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I have seen a lot of hullabaloo about Valentine’s Day: the day for Earthly lovers, right? That dualistic view simply means that people who are single or broken up feel pain on this day, if they are thinking in a “me against the world” point of view. There is antivalentine’s for this type of person, and that’s kind of fun, if you’re into not having fun.
But let’s go one step beyond! What about experiencing the ecstatic love of The Beloved (with a capital “B”). Rumi lived about 750 years ago, and was a poet and mystic of the Sufi tradition. But he really didn’t fit in anywhere. He wrote thousands of verses about spiritual love. I want to share one of my favorites from the very few I’ve read:
And He is With Us
Totally unexpected my guest arrived,
“Who is it?” asked my heart.
“The face of the moon,” said my soul.
As he entered the house,
we all ran into the street madly looking for the moon.
“I’m in here,” he was calling from inside,
but we were calling him outside unaware of his call.
Our drunken nightingale is singing in the garden,
and we are cooing like doves, “Where, where, where?”
A crowd formed: “Where’s the thief?”
And the thief among us is saying,
“Yeah, where’s the thief.”
All our voices became mixed together
and not one voice stood out from the others.
And He is with you means He is searching with you.
He is nearer to you than yourself. Why look outside?
Become like melting snow; wash yourself of yourself.
With love your inner voice will find a tongue
growing like a silent white lily in the heart.
2 comments
The journey within says:
February 14, 2009 at 9:36 pm (UTC -7 )
Hi Jessica,
I love your post.
I am big fan of Rumi, always thrilled when I read him. These sufi mystic always intoxicated by devine love.
For sufi god is valentine, church/Mosque/temple is Madhuslala (devine pub)and meditation is longing in the love..
Jessica says:
February 15, 2009 at 3:05 pm (UTC -7 )
Thank you for your comment, The Journey Within. I like that phrase, “always intoxicated with divine love”. Maybe that’s why Rumi talks of a “drunken nightingale” so often.