I HAD TO SEEK THE PHYSICIAN

I had to seek the Physician
because of the pain 
this world caused me.

I could not believe what happened 
when I got there-
 
I found my Teacher.

Before I left, he said, 
"Up for a little homework, yet?" 
"Okay," I replied.

"Well then, try thanking all the people 
who have caused you pain.
They helped you come to me."

Kabir

 

Jean Klein - From The Great Oblivion

 

It is crucial to come to know death when we are still alive. 
The quality of life is completely different for the one who knows the letting go in the waking state. 
This is the real meaning of the word death. 
That is the real significance of the word sacrifice. 
As Meister Eckhart says: " God is when I am not. "
 We are born only after the death of all that is personal. 
When we are awakened in emptiness, we can only speak of fullness.

Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī - To breathe the name Hu

 

Learn about your inner self from those who know such things,

but don't repeat verbatim what they say.

Zuleika let everything be the name of Joseph, from celery seed

to aloes-wood. She loved him so much, she concealed his name

in many different phrases, the inner meanings

known only to her. When she said, The wax is softening

near the fire, she meant, My love is wanting me.

Or if she said, Look, the moon is up, or The willow has new leaves,

or The branches are trembling, or The coriander seeds

have caught fire, or The roses are opening,

or The king is in a good mood today, or Isn't that lucky,

or The furniture needs dusting, or

The water-carrier is here, or It's almost daylight,

or These vegetables are perfect, or The bread needs more salt,

or The clouds seem to be moving against the wind,

or My head hurts, or My headache's better,

anything she praises, it's Joseph's touch she means,

any complaint, it's his being away.

When she's hungry, it's for him. Thirsty, his name is a sherbet.

Cold, he's a fur. This is what the Friend can do

when one is in such love. Sensual people use the holy names

often, but they don't work for them.

The miracle Jesus did by being the name of God,

Zuleika felt in the name of Joseph.

When one is united to the core of another, to speak of that

is to breathe the name Hu, empty of self and filled

with love. As the saying goes, The pot drips what is in it.

The saffron spice of connecting, laughter.

The onion-smell of separation, crying.

Others have many things and people they love.

This is not the way of Friend and friend.

Metameza Ushi - The Heart of Recognition-

 

In the stillness before thought,

a single light awakens,

unbroken, undivided - 

the pulse of Emptiness,

beating within all.

You are not the seeker,

nor the path, nor the goal.

You are the flame itself,

forgotten in the dream of forgetting.

All this:  the mountain's roar,

the river's song, the weeping of stars;

is your own face,

shimmering in the mirror of Self.

Consciousness, out of its own freedom,

spins the dance of worlds,

binding itself in play,

only to delight in its own unfolding.

Veils of thought, of form, of sorrow,

are but veils of your own weaving.

The bondage and the liberation -

woven of one thread.

At any moment,

with a breath, with a glance,

you may recognize:

I am That.

Nothing is gained,

nothing was lost.

Only the Heart remembered itself,

eternal, whole, free.

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Alain Joly - The Possibility We Are In

 

Whatever there is is God’s presence felt. And whatever we may feel of God’s presence, is what there is here and now, including what exists and appears. It is all here for our recollecting, all here that we can be and be god like. Every experience that we may have, every sorrow and every joy, every fear or trust, every ugly or beautiful appearance, is felt and seen because of our being first. To watch anything is to be watched in return by a presence watching. We can make ourself disappear in it, and be without a self, without the self we have always known and colluded with. And we can share of that impersonal, infinite being that is not ours, but that we can be and embrace as our own. So ‘I am’ is the secret door opener within us, that will give us the world we are in. We will have an aggrandised property, or a world made of the very size of ourself, infinite, manageable, and towards which our being may shine a benevolent beam of light and peace. That I feel is a possibility.

