Jelaluddin Rumi is a 13th century mystic poet. He is arguably one of the most passionate and profound poets in history. Today, his presence still remains strong, due in part to his words which seem to drip of the divine, and startle a profound remembrance that links all back to the essence of human experience. Born in what is present day Afghanistan in 1207, he produced his master work the Masnawi which consists of over 60,000 poems before he died in 1273. The best way to understand his impact is to feel how his words aim to describe the Indescribable, Ineffable -- God.
Here is a selection of two Rumi poems which echo and permeate with love!
This We Have Now This we have now is not imagination. This is not grief or joy. Not a judging state, or an elation, or sadness. Those come and go... This is the presence that doesn't. If you want what visible reality can give, you're an employee. If you want the unseen world, you're not living your truth. Both wishes are foolish, but you'll be forgiven for forgetting that what you really want is... love's confusing joy. | Only Breath Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu Buddhist, sufi, or zen. Not any religion or cultural system. I am not from the East or the West, not out of the ocean or up from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not composed of elements at all. I do not exist. am not an entity in this world or in the next, did not descend from Adam and Eve or any origin story. My place is placeless, a trace of the traceless. Neither body or soul. I belong to the beloved, have seen the two worlds as one and that one call to and know, first, last, outer, inner, only that breath breathing... human being. |
