Dear Mike Another good question -- compelled? To a certain extent, yes, but not entirely.
In the case of Rumi and Sufis, the Beloved (Absolute)is longed for like a lover, and this longing is the love and the lover . . . it is a perfect expression. Of course you find this in Everyday Zen, right, or even in Bill's insistence that all this is just 'sitting', -- nothing special. It is a way of bringing the Absolute right down into the mundane expression of the contingent -- Maya, Delusion, Dunya . . . Rumi sees our origins as endlessness that has been darkened by our faulty conditioning -- in short we are eternity . . . he often uses the absence of the Beloved (not realizing)to remind the lover . . . and to take the elixir, the wine, and become intoxicated with eternity (Allah, Absolute, Al Dhat, Void, God, etc) Of course, he was a Poet, so you have to enter into the framework through the eyes of a metaphysical poet. best wishes Kirk --- In [email protected], mike brown <uerusub...@...> wrote: > > Kirk, > > Is that "greed" to be united with the Beloved - or are we compelled? > > Mike > > > > > ________________________________ > From: salik888 <novelid...@...> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Mon, 13 September, 2010 2:35:23 > Subject: [Zen] Rumi -- Jewels of Remembrance > >  > The Beloved has blocked every escape > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > Friends, the Beloved has blocked every escape: > we are lame deer and He a prowling lion. > Cornered by a fierce and bloodthirsty lion > what is there to do but surrender? > This Beloved, like the sun, neither sleeps nor eats: > He makes souls sleepless and hungry, > saying, "Come, be Me, or one with Me in nature, > so when I unveil Myself, you may behold My Face. > And if you had not beheld it, > how would you have become so distraught? > You were earth, and now > you long to be quickened with spiritual life." > Already the Beloved has bestowed gifts > from that world of spacelessness, > otherwise why would your spiritual eye keep gazing there? > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > Ay rafiqân râh-hâ-râ bast Yâr > âhu-ye langim va U shir-e shekâr > Joz keh taslim o rezâ ku châreh-'i > dar kaff-e shir-e nari khun khvâreh-'i > U na-dârad khvâb o khvor chon âftâb > ruh-hâ-râ mi konad bi khvord o khvâb > Keh "Biyâ Man bâsh yâ ham ham khu-ye Man > tâ be-bini dar tajalli Ru-ye Man > Var na-didi chon chonin shaydâ shodi > khâk budi tâleb-e ehyâ shodi" > Gar ze bi suyet na-dâdast U `alaf > cheshm-e jânet chon be-mândast ân taraf > > -- Mathnawi VI: 576-581 > Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski > Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance > Threshold Books, 1996 > Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Mona > ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
