Çilingir Sofrası 16 / İlk Anayasa; Akıl ve Mathematos (with English subtitles)

0:00***translated by Prof.Dr. Nükhet Kardam*** Çilingir Sofrası 16 / The First Constitution, The Mind and Mathematos

0:02What is important is individuality. We tend to make so many generalizations.

0:06We say that’s how the British are, this is how Turks are.

0:10I have friends who say: I love all people.

0:13I asked: how many people do you know?

0:16There are eight billion people on this earth.

0:18How many of them do you know?

0:20And imagine the number of people who lived in the past as well.

0:23How many of them do you know?

0:26We are just accustomed to generalizations.

0:30Those people? Yeah they are always like that! Who are those people?

0:33Sinan: That’s how they are. Kurds are this way, Black Sea people are that way, etc.

0:38Ercan (Ozaksoy) told me an anecdote once.

0:42As you know, he is an excellent jazz player.

0:45He has got great compositions.

0:50So Ercan said: I went to a wedding once.

0:53We were sitting at a cafe with friends, the elders of the community.

0:59They were telling anecdotes.

1:06One of the anecdotes was so funny.

1:09So I said, please tell me.

1:12He started: One day in the Ottoman times,

1:15two friends were playing cards and they looked out the window

1:20And apparently camels were passing by.

1:28One of them pointed out

1:31Look at what, what?

1:34He doesn’t know what they are.

1:37Sinan: If he knew, he would say look at those camels.

1:47The friend looks out and says: Yes, they are always like that!!

1:50(laughter) He means to say: Of course I know what they are too. In reality, neither one knows.

1:56Serhan: It is a great anecdote.

2:02When you don’t know something, you don’t feel good about yourself.

2:08Serhan: The brain cannot tolerate emptiness!

2:12Now let’s return to Yesrib.

2:14More problems arose between pagans and those who believed in sacred texts

2:21And every time they needed to call the elders of each group.

2:28It became clear to the Prophet that a common set of rules were necessary.

2:34He recommended that

2:37a representative from each tribe be called to hold a meeting.

2:56The king agreed and ordered each group

3:00to send a representative to hold a meeting.

3:04At this meeting, a written document was agreed upon,

3:10called the Medina Charter.

3:17As far as I am concerned,

3:18The Medina Charter is the first constitution in the world.

3:20But because history is written from a Western perspective

3:24Westphalia Treaty is considered the first of its kind.

3:33The Medina Charter that was created 1400 years ago is not mentioned,

3:35is not included in the literature.

3:41This is not right.

3:45At one time perhaps they did not know about this

3:50but it needs to be corrected once we are talking about universality.

3:54It needs to be rectified and this knowledge needs to be incorporated into our historical knowledge

3:57and for the sake of academic honesty.

4:00Having said that, let’s move on.

4:07So at Yesrib, the representatives of the tribes came

4:10to an agreement about common principles.

4:13Principles that everyone could agree upon.

4:23They all put their signatures under the Charter.

4:30What did the Prophet say when he announced the Medina Charter?

4:36This is very important.

4:38I feel strongly about this.

4:42Serhan, remember that this is happening 1400 years ago, we are in the desert,

4:46We are seeing mirages, we think there is water and you go there, there is nothing.

4:54Let’s put our modern world aside.

4:55Sinan: there are people who are coming after you who want to kill you.

4:57You are in the desert, you can be robbed as you travel in the desert!

5:01Who can protect you?

5:04Sinan: There is no authority.

5:06There is a small town and you call its chief ‘King’!

5:12The Prophet says:

5:15Until now, this place was called Yesrib.

5:20In other words, the place where we see “Serap” (Mirage)

5:30From now on, this town is going to be called

5:32‘Medine-i Münevvere’.

5:35He gave this new name to Yesrib.

5:42Medina means city but "şehir" also means city. They are both Arabic words.

5:50So why didn’t the Prophet call it "şehir"?

5:52What is inside the word ‘Medina’?

5:55"Din"

6:09"Din means Religion and Medina comes from Din."

6:11No, not at all.

6:13What is Din? Din means Justice.

6:15So Medina is the center of the Judiciary.

6:18The place where Justice is there.

