A Fragment

A choir of angels singing, birdsong carried me from slumber to waking

Their delicate sounds intermingled, gently plucking at my unconscious, lifting me from one world to another

Is there a better way to awaken?

Though it was cold and grey, I felt light and content

I did not wish to be elsewhere or look forward to some future plan, nor did I dwell on the past

I simply existed and this was enough, the fullness of the moment held me

The cool morning breeze, the trees and bushes, the tweets, chirps, clucks and hoots all became music to me, the most divine music

Spring

And the wheels keep turning

Dark gives birth to light as songbirds pierce the silence, heralding a new day

We awoke light and healthy, our thoughts flowing easefully

As we ambled by the river, greenery and foliage proliferated around us

It seemed all of life were burgeoning and blossoming in this very moment, spilling over in excitement and joy

Overfilling the contours of restraint and order, everything burst forth in excess, headiness and jubilation

We too were unrestrained, intoxicated by the beauty of nature 

We inhaled the walm, balmy air and as we took in this nectar it smelt of green and soil and sunshine all rolled into one

Today we did not ruminate, we did not worry, we did not analyse

We simply existed and delighted in existing 

Insects flew around us and covered the plants and flowers

Birds tweeted in the trees above 

Bushes and trees twisted and inclined in our direction

We all swirled and danced together, no step was out of place

We were all one dance

We were all one melody

If I Worship You

O Lord, if I worship You

Because of fear of hell

Then burn me in hell.

If I worship You

Because I desire paradise

Then exclude me from paradise.

But if I worship You

For Yourself alone

Then deny me not

Your eternal beauty

This beautiful poem was by Rabia Basri, an early Sufi mystic poet. She had a great influence on Rumi. She was one of the first Sufi poets who emphasised a pure, unconditional Love of the Divine. Not a love that was motivated by any egotistical ends. Rabia knew that love motivated by selfish desires was not true love. Her disposition towards the Divine is in this sense nuanced and healthy. Certain religious traditions, by contrast, have weaponised fear and shame to control people. True religion, arguably, is not about this. True religion shouldn't instil fear and shame in people.

A Fragment

Notice that interval betwixt the chirping of the birds

Sense the emptiness in this remote valley

Did you feel it on that peaceful Sunday morning?

Did it tap your shoulder in the dead of night?

It encompasses everything, yet is so often neglected

We swim in its presence; it consumes, it gives birth

As the stars cannot shine without darkness, we cannot sing without silence

A Fragment

What if there’s nothing to fix? What if the perpetual need to solve everything is why you’re discontent?

When we grow, like a seedling emerging from its shell, we are moving towards wholeness. Perfection doesn’t exist.

Through wholeness, we become well-rounded and multifaceted. Wholeness is inclusive, welcoming the good, the bad and the ugly in equal measure. Wholeness doesn’t push away or repress so-called negative thoughts. Wholeness is adaptive and open, not restrictive and narrow.

Some situations call for strength and power, more situations call for softness and yielding. The person of wholeness responds accordingly.

A Fragment

Mercurial and mobile

Adaptable, fluid

Sometimes, I am hard and ice-cold

Other times, soft and yielding

I can be mighty and terrifying

For travellers, I often grant gentle passages

I also grant treacherous passages

I glisten and dance before your eyes

I nourished your nascent body, filling the womb that birthed you

To some, I am the fluency and resilience of women

Ocean, cloud, rain, river and back again

I am the ceaseless flow of life

Observe and drink my wisdom, weary traveller

I will quench your desperate thirst

A Fragment

A murmuration materialised before us, sweeping miraculously across a muted grey sky

Like the atoms of a body in motion, they moved in perfect unison

Transfixed, I looked on with wonder and awe

My friend spoke "It must have something to do with the leading birds and the motion of air travelling to the others"

I momentarily held this view in mind, then felt a pang of vacuity and despair

The wildflowers burgeoning across the springtime field, their green stems suffused with golden light, petals joyously spreading, are they also to be summed up scientifically?

What about the glowing moon suspended in the nightsky?

And the magnificent mountains sprawling before you, terrifying and wonderful, spilling toward the distant horizon?

How about the fox that locked eyes with you as you wandered home, its amber eyes glinting in the dark, its rusty pelt bristling as it scurries away?

Awe and humility should be welcomed through the door of our understanding, and we should ask them to sit right beside science