Last Words

"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...