your favorite Rumi tidbit...

out beyond... out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing
theres a field. I meet you there
when the world is too full to talk about
language... ideas... even the phrase "each other"
doesn't make any sense
there...
out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing
there's a field, I meet you there

MAHA BLESSINGS!!!!

"Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are thousands of ways to kneel and kiss the ground."

"Dance, when you're broken open.
Dance, if you've torn the bandage off.
Dance in the middle of the fighting.
Dance in your blood.
Dance, when you're perfectly free."

Last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street.
I took it as a sign to start singing, falling up into the bowl of sky.
The bowl breaks. Everywhere is falling everywhere.
Nothing else to do.

This is one of my faves

The Lame Goat

You've seen a herd of goats
going down to the water.

The lame and dreamy goat
brings up the rear.

There are worried faces about that one,
but now they're laughing,

because look, as they return,
that goat is leading!

There are many different kinds of knowing.
The lame goat's kind is a branch
that traces back to the roots of presence.

Learn from the lame goat,
and lead the herd home.

When you are with everyone but me, you’re with no one.
When you are with no one but me, you’re with everyone.
Instead of being so bound up with everyone, be everyone.
When you become that many, you’re nothing. Empty!

As for these friends who come to see me,
for fear lest they should get bored,
I say a piece of poetry,
so that they may occupy themselves with that.
Otherwise, what is poetry to me?
By God, I tell you I loathe poetry,
and as far as I'm concerned
there is nothing worse than that.
It's just like someone who has put his hand
into some tripe,
and is washing it for the sake of his guest,
because his guest's appetite is for tripe.
I have to do it...
In our country, and among our people,
there was nothing more disgeraceful than
composing poetry.

If anyone asks you
how the perfect satisfaction
of all our sexual wanting
will look, lift your face
and say,

Like this.

When someone mentions the gracefulness
of the nightsky, climb up on the roof
and dance and say,

Like this.

If anyone wants to know what "spirit" is,
or what "God’s fragrance" means,
lean your head toward him or her.
Keep your face there close.

Like this.

When someone quotes the old poetic image
about clouds gradually uncovering the moon,
slowly loosen knot by knot the strings
of your robe.

Like this.

If anyone wonders how Jesus raised the dead,
don’t try to explain the miracle.
Kiss me on the lips.

Like this. Like this.

When someone asks what it means
to "die for love," point
here.

If someone asks how tall I am, frown
and measure with your fingers the space
between the creases on your forehead.

This tall.

The soul sometimes leaves the body, the returns.
When someone doesn’t believe that,
walk back into my house.

Like this.

When lovers moan,
they’re telling our story.

Like this.

I am a sky where spirits live.
Stare into this deepening blue,
while the breeze says a secret.

Like this.

When someone asks what there is to do,
light the candle in his hand.

Like this.

How did Joseph’s scent come to Jacob?


Huuuuu.

How did Jacob’s sight return?

Huuuu.

A little wind cleans the eyes.

Like this.

When Shams comes back from Tabriz,
he’ll put just his head around the edge
of the door to surprise us

Like this.

Come to the orchard in Spring.
There is light and wine, and sweethearts
in the pomegranate flowers.

If you do not come, these do not matter.
If you do come, these do not matter.

thank you for asking that question Tom... just discovered the Rumi tribe
joining now... enjoyed so much what was offered here....

.

A candle is made to become entirely flame.
In that annihilating moment
it has no shadow

it is nothing but a tongue of light
describing a refuge.

Look at this
just-finishing candle stub
as someone who is finally safe
from virtue and vice,

the pride and the shame
we claim from those.


.

Have a few short favorites, couldnt chose just one...much love, more love:)

~Very little grows on jagged rock,
be ground,
be crumbled, so wild flowers will come up where you are.

~Submit to love without thinking, as the sun this morning rose recklessly, extinguishing our star-candled minds.

~ I want to be where you bare foot walks, because maybe before you step, you'll look at the ground. I want that blessing.

Trust your wound to a Teacher's surgery.
Flies collect on a wound. They cover it,
those flies of your self-protecting
feelings, your love for what you think
is yours.

Let a teacher wave away the flies
and put a plaster on the wound.

Don't turn your head. Keep looking at
the bandaged place. That's where the
light enters you.

And don't believe for a moment
that you're healing yourself.

from "Childhood friends"

I was dead, then alive.
Weeping, then laughing.
The power of love came into me,
and I became fierce like a lion,
then tender like the evening star.

"When a nightingale has seen the rose,
how can it keep from singing? "

"Guest House"

This being human is a guest house
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.



~~this piece helps me when i'm hosting uncomfortable emotions, like anger or disappointment. i let them do their thing, run thru me, make me cry if need be...and then i let them leave; never forcing them out or holding them in. just being present with what's there at that moment...

Great posts. I love them all!
Here's my short tidbit:

"Love is a flame that once kindled, burns everything, and only the mystery and the journey remain."

O love, O pure deep love, be here, be now.
Be all; worlds dissolve into your stainless endless radiance,
Frail living leaves burn with you brighter than cold stars;
Make me your servant, your breath, your core.

this one also:

Come, Come again !
Whatever you are...
Whether you are infidel,
idolater or fireworshipper.
Whether you have broken your vows
of repentance a hundred times
This is not the gate of despair,
This is the gate of hope.
Come, come again...