Rumi says:
I am so small I can barely be seen. How can this great love be inside me?
Look at your eyes. They’re small, and yet they see enormous things.
The macrocosm of life’s mystery is within us, Rumi teaches. What we see outside ourselves is the microcosm. This paradox reminds me of a time when I had a friend who worked with Vietnam vets who were paralyzed, living flat on their backs in a VA hospital.
According to my friend some of these men had learned to live joyful lives in spite of their overwhelming injuries and physical limitations. “In their minds and imaginations, they can travel anywhere in the world” said my friend; “they can do anything, see anyone, have any experience. They can love this crazy world that has hurt them so much. Amazingly, some of them do!”
Throughout history and in every situation, we find these shining examples of human beings who, in spite of personal pain and loss beyond belief, are able to love this world and its inhabitants. They are our teachers.
On this day, dear visitor, may you find yourself able to rise above today’s distress. May I do the same. May all of us find that most reliable source of joy today–an opportunity to truly serve.
See my next post for one possibility.
