Ruminating with Rumi
Travel far. Travel wide. Stay at home. Do nothing. Sit in still solitude. Linger in the moment. It is your way to find. We each have our own course. Hafiz had great need for a pilgrimage, so he sat still for three days. What is your course? To know, follow the joy that you are. You are the way, the truth, and the light. No one can enter the kingdom for you. You are the door to the room within. Open yourself to the center of your existence. The kingdom within is your domain. At home or abroad it is you. Make your way, moment by moment, from within. The way of the path spreads before you. Let your own true nature be your guide.
I no longer travel the road I drove a thousand times. Nothing remains for me at the end of that long highway. The loss reminds me that the highways and byways of life come and go. Once it seemed as if nothing would change. Then it did—suddenly and dramatically. Change can be harsh. Or change can be soft. Either way, it is going to come. Sometimes a familiar road detours in a new direction until it lands back where I wanted to be. Sometimes I choose to take a quick turn to see what lies down a road that I never have traveled. Some dirt-road detours seem treacherous, and I am happy to return to pavement. But sometimes when I get back, the road is no longer the same. What I expected to find is back where I left it as the adventure continues. Exploring unknown roads is daring at times, but I like that my senses are stimulated with new sights and sounds.
I like to think that turning off long-traveled roads keeps me out of the ruts of life. Ruts are hard to escape when mired in them. They tend to go nowhere and leave me stuck. I like the open road. It carries me far when I am not distracted by roadside attractions. I am learning to take each moment as it comes, and to be at peace where I am without sitting still too long in one spot. Even Hafiz traveled when he knew to move on. I have spent my life busting out of this earthly bubble in search of who I am. In the past, I called it “Darrell’s search for Self.” Now I know it as “that which I AM.” My existence is joyful and abundant. I practice listening to twia and following my natural course. I do my best to find peace of heart in all situations. When I detour, I am better now at finding my way back to the highway and the life that is mine to live in this ole world of ours.