The following quote is taken from Rumi’s longer offering titled ‘A Great Wagon’. It’s directed the foundation of my practice. To meet you where you are and to connect with the essence of who you are, beyond the judgements, conditioning and so forth that attempt to govern our lives ~ whether they be external or internal. Whilst there are obvious actions we can agree are universally wrong, this is essentially about dropping all of our pretences, masks, burdens and fears for awhile, and just be present with what is, in ourselves and in each other.

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase
‘each other’ doesn’t make any sense.”

The poem continues with the following which is equally powerful for me. An invitation to be brave, to keep awakening to yourself, to cross the many thresholds life presents us with, to keep going.

“The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.”

Extracts from ‘A Great Wagon’ by Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi ~ poet, scholar, theologian, Sufi mystic