6:21There are three models of a City.

6:26One is Medina, the center of the Judiciary.

6:30The other is ‘Kent’ and it is a Persian word.

6:33We think ‘Kent’ is a Turkish word. It is not, it is Persian.

6:39But now we know it is not Turkish.

6:45Kent in Persian means a military center.

6:52A garrison.

6:55Kent is garrison.

6:57Medina means the center of the judiciary.

7:01They called Ministry of Justice.

7:05And there is ‘Şehir’ in Arabic, which also means city,

7:09and means the center of political power.

7:11Here we have the three powers: legislative, executive, judiciary.

7:14The unity of these three separate powers makes up the ‘State’.

7:19legislative,

7:20legislative, executive,

7:21legislative, executive, judiciary.

7:23Are we going to learn about this from the West?

7:28We already had this 1400 years ago.

7:31We need to own this.

7:33We take what we imagine to be true and claim it is religion, claim it is politics.

7:40You say we have traditions, we have a great history, etc.

7:45but the concepts are not there.

7:48But this is the reality.

7:50Therefore, here we have the first constitution (Anayasa).

7:54Weren’t there laws before a constitution was created?

7:55Yes, but we are talking about a constitution.

7:57For example,

8:02there are Hammurabi laws but do they make up a constitution?

8:04A Constitution is a society’s principle set of laws.

8:08What is different in the Medina Charter is

8:09that it brought together groups with different belief systems,

8:14different customs

8:16and protected them against each other.

8:20This is the basic issue, Serhan.

8:23This is universal and timeless.

8:26It happened in a particular time period, but went beyond it.

8:32What does this mean? We need this in today’s world.

8:35Sinan: We could use this today.

8:37This is a basic plan for a cosmopolitan world.

8:42I don’t want to go into political analysis of the problems of today.

8:45That’s a different topic.

8:49But I had to mention this.

8:51We were talking about illusions, we talked about ‘Serap’ (Mirage).

8:52‘Serap’ also means illusion.

8:55How did we end up in Saudi Arabia,

8:58when we were talking about ancient Indian Wisdom.

9:01Illusion in ancient Indian Wisdom means ‘Maya’.

9:05This is not ‘Maya’ (Yeast) that we talked about earlier.

9:12Maya here means illusion,

9:15it is a Sanskrit word.

9:19There is also the Mayan calendar.

9:21We have to differentiate between these.

9:23The different meanings of Maya may cause confusion.

9:28Serhan: So these three meanings of Maya are different.

9:30The meaning of Maya in India means illusion.

9:34Perception that is the cause of delusion.

9:39The point is reality is not what we see.

9:43What we see is through our senses.

9:47But there is a reality behind what we perceive with our senses.

9:51The question is how could we reach that place?

9:56This is the basic question of Greek philosophy.

10:00To ask what is behind (arka), archetype?

10:04What is there behind my senses? How can I know that?

10:08If I can’t perceive it with my senses, how can I know it?

10:13Logos, Mind? What is that? Is there such a sense?

10:21They say that something that can’t be perceived by the senses can be known by our mind?

10:27Where is our mind?

10:33Who can prove that we have a mind?

10:37Serhan: What?

10:38Who can prove the existence of the mind?

10:42Okay, and who can deny the mind?

10:49Some people may not believe in the existence of a soul.

10:51Many academics don’t.

10:53They say there is no such thing.

10:59Okay you don’t believe in God. You say, God is invented by people.

11:06You don’t believe in the soul or in God. That’s possible.

11:11We have seen it in academic circles.

11:15That’s fine,

11:17but have you ever seen an academic who denies the mind?

11:20Have you seen anyone saying, there is no such thing as the mind?

11:24Sinan: Just the opposite

11:26But if we ask, prove that mind exists.

11:29In the positivist sense.

11:31In the sense of measuring it, observing it, making experiments in the laboratory.

11:36First, mind is not an object you can put in a laboratory and observe.

11:51Can you measure it?

11:53You can’t.

11:55So you can’t deny it, you can’t prove it

12:00I will tell you in what sense you can’t prove it, because I am actually going to prove it,

12:06You can’t prove it in terms of experimentation.

12:09We are talking about a capability that we can’t put in a lab and observe.

