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On Angels and Messengers

Sunday, February 3, 2013

RUMI & ME: "THERE IS A FIELD ..."

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Back in the 13th century, Rumi said:

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, 


there is a field.


I'll meet you there." 


The second verse is rarely quoted: 

"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."


When I was a grad-student at Virginia Tech in the early Seventies, my bride and I lived in a house on a mountaintop, connected to one other house by a covered deck. The view did not include any other man-made structures or infra-structure. We had 500 acres, including a 60-foot Travertine waterfall.  The retired bachelor who lived next door was 40 years my senior.  I was from New England. He grew up on a Southern Plantation. Our political views were probably opposed. When we sat on the deck, we rarely broke the silence. There was no need to, because  "language didn't make sense."  Visitors often got uncomfortable with the lack of conversation. They never heard what Rumi said.  Neither had I, at the time.  Now, 40 years later, I am reminded of that mountaintop, where the houses are now headquarters for the Falls Ridge Nature Preserve.  On the back side of the mountain (not visible in the photo below), there is a small field hidden in the middle of the woods. Never mowed, it inexplicably is immune to natural succession. 
Who wants to meet me there?


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