Not Knowing

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field.
I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase ‘each other’
doesn't make any sense."

~ Jelaluddin Rumi, 13th century Sufi poet

I have loved this Rumi poem for 30 years. I know many, many people who treasure it as well.

What is it about this short message that touches us so deeply?

Rumi reminds us that the fundamental ground of who we really are, the substance inside each one of us, belongs to someplace other than where we normally go inside of ourselves.

He reminds us of that unexpected territory that exists full of goodness, wonder, creation, abundance.

Our minds often categorize this place as "not knowing" or "the mystery" and we may have many beliefs or associations or fears about traveling into those unchartered waters. Our history may warn us not to go there at any cost, to remain with the familiar, the safe, the known.

What if that journey is actually a safe one right now? What if our innocence and wonder still have moments of curiosity that call us to peek into the unknown? What if we discover that the mystery offers us friendship, a deep taste of the flow of life, an indescribable intimacy with our experience, a kind of satiating stillness possible without thought? What if existence is a simple pureness waiting for us to arrive?

I invite you to safely, slowly and gently dip a toe into the still pool here that belongs to the land of not knowing, the land of mystery.

See how it feels for you to connect with that part of yourself that has no name and yet contains everything you seek.