Brian’s Reflection: Monday, March 22, 2010

Half-Heartedness

Gamble everything for love,
if you are a true human being.
If not, leave this gathering.

Half-heartedness does not reach
into majesty. You set out
to find God, but then you keep
stopping for long periods
at mean-spirited roadhouses.

Rumi, Sufi mystic (translated by Coleman Barks)


Love. Being healthy enough to love oneself, and, in so doing, being free to give oneself extravagantly and whole-heartedly to another in service to their wholeness. Rumi is right. You have to gamble everything to play in the high-rollers’ league.

It works the other way around at the same time. If you gamble everything for love [and we are not talking about romantic dalliance], we learn what it is to love ourself, to value ourself, to become a true human being. But think about this: unless something drastic has happened, we are inherently capable of such love. No healthy human being is ever diminished by loving extravagantly.

How I love that phrase “long periods mean-spirited roadhouses”! Oh how we so easily do that! It’s a real challenge to avoid those roadhouses – those companies and attitudes which encourage us to fritter away our lives at low-life levels.

We are meant for Majesty. Let’s reach for it today.

Brian+