Thank you for this wonderful exposition about Rumi, I love learning about his story.
Ditto about Adya as a favorite teacher. In Resurrecting Jesus, he speaks of the next phase our journey to, as you wrote, "chisel away the remaining shield until all that’s left is the luminous essence of what we truly are." Rumi saw the beauty of his true nature reflected in his love for Shams. But in the continuing journey, even that radiant personal self must fall away and it is experienced as a tremendous loss. Jesus said on the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" At that moment he's losing the most beautiful thing in his life, his personal relationship with God. That was a necessary step for the resurrection, where unity is experienced not by a self but by unity itself.
Beautiful! This gave me a frisson: "[A]t some point Rumi broke away from tradition, having found out what the mystics of all religions ultimately find out, that the only place to discover the divine is within one's own heart." Experience alone can "bash your brain." The slow train to enlightenment is, indeed, the best one because what is learned is engraved upon the human soul. One just needs to be open to all the mystical parts of our existence--both the joyful and the painful. Thank you for this lovely essay.
Beautiful and I really resonate with all of this piece. Thank you
Magnificent essay that resonates with my experience that led to a breakthrough.
Thank you for this wonderful exposition about Rumi, I love learning about his story.
Ditto about Adya as a favorite teacher. In Resurrecting Jesus, he speaks of the next phase our journey to, as you wrote, "chisel away the remaining shield until all that’s left is the luminous essence of what we truly are." Rumi saw the beauty of his true nature reflected in his love for Shams. But in the continuing journey, even that radiant personal self must fall away and it is experienced as a tremendous loss. Jesus said on the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" At that moment he's losing the most beautiful thing in his life, his personal relationship with God. That was a necessary step for the resurrection, where unity is experienced not by a self but by unity itself.
Beautiful! This gave me a frisson: "[A]t some point Rumi broke away from tradition, having found out what the mystics of all religions ultimately find out, that the only place to discover the divine is within one's own heart." Experience alone can "bash your brain." The slow train to enlightenment is, indeed, the best one because what is learned is engraved upon the human soul. One just needs to be open to all the mystical parts of our existence--both the joyful and the painful. Thank you for this lovely essay.