"The vulgar do not see God working, and therefore never rest from toil.
On whichever side the Gracious One may be, go, and for God's sake, for God's sake, may you be also on that side!
And make patience a ladder to climb upward towards the ascending stages: patience is the key to success.
The speech in my heart comes from that auspicious quarter, for there is a window between heart and heart."
Rumi (Vol.6 4883-4915)
Commentary: The last line in the Mathnawi:"there is a window between heart and heart."
Thank you for traveling with Rumi's great heart through his masterpiece. Rumi has been called the "Shakespeare of spirituality". What I am most grateful for is the way he reminds us of "The Gracious One." Reading this poem for the second time (after a 31 year absence) I am newly horrified as to where Rumi believes the life of the spirit develops. He claims it happens in the very midst of human depravity. He uses misogyny, and racism, and pornography, and political intrigue and violence, and the abuse of animals, and the worst kind of religious bigotry as his working materials. (He also refers to springtime gardens, and young lovers, and faithful servants and beautiful jewels: but that is to be expected.)But in the very worst of existence, admitting the worst, he then turns the direction of the reader's attention towards God. For Rumi there is nothing "pretty" about the struggles that go on here. He doesn't portray spirituality as something that only the delicate and the sensitive ought to explore. Whatever your character or circumstances, may you find yourself on the side of the "Gracious One" today, and everyday.
(Personal note: I do plan to do another "spiritual classic" blog next fall...Simone Weil? Thomas Merton? Hafiz? I haven't decided... you can e-mail me at bmerritt@firstunitarian for updates...
Monday, June 14, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
The One Who Gives Life, and Takes It Away
"The King wept in mourning for the one that was slain, for the King is all; The King is both the slayer and the next of kin.
The King is both the slayer of humanity, and a mourner for them.
Meanwhile, the pale faced martyr was thanking God that the arrow had killed his body, and had not killed that which is real.
The visible body is doomed to go at last, but that which is real, the pure spirit, shall live rejoicing for ever.
If that punishment were inflicted, yet it fell only on the skin: the lover went unscathed to the Beloved.
Although he laid hold of the mercy of the King's saddle strap, yet in the end he was only admitted to union with his Beloved by the eye of perfection, the eye whose glances kill the mind's self-conceit."
Rumi (Vol.6, 4870-4875)
Commentary: Rumi asks us to imagine that there is something more real than our bodies. Rumi asks us to imagine that there is a "Beloved" who cares for us more than anyone on earth cares for us. Rumi even wants us to believe that the Goodness, (that gave us life), will also take that life from us; and that God not only celebrates our birth, but also mourns our death. (The last quote from the Mathnawi will appear tomorrow, God willing.)
The King is both the slayer of humanity, and a mourner for them.
Meanwhile, the pale faced martyr was thanking God that the arrow had killed his body, and had not killed that which is real.
The visible body is doomed to go at last, but that which is real, the pure spirit, shall live rejoicing for ever.
If that punishment were inflicted, yet it fell only on the skin: the lover went unscathed to the Beloved.
Although he laid hold of the mercy of the King's saddle strap, yet in the end he was only admitted to union with his Beloved by the eye of perfection, the eye whose glances kill the mind's self-conceit."
Rumi (Vol.6, 4870-4875)
Commentary: Rumi asks us to imagine that there is something more real than our bodies. Rumi asks us to imagine that there is a "Beloved" who cares for us more than anyone on earth cares for us. Rumi even wants us to believe that the Goodness, (that gave us life), will also take that life from us; and that God not only celebrates our birth, but also mourns our death. (The last quote from the Mathnawi will appear tomorrow, God willing.)
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Wickedness (Close By)
"Assuredly, your wicked carnal mind is a rapacious wolf: why are you laying the blame on every friend and neighbor?
In its misguidedness, the foul, disbelieving, unconscionable, carnal mind is like a hat for concealing the diseased condition of a hundred bald heads.
For this reason, O poor child of God, I am always saying, "Do not remove the collar from the neck of the cur."
Even if this cur should become a teacher, it is a cur still: be the one whose carnal mind is abased, for its nature is towards evil.
Go around the Saint, and absorb His light...
