Monday, September 28, 2009

RUMI for Balance


Dave Chihuly Glass
Autumn Gold / Persian Wall
here

Today, after several months of posting - sending - participating in quite a few items on human rights and concerns about warring, I need a balance. Today, I choose Rumi and the simplest. I celebrate here the Divine in the most common place. The grace, the royalty of our daily walk and our appreciation of the myriad unfolding of paintings all around us in life and creation hourly season by season. I quiver with great joy and anticipation at the first crisp heralding of autumn colors and reflections in my corner of the world - a joy I pray to hold and give as life allows to those who through no fault of their own experience little to none.

RUMI

You're the road of love, and at the end, my home,

One of the crowd, and yet I see you crowned;

I see you in stars, in the sun, in the moon,

Here in the green leaves, and high on the throne.

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#1369, from Rumi's Kolliyaat-e Shams-e Tabrizi
Edited by Badiozzaman Forouzanfar (Tehran, Amir Kabir, 1988).
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At times we are hidden, at times revealed;

We are Muslims, Christians, Jews; (and more) of any race.

Our hearts are shaped like any human heart,

But every day we wear a different face.

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#1325, from Rumi's Kolliyaat-e Shams-e Tabrizi
Edited by Badiozzaman Forouzanfar (Tehran, Amir Kabir, 1988).

Both above poems are translated by Zara Houshmand

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I may not be posting for awhile (except perhaps adding Comments with more updated info from time to time. My goal is to do more than usual to nurture relatings - and get back in touch with my own poetic nature once again - but I'll be back. Meantime, do sift through and skate freely within the posts and leave a comment here and there. Thanx for stopping by, Connie

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This morning, I found this comment from a friend who is a kind of seer and definitely a poet who's one of the best read people I know. This quote he sent is exquisitely beautiful and seamlessly fits together life as we find it with inner experience as understood each moment.

Akhtar Wasim Dar said:

THE WAY OF LOVE is a novel by Nigel Watts on early life of Rumi. Following is the ending passage:

Even as be bathed in the sudden light of grace, Jalal knew that this happiness would pass; he knew too that seeking to maintain this state would hasten its end, that only by letting go of God could he keep Him. If he wanted to walk with God, he would have to move continuously, and sometimes that would mean losing Him. And yet Jalal knew that even if desolation was felt again, that the absence from God was not real, that all was God-even the desolation, the loneliness, the nostalgia. Within every cry Jalal raised to the heavens of ‘God, where are you?’ had been hidden God’s answer: ‘Here I am.’ And so it would always be.

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One more note:
Also keep in mind the life of ST. FRANCIS AND ST. CLARE who in Assisi long ago inspired many for generations to come who sought to link a life of faith to works of love and peace.
Connie

3 comments:

Akhtar Wasim Dar said...

THE WAY OF LOVE is a novel by Nigel Watts on early life of Rumi. Following is the ending passage:
Even as be bathed in the sudden light of grace, Jalal knew that this happiness would pass; he knew too that seeking to maintain this state would hasten its end, that only by letting go of God could he keep Him. If he wanted to walk with God, he would have to move continuously, and sometimes that would mean losing Him. And yet Jalal knew that even if desolation was felt again, that the absence from God was not real, that all was God-even the desolation, the loneliness, the nostalgia. Within every cry Jalal raised to the heavens of ‘God, where are you?’ had been hidden God’s answer: ‘Here I am.’ And so it would always be.

CN said...

Also find this quote on Akhtar Wasim Dar Sahib's website - it's from his journal and a quote which will remain from anonymous source for now:

Every individual is an experiment on part of nature, a throw into the unknown; his only vocation should be to allow this throw to work itself out in his inner most being. Humanity is not something complete that must be maintained and protected, but a distant goal towards which we were marching.

Moreover because darkness and light resides within each of us, becoming conscious of our own evil is our only hope in a world where our capacity for destruction is weighed against the soul’s capacity for compassion and regeneration.

CN said...

I've debated for hours as to whether or not to put this here.

When listening to this interview I couldn't help but feel that the personal story had a lot to do with this topic of balance although in a very gritty way from the dark side of human existence and loss. As well as funny at times...

But although a bit unusual, I tho't someone may be helped by this personal story of struggle with addictive substances and so much more to come to truth, forgiveness and reconciliation as well as the ability to feel and express emotion when he hadn't cried in 25 years! Made peace with father right before his father's death. Anyway, the audio is quite compelling. I know NOTHING about his writing which looks rather raw. Hope this helps someone?

Dan Fonte confronting his demons with Terri Gross NPR
http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=13

http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=113279965&m=13788638