One of the most well-known figure of eastern spirituality is without a doubt the mystical poet Rumi also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī. Rumi was born in what is now known as Afghanistan and spent most of his adult life as an islamic jurist and theologian until he met a mysterious dervish named Shams of Tabriz.
The day he met him, he left all his previous duties and entered a new phase of his life, a phase which most of his pupils didn't understand or agreed with. Rumi began spending most of his time in spiritual ecstasy or sâmâ, which mostly consists of hypnotic absorbtion through music and dance. What Shams seemed to have accomplished was to bring Rumi to the realization that God was not something that the intellect can encompass or behold. The very day they met became legendary and still to this day, the devotional poetry that Rumi wrote as a result of this encounter is known throughout the world.
Now, my point in writing this is to bring attention to the fact that Rumi, although a very orthodox muslim for most of his life, suddenly changed and became someone who turned away from scriptures and meme rituals and towards experience and artistic expression. Why? Because he saw in Shams the embodiment of The Mystery.
Rumi met Shams at the Konya market one day and as the legend goes, Shams grabbed the briddle of his horse and asked him a question: " Say, who is the holiest in the eyes of God? Bestami or Muhammad? " As Rumi knew all too well, Muhammad was God's prophet while Bestami was one of those " crazed " mystics claiming to be one with God. The answer was obvious and so he gave it to Shams who then said:
" But Bestami said: I am the glory! while Muhammad said: I cannot praise you enough! "
The legend tells that Rumi, realizing this was no ordinary theological debate and that he had come face to face with the mystery fell from his horse and became unconscious. Upon waking up, he and Shams spent months on end in solitude, contemplating the mysteries and their friendship became legendary.
This is another one of those stories about people previously confident in their beliefs who became struck by what Terence McKenna used to call " the cosmic giggle ".
What if Shams was not someone but something? What if Rumi's story is really a tale about opening the " doors of perception "?
-------------------- Man woke up in a world he did not understand and that is why he tries to interpret it - Carl Jung
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I found something interesting :
With every breath the sound of love surrounds us, and we are bound for the depths of space, without distraction.
We've been in orbit before and know the angels there. Let's go there again, Master, for that is our land.
Yet we are beyond all of that and more than angels. Out beyond duality, we have a home, and it is Majesty.
------------------------- ((((((That pure substance is different from this dusty world. What kind of place is this? We once came down; soon we'll return. A new happiness befriends us as we work at offering our lives. )))))------------------------------------
Belovedd, the jewel of the world, is our caravan's chosen guide. The sweetness we breathe on the wind is from the scent of his hair, and the radiance of our thought is from the light of his day.
His face once caused the moon to split in two. She couldn't endure the sight of him. Yet how lucky she was, she who humbly received him. Look into your heart and see the splitting moon within each breath. Having seen that vision, how can you still dream?
When the wave of "Am I not?" struck, it wrecked the body's ship; when the ship wrecks again, it will be the time of union.
The Human Being, like a bird of the sea, emerged from the ocean of the soul. Earth is not the final place of rest for a bird born from the sea.
No, we are pearls of that ocean; all of us live in it; and if it weren't so, why would wave upon wave arrive?
This is the time of union, the time of eternal beauty. It is the time of luck and kindness; it is the ocean of purity. The wave of bestowal has come.
The roar of the sea is here. The morning of happiness has dawned. No, it is the light of God.
Whose face is pictured here? Who is this shah or prince? Who is this ancient intelligence? They are all masks . . . and the only remedy is this boiling ecstasy of the soul.
A fountain of refreshment is in the head and the eyes - not this bodily head but another pure spiritual one.
Many a pure head has been spilled in the dust. Know the one from the other! Our original head is hidden, while this other is visible. Beyond this world is a world that has no boundaries.
Put your water skin away, brother, and draw some wine from our cask! The clay jug of perception has such a narrow spout. The sun appeared from the direction of Tabriz, and I said, "This light is at once joined with all things, and yet apart from everything." Rumi
My love, you are closer to me than myself, you shine through my eyes. Your light is brighter than the Moon. Step into the garden so all the flowers, even the tall poplar can kneel before your beauty.
Let your voice silence the lily famous for its hundred tongues. When you want to be kind you are softer than the soul but when you withdraw you can be so cold and harsh.
Dear one, you can be wild and rebellious but when you meet him face to face his charm will make you docile like the earth. Throw away your shield and bare your chest there is no stronger protection than him.
That's why when the dervish withdraws from the world he covers all the cracks in the wall, so the outside light cannot come though. He knows that only the inner light illuminates his world.
~ Rumi
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