great life-giving passion

“Love is the Water of Life. Drink it down with heart and soul!” Rumi

One of the most beloved poets, Rumi, was born this day in 1207 in Afghanistan. His poetry speaks of a love which infuses the world. His own desire to intimately know the “Everlasting Beloved” and to transcend his own egoic self, guides his words, music and dance, in the form of the whirling dervishes. 

Each time I am in the Sinai desert, I am captured by the genuine overall happiness of the Bedouin children.  They have so little in way of material goods but have enormous souls, which spill over with joy and love. They make games using what they have; sand and stones. Best game of Mancala I ever played!  

Whatever they do, it seems to be with such enthusiasm. Rumi’s poem best expresses passion, an important antidote recognized by psychologists to some forms of fatigue.

“Passion makes the old medicine new: Passion lops off the bough of weariness.
Passion is the elixir that renews: how can there be weariness, when passion is present?
Oh, don’t sigh heavily from fatigue:
seek passion, seek passion, seek passion!  (Mathnawi VI, 4302-4304)

Wishing you great life-giving passion.