In order that the Saint may redeem you from the vices of your corporeality, and that you may fit the foot of the Beloved like a boot.
From generation to generation, the wickedness of the undisciplined carnal mind was the cause of the world being suddenly set on fire..."
Rumi (Vol. 6, 4856-4864)
Commentary: Even at the close, Rumi offers his truth, without any sugar-coating. This journey was never intended to be easy, and we should never let our guard down, as long as our "carnal minds", (our egotistical, selfish, delusional, controlling minds) are alive and kicking.
In its misguidedness, the foul, disbelieving, unconscionable, carnal mind is like a hat for concealing the diseased condition of a hundred bald heads.
For this reason, O poor child of God, I am always saying, "Do not remove the collar from the neck of the cur."
Even if this cur should become a teacher, it is a cur still: be the one whose carnal mind is abased, for its nature is towards evil.
Go around the Saint, and absorb His light...
In order that the Saint may redeem you from the vices of your corporeality, and that you may fit the foot of the Beloved like a boot.
From generation to generation, the wickedness of the undisciplined carnal mind was the cause of the world being suddenly set on fire..."
Rumi (Vol. 6, 4856-4864)
Commentary: Even at the close, Rumi offers his truth, without any sugar-coating. This journey was never intended to be easy, and we should never let our guard down, as long as our "carnal minds", (our egotistical, selfish, delusional, controlling minds) are alive and kicking.
Friday, June 11, 2010
The House of Darkness
"How should the sea of the King, to which every water returns, be ignorant of what is contained in the torrent and river?
The King said to himself, "Look how I have dealt with you, in lavishing a precious treasure! Look how you have dealt with Me in your mean-spiritedness!
You have acted disloyally to the King who answers every call for help."
Then the disciple came to himself, and asked pardon of God...
The pain that arises from the dread of losing one's faith - take pity (on the one who is thus afflicted) for this is the irremediable pain.
You are helpless and unable to understand the cause of this helplessness: your helplessness is a reflection of the day of retribution.
Happy is the one whose spiritual food is this helplessness and bewilderment, and who in both worlds is sleeping in the shadow and the protection of the Beloved.
Life depends on dying to the self, and on suffering tribulation: the water of life is in the land of darkness."
Rumi (Vol.6 4771-4830)
Commentary: In the last 5 pages of the Mathnavi, Rumi admits that God isn't surprised by how often we fall. The ego has to go. Eventually we will learn that the only place to rest is in the palm of the Beloved.
The King said to himself, "Look how I have dealt with you, in lavishing a precious treasure! Look how you have dealt with Me in your mean-spiritedness!
You have acted disloyally to the King who answers every call for help."
Then the disciple came to himself, and asked pardon of God...
The pain that arises from the dread of losing one's faith - take pity (on the one who is thus afflicted) for this is the irremediable pain.
You are helpless and unable to understand the cause of this helplessness: your helplessness is a reflection of the day of retribution.
Happy is the one whose spiritual food is this helplessness and bewilderment, and who in both worlds is sleeping in the shadow and the protection of the Beloved.
Life depends on dying to the self, and on suffering tribulation: the water of life is in the land of darkness."
Rumi (Vol.6 4771-4830)
Commentary: In the last 5 pages of the Mathnavi, Rumi admits that God isn't surprised by how often we fall. The ego has to go. Eventually we will learn that the only place to rest is in the palm of the Beloved.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Do Not Despair
"How long will you follow the glittering phantom reflected from another? Strive to make the Divine experience actual for yourself.
So that your words will be prompted by your immediate feelings, and your flight will be made by your own wings and pinions...
I have no hope from any quarter, but that Divine Bounty is saying to me, " Do not despair!"
Our Emperor had made a perpetual feast for us: God is always pulling our ears, drawing us close and saying, "Do not lose hope!"
Although we are in the ditch and overwhelmed by this despair, let us go dancing since He has invited us.
Let us dance along like mettlesome horses, galloping towards a familiar pasture.
Let us toss our feet, though no foot is there; let us drain the cup, though no cup is there.
Because all things there, are spiritual: it is reality, on reality, on reality.
