Surge like an ocean, don’t scatter yourself like a storm. Life’s waters flow from darkness. Search the darkness, don’t run from it. Night travelers are full of light, and you are, too; don’t leave this companionship. — Rumi, from “Search the Darkness,” Love Is a Stranger (Shambhala, 2000)
The sound of water is deep, its form is serpent-like, its color green, and it is best heard in the roaring of the sea. The sound of fire is high pitched, its form is curled, and its color is red. It is heard in the falling of the thunderbolt and in a volcanic eruption. The… Continue reading Hazrat Inayat Khan
Last night that moon came along, drunk, dropping clothes in the street. “Get up,” I told my heart, “Give the soul a glass of wine. The moment has come to join the nightingale in the garden, to taste sugar with the soul-parrot.” I have fallen, with my heart shattered— where else but on your path?… Continue reading Rumi
People often ask me questions that I cannot very well answer in words, and it makes me sad to think they are unable to hear the voice of my silence. — Hazrat Inayat Khan
This flute is played with fire, not with wind, and without this fire you would not exist. It is the fire of love that inspires the flute. It is the ferment of love that completes the wine. The reed is a comfort to all estranged lovers. Its music tears our veils away. Have you ever… Continue reading Rumi
Choose love! Choose love! Enter the rose garden, let your soul make peace with the thorns. — Rumi, The Forbidden Rumi: The Suppressed Poems of Rumi on Love, Heresy, and Intoxication. (Inner Traditions; Tra edition, February 14, 2006)
My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that, and I intend to end up there. — Rumi, The Essential Rumi. (HarperOne; Reprint edition, May 28, 2004) Originally published 1273.
