Looking At the Stars While the Sun is Out

Zikr
A naked man jumps in the river, hornets swarming
Above him. The water is the Zikr, remembering,
There is no reality but God. There is only God.

The hornets are his sexual remembering, this woman,
that woman. Or if a woman, this man, that.
The head comes up. They sting.

Breathe water. Become river head to foot.
Hornets leave you alone then. Even if you’re far
From the river, they pay no attention.

No one looks for stars when the sun’s out.
A person blended into God does not disappear. He or she,
Is just completely soaked in God’s qualities.
Do you need a quote from the Qur’an?
All shall be brought into our presence.

If a light goes out in one house, that doesn’t affect
the next house. This is the story of the animal soul,
Not the divine soul. The sun shines on every house.
When it goes down, all houses get dark.

Light is the image of your teacher. Your enemies
Love the dark. A spider weaves a web over a light,
Out of himself, or herself, makes a veil.

Don’t try to control a wild horse by grabbing its leg.
Take hold the neck. Use a bridle. Be sensible.
Then ride! There is a need for self-denial.

Don’t be contemptuous of old obediences. They help.

Rumi wrote that story over 700 years ago. He wrote it so people could identify with their beliefs. He wrote about God using the religious tools that were familiar to the Turks that followed Islamic beliefs. A Zikr is a meeting place where the name of God is chanted rhythmically to induce a state of oneness with the self and to connect to a power that exists, but is not manifested physically. The Our’an is a text that is similar to the Christian bible. It is also considered the word of God to those that believe in its messages. Rumi used these tools to explain consciousness and how beliefs can change experiences.

This great poet is artfully expressing the consciousness we call God. That consciousness manifests physically through our choices and experiences. All probabilities from our choices become experiences in some reality. No one does it for us and we don’t do it for anyone else. The sunshine of consciousness is always illuminated, although the intensity of the light is orchestrated by our beliefs.