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Traveling is as refreshing for some
as staying at home is for others.
Solitude in a mountain place
fills with companionship
for this one,
and dead-weariness
for that one.
This person loves
being in charge of the workings
of a community.
This one loves
the ways that heated iron can be shaped
with a hammer.
Each one has been given
a strong desire for certain work.
A love for those motions.
and all motion is love.
The way sticks and pieces of dead grass and leaves
shift about in the wind
and with the directions of rain and puddle-water
on the ground, those motions
are all a following
of the love they've been given.
-- Rumi
(translated by Coleman Barks)
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"Work In the Invisible"
The prophets have wondered to themselves,
"How long
should we keep pounding this cold iron? How long
do we have to whisper to an empty cage?"
Every motion of created beings
Comes from the creator.
The first soul pushes,
And your second soul responds.
So don't be timid.
Load the ship and set out.
No one knows for certain
whether the vessel will sink
or reach the harbor.
This is much more important
than losing or making money!
This is your connection to God.
Think of the fear and hope that you have
about your livelihood. They make you
work diligently everyday.
Now consider what the prophets have done.
Abraham wore fire for an anklet.
Moses spoke to the sea.
David moulded iron.
Solomon rode the wind.
Work in the invisible world
at least as hard
as you do in the visible.
Be a companion with the prophets,
invisibly so that no-one knows.
You can't imagine what profit will come!
When one of those generous ones
invites you into his fire,
go quickly!
Don't say,
"But will it burn me? Will it hurt?"
-- Rumi (translated by Coleman Barks)
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As once the winged energy of delight
carried you over childhood's dark abysses~
now beyond your own life build the great
arch of unimagined bridges.
Wonders happen if we can succeed
in passing through the harshest danger;
but only in a bright and purely granted
achievement can we realize the wonder.
To work with things in the indescribable
relationship is not too hard For us;
the pattern grows more intricate and subtle,
and being swept along is not enough.
Take your practiced powers and stretch them out
until they span the chasm between two
contradictions...For the god
wants to know himself in you.
--Rainer Maria Rilke
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