Thursday, December 31, 2009

Do Not Strive...

"O Valiant friend, take hold of the skirt of Him who is exempt from 'above' and below'.
God is with you in space and in the spaceless world, when you leave house and shop behind.
He brings forth purity from defilements. He takes your acts of wrong as your faithful performance of duty.
Humanity craves winter in summer, and when winter comes we like it not.
For we are never content with any state of things, neither with poverty, nor with a life of plenty...
How often did the shepherd call to the foolish!
They tore the coats off the Josephs, the prophets and saints, and that which they gave, they got, piece by piece.
Who is that Joseph? Your God-seeking heart, bound as a captive in your abode.
The heart says, "My patience is lost in separation from Your face, O Lord...
O You that bestows happiness on the souls of the prophets, either slay me, or call me back to You, or come Yourself. How should one that belongs to You, be patient without You?"
God said, " Yes, O pure of heart, listen to Me, and have patience, for patience is better.
The dawn in near. Hush, do not wail! I am striving for you,  you need  not strive."

Rumi (Vol. 3 from 339-411)

Commentary: "The dawn is near".. what a perfect message for the New Year. May the captives.. (and our  God  seeking hearts) be set free!

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Have You Heard?

"God said, that "O Lord" of yours, is My, "Here I am", and that supplication and grief and ardor of yours is my messenger to you.
Your shifts and attempts to find a means of gaining access to me, were in reality my drawing you towards Me, and released your feet from the bonds of worldliness.
Your fear and love are the noose to catch my favor; beneath every 'O Lord' of yours  is many a
'Here am I' from Me....
Grief is better than the empire of the world, so that you may call upon God in secret.
The call of the grief-less is from a frozen heart, the call of the grieving one is from rapture."

Rumi (Vol. 3, from 195-204)

Commentary: Rumi insists that grief and pain and sorrow, are signs of grace. When they can feel like abandonment and rejection, it is good to be reminded that this pain of separation is  a gift of divine love. Not quite as comforting as chocolates and flowers, but precious nevertheless.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Incredulous?

"Become a seeker and a hunter of the hidden game.
If anyone were to say to the embryo in the womb, "Outside is a world, exceedingly well ordered,
A pleasant earth, broad and long, wherein are a hundred delights, and so many things to eat,
Mountains, and seas and plains, fragrant orchards, gardens, and sown fields,
A sky very lofty and full of light, sun and moonbeams and a hundred stars,
The gardens have the  appearance of wedding feasts and banquets,
Its marvels are beyond description: why are you in tribulation in darkness?"..
The embryo, by virtue of its present state, would be incredulous, and would turn away from this message and would not believe it.
Saying, " This is absurd, and is a deceit, and delusion, " because the judgements of the blind have no imagination." 

Rumi (Vol 3. from 52-  61)

Commentary: We, who are spiritually blind, have many reasons to question whether there is a higher level of consciousness, the kingdom of God, a place where we would experience only love and peace. Rumi tells us that in order to know that reality, we will have to leave the narrow confines of our own current circumstances. Sometimes we get a little too comfortable in the "womb" of this life..but it was never meant to be our permanent home.

Monday, December 28, 2009

The Smell of Prayer

"None who prefers vain desire, or is inclined to ease, or turns back from his search, or who has fears for himself, or feels anxiety about his means of livelihood will ever attain to Knowledge, unless he takes refuge with God, and prefers his spiritual affairs to his temporal ones...
Do not strive so much to complete your worldly work; do not strive in any affair that is not religious...
The smell of pride and the smell of greed and the smell of desire  will become, in a manner of speaking, like the smell of onions.
If you take an oath, saying, "When have I eaten them? I have abstained from onion and garlic,"
The breath of your oath will inform against you, and will strike against the noses of those who sit beside you.
Many prayers are rejected because of their smell: the corrupt heart shows up in the tongue.
If you don't have a sweet breath in prayer, go and beg a prayer from the pure in heart."

