love and learning

There's another kind of calm in the congress of lovers,

A different oblivion in the wine of love.

The knowledge that the classroom yields is one thing,

And love... love is something else again.

#314: From Rumi's Kolliyaat-e Shams-e Tabrizi

Search words: calm

I felt this morning that calm was restored. I'm making a new beginning. For a start, I've decided to stop writing. So how come I'm writing here? I'm keeping my commitment to my daily practise: 2 pages of hand writing and one Rumi quatrain. That's it.

What do I hear in this quatrain? I've been approaching Rumi and my writing a little like a highschool teacher. I should approach it with love. I don't think I know how to do that. Is it not irrational to carry on a love relationship with a long dead poet?

I'm going to read this as a call to simply pour energy into this project, just keep going with it. Build something up from day to day with this daily routine as the only mainstay. Seek out those moments of flow, of forgetfulness. They tell me where I'm meant to be. Stay away from hurtfulness. They are places I can shun.

It suddenly occurred to me that Rumi is also talking about the contrast between formal schooling and finding one's own calling through pursuing what one loves. Home schooling is love schooling. Taking responsibility for what one learns. I don't think I would ever want to return to school myself. I just want love, Rumi's kind of love, the gnostic kind of love, and nothing more.