Form is the shadow, reality is the sun."
Rumi (Vol.6, 4664-4747)
Commentary: As the Mathnawi draws to a close, Rumi invites us to dance all the way home. We are invited. We are being pulled. Reality is determined to win us over.
So that your words will be prompted by your immediate feelings, and your flight will be made by your own wings and pinions...
I have no hope from any quarter, but that Divine Bounty is saying to me, " Do not despair!"
Our Emperor had made a perpetual feast for us: God is always pulling our ears, drawing us close and saying, "Do not lose hope!"
Although we are in the ditch and overwhelmed by this despair, let us go dancing since He has invited us.
Let us dance along like mettlesome horses, galloping towards a familiar pasture.
Let us toss our feet, though no foot is there; let us drain the cup, though no cup is there.
Because all things there, are spiritual: it is reality, on reality, on reality.
Form is the shadow, reality is the sun."
Rumi (Vol.6, 4664-4747)
Commentary: As the Mathnawi draws to a close, Rumi invites us to dance all the way home. We are invited. We are being pulled. Reality is determined to win us over.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
The Real Garden
"That seeker felt within his heart a sublime emotion...
Courtyard and wall and mountain woven of stone seemed to split open before him like a laughing and bursting pomegranate.
One by one, the atoms of the universe were momentarily opening their doors to him, like tents, in a hundred diverse ways.
The door would become now a window, now the sunbeams; the earth would become now the wheat, now the bushel.
In human eyes, the heavens are very old, and threadbare; in his eye, there was a new creation every moment.
The flowers that bloom from the earth become faded; the flowers that bloom from the heart-oh, what a joy!
Know that all the delightful sciences known to us are only two or three bunches of flowers from that garden.
We are devoted to these two or three bunches of flowers, because we have shut the Garden door on ourselves."
Rumi (Vol.6 4639-4652)
Commentary: Rumi admits that our small bunches of flowers are beautiful. But he invites us to experience a whole garden full of magnificent flowers, where that beauty never fades. We "shut the garden gate" when we refuse to even consider the possibility that such a wondrous garden exists.
Courtyard and wall and mountain woven of stone seemed to split open before him like a laughing and bursting pomegranate.
One by one, the atoms of the universe were momentarily opening their doors to him, like tents, in a hundred diverse ways.
The door would become now a window, now the sunbeams; the earth would become now the wheat, now the bushel.
In human eyes, the heavens are very old, and threadbare; in his eye, there was a new creation every moment.
The flowers that bloom from the earth become faded; the flowers that bloom from the heart-oh, what a joy!
Know that all the delightful sciences known to us are only two or three bunches of flowers from that garden.
We are devoted to these two or three bunches of flowers, because we have shut the Garden door on ourselves."
Rumi (Vol.6 4639-4652)
Commentary: Rumi admits that our small bunches of flowers are beautiful. But he invites us to experience a whole garden full of magnificent flowers, where that beauty never fades. We "shut the garden gate" when we refuse to even consider the possibility that such a wondrous garden exists.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Not Just Clay
"The Saint is a hundred thousand human beings, concealed in a single person, a hundred bows and arrows enclosed in a single blow-pipe.
A Saint is a sun, hidden in a mote: suddenly the mote opens its mouth and reveals the sun.
O body, that has become the spirit's dwelling place, this is enough: how long can the Sea abide in a water skin?
O thou, who are a hundred Gabriels in the form of a person: O thou, who are many Messiahs inside the donkey of Jesus,
O thou, who are a thousand Ka'bas concealed in a church.
They ask, "How should I pay homage to this clay? How should I bestow on a mere form, a title signifying my obedience and adoration?"
The Saint is not the form in which he appears; rub your eyes well, that you may behold the Saint in the radiance of the light of Divine Glory!
Here is the mystery: to behold the Seven Heavens in a handful of clay."
Rumi (Vol.6, 4577-4589)
Commentary: Perhaps we are all, much more than our current form, and the clay of this material body. The mystics teach us that the "seven heavens" are within everyone.
A Saint is a sun, hidden in a mote: suddenly the mote opens its mouth and reveals the sun.
