Jalalud'din Rumi
One of the world's most revered mystical poets, Jalaud'din Rumi was born in 1207 in what is now known as Afghanistan. Rumi's poetry is wide-ranging and encompasses as its main theme the longing and searching for the union with the Divine.
Below are a few of my favorite Rumi quotes and excerpts from some of his poetry. I have always felt a special connection with the joy he describes in his beautiful words.
The connection to the Friend
is secret and very fragile.
The image of that friendship
is in how you love, the grace
and delicacy, the subtle talking
together, in full prostration,
outside of time. When you’re
there, remember the fierce
courtesy of the one with you.
Inside this new love, die.
Your way begins on the other side.
Become the sky.
Take an axe to the prison wall.
Escape.
Walk out like someone suddenly born into color.
Do it now.
You’re covered with thick cloud.
Slide out the side. Die,
and be quiet. Quietness is the surest sign
that you’ve died.
Your old life was a frantic running
from silence.
The speechless full moon
comes out now.
Christian, Jew, Muslim, shaman, Zoroastrian, stone, ground, mountain, river,
each has a secret way of being with the mystery, unique and not to be judged
Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers
within yourself that you have built against it.
The wound is the place where the Light enters you.
Knock, And He'll open the door
Vanish, And He'll make you shine like the sun
Fall, And He'll raise you to the heavens
Become nothing, And He'll turn you into everything.
Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought!
Why do you stay in prison
When the door is so wide open?
I have lived on the lip insanity, wanting to know reasons,
knocking on a door. It opens.
I've been knocking from the inside.
This being human is a guest house. Every morning is a new arrival. A joy, a
depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected
visitor...Welcome and entertain them all. Treat each guest honorably. The dark
thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them
in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from
beyond.
On a day
when the wind is perfect,
the sail just needs to open and the world is full of beauty.
Today is such a
day.
You are a volume in the divine book
A mirror to the power that created the universe
Whatever you want, ask it of yourself
Whatever you’re looking for can only be found
Inside of you.
When someone mentions the gracefulness
of the nightsky, climb up on the roof
and dance and say,
Like this.
If anyone wants to know what "spirit" is,
or what "God’s fragrance" means,
lean your head toward him or her.
Keep your face there close.
Like this.
I was dead, then alive.
Weeping, then laughing.
The power of love came into me,
and I became fierce like a lion,
then tender like the evening star.
When you feel a peaceful joy, that's when you are near truth.
Love calls - everywhere and always.
We're sky bound.
Are you coming?
Some nights stay up till dawn,
as the moon sometimes does for the sun.
Be a full bucket pulled up the dark way
of a well, then lifted out into light.
God picks up the reed-flute world and blows.
Each note is a need coming through one of us,
a passion, a longing pain.
Remember the lips
where the wind-breath originated,
and let your note be clear.
Don't try to end it.
Be your note.
Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house,
so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the
bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place. It
pulls up the rotten roots, so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow.
Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place.
Nothing I say can explain to you Divine Love
Yet all of creation cannot seem to stop talking about it.
The garden of the world has no limits, except in your mind.
This place is a dream. Only a sleeper considers it real. Then death comes like
dawn, and you wake up laughing at what you thought was your grief.