Sufi Poetics: Spontaneity and Oration in Rumi's Verse

(Found at "Awakening the Dreamer")

“Someone may be clairvoyant, able to see the future, and yet have very little wisdom. Like the man who saw water in his dream and began leading everyone toward the mirage…Sleep deeply wherever you are on the way, maybe some traveler will wake you.” – Rumi, translated and read by Coleman Barks

“Be loyal to your daily practice keep working and keep knocking on the door, as you’ll remember as it is said in one of Rumi’s most pithy moments that the door we’re knocking on opens from the inside...These poems were spoken spontaneously.” - Coleman Barks

The generation of dreaming is the door opening from the inside, the spontaneous voice is the mysterious wisdom reminding us that at the moment when the way is clear, it is not we who enter.

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At an outdoor music festival, there is chaos. My wife and I gear up to perform together, though there is tension. As we sit and watch the festivities surrounding, we are as encased in a fog gloom. I forecast a no-show or gong show somewhere between us, usually from my end, the weak one. We see likely faces around, old friends at work on their instruments, in bands, invigorating the public eye. One of our friends, a burly Latin man sits at our spot with us. I walk away, fading. I begin to overhear their conversation. “He’s unwilling to learn from any classical training…” In my high paranoia, I only hear my depressed interpretation. I wallow in self-pity before confronting my love. She is already up on stage, interviewed in the drinkable light, interred in a media pandemic. Defeated, I find our Latin friend, and talk about my troubles. He is extremely accepting and friendly. I am comforted by his freewill offerings of friendship in numerous forms as he helps me overcome my difficulties. I become excited again to play purely improvisational music. Our music is from the spontaneous breath of the heart, an instantaneous intuitive wresting of the mind from earthly clamor. My love sits fixated, unwilling to go about her interview smoothly, she points me out in the crowd. Soon I am onstage. She holds me up, a flamingo above the shallow water, with a stilt leg, barely seen in the shimmering gold seascape horizon.

______ 

Performing
"In general, to dream of performing means you have been dishonest, with others or yourself. If it's a pleasant dream, lying has worked in your favour, but it could have bad consequences. This is also a common dream of performers who are 'practicing' a routine in their sleep." (iDream)

Stage
"If you dream of being onstage, you crave more attention and drama in your life. Good times are coming, but you will have to work hard to get there." (iDream)

In light of the Sama'a or the Sufi practice of listening to supernal harmonies through various meditative means, mostly through music and poetry, the practice of turning the ear to hear the inborn harmonics of spirit, i.e. listening to the one listening, may be an antidote to the psychological sufferings of the performing artist.

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whose secret existence frightens no one
...instantaneous
...insignificant
yet to always be present,
in the moment,
never born nor witnessed by any thing manifest,
whispering from a most minute creation,
a passing glut,
forgotten by the entire visible universe,
only to return through a remembering

heard in voiceless rhythm,
to create from nothing!
an identity beyond the mimicking mold,
shaped by more hands.

- excerpt from "shaped by more hands"