Till then, Deir Mar Musa

Mohamed and George were bringing the heating apparatus out from the tent when we were having our breakfast, no longer under the sun but under the shade. Spring is finally coming and we were leaving today.

Deir Mar Musa

If I am to say something about Deir Mar Musa, the first thing comes to my mind is unfortunately some negative thoughts. Please allow me to say that, Deir Mar Musa, to some extent, is a spiritual monastery for religious purposes overshadowed by a big tourist umbrella. People are coming in fancy dresses, sipping tea while waiting to be served aside from enjoying the panoramic view over the valley. Tourists from all over the world are coming and leaving. They take photos, they chat and laugh out loud, they sip tea and leave it on the table and they leave. Most travelers take here as a rest house with free accommodation and free meals without knowing there is a mass and meditation session. Some arrived here in late evening to have a sleep before leaving the following morning.

Deir Mar Musa (Nunnery)

Time passed so easy here that I won’t be able to realize if not have the bell rung for mass. I thought I would enjoy the moment here as others do. I did enjoy sometimes not because of having peaceful moment but simply because of the realization of being able to learn the simplicity a life could be.  Having stayed here for 1-week, I felt not contented as I’m too desperate to learn about faith which I couldn’t gain at the end. Well, probably I shouldn’t feel bad as the community and the travelers I have met and done a chat with here have been my eye-openers.

While we are still hesitating to set our foot on the road, others have been taking traveling as a routine habit to see and learn the world. Asians are too lacking of learning desire and ability. While most Japanese is still babbling in broken English, and most Korean still only manages to speak only Korean and most Chinese is still prides for their mother tongue, you will be surprised by the speaking of Arabic by the Europeans in a fluent way.

People from all over the world gathered in this little isolated monastery

People of different religions and cultures can live together in harmony is what keeps Father Paulo here. And for Malaysia, for the sake of God, stop proclaiming yourselves as a multi-racial country until your people of different religions and cultures can live together in harmony and your politicians are, for the sake of our future, stopping from philandering with the people. Come to Syria and you will know what the true meaning of religious harmony is where Muslim joined the mass and meditation while Christians and Buddhist are welcomed in the mosque, all being practiced without any unnecessary fuss.

Get invited several times by very friendly Syrian families when we were taking a stroll along the valley. 

If there is a choice, I would prefer to approach Christianity in a Buddhism way guided by the five pillars of Islam.

Till then…Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi. Ma’asalama.