10 menit untuk @beradadisini

10 menit untuk Hanny – 31 Mei 2013. Mulai dari sekarang.

Rumi’s quietness

Tonight’s conversations remind me of this poem from Rumi:

Quietness
by Rumi
Translated by Coleman Barks

Inside this new love, die.
Your way begins on the other side.
Become the sky.
Take an axe to the prison wall.
Escape.
Walk out like someone suddenly born into color.
Do it now.
You’re covered with thick clouds.
Slide out the side. Die,
and be quiet. Quietness is the surest sign
that you’ve died.
Your old life was a frantic running
from silence.

The speechless full moon
comes out now.

Perhaps later I would write something about this. Perhaps.

Entangled by Ayam Tangkap

Funny how we learn about ourselves from the nitty-gritty of life. How we deal with those seemingly small stuffs really tells how we are.

Whenever I go to Aceh, Indonesia, I bring home a special, traditional fried chicken called Ayam Tangkap (literally means Captured Chicken).

Yesterday was no exception. I bought five boxes to share with family and friends. I texted them about what was about to come. I checked the package in for the flight.

Late afternoon, as I arrived in Jakarta, I found out that the airline, Garuda Indonesia, had lost that particular package of mine. I suspect someone else have taken it because there were several similar package on the same flight.

I went to the lost baggage and filed a complaint.

[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]

By E. E. Cummings

 

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

                                                      i fear

And the moon said

Stuck in a Friday night traffic jam with fatigue brain, washed out body, and nothing much to do. I looked up and saw the moon. I said to her, “So say something, moon. Tell me your stories.” So she did. And I wept, drenched with warm compassion.

Such is the moon, always ready to response with kindness, simplicity, and tenderness. Honesty too.

Photo taken from here.

To enjoy this conversation

TO ENJOY THIS CONVERSATION

I must tell you something now or mislead you. And I would rather die than mislead you on this Path that is so beautiful and so hard. A false step can mean death or madness or futility or the destruction of years of hard-won attainment.

What I want to tell you is that all of these words I speak, out of love and inspiration and whatever knowledge God has graced me with, are for the sake of the person who needs words in order to understand. As for the person who understands without words, obviously he or she doesn’t need words at all. In fact, to the one who really understands, the heavens and the earth themselves are ‘words’; after all, they came into being through ‘words’ – the Divine Words “Be! And it is.” If someone can hear a low, subtle whisper, is there any need to shout and scream?”

Make everything in you an ear, each atom of your being, and you will hear at every moment what the Source is whispering to you, just to you, and for you, without any need for my words or anyone else’s. You are – we all are – the beloved of the Beloved, and in every moment, in every event of your life, the Beloved is whispering to you exactly what you need to hear and know. Who can ever explain this miracle? It simply is. Listen and you will discover it every passing moment. Listen, and your whole life will become a conversation in thought and act between you and Him, directly, wordlessly, now and always.

It was to enjoy  this conversation that you and I were created.

From Andrew Harvey’s Light upon Light: Inspirations from Rumi – read during last week’s Beshara SEA weekend conversation course.

Mungkin saya yang buta

Mungkin saya yang buta. Setiap kau mengeluhkan penampilanmu, saya tetap menatapmu penuh kagum. Setiap kau merasa gamang akan diri, saya memandangmu dengan penuh tanya, tak paham kenapa.

Mungkin saya yang tuli. Setiap kau mengungkap buruk harimu, saya tetap tenang-tenang saja. Setiap kau berbagi galau batinmu, saya pun tetap mendengarkanmu dengan senyum mengembang. Mengangguk-angguk di waktu yang salah; mengikuti irama tersendiri tak sesuai dengan ketukan ceritamu.

I love you back

I sat quietly the other day before you. Just us two. We were having breakfast at the nearest McDonald’s. I know, not exactly the healthiest way to start the day, but that was how it was.

I didn’t know where I got that idea. Breakfast here with you. I have a million things to do, but somehow I decided to skip them all and asked you lightly whether you’d like to have breakfast. You immediately said yes. Hence there we were.

The only way to write

Writing, much like any other aspects of life, is an expression of who we are. Hence we can actually treat writing as a training ground for us to be honest about what’s happening within.

I truly believe it and the other night was a beautiful reinforcement to this.

I attended a talk by the founder of an award-winning online social movement Coin a Chance, Hanny Kusumawati (aka @beradadisini). Hanny brought up a principle in writing that has also been crucial to me.

“There are many styles in writing, but really, there is only one way to write, and that is by being honest,” she said.

Other times

Sometimes I look at all those wise beautiful words posted on my Facebook timeline and I am touched. I get mesmerized by them.

Other times, I look at those words and I think,