Rumi (Vol. 3. from the preface and 1-178)

Commentary: And we wonder why our prayers are not answered in the ways we might want?

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Subtle Discussions

"We are much addicted to subtle discussions, we are exceedingly fond of solving problems:
And to the end that we may tie knots and then undo them, we are making many rules for  posing and stating the difficulty and for answering the questions raised by them.
Like a bird who would  undo the fastening  of a snare,  only to  tie  the snare back  together, many  times, in order that he might become perfect at this skill;
The bird is deprived of the open country and meadow lands; its life is spent in dealing with knots;
Even then, the snare is not subdued by these efforts. The wings of the bird are always getting broken.
Do not struggle with knots, lest your wings and feathers be snapped asunder through this vain display of effort on your part...
(Instead) fly away with joy from your diversity towards oneness.
Whosoever you may be, turn your face towards the One: this is the thing which God has not forbidden for you, at any time."

Rumi (Vol, 2, 3733- 3745)

Commentary:  I love Rumi's beautiful words. His stories are brilliant. His discussions of theology are insightful.  And yet...he urges us not to get lost in the mind and the intellect. He says that we are destined for joy, and flight. At some point we will have to leave the knots, (and our skill at knot tying and untying) behind.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Being Needy

"Conventional wisdom is only for self-advertisement; when it finds a purchaser it glows with delight.
The purchaser of real knowledge is God.; its market value is always splendid...
Without need, the Almighty God does not give anything to anyone.
Therefore quickly increase your need, O needy one, in order that the Sea of Bounty may surge up in lovingkindness."

Rumi (Vol. 2, from 3265-3680)

Commentary: Boxing Day....the day after the celebration. We think that our longing, our hunger and our restless need is a sign that something is wrong with us. Rumi says it is a gift from God;  it brings us into  God's presence.

Friday, December 25, 2009

A Hundred Resurrections

"Half of every person has always belonged to the realm of faults. and the other half  belongs to the realm of the unseen.
Oh you, who cannot refrain from delight and luxury, how can you  hold yourself back from the Bountiful God?
How should a morsel digest without the sight of Him, without the view of His roses and rose garden?
Oh you, who are dread with anxiety because your hands are empty of bread, what is this fear, since God is forgiving and merciful?
The saint smiles upon you: do not think him to be merely as he appears: in his inward consciousness are hidden a hundred resurrections."

Rumi (Vol.2  from 3035-3105)

Commentary:  On Christmas Day and on every day, may we remember that "we have received more than we know, and everything that we need."        In Memorium: Ken Waugh

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Your First Love (Part II)

(The devil is explaining to the disciple why he woke the disciple up to do  meditation)
"If the time of prayer had passed, this world would have become  dark to you, and without a gleam of light.
And then from dissapointment and grief, tears would have flowed from your eyes...
That disappointment and grief would have been as a hundred prayers: what is ritual prayer in comparison with the spiritual glow of humble supplication?
If you had missed the prayers, you would have uttered sighs and lamentations from your heartache.
And that regret and lamentation and that sorrowful yearning would have exceeded in value two hundred litanies and prayers.
I awakened you in fear that such a sigh might burn away the veil of formality. In order that such a sigh should not be yours."

Rumi (Vol. 2 from 2767-2784)

Commentary: If your Christmas Eve observances include some tears, some sighs, some grief over those you loved who are no longer here; if on this holy night, you find yourself with an ache in your heart that nothing in this world can set right, then know that your prayers are reaching God. Know that God's love is reaching you.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Your First Love (Part 1)

