Sufi Mystic - Rumi 2-26-12

Rumi’s “Way of Passion” in Today’s World

Today, perched on the edge of madness and seeming chaos and possibly total

destruction, the world needs Rumi’s “Way of Passion” more than ever before. The

decision-makers in the United States, along with some of their closest Western allies,

appear to be utterly disposed to waging war against the rest of the world, if necessary, in

order to retain hegemony. Control -- of power, of resources, of money, of weapons, of

governments, of peoples’ minds and bodies -- is the name of their game. They are

completely fervent in their devotion to their cause and act with all surety and entitlement.

They are also patient. They know how to set the stage carefully and to use any tactic and

excuse to appear honorable and trustworthy. The media broadcasts their prepared scenes

with eagerness and conviction lending support to the drama by meticulousness and

timing. But they are not virtuous at all. The rights of others have no meaning for them.

The well-being of billions of people or the environment or the planet or the future is

irrelevant to them. Only the current “crisis” counts. Only the most expedient, short-

termed solutions are valid. Only the objectives that yield the most profit, i.e. power, for

them are viable.

Those of us on the receiving end of these policies and actions need to be just as

passionate, just as dedicated, just as diligent, and just as willing to act as the warmongers,

Kachel, Joy 1 5/3/2023

or we all might lose everything this time around. Only by an extraordinary miracle are

we going to ever pull off reversing the current world situation. Only by exceptionally

courageous, dedicated people speaking out and acting and working together around the

globe to oppose the current mindset and machinery of war and destruction can this

tragedy be averted. And, we cannot do it alone or only for ourselves. It can only happen

as a part of the transformation of humanity for the sake of all (humans, animals, plants,

all organic and inorganic members of this world and Earth herself) and only by the power

of Spirit working through us. As Andrew Harvey states, “… I think all mystics now

believe that there is a chance that the chaos, disaster, and misery of this time will bring

humankind to its collective senses and show dramatically that only a major

transformation of consciousness done very fast and with terrific urgency and passion can

be adequate to the problems that are confronting us. If we can transform the situation

that is given to us, enact our divine identity and enact the ‘charge of responsibility’ that

all the mystical traditions agree that God has given us, then the growing Christ will

manifest. … This possibility demands of us now absolutely everything, because we are

the generation on whose sacrifice, passion, and courage for transformation that possibility

will be built, if it can be built at all. Our hearts have to be where the miracle happens for

the future to exist. That places on us a unique intensity of responsibility.”1 Yes, Rumi’s

“Way of Passion” has definite meaning in today’s world.

But just what is this great transformation of humanity that must take place for us

to survive? And how is Rumi’s “Way of Passion” a prescription for humanity’s healing?

Andrew Harvey describes our current situation as this: “Our world is where it is because


we have defined ourselves as dying, desperate creatures. What could dying, desperate

creatures do but destroy their environment, because they are depressed? This is the

modern calamity: we’re depressed because we’re given information about ourselves that

is unbearable. It also happens to be untrue. Think what many people in the world are

believing: they believe that they are dying, that their life is meaningless, that there is no

God, no love, no hope. People are desperate because this information is, literally,

unbearable. Worse, it is untrue!”2 So, we can bring about transformation by changing

our worldview, and we can change our perceptions by seeking Truth. Here is part of that

Truth: “Life is not a meaningless experience; it is an experience in which every moment

is brimming with sacred importance, in which everyone is living as God, in God, for

God, whether they know it or not.”3 To get to this Truth and to live this Truth is what

Rumi shows us through his life and writings. He invites us, each one of us, to wake up to

our oneness with All; he urges us, individually, to joyfully step into the ego-death fire of

the alchemical process of transfiguration and thereby be bonded in sacred unity with All

that Is, with Love, with Light.

You want Reality unmasked? Choose death!Not the death that drags you to the tomb –The death that is a transmutationSo you at last change into Light.4

Once this fire has burned away the false self and the true Self emerges, what then?

Then the human becomes a living example of the Divine in action for others to follow.

