International Year of Rumi

The reflections over the past week were inspired by a 2003 lecture by Sufi Shaikh, Kabir Helminski. Kabir is of the Mevlevi Order, a Sufi tradition tracing its roots to the 13th century Persian mystic and poet Rumi. Rumi was born in 1207 and 2007 has been declared by UNESCO as the International Year of Rumi in honour of the 800 year anniversary of his birth. I invite you to join me in taking some time during this year to learn a little of Rumi, the Sufi Islamic tradition, and the Persian history of Afghanistan and Iran. As always, Wikipedia's a good place to start... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalal_ad-Din_Muhammad_Rumi . There's a short clip from "Rumi-Turning Ecstatic", a film by Tina Petrova, on YOUTUBE at... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjSig4DxU_M. It shows the beautiful "turning with love" of the Sufi prayer tradition.
Here are some of Rumi's thoughts on prayer as translated by Kabir and Camille Helminski.

“The Window of My Soul”
Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi

During prayer I am accustomed to turn to God like this:
that's the meaning of the words of the Tradition,
'the delight felt in the ritual prayer.'
The window of my soul opens,
and from the purity of the Unseen World,
the Book of God comes to me straight.
The Book, the rain of Divine Grace, and the Light
are falling into my house through a window
from my real and original source.
The house without a window is Hell:
to make a window is the foundation of true religion.
Don't thrust your axe upon every thicket:
come, use your axe to cut open a window.
Translated by Camille and Kabir Helminski

Peace be to you... Rob

“Everyone sees the unseen in proportion to the clarity of his heart, and that depends upon how much he has polished it. Whoever has polished it more sees more - more unseen forms become manifest to him.” Rumi