"How should one's first calling go out of one's mind? How should one's first love go forth from one's heart?
I have been one of those drunken with this wine: I have been a lover at His court.
I have seen good days from that Fortune: I have drunk the water of divine mercy in my springtime...
Was it not God that raised me up from non-existence?
Oh, many is the time I have received kindness from Him and walked in the rose garden of His approval. He would lay the hand of mercy on my head. He would let flow from me the fountains of grace.
Who found milk for me in the season of my infancy? Who rocked my cradle? He.
If the sea of bounty has given me a rebuke, yet how have the doors of bounty been shut?
Giving and grace and favor are the fundamental substance of God's coin: His rebuke is only a speck of alloy on it.
 God made the world for kindness' sake.
If separation from Him is big with His wrath; it is for the sake of knowing the worth of union with Him...
During the short while since He drove me from His presence, my eye has been fixed upon His beautiful face... Such wrath came from such a face! Oh, wonderful!..
Since there is no play, except on His board, and He said "Play!" what more can I do?
I played the one move that there was, and cast myself into woe.
Even in woe, I am tasting God's delights: I am mated by  Him !"

Rumi (Vol 2, from 2619-2647)

Commentary: The song "Amazing Grace" expresses it this way; "How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed." Rumi reminds us of the sweetness of those moments when we knew we were loved, accepted, and blessed. But then, in typical Rumi fashion, he tells us  of an  even greater gift: when we become conscious of having forgotten, and experience the pain of separation. (see Part II, tomorrow)

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Working for the Boss..

"As long as the thought of the Friend is in your innermost heart, all our work is to serve God, and yield up our lives..
Yet you are taking flattery and sweet words and cajolement and pulling them like gold to your heart.
For you, the revilings and blows of the spiritual kings  would be better than the praise of the unrighteous.
You have learned a trade to earn a livelihood for the body: now set your hand to a spiritual trade...
Learn such a trade  that, hereafter, the earnings of forgiveness may come in as revenue to you...
The earnings of religion are love and inward rapture, the capacity to receive the  Light of God, O You, the obstinate one!
This vile, selfish mind of yours wants you to earn what passes away. How long will you earn what is vile? Let it go! Enough!

Rumi (Vol. 2 ,  from 2573-2602)

Commentary: How long, O Lord? Those sweet words sound so sweet at the moment. Apparently, praise and flattery are  not a good long term investment.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Atheists, and Egotists, in Service of God..

"This precious divine knowledge is not for the purpose of gaining worldly interest...
If it is learned as a bait for popularity, and not for the sake of spiritual enlightenment, the seeker of religious knowledge is just as lost as the seeker of worldly knowledge.
Both skepticism and faith are bearing witness to Him, both are bowing down in worship before God...
The infidel keeps the King's fortress in good repair; but he is claiming to be in command.
He has become a rebel, intending that this should be his domain, but in truth, to the end, the fortress comes to be the King's.
The faithful believer keeps the fortress in good repair for the sake of the King, not for honor and power. "

Rumi (Vol. 2 2427-2545)

Commentary: Apparently, we can claim to be in charge, but it hardly matters. We aren't. And whether we acknowledge it or not, this kingdom, here on earth, does not belong to us. And the gifts we have are "gifts". And the grace we receive is not something we have created, or deserve.  What a wonderful day when we know that we have been given the privilege to serve. .

Sunday, December 20, 2009

The road to Hell..

"Say, "O Thou, who makes easy what is hard, Give good to us in our present abode, and give good to us in our future home!
Make the way as agreeable as a garden."
The faithful will say, " O Angel, is it not the case that hell is a common road that believer and disbeliever alike have to pass by? We saw no smoke or fire in this road which we have traveled.
Instead, here is Paradise, and a Court of safety: where, then, was that vile place of passage?"
Then the angel will say, " The garden of greenery that you saw in a certain spot as you passed--
That was Hell, and the terrible place of chastisement. but for you it became gardens and pleasures and trees"....
Insomuch as once the fire of anger in you has turned to forbearance, and the darkness of ignorance has turned to knowledge;
Insomuch as the fire of greed in you has turned to unselfishness, and the envy, which was like thorns, has turned to roses;
Insomuch as you extinguished all those fires on your own, for God's sake, and made the fiery mind like an orchard...where the nightingales of remembrance, and the praises of God were singing sweetly in the garden by the river-side;
Inasmuch as you have answered the call of God, and have brought water into the burning hell of your own mind,
Our Hell, in regard to you, has become greenery and roses, and plenty  and riches."

