Rumi on Love

January 7, 2008

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”

- Rumi

Posted in Love, Quotes | 8 Comments »

8 Responses to “Rumi on Love”

  1. Raatkiranii (K.F.S) Says:

    January 7, 2008 at 7:40 PM

    How beautiful and insightful! Because really love is everywhere, in everything and person. It is ever present, yet we have to be able to see and accept the love by breaking down the walls which we’ve built against it.

    Rumi was really something else! Great choice, Paul.

  2. Paul Says:

    January 8, 2008 at 7:22 AM

    I have that very same sense that love is ever present.

  3. Amina Ae Sook Says:

    January 8, 2008 at 9:55 PM

    As always I am am humbled before the amzingness that is Rumi

  4. Paul Says:

    January 9, 2008 at 12:15 AM

    He amazes me, too, Amina.

  5. Nezha Says:

    January 9, 2008 at 11:52 PM

    Paul, for the sake of debate i have to disagree.
    Taking down all barriers to love, ie: being full of love all the time, ie: achieving a permanent transcendental state is in my opinion an unnatural place to be. Think about it, you would spend all your time revelling in love and would never get anything done. I think there should be barriers to love and these should only come down at opportune times.
    I love Rumi also but i guess the path of the mystic is not for everyone:)

  6. Paul Says:

    January 10, 2008 at 4:09 AM

    Hi Nezha! So far as I know, love is like a breeze — it comes and goes of its own accord. That is, it cannot be forced to come. So, I believe Rumi is correct in saying we are mistaken to try to love — for that’s like trying to force a breeze to happen. Our only option, should we want to love, is to take down the barriers to love and then wait for love to come — if it comes.

    But taking down the barriers to love can indeed be risky. There are a lot of abusive people in this world who would take advantage of anyone open to them. So, as Brian points out in his comments on another article, one should exercise some discernment in the matter.

  7. sukhi Says:

    January 14, 2008 at 12:23 AM

    Paul, this is sukhi again. I could’nt resist a look at Rumi, my all time favourite. Deeply touched, as he (as only he can) has said all in a few words. Love is who we are, and we have become so far removed from it. I look with sadness at the harshness, intolerance within me that takes me away from its fragrance. Yet most times, I love to love. Here’s a gift back to you….
    ‘When you do things from your soul,
    You feel a river moving in you, a joy.
    When actions come from another section,
    the feeling disappears. ‘
    Rumi

  8. Paul Says:

    January 14, 2008 at 5:19 AM

    Hi Sukhi! Good to see you again! Thank you so much for those lines from Rumi! They strike me as exceptionally true — not to mention beautiful.

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