Wednesday, June 20, 2012

There is no "other world." I only know what I have experienced.

...Think how it is to have a conversation with an embryo.
You might say, "The world outside is vast and intricate.
There are wheatfields and mountain passes,
and orchards in bloom.

At night there are millions of galaxies, and in sunlight
the beauty of friends dancing at a wedding."

You ask the embryo why he, or she, stays cooped up
in the dark with eyes closed.

                              Listen to the answer.

There is no "other world."
I only know what I've experienced.
You must be hallucinating.

Rumi (1207-1273)
From the poem "Wean Yourself," in The Essential Rumi, as translated by Coleman Barks

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