There is a line in a quatrain by Rumi often rendered as, ‘There are a thousand ways to pray’. But it literally reads, ‘There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground’.
How much of life goes missing when we speak only of disembodied ideas? Replaying the words of a prayer as a voice in our heads is not the same as lowering our bodies to the earth and placing our mouths softly against it. Feeling glad that Scottish country dancing is still popular is not the same as regularly hurtling through ‘Strip the Willow’ with kids and elders.
Below I have expanded upon a letter I wrote to one of the students who wished to get to the heart of their practice and to another person who wondered, if we have been subject at home or in the wider culture to such severe deception that we cannot trust our inner knowing, what can we do? (I have changed their names to one: Mariam, so as not to infringe their privacy.)
Published here with full transcript, notes and more images, November 28th 2022.
Episode 02 - The Whole Vast Bright Tapestry