Be still and listen

 

“If you fall in love with Me, I will mess you up,
cultivate little, or I will ruin you.”

This is a line from Rumi’s poem “I will mess you up”.

Look at it, it is extremely beautiful and it explains in great detail what “Living the Truth” is all about. “Me” – that is God, Life, Consciousness – the One. To fall in love with the One means to have a realisation of our true Nature in such a profound way, that we can never forget. We come to the realisation that this is the only Truth there is – that everything is part of the One, nothing is in separation or division from the whole. Such a realisation throws everything out of control and puts our world upside down.

Everything we hold on to – will go. Everything we attach to – will fall away. Everything we think is solid or stable will begin to totter.  Everything we have learned, we know or think is unshakable, will unhinge.

Be still and listen. Not in books, not in anything on the outside, nothing that can be acquired, bought or achieved. Nothing you can get ever a hold of, and yet – it is here to inspire you, speak out of you and as the perennial wisdom.

Be still and listen.


Posted in All things Rumi, The Window Seat | Tagged | 2 Comments

I will Mess You Up

If you fall in love with Me, I will mess you up,
cultivate little, or I will ruin you.

If you make two hundred homes like the bees do,
I will make you as homeless as a fly.

If you intend to bewilder people,
I intend to make you drunk and dazed.

If you are Mount Qaf, I will set you in motion
like a millstone and spin you like a wheel.

And if you are a Plato or Luqman in knowledge,
I will turn you unlearned with a single look.

Continue reading

Posted in All things Rumi | Tagged | Leave a comment

In the bleak mid-winter…

Snow had fallen, snow on snow...

Continue reading

Posted in Christmas Carols & songs | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Decision

The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.” ~Flora Whittemore

2 Comments

Scripture and secrets…

A fascinating article about the re-opening of the Vatican Library as a public resource.

God’s Librarians

Link to the Vatican Library

Posted in Room to Read | Leave a comment

Like a gnat against the wind

 

“One who runs away is a gnat against the wind.
One who runs away is a thief fleeing from moonlight.

When god makes someone stubborn and ignorant,
that person gives up Heaven’s lofty abode and flees
to Hell

Anyone who truly understands dying would flee
towards death
as toward permanent life, as toward a crown and
royal robes.”


The above is an excerpt from Rumi’s teaching “One who runs away”.

Run away from what ? From Truth.

Once we have seen a glimpse of Truth, about who we really are, we can never forget. We may pretend, we do not understand, or have to wait for further revelation. But once we have seen, we cannot get it out of our system, that we are not who we thought we were. Once we have had a glimpse of our true nature ( glimpse meaning a brief realisation, in all profoundness), it is like a starting signal for consciousness moving towards unconsciousness.

Continue reading

Posted in The Window Seat | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Small world

Can you guess ?

Martensia sp. (red seaweed), living specimen (40x)
Posted in Photographs | 1 Comment

The Creator

Chapel of the Rosary in Vnece

Henri Matisse called the Chapel of the Rosary in Vence ‘the crowning achievement of my entire career’ – which is an astounding statement for somebody who thought of himself an atheist.

But as much Picasso understood the descent into hell, Matisse knew of the ascent into heaven.

Matisse is also called the “pursuer of light” – and here, in the little chapel of the rosary – it  finally shone right through him.

Posted in Arts & Crafts | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

One who runs away

Whoever runs away from our circle
runs from hearing and seeing.

A lover swallows the bleeding heart like a lion
Without great suffering, can one ever be lionhearted?

Suppose the heart is a parrot;

then the Sweetheart offers the sugar of suffering,
has anyone seen a parrot running away from sugar?

One who runs away is a gnat against the wind.
One who runs away is a thief fleeing from moonlight.

When god makes someone stubborn and ignorant,
that person gives up Heaven’s lofty abode and flees
to Hell

Anyone who truly understands dying would flee
towards death
as toward permanent life, as toward a crown and
royal robes.

When destiny decrees that So-and-So
will die while journeying,
then So-and-So, in fear of dying, flees on a journey.

Stop it; stop hunting what is not worth hunting,
for night’s fancy and even night itself will flee
dawn

Rumi: Divani Shams Tabrizi 794
Posted in All things Rumi | Leave a comment

all my secrets away…

Great song….

One Republic
Secrets

I need another story
Something to get off my chest
My life gets kind of boring
Need something that i can confess

Till all my sleaves are stained red
From all the truth that I’ve said
Come by it honestly I swear
Thought you saw me wink, no, I’ve been on the brink, so

Continue reading

Posted in Zeitgeist Music | 1 Comment