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After years of indoctrination
In which there was always a way
that seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof is the way of death*
Aching eyes of my heart saw a deeper truth in these words:
that the way that judges the rightness of a way leads to death of the spirit.
So, I left the Country of One Way and lit out, like Tom Sawyer, down the river.
Took out of that river here in a messy place:
The Country of No Right Way.
Our borders are semi-permeable to our beloved neighbors:
The Country of No Wrong Way.
Our patron saint is Jalāl-ad-Dīn Muhammad, beloved Rumi.
Among other crazy things, he stands on mountains and out in deserts and spouts craziness:
“Out beyond the idea of wrong doing or right doing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”
Having made that tryst, it’s natural to desire to live in that field.
But in the Land-of-no-right-way-and-no-wrong-way,
the living grayness is shaded and variegated.
it is striated, secularized, homogenized.
Without constant, unceasing vigilance,
the grays subtly become the new
right or wrong.
There is a way that seemeth right…and if black and white don’t grab us
shades of gray may suffice.
* Proverbs 14:12
This poem is an entry to the Totally Optional Prompts weekly writing invitations. This week’s topic is ‘One Way’.
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Oh, Beth.
I want to lie down in the heart of this poem. I want to pull it over me like a blanket.
And perhaps, if I could let myself know this–that there is a no wrong way, I would get up and move around more. If I could say there is no one right way, I could let myself sit still.
But I should keep someone with me, so I don’t start running in circles. A buddy.
Preferably one who could tell me more about Rumi.
So…. what are you doin?
Dear Karen–
If you want to know about Rumi, you will do best to find a field, any field will do. If you sit in it and talk with the grass and the grasshoppers and the field mice, and the sparrow hawks that eat the field mice, they will tell you about the great Rumi.
They will tell you about love that is so boundless that no concept (of right/wrong or anything else) can contain it. They will tell you that it resides in you–closer than your own skin.
That’s all I know, today, is to point you towards the field. I’ll meet you there.
I simply adore Rumi. His words are timeless.
In life, there can never be a wrong way. Its just the way!
<a href="http://firmlyrooted.blogspot.com/2008/08/making-inroads-into-i-know-not-what.html">making inroads into I know what not</a>
Ah, lovely. Yes, a field, a grass and Rumi.
Here’s a trailer to a new movie: Traitor. Themes of gray…
movies.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/movies/27trai.html?8mu&emc=mua1
ah, so many religions are about telling people what not to do, not allowing people to develop their own way!
That field exists – unfortunately for most, it’s only in our own mind.
Hi Stan and Lirone and Gautami and Tumblewords–all my new friends at TOP–thank you for visiting and for your insights. I will try to get ‘in the traces’ for the next poetry offering–but this one came out as a story of some odd sort…
And, yes, the field does exist–and it has to exist first in our own minds, I think. The really wonderful thing is that I ‘m beginning to really know that if it’s in my mind, it’s in everyone’s mind. Maybe we have just different tolerances to awareness of that field…
Thank youse for visiting the Virtual Tea House–hope you come back soon and stay long!
I like a term I just saw on somebody’s site called ‘out-doctrination’….
Sometimes I love that we swim through this constant sea of right and wrongs…leaving us to turn things over again and again in our mind and hearts, like turning a pebble in our hand…until finally each right and each wrong cracks open to reveal the same truth inside.
A constant marvel and re-receivng of the original gift, the obvious secret hidden in every way.
Big Kiss
P.S. I don’t know why but it’s taken me days to be able to read this post straight through..it was a little mystical journey all of it’s own!
Good Morning Beth,
I am grateful for what your sharing brought me : such comfort as I desire to spend my life in that field..in my heart and mind..wherever I carry it. Real fields also work well..Rumi speaks such truth as well as another favorite: Hafiz
"If God invited you to a party, and said,
Everyone in the ballroom will be my special guest. How would you then treat them when you arrived? Indeed, indeed! We know that there is no one in this world who is not upon HIS jeweled dance floor."
This right/wrong, good/bad, black/white judgement place is where I often hold myself and my feelings and I am challenging that . I seem to have more compassion for others…that comes more easily. Yep, there’s my path!~The country of No Wrong way is my destination!! How freeing!