From the Mathnawi of Rumi.

[Guest guest]

CONSIDER both our deeds and the deeds of Almighty God,

As the deeds of men act in the sphere of Existence.

How can you ask anyone.’ why, on earth ,did you do that?’

The creative act of God brings our deeds into Existence,

Thus all our actions are the effects of God’s creative will.

Reason perceives either the outer letter or the inner spirit,

How can he conceive both meanings at the same time?

If he turns inwards towards spirit, he forgets the letter;

No human eye can see forward and backward at once .

How can intellect possibly understand two contraries ?

God knows both, His apperception doesn’t prevent the other.

Satan said ‘because thou hast seduced me’. So he hides his deeds,

Adam said ‘ we’ve done wrong ourselves’. he wasn’t like us

Unheedful of God’s acts. By accepting blame he was blest.

After his repentence God said ‘didn’t I create , that sin?’

It was my ordainment ? Why hide that, while excusing yourself?’

Adam said ’I failed in due respect.’ God said ‘I respect you.’

Whoever brings reverence receives reverence in return.

Whoever brings a tea spoon ofhoney gets a slice of almond cake.

For whom are the best of women, beyond rubies and wealth ?

For the best of men who work for a heart of wisdom.

 

Treat friends with respect, offend them and they’ll react.

The behave like comrades, but may have scratchy paws.

Note the differences between a hand shake born from terror

And one which springs from honesty and good will,

Or one caused from your careless knock, by accident .

All come from God, but don’t compare one with the other.

This vexatious debate betwen necessity and free will

Is an intellectual quest .What’s its use my clever friend ?

 

Merely that an immature man may have some whiff of Truth .

Yes, the cerebral search, may be rich in cultured pearls,

But its other than the spiritual quest, which is on another plain.

Table wine is not of the same taste as a matured vintage.

 

At the time when the intellectual search was appropriate,

Umar was intimate with this Ambassador Bu ‘l-Hakam.

But when Umar moved from the intellect toward the spirit,

Bu l’Hakam became a patron of ignorance like Bu Jahl.

He was clear in mental perception, but blind to the spirit.

 

Know that an intellectual enquiry is concerned with causes,

The spiritual Self enquiry is the mother of all wonders!

 

Awakening happens when there is nothing left but nothing!

Oh friend who seeks enlightement, drop your love of logic,

The finite mind can never get its head round the infinite,

Its like a bitch chasing its own tail and ending up its ass.

The blest Seer on whom, God’s light graciously dawns,

Is independent of logical proof which is a blind man’s stick.

 

I now return to my fable; when did I ever leave that wierd tale?

If we come to ignorance it’s a prison ; knowledge is a palace.

We sleep and we are his wild, madly drunk friends,

When awake, we rest safely in His fatherly hands.

If we cry we’re a dark cloud laden with his bountiful grace,

If we laugh then suddenly we become his lightning flash.

If we fight to defend righteous justice it mirrors his might,

And if to peace it is a refeclion of his unconditional love,

Who am I? In this tangled web of a world ,other than ‘That’,

That power which is a single O, nothing,nothing, nothing.

>From Book 1 Lines 1480-1507

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alan

=====

Life is a pure flame,and we live

by an invisible Sun within us.

 

 

 

 

 

_________ALL-NEW

 

=====

Life is a pure flame,and we live

by an invisible Sun within us.

 

 

 

 

 

_________ALL-NEW

Messenger - all new features - even more fun! http://uk.messenger.