A WORLD MADE OF REDNESSIn a poem called The Sunrise Ruby, Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-1273) the Sufi mysti
A WORLD MADE OF REDNESSIn a poem called The Sunrise Ruby, Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-1273) the Sufi mystic, imagines a young woman speaking with her beloved.In the early morning hour,just before dawn, lover and beloved awakeand take a drink of water.She asks, Do you love me or yourself more?Really, tell me the absolute truth.He says, There is nothing left of me.I am like a ruby held up to the sunrise.Is it still a stone, or a worldmade of redness? It has no resistanceto sunlight. The ruby and the sunrise are one.Be courageous and discipline yourself.Work. Keep digging your well.Don’t think about getting off from work.Submit to a daily practice.Your loyalty to that is a ring on the door.Keep knocking, and the joy insidewill eventually open a windowand look out to see who’s there.In one way the ruby is a stone. But it is also a world of redness. The precious stone “held up to the sunrise” is transfigured, it becomes a part of a larger whole! When I am completely absorbed and immersed in the mysterious beauty that surrounds me, the azure sea, or the starry sky, a breathtaking sunrise, the unique beauty of a child at play, or the face of a loved one, I am still myself, of course; but is it possible that in that sacred moment of inter-being I am also more than myself? Is it possible that if and when we allow ourselves and others to be held against the sunrise we become a part of a larger self?poem source | Coleman Barks, The Essential Rumipersonal reflection | philip chircop -- source link
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