O body, that has become the spirit's dwelling place, this is enough: how long can the Sea abide in a water skin?
O thou, who are a hundred Gabriels in the form of a person: O thou, who are many Messiahs inside the donkey of Jesus,
O thou, who are a thousand Ka'bas concealed in a church.
They ask, "How should I pay homage to this clay? How should I bestow on a mere form, a title signifying my obedience and adoration?"
The Saint is not the form in which he appears; rub your eyes well, that you may behold the Saint in the radiance of the light of Divine Glory!
Here is the mystery: to behold the Seven Heavens in a handful of clay."
Rumi (Vol.6, 4577-4589)
Commentary: Perhaps we are all, much more than our current form, and the clay of this material body. The mystics teach us that the "seven heavens" are within everyone.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Crying for Help
"There is no way for you to pass beyond the sky, save by Divine authority and by inspiration from heaven.
Know that the mark of one who apprehends this is his crying for help.
Veil the faults of others, in order that a similar veiling may be vouchsafed to you: do not deride anyone, until you see yourself in security.
Inflict upon another only the pain and injury that you would wish and approve for yourself.
Who is the "protector"? The one that sets you free and removes the fetters of servitude from your feet.
Do you, like the gay, colored garden, give unspoken thanks at every moment to the Water?
The cypresses and the green orchard silently thank the water that nourishes them, and show silent gratitude for the blessings of Spring.
Clad in fresh robes, and trailing their skirts, drunken and dancing and jubilant and scattering perfume,
Every part of them is impregnated by the royal Spring."
Rumi (Vol.6 4514-4546)
Commentary: What we have in common is our need for help and nourishment and forgiveness. And a glimpse of our divine destiny is revealed in the beauty and the joy of Spring.
Know that the mark of one who apprehends this is his crying for help.
Veil the faults of others, in order that a similar veiling may be vouchsafed to you: do not deride anyone, until you see yourself in security.
Inflict upon another only the pain and injury that you would wish and approve for yourself.
Who is the "protector"? The one that sets you free and removes the fetters of servitude from your feet.
Do you, like the gay, colored garden, give unspoken thanks at every moment to the Water?
The cypresses and the green orchard silently thank the water that nourishes them, and show silent gratitude for the blessings of Spring.
Clad in fresh robes, and trailing their skirts, drunken and dancing and jubilant and scattering perfume,
Every part of them is impregnated by the royal Spring."
Rumi (Vol.6 4514-4546)
Commentary: What we have in common is our need for help and nourishment and forgiveness. And a glimpse of our divine destiny is revealed in the beauty and the joy of Spring.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
The Delay
"The cause of this delay in coming (into God's presence) was lack of capability, and defect of skill.
If one who cannot smell were to enter into a garden, how should his brain be delighted by the fragrant herbs?
If one who has no wheat goes to a mill: nothing will be given to him except the whitening of his beard and hair with flour.
The celestial mill bestows on those who have no wheat, only the whiteness of hair...
But on those who bring wheat with them, this mill bestows empire, and gives them sovereign power.
You must first be qualified for Paradise, in order that from Paradise the everlasting life may be born to you.
These parables have no limit: do not seek more words of this kind: go and acquire ability!
The one who goes to hunt the King's prey, becomes the King's prey.
Whosoever goes in chase of a quarry like God, does not catch his quarry until he himself is caught."
Rumi (Vol.6, 4424-4440)
Commentary: What are we to bring to the celestial mill? I suspect humility, and effort, and our failures, and our broken hearts, and our hope in mercy and grace. None of this beautiful poetry is a substitute for capacity and ability. (sigh)
If one who cannot smell were to enter into a garden, how should his brain be delighted by the fragrant herbs?
If one who has no wheat goes to a mill: nothing will be given to him except the whitening of his beard and hair with flour.
The celestial mill bestows on those who have no wheat, only the whiteness of hair...
But on those who bring wheat with them, this mill bestows empire, and gives them sovereign power.
You must first be qualified for Paradise, in order that from Paradise the everlasting life may be born to you.
These parables have no limit: do not seek more words of this kind: go and acquire ability!
The one who goes to hunt the King's prey, becomes the King's prey.