Rumi (Vol. 2, from 2551-2568)

Commentary: The road we find ourselves traveling on, has something to do with our own willingness to turn away from the fires that burn us and hurt others? Who knew??

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Our covenant, and God's

"Our covenant has been broken hundreds and thousands of times, Your covenant, like a mountain, stands firm and stable.
Our covenant is straw, and subject to every wind of passion, Your covenant is more than a hundred mountains.
As You  have  shown Your  power, so now, show us your mercy...
He is the One that takes the hand to help, and He hears our burdens: have hope, from moment to moment, of receiving that breath of inspiration from Him.
'Tis no harm if you have remained long without Him, you have read that His grip reaches a long way, and His mercy grips tight.
His presence does not keep you absent from Him for one moment."

Rumi  (Vol. 2, from 2495-2533)

Commentary: God is present to us, even when we are weary? Even when we can't keep our promises? Even when we can't be who we want to be?  Thank God for mercy...

Friday, December 18, 2009

First, Heartache...

"The Resurrection declares the secret of death; the fruit declares  the secret of leaves.
When they lay the foundation of a house to rebuild it, they dig up the first foundation.
Except at night there is no unveiling of the moon; except through heartache, do not seek your heart's desire....
If through Jesus, the spiritual guide, you have become heartsick, yet health too comes from him; do not leave him.
(God says to you), "You are not  made captive by grief.
I tend to you without speaking.
By my hand the seemingly impossible is brought to pass; wings are restored to the bird whose wings were torn away..."
Wherever a pain is, the remedy goes there: wherever the low land is,  the water runs there.
If you want the water of mercy, go, become lowly,  and then drink the wine of mercy..
If you are unable to do that, fly to the Ka'ba of grace, lay your helplessness before the helper.
Lamentation and weeping  are a mighty stock-in-trade : the Universal Mercy is the greatest  nurse to comfort and cherish you.
Say "coo, coo." Become a dove flying towards God.
It may be that a Master will deliver you, and pull you out of danger.
As you have no strength, keep making a lamentation; since you are blind, take care, do not turn your head away from the One who sees the road.
..O God, make our stony hearts as soft as wax; make our wailing sweet to You, and an object of Your mercy."

Rumi (Vol. 2, from 1825-1993)

Commentary: Rumi doesn't describe the journey to God as a series of triumphant conquests. T. S. Eliot wrote  that "humility is endless." Even when there is no signs of spiritual progress,  the poet and the saints remind us that we are on the right road if we are seeking grace and mercy.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

The Only Religion...

"It is not  granted to every heart to fall down in prayer. The wages of divine mercy are not allotted to ever hireling.
This is the sign that you will gain from God the spiritual kingdom and power that you are seeking..
That you will weep continually in the long nights. and you are always ardent in supplication at the hour of dawn...
And what you give in alms is all you posses, so that your belongings are entirely bestowed in charity...
That you have sat, how often!- in the fire, like aloe wood, that you have gone, how often!- to meet the sword, like a helmet.
A hundred thousand such acts of helplessness are habitual to the lovers of God, and cannot be counted...
A revelation came  to Moses from God, "I did not ordain divine worship that I might make any profit; no, but that I might do kindness to my servants. I look not at the words  and speech, I look at the inward spirit, and the state of feeling. I gaze into the heart to see if it is humble.
I want burning, burning. Become friendly with that burning.
Light up a fire in your soul, burn thought and expression entirely away.
The religion of Love is apart from all religions: for lovers the only religion and creed-is God.

Rumi (Vol.2 , from 1651-1770

Commentary: Fewer words...more burning..

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Heartbreak

" How should a friend turn aside from the pain inflicted by his friend?.. a friend is like gold, tribulation is like the fire: the pure gold is glad in the heart of the fire....
From Thy magnificent hand I have eaten so much that I am bent double with shame...If I make an outcry and complaint, because of one bitter thing, may the dust of a hundred roads fall upon me.
By love, bitter things become sweet; by love pieces of copper become gold;
By love, dregs become  clear; by love pain becomes healing;
By love the dead is made living."