The world will have its secret identity disclosed to us. And we too will have our secret identity revealed. Both being made one, and ourself being of it. Others will cease being others. They will join us as that shared one being. There won’t be any jealousy or comparison, but a rejoicing in and as that oneness felt. Our fate and destiny will be contained inside us, within our own being. There won’t be a time to hope for, or a place to fail in, or a self to mess up. There won’t be a fear of tomorrow, or a regret of yesterday, for both will have merged in and as the being that we are. Time and place will have come to be only convenience. And our very being will have come to be the time and place we are in. That too is a possibility.

The knowing of our own being will have come to be our only experience. The many will have shrunk into the one, and the infinite will have subdued our senses, and made itself seen, heard, touched, and contained within our experience. Happiness will cease being a temporary achievement, and will become the flavour of our shared being with people and things. We will have joy woven into every single corner of our life. That’s the possibility we have at hand.

Movement will be seen as the manifold expression of stillness, and silence recognised as the only component of our living symphony. Turmoil will be felt as this last bit of ourself that we have yet to embrace — not something to be afraid of, but an opportunity that we welcome. We have to see this as a possibility.

So this life is the garden of Eden we once extricated ourself from, but have in fact never left otherwise than in our imagination. And love is not an occasional encounter, but the very air we take our breath from. I’m just throwing the possibility in the air.

Now we recognise after all, that the being of God is what we are — the possibility we are in, without there being a God or a ‘we’.

from

https://thedawnwithin.com/2025/04/24/the-possibility-we-are-in/

Yunus Emre - Let's go to the Friend

 

Let's be companions, the two of us.
     Let's go to the Friend, my soul.

Let's be close intimates, the two of us.
     Lets go to the Friend, my soul.

Let's go before this life is over,
Before our bodies disappear,
Before enemies come between us --

     Let's go to the Friend, my soul.

Come on, let's go. Don't remain alone.
Let's be a chisel in the Friend's hand.
The only stop will be our sheikh's station.

     The only stop will be our sheikh's station.

Let's leave our towns and cities
and gladly suffer for the Friend.
Let's wrap our arms around our Beloved's waist.

     Let's go to the Friend, my soul.

Let's not be bewildered by the world.
Let's not be cheated by its sudden dying.
Let's not sit together never touching.

     Let's go to the Friend, my soul.

Let's give up this transient world
and fly to the lasting land of the Friend.
Let's give up all the playthings of the nafs.

     Let's go to the Friend, my soul.

Be a guide to me on this journey.
Let's set our destination at the Friend,
Not thinking where we begin or end.

     Let's go to the Friend, my soul.

This world isn't everlasting.
With eyes half-open it is tempting.
Be a companion of lovers and a lover.

     Let's go to the Friend, my soul.

Before the news of death reaches us,
Before the hour when he grabs us by the collar,
Before Azrail makes his sudden move,

     Let's go to the Friend, my soul.

Let's arrive at the Divine Truth
and inquire there about Reality.

 Let's take Yunus Emre with us---
and go to the Friend, my soul.

English version by Jennifer Ferraro & Latif Bolat
Original Language Turkish

Mansur al-Hallaj - Amazed and dazed

 

O You who are the object of my perception
And the hidden desire of my heart!
O complete Being, the Whole
Whom I love with all my parts.
I turn to You in longing and sorrow;
You for whom my heart is caught in the talons
Of a flying bird.
Immersed in pain, lost, amazed and dazed
I move from wilderness to wilderness.
Travelling, blinded by Your mystery,
Lightning fast and restlessly moving
Like the suddenness of a vision
That disappears as one wakes.
Carried away by the stream of awareness
For the pleasure of the Absolute.

Amazed at Thou and I
O object of my desire!
Thou allowed me nearness to Thee,
Though I called Thee me.
I lost myself in finding Thee
Till Thou annihilated me in Thee.
O blessing of my life
And my solace after death,
None cares for me save Thou;
Thou art in my fear and peace.
O you garden of meaning
That circumscribes all my talents,
If I desire anything
I desire Thee!

Islamic mystical poetry

PDF HERE