“It means changing the entire ground of our political choices, the entire ground of our


relationship with the environment, everything! Feed the poor, establish justice, save the

forests, unpollute the seas, build cities in which beings can live fragrant and sacred lives.

… Start the new Renaissance. …That means a complete and very rapid shift in the human

consciousness, and a complete rededication of all the skills we have acquired … to the

Divine and the divine work on earth.”5 This, I believe, is what Matthew Fox is talking

about when he speaks about the re-invention of work. This is what is meant by a life that

is awakened, creative, and compassionate.

But Rumi goes even a step further than this. The next stage in the process of

transformation is to actually become what the Sufis refer to as a “Divine Being”. This

super-refined human is identified by three main characteristics: 1) he/she knows the

Divine Secret that everything that exists or happens is, has been, and always will be from,

in, and as the Divine; 2) the perfect human being is a translucent mirror continually

reflecting to others divine beauty all around them and their own innate divinity, and 3)

the perfect being is a living representative of God on earth; the Infinite revealed in the

finite, the Transcendent manifested in the immanent. “So to become a sacred being, to

become one of the perfect beings or to try and become one, is to become a focus of

blazing grace, another point through which the power and love of God can literally enter

the human race. These sacred and perfect beings are walking bombs, whose radiation

transfigures everything around them. This is sacred action at its highest.”6 The self-

description of such a perfect being could be: “Love is the essence of my being. Love is

the fire and I am the wood charred by the flame. Love occupies and adorns my house;


my self tied up its bundle and vanished. You imagine that you see me, but I no longer

exist; what remains is the Beloved.…”7 Literally, this is Divinity manifesting on Earth

through man. This is the end result of the “Way of Passion”, the product of the

transformation that Rumi prescribes, and it is this which will save and transform the

Earth.

So, to save the Earth and humankind from the threshold of total annihilation each

one of us must intend on becoming divine beings as soon as possible. Tonight, on

national TV, President George Bush basically declared war on Iraq. Saddam Hussein has

promised world-wide retaliation. World war is imminent. I will not to be a part of

destruction and violence. I choose to be a part of the peace solution. So, how do I put

Rumi’s teachings into practice? In looking for an answer to this question I stumbled onto

this poem by Rumi:

On the Limits of Fatalism

You have feet – why make out that you are lame?You have hands – why then hide your fingers?When a master puts a spade in a servant’s hand

He doesn’t need words to make his meaning clear.Our hands, like the spade, are signs of God;

Understand the signs He flashes into your heartAnd give your life to be in harmony with them.

He’ll give you hint after hint about the mysteries;He’ll remove your burden and give you authority.

Are you carrying His burden? He’ll give you the strength.Are you receiving His order? He’ll grace you His grace.

Accept His Order and you’ll become His witness:Look for Union with God and you’ll become one with Him.

Your free will’s your effort to thank God for His gifts; Fatalism’s a negation of all these gifts.

Giving thanks for the power to act increases your power;


Fatalism is like sleeping on the journey; don’t sleep!Don’t sleep before seeing the door of the threshold!

Fatalism is sleeping in the middle of thieves –Can a cock who crows too soon expect peace?

If you really trust in God, then work hard,Sow the seed, and lean in the Almighty’s help;

Struggle as long as you can in the way of the Prophets.Effort isn’t a war with destiny:

Destiny itself has imposed on us this effort. 8

Fatalism in this poem is referring not just to the feeling that evil will triumph,

but to the notion that everything is in the hands of fate or destiny, i.e. that we have no

power to affect the outcome. This poem is saying that relying on or blaming fate is a

very limited and stupid idea.

Fatalism’s a negation of all these (God-derived) gifts.Fatalism is like sleeping on the journey; don’t sleep!

Fatalism is sleeping in the middle of thieves --

Rumi invokes us to not fall into this way of thinking, but to wake up, work hard and,

with God’s help, to change ‘destiny’ through our efforts to emulate the divine living of

those Perfect Beings who came before us.

