I was reading Rumi poems this morning, while this mind was seemingly churning even after listening to a tape and reading Jennifer's poem that was sent around, which I appreciate.

I went through a lot of poems ... and then suddenly read this, which is just the first sentence of a poem ... and found myself Home ... at Rest. It is so very beautiful. He could have just stopped here and said no more.

This word "Friend" kept coming to my rescue while in Sweden. It came in one of the last writings I sent to you which ended with

"No enemies, no friends ... just the Friend."

It has been such an intense search for that which can never be found. Kind of like a bird searching for the Sky. So intensely, so absorbed by the search ... that it does not see the Sky.

I seem tired of Biblical language, of seriousness. It always seems to sneak in, especially when problems hit one way or another. Problems are a strange thing. They are like the bars of a cage. These bars are spaced out, there are big gaps between them. So they restrict nothing. The bird can come and go -- in and out of the cage -- at any time through any gap. Without having to battle ... and yet somehow the bird sits inside singing songs of sorrow and battles and waits for someone to unlock the door of the cage. While there is no need for this. It is just that the bird is so fixated on the metal bars, on the "barriers", that it does  not see how big the gaps between the barriers are. She could just walk between them without any effort at any time.

So here is this one line of a Rumi poem that stirred my heart and woke me up to Joy, Beauty and REST.


Inside myself I breathe

the fragrance of the Friend.


Love : The Friend