Rumi (Vol. 2 from 1459-1461, 1524-1530)

In Memorium: Dr. Peter Levine, who died Tuesday, Dec 15, 2009

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Crooked disciples...

"An unrespectful person present is better than one absent: though the ring be crooked, is it not on the door?
Whether you be righteous or crooked, always creep forwards to Him...
When the pain of love has begun to increase your spiritual joy, roses and lilies have taken possession of the garden of your soul."

Rumi (Vol. 2, from 1360-1379)

Commentary: The invitation is to show up, just as we are. Then the confusion begins in earnest.  Most of us could write volumes on the "pain of love".  But what if "spiritual joy" sometimes means longing, restlessness, humility, helplessness and always having to beg for help? How can  crooked, disrespectful seekers ever know what is happening in the garden of their  souls? Best to just keep knocking...

Monday, December 14, 2009

Whose Voice?

 "Put off the old, if you have a desire for newness. Shut the lips, and open the palm filled with gold...
You are Joseph full of beauty, and this world is as the well, and this rope to draw you forth is patience with, and submission to the command of God...
This world, like straws in the sway of the wind..has adopted helplessness as its only resource, and the dispensation of the Unseen, makes it now lofty and now low; makes it now sound and whole, and now broken; now carries it to the right, now to the left; now it makes roses , now thorns...
That which is seen, is helpless and confined and feeble; and that which is unseen is so fierce and uncontrolable...
He tears, He sews: where is the Tailor? He blows, He burns: where is this Fire kindler?
At one hour He makes the true saint an unbeliever; at another hour He makes the impious deist, an orthodox ascetic.
Because the disciple is still on the Way, and the brigands are numberless: only the one escapes who is under  God's safeguard.
Whose voice is this echo in the mountain of our hearts? Sometimes this  mountain is full of the voice, sometimes it is empty.
Wheresoever He is, He is the sage, the Master. May His voice not forsake this mountain.

Rumi (Vol. 2, from  1270-1328)

Commentary: Sometimes faithful, sometimes in despair; sometimes feeling strong, other times overwhelmed. That just about sums it up...

Sunday, December 13, 2009

God's Response to Our Prayers..

"Through that touch, the individual became pregnant, like Mary, with a heart-beguiling Messiah.
Not the Messiah who is a traveller on land and water, but the Messiah who is beyond the limitation of measuring space....
These sayings of mine, indeed, are really an "O Lord", a prayer addressed to God. The words are the lure for the  breath of a sweet-lipped One.
How then should the one that seeks an answer fail to pray?
How should he be silent, inasmuch as "Here I am" is always coming in response to his "O Lord"?
It is a "Here I am" that you cannot hear, but can taste and feel and enjoy from head to foot."

Rumi (Vol. 2 1184-1292)

Commentary: Being a Unitarian, I'd just as soon hear God, or even better, be able to think about God, or talk about God. Rumi suggests that for right now, we'll need to "settle" for tasting the divine, feeling that presence, and enjoying the grace that falls on us from head to foot.  

Saturday, December 12, 2009

God, The One, The Living, The Loving..

If your knowledge of the fire has been turned to certainty by words alone, seek to be cooked by the fire itself, and do not abide in the knowledge derived from others.
There is no certainty until you actually burn; if you desire this certainty, sit down in the fire...
One thought that comes into the mind, and a hundred worlds are overturned in a singe moment.
Small is that thought in the people's eyes; but like a flood it swallowed and swept away the world.
So when you see, that from a thought every craft in the world arises and subsists--that houses and palaces and cities, mountains and plains and rivers, earth and ocean as well as sea and sky derive their life from that thought, like fishes from the sea,
Then why in your foolishness, O blind one, does the body seem to you a Solomon, and thought only as an ant?
The material world, in your eyes, is awful and sublime: you tremble and are frightened at the clouds and the thunder and the sky,
While in regard to the world of thought (and the soul).. you are as secure and indifferent as a witless stone.
From ignorance you deem the shadow to be the substance.
Wait till the day when that thought and phantasy unfolds its wings and pinions without any  veil or encumbrance.
You will see that the mountains have become soft like wool, and that this earth of hot and cold becomes nothing.
You will see then that there is neither the sky nor the stars nor any existence but God, the One, the Living, the loving.

