I came across this poem by Rumi, the famous Sufi poet which I found very provocative.
A spirit that lives in this world
and does not wear the shirt of love,
such an existence is a deep disgrace. Be foolishly in love,
because love is all there is.
There is no way into presence
except through a love exchange.
If someone asks, But what is love?
answer, Dissolving the will.
True freedom comes to those
who have escaped the questions
of freewill and fate.
Love is an emperor.
The two worlds play across him.
He barely notices their tumbling game.
Love and lover live in eternity.
Other desires are substitutes
for that way of being.
How long do you lay embracing a corpse?
Love rather the soul, which cannot be held.
Anything born in spring dies in the fall,
but love is not seasonal.
With wine pressed from grapes,
expect a hangover.
But this love path has no expectations.
You are uneasy riding the body?
Dismount. Travel lighter.
Wings will be given.
Be clear like a mirror
reflecting nothing.
Be clean of pictures and the worry
that comes with images.
Gaze into what is not ashamed
or afraid of any truth.
Contain all human faces in your own
without any judgment of them.
Be pure emptiness.
What is inside that? you ask.
Silence is all I can say.
Lovers have some secrets
That they keep
It is interesting that he argues in this poem, that the ancient debate around fate and freewill is transcended through love. Themes of dropping desires that are mere substitutes for the purity of love figure in this poem. It seems, though, again, that there is the problem with the body. There seems to be a desire to detach from the body; "You are uneasy riding the body?
Dismount. Travel lighter. Wings will be given." But the dissolution of the will is a strong Islamic theme of submission. "If someone asks, But what is love?
answer, Dissolving the will." But I think it is important to underscore that this is not dependence on another but dissolution to the divine and indifference or apatheia to all others.
A spirit that lives in this world
and does not wear the shirt of love,
such an existence is a deep disgrace. Be foolishly in love,
because love is all there is.
There is no way into presence
except through a love exchange.
If someone asks, But what is love?
answer, Dissolving the will.
True freedom comes to those
who have escaped the questions
of freewill and fate.
Love is an emperor.
The two worlds play across him.
He barely notices their tumbling game.
Love and lover live in eternity.
Other desires are substitutes
for that way of being.
How long do you lay embracing a corpse?
Love rather the soul, which cannot be held.
Anything born in spring dies in the fall,
but love is not seasonal.
With wine pressed from grapes,
expect a hangover.
But this love path has no expectations.
You are uneasy riding the body?
Dismount. Travel lighter.
Wings will be given.
Be clear like a mirror
reflecting nothing.
Be clean of pictures and the worry
that comes with images.
Gaze into what is not ashamed
or afraid of any truth.
Contain all human faces in your own
without any judgment of them.
Be pure emptiness.
What is inside that? you ask.
Silence is all I can say.
Lovers have some secrets
That they keep
It is interesting that he argues in this poem, that the ancient debate around fate and freewill is transcended through love. Themes of dropping desires that are mere substitutes for the purity of love figure in this poem. It seems, though, again, that there is the problem with the body. There seems to be a desire to detach from the body; "You are uneasy riding the body?
Dismount. Travel lighter. Wings will be given." But the dissolution of the will is a strong Islamic theme of submission. "If someone asks, But what is love?
answer, Dissolving the will." But I think it is important to underscore that this is not dependence on another but dissolution to the divine and indifference or apatheia to all others.
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