Ina

“That's just your ego, trying to make sure it stays in charge. This is what ego does. It keeps you feeling separate, keeps you with a sense of duality, tries to convince you that you're flawed and broken and alone instead of whole.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

“In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.

You dance inside my chest,
where no one sees you,

but sometimes I do,
and that sight becomes this art.

Drumsound rises on the air,
its throb, my heart.

A voice inside the beat says,
"I know you're tired,
but come. This is the way."

Are you jealous of the ocean's generosity?
Why would you refuse to give this joy to anyone?

Fish don't hold the sacred liquid in cups!
They swim the huge fluid freedom.”
― Rumi, The Essential Rumi

“What can I do, Dear Ones ?
I do not know myself.

I am neither Christian nor Jew,
neither Magian nor Muslim,

I am not from east or west,
not from land or sea,

not from the shafts of nature
nor from the spheres of the firmament,

not of the earth, not of water,
not of air, not of fire.

I am not from the highest heaven,
not from this world,
not from existence, not from being.

I am not from India, not from China,
not from Bulgar, not from Saqsin,
not from the realm of the two Iraqs,
not from the land of Khurasan.

I am not from the world, not from beyond,
not from heaven and not from hell.

I am not from Adam, not from Eve,
not from paradise and not from Ridwan.

My place is placeless, my trace is traceless,
no body, no soul, I am from the soul of souls.

I have chased out duality, lived the two worlds as one.
One I seek, one I know, one I see, one I call.

He is the first, he is the last,
he is the outer, he is the inner.
Beyond He and He is I know no other.

I am drunk from the cup of love,
the two worlds have escaped me.
I have no concern but carouse and rapture.

If one day in my life I spend a moment without you
from that hour and that time I would repent my life.

If one day I am given a moment in solitude with you
I will trample the two worlds underfoot and dance forever.

O Beloved , I am so tipsy here in this world,
I have no tale to tell but tipsiness and rapture.”
― Rumi, The Essential Rumi

“I embrace my shadow self. Shadows give depth and dimension to my life. I believe in embracing my duality, in learning to let darkness and light, peacefully co-exist, as illumination.”
― Jaeda DeWalt