Rumi (Vol.2 from 860-1045

Commentary: Attention all witless stones! Words will not do, not even Rumi's beautiful words..it is time to enter the fire

Friday, December 11, 2009

The House of "If"

"Parable: A certain stranger was hastily seeking a house; a friend took him to a house in ruin. He said to the stranger, " If this house had a roof, it would be a home for you, next door to me.  Your family too would be comfortable, if it had another room in it. "
"Yes," said the stranger, "it is nice to be besides friends, but my dear soul, one cannot lodge in 'if"....
Your soul must bear the burden of patience and thanksgiving, whether for a hundred years, or for thirty or twenty....none reaped unless he sowed something. Do not say to yourself, "So and so found a treasure; I would like the same: neither work nor shop for me!"
That discovery of treasure is a piece of luck, and moreover it is rare: one must earn a living so long as the body is able.. Do not retire from work: that treasure is following behind that work... The Worker is hidden in the workshop: go  in the workshop and see Him plain. Since the workshop is the dwelling place of the Divine Worker, the one that is outside is unaware of Him."

Rumi (Vol. 2, 730-761)

Commentary: "Do not retire"??!  Our spiritual work is the real assignment every day; in these circumstances, with these particular limitations. 'If I had a better temperament.. If I had a more focused mind. If I didn't have these particular challenges....."  The house of "if" is a ruin..nobody can live there.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

The Remedy for Every Pain

"God communicates to the eye that which He wills of beauty and of perfection, and of amorous looks.
And He communicates to the ear that which He wills  of music and glad tidings and  cries of rapture.
The world is full of remedies, but you have no remedy till God opens a window for you.
Though you are unaware of the remedy just  now, God will make it plain in your hour of need.
The Prophet said that the glorious God has created a remedy for every pain.
But you will not see that remedy for your pain, or even  catch its color or scent, without His command...
Put into our heart subtle words  which may move Thee to mercy, O Gracious One!
From Thee comes both the prayer and the answer."

Rumi (Vol. 2 680-685, 691-2)

Commentary: Most of us are waiting for that remedy...our task  is simply to keep trying to turn in the direction of the One who gives  us our prayers, our strength, and our hope.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

The Jesus of Your Spirit

"The one on whose face the Beloved smiles sweetly, what harm can befall him from the sour looks of other people?
The one on whose eye, the Beloved bestows a kiss, how should she grieve at Heaven and its anger?
If your eye sees the Light of God, what is there to grieve about?
The Jesus of your spirit is present with you: beg aid from him, for he is a goodly aider.
Seek not from your Jesus the life of the body. ask not from Moses the wish of the Pharoaoh.
Burden not your heart with the thoughts of livelihood; livelihood will not fail; be constantly in attendance at the Divine Court.
What sort of eye is it that has  no sight, and gets nothing but disgrace from the tests to which it is put?
Opinions are sometimes erroneous, but what sort of opinion is blind to the right road?
O eye, that laments for others, sit down for a while and weep for yourself.
Wheresoever people are lamenting, you should sit there and cry, for you have a better right to moan.
Inasmuch as they are concerned with parting from that which passes away, and are forgetful of the ruby of everlastingness, that belongs to the mine of Reality.
Inasmuch as the stamp of blind imitation is a  lock upon the heart--go, scrape it off  and dissolve its lock with tears. "

Rumi (Vol. 2  from 414-483)

Commentary: Who knew that heaven could be angry? Who knew we were quite this lost, or  blind, or  confused? Sometimes Rumi dries our tears.. other times he tells us that we haven't cried enough..or that we're crying about all the wrong things. It appears that the "salt-mine" we have to work at, is  the  "mine of Reality".  It is here, today, in this snowstorm, in this slushy ice and rain, that we're supposed to be looking for rubies. Good hunting to us all!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

where the pain and the hunger come from..

