Happy Birthday Love

Happy Birthday Love

It is a nice day to be introduced to the Sufi conception of Love, specially with forty rules. This is an emotion which everyone wants, longs, and is also one which people are afraid of, because it expresses a vulnerability. So often, it seems convenient to forget about it, not acknowledge it, but the thing with love is, that it will still haunt, when not addressed.

It is hard to wish what you don't know, like wishing someone you do not really know. It is all the more ridiculous to to wish when you do not know where that unknown (love) is. However, it still seems appropriate to celebrate the day in abject loneliness, in complete peace and tranquility, and still let the world be part of this birthday party. Maybe the wishes will reach across through this medium, ridiculous or not.

So here goes, the gift of love on the birthday of love, where I'd like to replace, in the truly Sufi spirit, God with Love.

Some of the forty rules:

1. The path to the Truth is a labor of the heart, not of the head. Make your heart your primary guide! Not your mind. Meet, challenge, and ultimately prevail over your nafs with your heart. Knowing yourself will lead you to the knowledge of God/Love. (The best way to celebrate this day is not to find distractions but rather celebrate it to the fullest.)
2. You can study God/Love through everything and everyone in the universe, because God/Love is not confined in a mosque, synagogue, or church. But if you are still in need of knowing where exactly his abode is, there is only one place to look for him: In the heart of a true lover. (So yes, I do not know where love is, or exactly who he really was, but I can still find it in my heart, him in my heart, because of love in my being.)



Francesca da Rimini by August Rodin, 1882

3. Most of the problems of the world stem from linguistic mistakes and simple misunderstandings. Don't ever take words at face value. When you step into the world of love, language as we know it becomes obsolete. That which cannot be put into words can only be grasped through silence.
4. Patience does not mean to passively endure. It means being farsighted enough to trust the end of a process. What does patience mean? It means to look at the thorn and see the rose, to look at the night and see the dawn. Impatience means to be so shortsighted as to not see the outcome. Lovers never run out of patience, for they know that time is needed for the crescent moon to become full.
5. The midwife knows that when there is no pain, the way for the baby cannot be opened and the mother cannot give birth. Likewise, for a new Self to be born, hardship is necessary. (Love is pain, love in pain)

Happy Birthday Love.

Regards,

Garima