Whosoever goes in chase of a quarry like God, does not catch his quarry until he himself is caught."
Rumi (Vol.6, 4424-4440)
Commentary: What are we to bring to the celestial mill? I suspect humility, and effort, and our failures, and our broken hearts, and our hope in mercy and grace. None of this beautiful poetry is a substitute for capacity and ability. (sigh)
Saturday, June 5, 2010
The Journey Within
"You must know that safety is concealed in danger.
The hidden grace consists in this, that the Lord shows the recipient of grace a terrible fire, but it is really a gracious light.
In our souls are answers to all our arguments, like stars in the sky.
The form is outside, and the spirit inside; the spirit, the real nature of the soul's Beloved, is in the soul, like blood is in the veins.
The one whose scout is the inward eye, this eye will behold with the very highest clairvoyance.
That soul is not content with traditional authority; no, his feeling of absolute certainty comes from the inward eye.
Lovers are devoted to the everlasting kingdom of Love."
Rumi (Vol.6 4359-4421)
Commentary: The certainty we seek can only be found in our own experience of the truth; and the ultimate truth is the Love that have birth to the sun, and the stars, and you...and Rumi tells us that this Love can be found within your own soul.
The hidden grace consists in this, that the Lord shows the recipient of grace a terrible fire, but it is really a gracious light.
In our souls are answers to all our arguments, like stars in the sky.
The form is outside, and the spirit inside; the spirit, the real nature of the soul's Beloved, is in the soul, like blood is in the veins.
The one whose scout is the inward eye, this eye will behold with the very highest clairvoyance.
That soul is not content with traditional authority; no, his feeling of absolute certainty comes from the inward eye.
Lovers are devoted to the everlasting kingdom of Love."
Rumi (Vol.6 4359-4421)
Commentary: The certainty we seek can only be found in our own experience of the truth; and the ultimate truth is the Love that have birth to the sun, and the stars, and you...and Rumi tells us that this Love can be found within your own soul.
Friday, June 4, 2010
A Hidden Grace
"When did God make me hopeful, and when did God shower money and profit on me?
What wisdom was this that the Object of all desire caused me to go forward from my home on a fool's errand?
So that I was hastening to lose the way, and at every moment was being further removed from what I was seeking?
And then God, in his munificence, made that very abberation the means of my reaching the right road and gaining wealth.!"
God makes losing the way an avenue to true faith; God makes going wrong a field for the harvest of righteousness.
To the end that no righteous one may be without fear, and that no sinner may be without hope.
The Gracious One has put an antidote in the poison in order that they may say that God is the Lord of a hidden grace."
Rumi (Vol.6, 4338-4344)
Commentary: We all lose our way. But we won't know the end of this story (of our lives), until the story ends. There are less than 600 verses left in the 6 volumes of the Mathnavi. (The whole work contains over 24,000 verses.) How interesting that at the conclusion of this masterpiece, Rumi is emphasizing the universality of confusion.
What wisdom was this that the Object of all desire caused me to go forward from my home on a fool's errand?
So that I was hastening to lose the way, and at every moment was being further removed from what I was seeking?
And then God, in his munificence, made that very abberation the means of my reaching the right road and gaining wealth.!"
God makes losing the way an avenue to true faith; God makes going wrong a field for the harvest of righteousness.
To the end that no righteous one may be without fear, and that no sinner may be without hope.
The Gracious One has put an antidote in the poison in order that they may say that God is the Lord of a hidden grace."
Rumi (Vol.6, 4338-4344)
Commentary: We all lose our way. But we won't know the end of this story (of our lives), until the story ends. There are less than 600 verses left in the 6 volumes of the Mathnavi. (The whole work contains over 24,000 verses.) How interesting that at the conclusion of this masterpiece, Rumi is emphasizing the universality of confusion.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Real Treasure
Every piece of counterfeit gold prevents you from recognizing the genuine gold, wherever it is to be found.
The counterfeit gold cuts off your feet, and clips your wings; the impostor says, "I am what you seek: take me, O seeker."
Go, always be fleeing from the false remedy.
Deem me foolish or contemptible, as you please: the real treasure is mine, say what you like."
