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As you guys know, I love Rumi. Love him. In fact, in a past life I am convinced I sat on a dirt floor drinking tea and being mesmerized by his words. In a wishful thinking kind of way. At any rate, I wanted to comment on the ‘thought for the week’.

“Whoever finds love beneath hurt and grief disappears into emptiness with a thousand new disguises.”

You read the words and you think (well, I do), how right he is, and how romantic it sounds. “Yes, turn my hurt and grief into love!”

The truth of the matter is that I will not actually be disappearing into emptiness with a thousand new disguises today, tomorrow, next week, or next month. Because taking hurt and grief and doing anything with it is so much more difficult in the moment than it sounds. My practice is to observe sensations at the level of the body. If I can actually remember to do this in the moment when I am stewing in either hurt or grief, then it is true, the strong emotion/reaction I am feeling, be it hurt or grief or anything else, fades much more quickly and I am less likely to react to the other person. But it is a practice, and I have not perfected it yet. It certainly doesn’t feel like I am about to disappear into emptiness with a thousand new disguises.

But I can see that with continued practice the time spent steeped in the negative emotion does become less, and I am able to come out of the reaction far more quickly, and therefore return to a place of love more quickly. So Rumi’s words, although seemingly a lofty goal, are attainable. In this life. If we are able to come into and really be with the negativity which is arising within us, which is not actually caused by someone else, I suppose that we are on our way to “disappearing into emptiness with a thousand new disguises.” 

If you actually get there for more than a few moments at a time, let me know. I might just have some questions for you.