading his writings I would hear music in and behind his words, sometimes even audibly. I have set a number of his prayers to music, espcially Khatum.

After my return from Indonesia I immersed myself in Murshid Sufi Ahmad Murad Chishti Samuel Lewis' Sufi Visions and Initiations and was enriched with a sense of belonging in the presence of this Jewish American Sufi and Zen master and multicultural, multitraditional, horticultural -- and more. Hiis insights into Islam and God penetrated my being with fresh vision.

On New Year's eve of 2006, God decided (it seemed) to turn the tables of destiny and align my orbit with that of my spiritual sister and friend Shakura McGowan who has patiently endured the challenging dimensions of my being (does that mean I'm "existentially challenged?") and shown me much about the teachings and training of patience (sabr) in Sufism.

My aim is to strive for sincerity, authenticity, integrity, purity, and humility, and express an honest love and give myself in service. Recently I had the honor to participate in a concert "Awe and Wonder: Sacred Music from Two Worlds" with sitar maestro Chris Freeman (www.clfmusic.com) and his orchestra.

Initiate of a Sufi path?: Yes

Do You want to know more about Web Theology which I call 'Theology of the Noosphere': Yes

Videos

Green Man Part 1

Added Mar. 6, 2008 by Talat Halman.

TOWARD THE ONE

Added Feb. 28, 2008 by Talat Halman.

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Latest Activity

Talat Halman's profile changed Mar. 10, 2008

Talat Halman added 4 videos. View Videos

Feb. 27, 2008

Talat Halman's profile changed Feb. 19, 2008

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At 10:40pm on March 15th, 2008, Talat Halman said…: Wisdom I seek to integrate:

"The secret of life is balance,
and the absence of balance is life's destruction."
Gayan (Chalas, p. 39)

At 3:14pm on March 6th, 2008, Talat Halman said…: The following is by Ahmad al-Ghazali (d. 1126) Abu Hamid's younger brother, from his Sawanih, section 10:

"Love is its own bird and its own nest, its own essence and its own attribute, its own feather and its own wing. It is both the air and the flight, the hunter and the game, the goal and the searcher for the goal, the seeker and the sought. It is its own beginning and its own end, its own king and subject, its own sword and scabbard. it is both the garden and the tree, the branch and the fruit, the bird and the nest.

In the sorrow of love we condole ourselves.
We are distracted and bewildered by our own work,
Bankrupted by our own fortune,
Ourselves the hunters, ourselves the game.

- Ahmad al-Ghazali

At 3:11pm on March 6th, 2008, Talat Halman said…: Like the crescent moon, may we renew,
rejeuvenate and rise in regular rotation.
Like the full moon, may we grow in lovingkindness.
Like stars let us shine like thoughts
in the mind of God.
Like earth, let us give & receive.
Like Mary, let's pray with purity and devotion.

At 5:12pm on February 15th, 2008, Talat Halman said…: Join with me in remembering right now that God is Love, Harmony, and Beauty.

What an exquisite theophany and sacred semiology!

Love, Harmony, and Beauty.

The Art of Heart and Music

At 7:39am on February 14th, 2008, Shamsuddin Jim Norton said…: Welcome Talat,

I wondered how long it would take you to join us. Hope you find a warm spiritual home here. Feel free to be creative. Add your own blog, upload pictures and videos, Start a forum, invite your friends

This site is part of a growing network of those who intend to add love, harmony, and beauty to our noosphere.

Hope you will also consider joining me at Noosphere Lights

Light,
Shams-i-Heartsong