Who am I when the singer and the song are one? She asked: “Do you love me or yourself more? Really, tell the absolute truth.” He says: “There’s nothing left of me. I’m like a ruby held up to the sunrise. Is it still a stone, or a world Made … Continue reading When the Singer is the Song
Tag: Sufism
Gifts from the Beloved: from the Ocean to the Shore
What happens when… Being beyond… Man as metaphor. & What happens when the carrier becomes the carried? & Ocean of voices…breaking ‘front’ of the waves As they reach the shore; us…connected to the ocean Yet somehow separate We are that ‘waveform!’ * Have you ever stood on the shore Of a vast ocean, … Continue reading Gifts from the Beloved: from the Ocean to the Shore
Are Sufis Nomads?
‘Siyaha’ or ‘Safar’ - Wandering in search of the Beloved According to a paper by Arin Salamah Qudsi (“Crossing the Desert: Siyaha, and Safar as key concepts in early Sufi Literature and Life”), these two terms both refer to ‘travelling’ in early Sufism, however, only the first of them, siyaha (which relates to the ‘science … Continue reading Are Sufis Nomads?
‘When is enough, Enough?’
When is enough, enough? When do we say This… And no more? Almost a year ago now, I had a dream in which I was given the answer to this question. What difference did it make? When is enough, enough? Dancing, dervish style. In one hand, my left, An empty bottle of wine. … Continue reading ‘When is enough, Enough?’
‘Names and Forms: Resistance to the Word’
The Names, which are so central to a Sufic understanding of the Path and their ‘Origin/ator,’ are mediated by the world (read universe) and all it contains. Like a pure stream of water meeting a dam that explores the contours of its constraint seeking to move forward. How are we to read this? Like this … Continue reading ‘Names and Forms: Resistance to the Word’
‘We the Hollow Men: Between the Conception and the Creation’
We, the *‘Hollow Men,’ wait in line for the realisation that will unwind the complexity of our world, all the time failing to realise it is we who are this ‘complication.’ What would it mean to be free of this shadow-world that we both create and inhabit I wonder? There is something lurking in the … Continue reading ‘We the Hollow Men: Between the Conception and the Creation’
‘Patterns of Order’
There is no point at which one can stop and look – looking must be contiguous with becoming else what we see is the past not the present. Shapes indicate or point to probability not finitude, finitude vanishes where contiguity is absent (‘The sound of one hand clapping’). We can know something of the possible … Continue reading ‘Patterns of Order’
‘Patterns of Order’
Rumi said, ‘…God’s joy moves from unmarked box to unmarked box, From cell to cell. As rainwater, down into flower bed. As roses up from the ground. Now it looks like a plate of rice and fish, Now a cliff covered with vines, Now a horse being saddled, It hides within these, Till one day … Continue reading ‘Patterns of Order’
Kismet, Fate, and Synchronicity
“It’s Kismet! We were destined to meet! There is an Arabic word, qisma, which means ‘one’s lot in life’ which has passed into English as destiny (Kismet) which has a kind of happy, even fairy-tale quality about it hidden within the folds of its exotic exterior. I wrote some little time ago now of my … Continue reading Kismet, Fate, and Synchronicity
‘Proximity and Distance’
Work, keep working Walking the Path Requires this much At least And when the work is done Rest, walking the path Requires that, for If not, then nothing is gained What then is there To be gained When every step Is a loss, and every loss a gain? Reach out … Continue reading ‘Proximity and Distance’
Tracks in a Pathless Land 