The Call

This is what it means to answer the call, to commit to being here in a human life, as a human being: 

to love what is mortal, 

to love what is unpredictably changing & impermanent, 

to love while being mindful that everything, 
every person, every place, every moment we love will change & pass, 
but to love anyway. 

And to love what you love fiercely, no holds barred, nothing held back, 
knowing that the reality of who & what you are here & now 
as a human being is inseparable from this world, 
this life you claim & inhabit fully.

                                               ~ Oriah Mountain Dreamer, from The Call


There's a fierceness, a fiery passion in what is spoken here. It takes commitment to live each moment in authenticity. To love life, each moment and each person, including oneself, seems an impossible task. Yet there are glimspes, flashes, moments where this is unmistakably experienced. And the peace that comes in those moments is beyond verbal expression. 

Who?

If this me is not I, then
who am I?
If I am not the one who speaks, then
who does?
If this me is only a robe then
who is
the one I am covering?

- Rumi, translation by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi, from Rumi: Whispers of the Beloved, posted to Sunlight


When I first heard the analogy of the body being like clothes, it seemed very strange. I really identified with my body/mind. I believed this was who I was. But when the idea began to penetrate the layers of my mind, I recognized the impermanence of all objects. Though I can't convince anyone with words, I do say that the most important journey to take is the one that leads inward. Each of us will travel to these inner dimensions in order to find the truth of who we are.