In the Arms of the Beloved

[Billy]

"In the heavens I see your eyes,
In your eyes I see the heavens."

"In their seeking,
wisdom and madness are one and the same.
On the path of love,
friend and stranger are one and the same.

Once you taste the wine of union
what will be your faith? --
You'll tell everyone
that the Ka'be abd tge idol temple
are the one and the same."

Rumi: In the Arms of the Beloved Translation by Jonathan Star

I Rumi we hear the pure voice of love - we hear the intimate wishpers of lover and beloved, we feel the joyous heart gliding upon the water of its own mealting. It's difficult that he can wrote so wonderful for his wife, his husband, his lover, his beloved. What is love? Who can have the love? Man and women? Man and man? Woman and woman? People and ...?


I am looking for the book Marley and Me. I happened to see the book in Beijing and did not buy it. Now I want to read it but I cant find it everywhere. Have you read the book? What do you think?

I haven't read Marley and Me, but I am stunned at your command of the English language, Billy. I have read Chinese poetry, but only in translation, alas. So much is lost in the translation...

I am unsure of what you are asking us. Is it what we think of Rumi or what we think of love?

In my perception there are two types of love: eros and agape.

Eros is passion - the physical love of one person for another. But the sensations of eros always pass. Ask any couple who have been married for twenty years. The eros will have passed, but if they are lucky, it will be replaced with agape - the deep, feeling of at oneness with each other.

Rumi's poetry was about a sort of spiritual ectasy, I think. An agape sort of love which encompasses all:

Originally Posted by Rumi

Gamble everything for love,
if you're a true human being.

If not, leave
this gathering.

Half heartedness doesn't reach
into majesty. You set out
to find God, but then you keep

stopping for long periods
at mean-spirited roadhouses.

[Billy]

I am unsure of what you are asking us. Is it what we think of Rumi or what we think of love?

I wanted to ask for your viewpoints about Marley & Me.
Of course, I would like hear your more thoughts about Rumi.