If you really trust in God, then work hard,Sow the seed, and lean in the Almighty’s help;

Struggle as long as you can in the way of the Prophets.

This is a “Just do it!” kind of message. Essentially Rumi is telling us that to alter what

appears to be an inevitable outcome (for our time, war and destruction) is not only

possible with God’s help, it’s desirable and expected.

You have feet – why make out that you are lame?


You have hands – why then hide your fingers?When a master puts a spade in a servant’s hand

He doesn’t need words to make his meaning clear.Our hands, like the spade, are signs of God;

Understand the signs He flashes into your heartAnd give your life to be in harmony with them.

.

God will work through us if we choose to become one with Him and accept His Orders.

The work will not be impossible or burdensome. He only asks that we tune in, listen up

and by our willingness to understand and act, show gratitude for His assistance and the

opportunity to do His work.

Are you carrying His burden? He’ll give you the strength.Are you receiving His order? He’ll grace you His grace.

Accept His Order and you’ll become His witness:Look for Union with God and you’ll become one with Him.

Your free will’s your effort to thank God for His gifts

We can and will make a difference; I can and will make a difference, if I strive to align

myself with Rumi’s “Way of Passion”. By becoming a divine being with, of, and

through Divinity, I personally, and each and every one of us can make a difference. The

outcome of the present world situation is not determined by the inevitability of fate; but it

is transformed by allowing it to be an impetus for us to act.

Effort isn’t a war with destiny:Destiny itself has imposed on us this effort.

This action, this effort of ours with the Divine working through us, is called

“Mystical Activism” by Andrew Harvey. It is the putting into practice of Rumi’s “Way

of Passion” in the world at this time. “What the great mystics show us, what has to be


done, is to unify the Light with our daily work and practice. … We are both in this body

and in the transcendent. To live at ease in all dimensions, and to let the transcendent

dimension flood through our actions, thoughts, and feelings, is the key. This is the full

life. It is to this full, complete life that Rumi is pointing.”9 Andrew Harvey and Rumi

are begging us to find this key, this “Way of Passion,” and change ourselves and our

world forever. “Change your life, act in Love in every dimension: economic, political

and spiritual – in Love, as Love, for Love – to transform this time of Apocalypse into the

time of Resurrection.”10 My personal response to this call has been to deepen my

commitment to living a life of total service in Spirit. I have expanded my personal

spiritual practice to include prayer, meditation, and healing for myself, my loved ones,

my clients, and for all creatures on Earth, including world leaders and all humanity, as

well as for Earth herself. I have also recently aligned myself with spiritual,

environmental, and political organizations whose main mission is peace and sanity and I

am actively doing work with them to promote worldwide transformation. And, I am

opening a healing center whose main goal is service to Spirit, Earth, and humanity. I am

making a genuine effort so that my life may become a beacon of Love and Light in the

world, that I may become a perfect being, in the service of All. Blessings to Rumi’s

“Way of Passion,” a way of being that can transform Earth.

Endnotes1 6, p. 192.2 6, p. 144. 3 6, p. 145.4 4, p. 133.5 6, pp. 157-158. 6 6, p. 213.


7 7, p. 144.8 4, pp. 42-43.9 6, p. 247.10 6, p. 318.

Bibliography

1. Barks, Coleman translator. The Essential Rumi. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1995.

2. Hanut, Eryk. The Road to Guadalupe: A Modern Pilgrimage to the Goddess of the Americas. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putman, 2001.

3. Harvey, Andrew. Sun at Midnight: A Memoir if the Dark Night. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putman, 2002.

4. ---. Teachings of Rumi. Boston & London: Shambhala, 1999.

5. ---. The Direct Path: Creating a Journey to the Divine Throughthe World’s Mystical Traditions. New York: Broadway Books, 2000.

6. ---. The Way of Passion: A Celebration of Rumi. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putman, 1994.

7. --- & Hanut, Eryk. Perfume of the Desert: Inspirations from Sufi Wisdom. Illinois: Quest Books, 1999.


Sufi Mystic - Rumi 2-26-12

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