The Source
September 13, 2015

It should be clear by now that I am a great fan of the mystical poets. And right now, I’m reluctant to turn the page on my Rumi calendar to September—August’s poem is too delicious. I’ll share it in a moment, but here’s why this poem is so significant for me.

In the second half of life, as I grapple with health challenges and other issues, I’m committed to discover how to make my remaining time on Earth the best years of my life. A starting point to such reflection is to examine what’s happened so far: to evaluate my success as a human and to determine my level of happiness (the goal of all human life, I believe).

I was rewarded the other day with an answer, when I realized that the greatest achievement of my life had not been on the material level, rather it was the grace of Self-knowledge. To know the reality of life, that there is an unbounded field of absolute stillness at the foundation of all creation—and to be able to access that—is greater than I could ever have imagined.

This is why I resonate so deeply with Rumi’s August poem:

Name and words
are shifting
sands and
sly deceivers
that soak
the moisture
out of life.

So go now.
Seek the gushing spring…

…And if today
the source
eludes you,
then let
the one who
searches become a
flowing fountain.