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Raindrops
Garden, Midcoast Friends Meeting, Damariscotta, ME
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During prayer I often turn to God
and recall the meaning of the words of the Tradition
"the delight felt in the ritual prayer."
The window of my soul opens,
and from the purity of the unseen world,
the book of God comes to me directly.
The book, the rain of divine grace, and the light
are falling into my house through a window
from my real and original source.
The house without a window is hell;
to make a window is the essence of real religion.
Don't thrust your ax upon every thicket.
Come, use your ax to cut open a window.
*Rumi. "The Window of the Soul." Trans. Kabir and Camille Helminski. In The Pocket Rumi. Ed. Kabir Helminski.
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Rumi speaks of the soul, or True Self, with a "window." The window is openness and receptivity. Through this window comes into Rumi - and us, if we are prepared by having created a window - three Qualities: "comes into" is speaking of this spatially, but these visitations are nonlocal though experienced as inside or outside.
First, is the "book." This book is not the Koran or any book. The book is direct revelation, so not mediated through words. This "book of God" reminds the reader of the Koran. For Rumi, a devout Muslim, inner revelation compliments the Koran, outer revelation. We do not need to choose between inner and outer revelations - that would be another duality. Truth is truth. The outer and inner can serve to test each other - that is, our interpretations of what we conclude have been shown to us.
Second, Rumi refers to the "rain of divine grace." Grace is the undeserved - for not deserved or undeserved - influx of the Divine energies. Grace can come as a sense of welcome presence, love, enablement, inspiration, guidance, or reproof. We often feel renewed and reinvigorated after prayers or silence; this is a sign of grace. We are a ground welcoming grace to penetrate, even saturate, us. Without regular rains of grace, we spiritually dry up.
Third, is the "light." This light can be read as clarity or insight. Often, through worship, we feel the mind lighter, and the whole world looks more luminous. Through association with Spirit, we grow in insight into Reality instead of perceiving only the outside of things.
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Rumi says divine Qualities come through a "window," "falling" from above - the book, the grace, and the light fall into his house. He does not bring these through a window or door. He does not go outside to get them and bring them home. In cultures of acquisition, we might feel very challenged to follow this wisdom, for in union with Life, we cannot acquire anything. We can easily turn religion into a purely transactional affair based on the ways of capitalism and consumerism. Nevertheless, while we cannot get anything from Spirit, we can position ourselves to be given to.
Rumi reminds us of the aim of all "real religion." "Real" alerts us that conventional religion is not spiritual religion. Conventional religion stops at the surface and often is based on beliefs, not direct experience. Post-conventional religion would be true, leading persons to experience directly, consciously the Subtle rather than only the surface of rites, rituals, holy books, recited prayers, teacher worship, song, chant, meditation, dogma, and so forth. Too much religion leaves people kissing the Wine bottle without teaching them how to drink the Wine.
So, what is the aim of spiritual religion, according to Rumi? - "to make a window," or "cut open a window." The "ax" refers to the skillful means, or spiritual practices - often called "spiritual disciplines" - to cooperate with Spirit in opening ourselves to be given to. Thus, spiritual practice never ends in itself, even as an ax serves a purpose beyond itself.
* * *
The test of spiritual practice is the fruition. Am I becoming a more patient, loving, and kind being? Am I feeling more aligned with our Source? Am I growing to be more forgiving and patient toward others? These, and other questions, we can ask ourselves. Likewise, others might notice these changes and comment on them to us.
Last, while grace is free, we must work. Even as a garden does not grow itself, the spiritual life is a practical life. To have a lovely, thriving heart garden, we do the cultivating. If we do the work, we will grow a beautiful garden to benefit others and ourselves. Or, to continue Rumi's imagery, a window to receive from our Source does not just appear - we must build the window. If we do, all kinds of graces will fall to us from the Sky.
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*©Brian K. Wilcox, 2022.
*Use of photography is allowed accompanied by credit given to Brian K. Wilcox and notation of title and place of the photograph.
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse.
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