Turning Words

Want to get married?

2012-02-05T14:59:00.000-06:00

By all means marry. If you get a good wife you will be happy, and if you get a bad one you will become a philosopher.

[Socrates]

The Greatest Gift comes from Within

2012-02-04T15:33:00.004-06:00

If you want to awaken all of humanity,
Then awaken all of yourself.
If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world,
Then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself.
Truly the greatest gift that you have to give is that of your own
Self-transformation.

[Lao Tzu]

2012-02-02T09:37:00.002-06:00

If the believer understood the meaning of the saying 'the color of the water is the color of the receptacle', he would admit the validity of all beliefs and he would recognize God in every form and every object of faith.

[Ibn Arabi]

Higgs Boson aka "God Particle"

2011-12-09T21:59:00.001-06:00

A Higgs-Boson walks into a church. The priest says, "We don't allow your kind in here." The HB asks, "But without me how can you have mass?"

Proof of Love

2011-11-30T15:26:00.001-06:00

Truly when a man loves a thing, he repeatedly mentions it, and when he repeatedly mentions a thing, even if that may be burdensome, he loves it.

[Imam Abu Hamid al Ghazali]

You vs. the World

2011-11-30T11:18:00.001-06:00

The world is a vehicle for you. If you drive it, it will deliver you to your destination. If it drives you, you will be destroyed.

Imam Hasan al-Basri

2011-11-27T20:27:00.001-06:00

"Submission to Allah’s Will is the best companion; wisdom is the noblest heritage; theoretical and practical knowledge are the best signs of distinction; deep thinking will present the clearest picture of every problem. " ~Imam Ali (as)~

Unconditional

2011-11-26T14:00:00.001-06:00

"The sun never says to the earth,
'You owe me.'

Look what happens with a love like that.
It lights up the whole sky."

Hafiz

Are you a Thief or a Saint?

2011-11-03T21:45:00.000-05:00

"When a thief sees a saint, all he sees are his pockets."

[Robert Frager]

From the book: Heart, Self & Soul: the Sufi psychology of growth, balance, and harmony

A Muhabbet Ceremony from the new Haci Bektas Biography

2011-11-01T15:26:00.001-05:00

Pirlere Niyaz Ederiz - Muhteşem Yüzyıl Dizisinden

Fell in love with a sunrise

2011-10-23T18:00:00.003-05:00

Lightning strikes at dawn,
A crescent forms in the horizon,
Your smile glows with intense fire,
I see you for the first time,

It’s love at first sight,
Belittling the horizon is impossible,
Reaching for it is equally improbable,
Yet here I am, trying, always,

I travel in your direction,
Moving as quickly as I can,
Yet the distance between us remains unchanged,
I love you, why don’t you make it easier,

To reach you,
I have to climb mountains,
Swim across oceans,
Travese space itself,

The light years go by,
My love remaining unchanged,
Growing stronger in fact,
Like my unwavering intent,

To be in your glorious divine luminescence,
To be warmed by your Grace,
To be welcomed as a lover,
Only to finally behold the Beloved.

[Rouzbeh]

Separation from You

2011-10-23T14:02:00.003-05:00

Listen to the reed (flute), how it is complaining! It is telling
about separations

(Saying), "Ever since I was severed from the reed field, men
and women have lamented in (the presence of) my shrill cries,

"(But) I want a heart (which is) torn, torn from separation, so that
I may explain the pain of yearning.

[Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi]

2011-10-04T09:57:00.002-05:00

The moon has become a dancer

at this festival of love.

This dance of light,

This sacred blessing,

This divine love,

beckons us

to a world beyond

only lovers can see

with their eyes of fiery passion.

They are the chosen ones

who have surrendered.

Once they were particles of light

now they are the radiant sun.

They have left behind

the world of deceitful games.

They are the privileged lovers

who create a new world

with their eyes of fiery passion.

[Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi]

2011-10-04T09:52:00.002-05:00

A lover asked his beloved,

Do you love yourself more

than you love me?

The beloved replied,

I have died to myself

and I live for you.

I’ve disappeared from myself

and my attributes.

I am present only for you.

I have forgotten all my learning,

but from knowing you

I have become a scholar.

I have lost all my strength,

but from your power

I am able.

If I love myself

I love you.

If I love you

I love myself.

[Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi]

My Favorite Book

2011-10-03T12:24:00.003-05:00

Over the years,
I came to love books,
I read many many
Books.

Some Western Classics,
Some Greek Philosophy,
Some Christian Mysticism,
MANY Islamic Mysticism.

Each new book read,
Meant more knowledge gained,
More insight into the ordinary,
Enabling the extraordinary.

I began to see God everywhere,
Ah... Yes... God is indeed in the words,
Which I read, over and over again,
He is the inspiration of “Original Thought”.

I read about Heroes and their Loves,
I read about Mystics and their Loves,
I actualized my reading knowledge,
By traveling to new places in far away spaces.

But my favorite book was not obvious to me,
This book has a pale cover, with a tint of hazel,
This book is always changing, forcing me to reread regularly,
This book is my favorite because I see Love the way it is supposed to be.

[Rouzbeh]

Play Tow

2011-09-29T14:04:00.000-05:00

"You cannot conceive the many without the one."

Plato

Something beautiful ...

2011-09-27T09:54:00.000-05:00

You are the soul of my soul, and
I have no peace without You,
If You are not in paradise, I swear
I will never even look up there.

Wherever I look my eyes see only You,
Whatever I say my words are only You,
My only desire is to be Your witness,
And yet I have no desire.

Traveling on my way to You,
I have forgotten myself already,
Whatever I say, whatever state I'm in,
Without You, I have no peace.

If You kill me and bring me back to life
Seventy times, like Cercis, just
Take me back to You again,
I have lost all my pride in Your love.

Yunus falls into Your love too,
So reveal Your face to him,
You are my only Beloved, my heart
Is in love with nothing but You.

[Yunus Emre]

Some Chaucer

2011-09-12T12:06:00.002-05:00

For in their hearts doth Nature stir them so
Then people long on pilgrimage to go
And palmers to be seeking foreign strands
To distant shrines renowned in sundry lands.

[Geoffrey Chaucer]

No Nationalism

2011-08-27T18:25:00.002-05:00

He is not one of us who calls for nationalism, who fights for nationalism or who dies for nationalism.

Prophet Muhammad (S)

Prayer

2011-08-27T14:02:00.001-05:00

Satisfaction

2011-08-20T15:06:00.002-05:00

It may be that the satisfaction I need depends on my going away, so that when I’ve gone and come back, I’ll find it at home.

[Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi]

Devilish Citations

2011-08-11T10:52:00.002-05:00

The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.

William Shakespeare
Merchant of Venice

Hate can lead to Conversion

2011-08-10T09:39:00.000-05:00

As a general proposition it can be stated that when a man possessing a religious nature hates and persecutes a religion, he is, circumstances permitting, on the verge of being converted to it.

[Frithjof Schuon]

What leads to unbelief?

2011-08-10T09:34:00.000-05:00

So it is that religion, according to the measure in which it denies metaphysical and initiatory realities and becomes crystallized in a literalistic dogmatism, inevitably engenders unbelief.