Walking through the city with my friend. It’s been a while since I’ve been here. After a nice Vietnamese lunch we head out to my favorite bar which overlooks Kottbusser Tor. Only now there is a police station next to it. Which made fir a big cut in the seating arrangement. After a drink we walk around and I find a little graffiti I made, some 15 years ago. This morning I accidentally found out there was a Sufi meeting that evening, we decide to go.

In the meanwhile we make plans. Thinking, talking and walking go together well. Synchronizing vibe, beverages and cigarettes. My friend gets attacked by an apple thrown out of a window. Hitting him in the head.

We enter the room, chairs placed in a half circle. Rugs and pillows in front. We take place on the chairs. After we are all seated the Sufi master comes in. We all introduce ourselves one by one. The master starts talking. One of the things he suggest when tackling the ego. If the mind wants an ice cream, give it tea instead, if the mind gets used to tea, give it warm water instead, if it gets used to warm water, give it cold water instead. Thus not letting the mind get used to a situation, from which it will start demanding. Also keep yourself clean, physically and mentally. Happy when you cleaned the toilet. But have to keep on doing it. Things need maintenance. Your car, your watch. Keep the well clean.

After a talk of about an hour there is a break. My friend tells me he thinks the master is too dominant to some people, and he might want to leave early. We stay anyway. After the break there is a prayer, a chant. The Derwish dancer starts dancing. The pace of the chant goes like waves. Slow, faster, fast. Slow, faster , fast. Which is a nice pace in many situations. The spins of the dancer move along these waves.

After the prayer a big piece of plastic is laid out and we have dinner. The master suddenly looks at me and tells me I have a big light. And if I would like to be blessed after dinner. He also tells me I know the direction and I need to start following it. ‘Now is the time.’ I tell him I know this, but that I tend to take a lot of detours. “the long way home” We talk about meeting the same situations in your life. And he tells me these same things you run into in your life are not like a circle/ a loop, but are like a spiral moving upwards. Revisiting the same things, but slightly different each time. Moving to dissolvement. By coincidence I had this same conversation the week before, with my 82 year old yoga teacher. But in his way of saying the spiral went forward.

It is time for the blessing. From somewhere a cane appears. He grabs the cane and asks me to take the other end. Then he invites the rest to also grab the cane. He begins a prayer. On my left side I notice a hard clap. One of the assistants of the master grabs the shoulder of my friend. We thank and hug. And he advises me to go to the sufis in Turkey. After this we leave.

Back on the streets. My friend tells me he began floating away when the blessing started. Grabbing his shoulder the assistant brought him back . And he began buzzing. He was happy he stayed. we walk past the park and hear a party. We walk towards it, but already the police pulls up. We decide we’ve had enough party already and walk the long way home. Blessed and contented we step into the nightshop for beverages and cigarettes. Maybe tomorrow we’ll have tea instead.