Wheel of Fortune

the love religion

Our world continues to be barraged with stories of bombings and terrorist alerts. In the name of Islam, desperate and demented people wage violence in an effort to stem their own powerlessness. But as all of the great religions, Islam has a mystical branch, Sufism, and from this brance rose the poet Rumi, who spoke only of love and union with the Divine.

I am currently reading A year With Rumi a book of daily readings from Rumi's poetry edited and collected by Coleman Barks.

In his preface to the book Mr. Barks speaks of the DUM's---Disreputable Unaffiliated Mystics---and if I belong to any religious group I suppose it is this ---and love is my religion.

The Love Religion

The inner space inside
that we call the heart
has become many different
living scenes and stories.

A pasture for sleek gazelles,
a monastery for Christian monks,
a temple with Shiva dancing,
a kaaba for pilgrimage.

The tablets of Moses are there,
the Qur'an, the Vedas,
the sutras, and the gospels.

Love is the religion in me.
Whichever way Love's camel goes,
that becomes my faith,
the source of beauty, and a light
of sacrednes over everything.

Ibn Arabi