Rumi (Vol.6, 4308-4327)
Commentary: The real wealth is of the spirit. The other distractions sparkle, but will prove to be ultimately worthless.
The counterfeit gold cuts off your feet, and clips your wings; the impostor says, "I am what you seek: take me, O seeker."
Go, always be fleeing from the false remedy.
Deem me foolish or contemptible, as you please: the real treasure is mine, say what you like."
Rumi (Vol.6, 4308-4327)
Commentary: The real wealth is of the spirit. The other distractions sparkle, but will prove to be ultimately worthless.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
A Mixed Market
"Who shall knock at this door, from which mercy is showered, without gaining in response a hundred springs, a hundred seasons of spiritual refreshment?
The heart is comforted by true words, just as a thirsty person is comforted by water...
There is a spirit increasing sea, and a distressful sea: these lips are where the seas meet, but do not mingle.
It is like a great market situated between towns: in this market comes goods from all directions.
Damaged, spurious and swindling commodities: and also valuable commodities, highly esteemed, like pearls.
The shrewdest traders in this mart carefully inspect the genuine and the spurious wares.
To such a one the market is a place of gain, while to the others, in their blindness, it is a place of loss.
Every particle of the world, one by one, is a fetter for the fool, and a means of deliverance for the wise.
It is sweet as candy for one, and bitter as poison for another: it is as beautiful as mercy for one, and terrible as wrath for another."
Rumi (Vol.6, 4239-4288)
Commentary, Imagine today as holding all the gain, and sweetness, and mercy and deliverance that we need. Rumi claims that it does, if we shop with discrimination.
The heart is comforted by true words, just as a thirsty person is comforted by water...
There is a spirit increasing sea, and a distressful sea: these lips are where the seas meet, but do not mingle.
It is like a great market situated between towns: in this market comes goods from all directions.
Damaged, spurious and swindling commodities: and also valuable commodities, highly esteemed, like pearls.
The shrewdest traders in this mart carefully inspect the genuine and the spurious wares.
To such a one the market is a place of gain, while to the others, in their blindness, it is a place of loss.
Every particle of the world, one by one, is a fetter for the fool, and a means of deliverance for the wise.
It is sweet as candy for one, and bitter as poison for another: it is as beautiful as mercy for one, and terrible as wrath for another."
Rumi (Vol.6, 4239-4288)
Commentary, Imagine today as holding all the gain, and sweetness, and mercy and deliverance that we need. Rumi claims that it does, if we shop with discrimination.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Constant Dissapointment
"The angels beseech God piteously, saying,"O Thou, who answers every prayer, and O Thou, whose protection is invoked,
A faithful servant of yours is making humble entreaty: he knows none but You on whom to rely.
You bestow Your bounty even on strangers: every ardent wisher gains his desire from You."
God says," It is not that he is despicable in my sight, no, the very deferment of the bounty is for the sake of helping him.
Need caused him to turn towards Me from his former state of forgetfulness: it dragged him by the hair into My presence.
If I satisfy his need, he will go back and again become absorbed in that idle play.
Although he is now crying with all his soul, "O Thou whose protection is invoked" let him continue to moan with a broken heart and a wounded breast."
Know for sure that this is the reason why the true believers suffer disappointment, whether in seeking good, or in avoiding evil."
Rumi (Vol.6, 4219-4238)
Commentary: On a spiritual path, you never really know what is going on...
A faithful servant of yours is making humble entreaty: he knows none but You on whom to rely.
You bestow Your bounty even on strangers: every ardent wisher gains his desire from You."
God says," It is not that he is despicable in my sight, no, the very deferment of the bounty is for the sake of helping him.
Need caused him to turn towards Me from his former state of forgetfulness: it dragged him by the hair into My presence.
If I satisfy his need, he will go back and again become absorbed in that idle play.
Although he is now crying with all his soul, "O Thou whose protection is invoked" let him continue to moan with a broken heart and a wounded breast."
Know for sure that this is the reason why the true believers suffer disappointment, whether in seeking good, or in avoiding evil."
Rumi (Vol.6, 4219-4238)
Commentary: On a spiritual path, you never really know what is going on...
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