Tilling yourself…See Beyond Phenomena
A cow may walk from one side of the amazing city of Baghdad to the other and notice only a watermelon rind and a tuft of hay that fell off a wagon. ~Rumi Tilling yourself A man was breaking up the soil, when another man came by, “Why are you ruining this land?” “Don’t be a fool! Nothing can grow until the ground is turned over and crumbled. There can be no roses and no orchard without first this that looks devastating. You must lance an ulcer in order to heal it. You must tear down parts of an old building to restore it, and so it is with a sensual life that has no spirit in it. To change, a person must face the dragon of his appetites with another dragon, the life-energy of the soul.” When that’s not strong, the world seems to be full of people who have your own fears and wantings. As one thinks the room is spinning when he’s whirling around. When your love contracts in anger, the atmosphere itself feels threatening. But when you’re expansive, no matter what the weather, you’re in an open, windy field with friends. Many people travel to Syria and Iraq and meet only hypocrites. Others go all the way to India and see just merchants buying and selling. Others go to Turkestan and China and find those countries filled with sneak-thieves and cheats. We always see the qualities that are living in us. A cow may walk from one side of the amazing city of Baghdad to the other and notice only a watermelon rind and a tuft of hay that fell off a wagon. Don’t keep repeatedly doing what your animal-soul wants to do. That’s like decided to be a strip of meat nailed and drying on a board in the sun. Your spirit needs to follow the changes happening in the spacious place it knows about. There, the scene is always new, a clairvoyant river of picturing, more beautiful than any on earth. This is where the sufis wash. Purify your eyes, and see the pure world. Your life will fill with radiant forms. It’s a question of cleaning then developing spiritual senses. See beyond phenomena. – from the Illuminated Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