"Every divine grace that you are seeking with all your soul,
He showed it to you, that you might desire it...
When I cause anyone to weep, My mercy is aroused; the one who wails drinks of my bounty.
If I do not wish to give, then indeed I do not show you  the desired gift.
But when I have contracted your heart with grief, I open and expand it wth joy.
My mercy is dependant on that goodly weeping: when you weep, waves rise from the sea of My mercy."

Rumi (Vol. 2  365, 373-5)

Commentary: Our desire for grace, is proof that we are being called. Our sadness at not having what we want, or of not being who we wish to be, will someday be transformed into joy... But first.. the tears..and then the realization of  God's mercy.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Learning to Love, Learning to Dance

"What is love?"
I answered, "You will know when you become lost in  God." Love, is uncalculated affection. "God loves them" is the entire sum....
A nightingale went hence and returned: it became a falcon for hunting these spiritual truths.
May this falcon's resting place be the forearm of the King. May this gate to the truth be open to all people, unto everlasting....
Go seek at once the friend of God: when you have done so, God is your friend.
Are you less than the earth? When a plot of earth finds a friend, that is its springtime, and it gains a hundred thousand flowers. ..
If you are a ball in His polo-field, keep spinning round from the blows of His polo stick.
The ball becomes right and flawless, only at the time when it is made to dance by the stroke of the King's hand."

Rumi (Vol 2 selections from the introduction , and 8- 314)

commentary: Love is a mystery. And God's love is the greatest mystery of all. Having been "hit" with a great number of "blows"  today.. I certainly can understand what it feels like to "spin".  Someday this may all feel like a dance. But not yet.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Being Broken

"If you are grasping at worldly dignities, it is  from fear that you are suffering from agony of spirit.
Except Love of the most beauteous God, everything, (though outwardly pleasant, like eating sugar), in truth, is agony of spirit.
What is agony of spirit? To advance toward death, and not to grasp the Water of Life...
In the dark night, seek that shining Day..
The gardner lops off the harmful bough, in order that the date palm may gain tallness of stature and goodness.
The expert gardener digs up the weeds from the garden, in order that his garden and fruit may look flourishing.
The physician extracts bad teeth, in order that the beloved patient may be saved from pain and sickness...
If you would have your  garments cleaned and washed, do not turn your face away from the bleacher's quarters.
Although this bread has broken your fast, cling to Him that binds what is broken, and ascend.
Insomuch as His hand binds what is broken, it follows that His breaking is assuredly mending.
He that knows how to sew together, knows how to tear  asunder: whatsoever He sells, He buys something better in exchange.
He lays the  house in ruins, upside down: then in one moment he makes it more habitable than it was before.
Since we were made by God, and are not makers, we are not entitled to be anything but humble and content."

Rumi (Vol. 1 selections from 2685-3917)

Commentary: Rumi teaches us that being ruined, and broken, and torn  is often a sign of God's grace.  How can we be humble and content in the midst of such upheaval? Only by remembering that this story of ours, is far from over...

Saturday, December 5, 2009

The Hope of Returning

"They cast a grain of wheat into the earth, then from this earth they raised up ears of corn.
Once more they crushed it with the mill; its value increased and it became soul invigorating bread.
Again, they crushed the bread under their teeth; it became the mind and  spirit and understanding of one endowed with reason.
Again, when that spirit became lost in Love, it became that which causes rejoicing.....
Had you no hope of returning? Did the promise of meeting Me today seem vain and empty to you?
Do you, O reader, disbelieve in the promise of being His guest?"

Rumi (Vol. 1 3165-3659, 3175-3176)

Commentary: I have been told that God keeps His promises...

Friday, December 4, 2009

Your Teacher...

