Ruminations with Rumi
“Tell me what is in my heart.”
“I cannot say.”
“You say you know what lies within.”
“Do you want me to tell you what you know already?”
“I do not know.”
“Nor do I.”
There are few who know. There are many who claim they do. Listen to all with skepticism. No one knows for certain. The mystery is unfathomable. Words help you to learn, but they do not bring knowledge. Knowledge comes from revelation. Hear the words of those who speak of the way but make them your own. Only you can hear the voice of knowledge within. It is your own. There is no other.
Along the way, give comfort to the body. Care for its needs with loving-kindness. Its desires are many. Its needs are few. Keep it clean, watered, and fed. The rest is struggle for fulfillment. The me of the body feels separation and seeks wholeness. It is ignorant of its true nature, which is whole, complete, perfect. To be fulfilled, it seeks affection, attention, acceptance, and attainment. To achieve is to gain. To gain is to fulfill. These desires and expectations lead to pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow. Pleasure and happiness feel fulfilling, but do not nourish. Pain and sorrow become suffering. There is much suffering in the human condition, and the body longs for pleasure and happiness. That desire is its struggle. In that struggle it feels pain and sorrow. Your true nature—that which is whole, complete, perfect—lies within. It is not of the body and its world.