When someone beats a rug,
the blows are not against the rug,
but against the dust in it.
We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust.
Be melting snow.
Wash yourself of yourself.
If it is bread that you seek, you will have bread. If it is the soul you seek, you will find the soul. If you understand this secret, you know you are that which you seek.
Start a huge, foolish project, like Noah…it makes absolutely no difference what people think of you.
Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone’s soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd.
You think of yourself
as a citizen of the universe.
You think you belong
to this world of dust and matter.
Out of this dust
you have created a personal image,
and have forgotten
about the essence of your true origin
Dance, when you’re broken open. Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you’re perfectly free.
Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure.
Be like the sun for grace and mercy. Be like the night to cover others’ faults. Be like running water for generosity. Be like death for rage and anger. Be like the Earth for modesty. Appear as you are. Be as you appear.
Soul, if you want to learn secrets,
your heart must forget about
shame
and dignity.
You are God’s lover,
yet you worry
what people
are saying.
A thousand half-loves must be forsaken to take one whole heart home.
I am your moon and your moonlight too
I am your flower garden and your water too
I have come all this way, eager for you
Without shoes or shawl
I want you to laugh
To kill all your worries
To love you
To nourish you.
You have forgotten the One
who doesn’t care about ownership,
who doesn’t try to turn a profit
from every human exchange.
The truth was a mirror in the hands of God. It fell, and broke into pieces. Everybody took a piece of it, and they looked at it and thought they had the truth.
There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled.
There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled.
You feel it, don’t you?
If in thirst you drink water from a cup, you see God in it. Those who are not in love with God will see only their own faces in it.
Love comes with a knife, not some shy question, and not with fears for its reputation!
When I am with you, we stay up all night.
When you’re not here, I can’t go to sleep.
Praise God for those two insomnias!
And the difference between them.
Is it really so that the one I love is everywhere?
That which God said to the rose, and caused it to laugh in full-blown beauty, He said to my heart, and made it a hundred times more beautiful.
You’re water. We’re the millstone.
You’re wind. We’re dust blown up into shapes.
You’re spirit. We’re the opening and closing
of our hands. You’re the clarity.
We’re the language that tries to say it.
You’re joy. We’re all the different kinds of laughing.
I was dead, then alive.
Weeping, then laughing.
The power of love came into me,
and I became fierce like a lion,
then tender like the evening star.
You dance inside my chest,
where no one sees you,
but sometimes I do, and that
sight becomes this art.
Your heart is the size of an ocean. Go find yourself in its hidden depths.
You were born with potential.
You were born with goodness and trust. You were born with ideals and dreams. You were born with greatness.
You were born with wings.
You are not meant for crawling, so don’t.
You have wings.
Learn to use them and fly.
Give your weakness to one who helps.
Remember. The way you make love is the way God will be with you.
Gamble everything for love, if you’re a true human being.
Anyone who knows me, should learn to know me again;
For I am like the Moon,
you will see me with new face everyday.
This place is a dream. Only a sleeper considers it real. Then death comes like dawn, and you wake up laughing at what you thought was your grief.
Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought!
Why do you stay in prison
When the door is so wide open?
I am yours.
Don’t give myself back to me.
To live without you
is to be robbed of love
and what is life without it?
To live without you
is death to me, my love
but some call it life.