"Without an escort, you are bewildered, even on a road you have travelled many times before.
Do not, then, travel alone on a Way that you have not seen at all; do not turn your head away from the Guide.
Come into the shade of the palm tree of hope. Come into the protection of the Sage whom no one can carry off from the Way.
His shadow on the earth is like that of a great mountain. His spirit is like the eagle that circles and soars exceedingly high. ...The divine sun has veiled himself in the human form.
When you have chosen your teacher, be not faint hearted, be not weak as water and crumbly as earth,
If you are enraged by every blow, how will you become a clear mirror without being polished?
Everything is perishing except His face.
By His hand, every impossible thing is made possible; in awe of Him, every unruly one is made quiet.
Even the dead is made living by the spell of the Almighty."

Rumi (Vol. 1 selections from 2944- 3069)

Commentary: Take refuge with a Saint.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

When you Knock...

*When you knock at the door of reality, it will be opened.
*When you become hungry, you become like an angry dog: you become fierce and ill-tempered and ill-natured.
*When the needy one has no refuge, the King will show you kindness.
*Whenever the one in love with God speaks, the scent of Love is springing from that mouth into the abode of Love.
*Do not burn a blanket on account of a flea. Do not let a day go to waste on account of every gnat's headache, every trivial vexation.
*If you are wholly perplexed and in trouble, have patience: patience is the key to joy.
*How should bread give strength until it is broken? How should uncrushed clusters of grapes yield wine?

Rumi (Vol.1:selections from 2870-2932)

Commentary: What a gift it would be, to go through this day, as Rumi would have us experience it; with confidence, satisfied, trusting in God's kindness,  focusing  on what is essential, patient, and experiencing the rough and tumble as grace. "For us there is only the trying..." (T. S. Eliot)

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

conjugating verbs...

" A certain grammarian embarked on a boat. That self conceited scholar turned to the boatman and said, " Have you ever studied grammar?"
" No," said the boatman.
"Then your life is meaningless and worth nothing." replied the academician.
The boatman became heartbroken with grief, but at the time he refrained from answering.
Suddenly a great wind cast the boat into a whirlpool; the boatman shouted loudly to the grammarian, "Tell me, do you know how to swim?"
"No," said the scholar.
"O fair-spoken, good looking  grammarian,  Your whole life has come to naught, because our boat is sinking in this whirlpool."...
Know that here, humility is needed, not grammar: if you are dead to the self, you may plunge into the sea without peril. 
You, who has called other people asses, at this time you are left floundering like an ass upon this ice.
If in this world you are the most learned scholar of this time, we have stitched in and inserted the story of the grammarian that we might teach you the lesson of self-effacement. In self loss, in becoming less, O venerated  friend, you will find the grammar of grammar..
If we do not know ourselves to be asses, asses we are." 

Rumi (Vol 1: 2835-2849)

Commentary: It is time to learn to swim.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

A Pitiful repentance...and a hopeful bewilderment

"God sends you greeting. and asks you how are you faring in your distress and boundless sorrows?
" O God, help me against this mind of mine, this self of mine, that is seeking help from Thee. I seek justice and redress from no one else, only from this justice-seeking self.."
"O thou, whose knowledge is without knowledge of the Giver of knowledge, your repentance is worse than your sin. O You, who seek to repent of a state that is past, say, when will you repent of this repentance? At one time you turn to the low sound of the treble, at another you are in love with, and are kissing weeping and wailing".....
Since the rose springs from the thorn, and the thorn from the rose, why are both at war and engaged in recrimination? Or is this not really war?   Is it for the Divine purpose? Or is it neither this nor that? Is it bewilderment? The treasure must be sought. And this bewilderment is the ruin where it is hidden."

Rumi (Vol 1:selections from  2183-2474)


Commentary: We are all a mixture of  knowing and not knowing, joy and sorrow, mind and soul. Rumi reminds us that our confusion is a sign of grace, and that it is our bewilderment, and not our repentance, that will take us where we want to go.