The Tao of Rumi - Poetic Wisdom for Modern Living
The PATH | The Well, Fog, The Sight of the Soul
Welcome to The PATH (Monday Meditation) — A weekly reflection with three timeless insights for daily life. This week’s reflection searches for ancient lessons for modern living within the poetic wisdom of Rumi (The Well, Fog, and The Sight of the Soul).
Who is Rumi?
Before I share three of Rumi’s poems. Who is Jalal ad-Din ar-Rumi (1207—1273)? He is known today simply as — Rumi (and regarded as one of the most well-known poets in history). According to Colman Barks, the author of A Year with Rumi, the story of Rumi’s life is well known. He was born in the early thirteenth century into a lineage of scholars and mystics in Balkh (then at the eastern edge of the Persian empire); he left as a boy with his family just ahead of the advancing armies of Genghis Khan.
The Tao of Rumi — Poetic Wisdom
Coleman describes Rumi’s poetry this way,
The words that came so spontaneously carry a broad range of religious awareness: the meditative silence and no-mind of Zen, the open heart and compassion of Jesus, the stern discipline of Muhammed, the convivial humor of Taoists, the crazy wisdom and bright intelligence of the Jewish Haddistis masters. Rumi is a planetary poet…
Although I’ve been reading A Year with Rumi for the last few years — honestly much of it goes over my head. Although, I’ve found that even if a practical lesson is difficult to be found — there is much beauty to be appreciated in Rumi’s poetry.
1. The Well
We seem to be sitting still,
but we are actually moving,
and the fantasies of phenomena
are sliding through us,
like ideas through curtains.
They go to the well of deep love
inside each of us.
They fill their jars there
and they leave.
There is a source they come from,
and a fountain inside here.
Be generous and grateful.
Confess when you’re not.
We cannot know
what the divine intelligence has in mind.
Who am I,
standing in the midst of this
thought-traffic?
2. Fog
As fog rising off the sea
covers the sea,
so it is noble work to build
coherent philosophical discourses,
but they block the sun of truth.
See God’s qualities as an ocean.
Here is the mystery.
This intricate, astonishing world
is proof of God’s existence,
even as it covers the beauty.
One flake from the wall of a goldmine
does not give much idea
what it is like.
when the sun shines in
and turns the air
and the workers golden.
3. The Sight of Soul
One of the marvels of the world
is the sight of a soul sitting in prison
with the key in its hand.
Covered with dust,
with a cleansing waterfall an inch away.
A young man rolls from side to side,
though the bed is comfortable
and a pillow holds his head.
He has a living master, yet he wants more,
and there is more.
If a prisoner had not lived outside,
he would not detest the dungeon.
Desiring knows there is a satisfaction
beyond this. Straying maps the path.
A secret freedom opens
through a crevice you can barely see.
The awareness a wine drinker wants
cannot be tasted in wine, but that failure
brings his deep thirst closer.
Perennial Meditations and the mission of the Perennial Leader Project is not to explore one particular path to wisdom. But to search far and wide for timeless lessons and practices for modern living. Or, to quote Heraclitus, “Those who love wisdom must investigate many things.”
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Thank you for reading; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
P.S. As always, feel free to comment or ask questions!