"Honeymoon with Big Joy" #9

Featuring Rumi and Sleeping at Last

Oct 12, 2023

Welcome to “Honeymoon with Big Joy”

Remember, you’re the co-creator of this dive. Do as much or as little as you’d like, when you’d like, how you’d like, with the materials I provide. Just keep gentle faith with yourself.

Set your intention

Take a moment to name the primary intention you have for this month-long deep dive and/or this particular session. Take a quiet moment to center yourself in that intention.

En-JOY the music

Read the poem

I invite you to read this poem twice—aloud, at least once. You may also listen to my reading, perhaps with your eyes closed.

1×

0:00

-2:12

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published


MOVING WATER
Rumi
Translated from the Persian by Coleman Barks

When you do things from your soul,
you feel a river moving in you, a joy.

When actions come from another section,
the feeling disappears.

Don't let others lead you.
They may be blind or, worse, vultures.

Reach for the rope of God. And what is that?
Putting aside self-will.

Because of willfulness people sit in jail,
the trapped bird's wings are tied,
fish sizzle in the skillet.

The anger of police is willfulness.
You've seen a magistrate inflict visible punishment.

Now see the invisible.
If you could leave your selfishness, you would see
how you've been torturing your soul.

We are born and live inside black water in a well.
How could we know what an open field of sunlight is?

Don't insist on going where you think you want to go.
Ask the way to the spring.

Your living pieces will form a harmony.
There is a moving palace that floats in the air
with balconies and clear water flowing through,
infinity everywhere, yet contained
under a single tent.


(from The Soul of Water: A New Collection of Ecstatic Poems, edited and translated by Coleman Barks)

Contemplate/Create

Use any of these questions however you wish—e.g., as openings for meditation or prayer, as prompts for journaling or poetry-writing, as sparks for drawing or painting, as catalysts for change-making . . . You may also ignore my questions altogether to go off in other directions!

How does the “river” of joy feel as it moves through your body? How does it feel when “your living pieces form a harmony”?
What (or who) tends to lead you away from “doing things from your soul”? What (or who) helps bring you back?
Identify a situation in which you might need to relinquish some “willfulness,” “selfishness,” or “insistence.” Now, keeping that situation in mind, reflect or write/create in response to one of these stems from the poem:
- “I reach for the rope . . .”
- “I ask the way to the spring . . .”

Want to visit with other Rafters in the Deep Dive?

Here are two options: either leave a comment on this post using the button, or join the chat thread dedicated to this Deep Dive. (Note: if you haven’t created a Substack profile yet, you’ll be asked to do so before you can comment or chat.)

Join us on October 31 for “Rafter Refuge”!

6:30-8:00PM Central (7:30 ET, 5:30 MT, 4:30 PT)

Let’s close this Deep Dive with a time of voluntary sharing. (It’s fine just to listen!) Come and reflect with other Rafters on “Honeymoon with Big Joy.” Registration is required for this celebration.