There is a Way (1/5/20)
Category: quatrain (rubai)
There is a Way (1/5/20) O confused heart, the way to the Beloved is through your soul. O one who has lost his way, there is a road to the Beloved which is both known and unknown. Don’t worry if your way is blocked from all six directions. There is More...
No Place for Water and Earth (12/29/19) Look at these fragments of soul which have been chipped off, sparkling in this valley. Watch this sea. Watch these ships as they collide with each other. Look at Azra. See Vamuk.* See those creatures in the fire. Look at the Beloved. See More...
Love Has Arrived (12/22/19) Love has arrived and become the blood in my skin and veins. It has emptied me of my self, filling me with the Beloved. Every part of my body is now occupied by the Beloved. Only my name has been left to me. He has become More...
The Situation (12/15/19) I tried to describe the situation of my heart as I knew it. The tears and blood of my heart had become rough, but I couldn’t explain it. It was the other day, I was talking about my heart, saying a few words which were really More...
Death is Reaching Out to God (12/8/19) There is a new life in death for the man of faith and justice. From death, peace and calm come to clean souls. Death is reaching out to God, not out to fear and cruelty. The one who refuses to die with that More...
I Will Keep Silent (12/1/19) Just now, ruby-colored tears have started coming from my eyes. A trace of Love’s dust never appears, but a sign has appeared from Love. Look at the color of the Beloved. Look at the color of lovers. Just now, those two beautiful colors have come More...
Both Worlds Are Submerged in Him (11/24/19) If you want the Beloved to show His face to you, turn inside. Give up your flesh and walk to the Essence. He is such an Essence that He is surrounded by layers of curtains. He is submerged in His own Being, and More...
I Am Right Here (11/17/19) “I don’t have anything to do with this.” That’s what you said, looking quite sour. Words like “vinegar is a nice condiment” were written all over your face. If you were to take two or three steps away from anger and greed to calm More...
Nothing Except the Beloved (11/10/19) “As long as I live, I won’t stray from the right way.” I gave that oath to myself. But later, I looked to my right, then to my left, then to my right, then to my left. Each time, I saw nothing except the Beloved. More...
Who Has… (11/3/19) Who has seen a trace of that charmer? In whose house is that full moon hidden? Who has seen without eyes His Beauty? Who has seen that world beyond this one? Show me the One with the bow who throws arrows at the soul. More...
The request is for “a reply”. But what can I say? I was a student of JGB at Coombe Springs in the 60s, and remain deeply grateful to him and Elizabeth for their kindness and patience. I encountered Hasan Shushud by chance in 1972/3, when a visit to my friends David and Patricia Schreiber in Kensington coincided with his. It was a warm London evening, and he spoke with us for an hour… most compellingly. I was a friend of Robert and Beryl Graves, and of Amina Shah. My friend Francisco living in Granada gave me a copy of the Way of Annihilation, which I started rereading a few minutes ago on an impulse. I have a special devotion to Our Lady of Medjugorje (where I lived for a year), whose first apparition in 1982 I am told Hasan Shushud predicted some 2 or 3 years previously. I am at present in Belgrade, where I have taught English Literature at universities there (as well as literary translation in Barcelona). I write and publish poems. I am unmarried, with 4 children, and always in love. I am at some kind of crossroads, and would be grateful for your prayers. A thankyou for your Rumi link – I always have the Nicholson translation by the bed-side.
It sounds like you have had quite a wide variety of interesting experiences. Perhaps we will meet some day. Please do continue to share any questions you may have!