12:18But we know it is there. Without the mind, we don’t have speech.

12:22Can we prove it, how many kilograms does it weigh?

12:27Can we measure it? How many meters long is it? How heavy is it? What is its color?

12:37Serhan: After we define the mind, we can compare those that have certain capabilities

12:40and those that don’t. And if there are differences, we can attribute that

12:47to the mind. Maybe we can do that.

12:52Fine, is there an experiment here?

12:56Serhan: Yes

12:58There is observation, not experiment.

13:00Serhan: Is experiment something that can be proven chemically?

13:04No, not just chemical, experiment requires quantitative measurement.

13:13I should be able to weigh the object,

13:17Determine its three dimensions

13:22I should be able to observe its changes,

13:25I should be able to demonstrate its features.

13:28Can we do this with the mind, turn it into an object?

13:32Serhan: No, that’s not possible, that would be difficult.

13:34So positive science cannot prove the existence of the mind.

13:39Isn’t positive science the basis of how we understand the world today?

13:41Reality is understood as experimentation and observation.

13:47Can the existence of the mind be proved?

13:52Yes, the mind can be proved only in one way.

13:59Mathematos.

14:01This is a term that Greeks use.

14:04Mathematos means wisdom

14:07and comprises of two things:

14:10arithmos

14:13A Greek term again.

14:15arithmos

14:16and geometry.

14:19Mathematos is the unity of arithmos and geometry.

14:23wisdom.

14:24Arithmos is the knowledge of rhythm,

14:29Geometry is the knowledge of measurement.

14:36In that case, time is rhythm.

14:41The differences in rhythm create time.

14:44What is geometry?

14:48Serhan: It measures, it gives us location.

14:50Geometry gives us location.

14:57Arithmos gives us time.

14:59Mathematos, as the union of time and place, allows us to perceive reality.

15:07This is the proof of the mind.

15:12The mind can only be proven through the mind.

15:15It can’t be proven through experimentation.

15:17That’s why they have asked Einstein:

15:19how did you reach your findings, with what kind of experiments?

15:22He answered: Through thought experiments.

15:25They are incredulous, how can you have ‘thought experiments’?

15:28His findings were approved with physics experiments later on.

15:31But Einstein discovered what he did with ‘Mathematos’.

15:39E=MC squared. Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared.

15:45Energy turning into mass, and mass turning into energy, that energy and mass are the same thing, just in different forms.

15:53He discovered the concept of Tevhid in physics through the thought process.

16:00There is one thought process: Mathematos

16:04He did it with math formulas. There are 73 formulas underlying this.

16:12He did not do experiments.

16:16These are very sensitive, complex points. Let’s stop here.

16:21How did we get here?

16:23Serhan: But let’s explore these topics further.

16:25I don’t know, these are complex matters.

16:29How did we get here?

16:30Sinan: From discussing illusion.

16:31No.

16:33Can: You mentioned arithmos, the knowledge of rhythm.

16:37Look, there is a voice coming from the hidden world.

16:43Serhan: The voice of the invisible mind!

16:48Can: Could we do something with ‘rhythm’ since we don’t have much time left?

16:54How do we experience the rhythm of India, Can?

16:57We have bendir, darbuka.

17:00In the West, they have drums.

17:03Sinan: They have tabla in India.

17:05Where can we find a tabla?

17:09Let’s do something with tabla.

17:14Can bendir take the place of tabla?

17:17Can: Maybe Sinan can improvise.

17:24Couldn’t we have bendir, guitar and tabla together?

17:27Serhan: Of course, Shakti did that, remember?

17:30Shakti, Shakti

17:35We won’t be able to see the tabla.

17:38Tabla is invisible. But we can see the bendir and guitar.

17:47We are not using playback.

17:52We will have tabla too.

18:30Sinan and Serhan Yasdıman are performing "Kimi Dosta Gider"

21:06Sinan and Serhan Yasdıman are performing "Kimi Dosta Gider"

21:28Can, We thought we were going to play tabla, but here we are back again.

21:34But it will happen.

21:36***translated by Prof.Dr. Nükhet Kardam*** Çilingir Sofrası 16 / The First Constitution, The Mind and Mathematos