Practice

In the early morning hour,
just before dawn, lover and beloved wake
and take a drink of water.

She asks, “Do you love me or yourself more?
Really, tell the absolute truth.”

He says, “There's nothing left of me.
I’m like a ruby held up to the sunrise.
Is it still a stone, or a world
made of redness? It has no resistance
to sunlight.”

This is how Hallaj said, I am God,
and told the truth!

The ruby and the sunrise are one.
Be courageous and discipline yourself.

Completely become hearing and ear,
and wear this sun-ruby as an earring.

Work. Keep digging your well.
Don’t think about getting off from work.
Water is there somewhere.

Submit to a daily practice.
Your loyalty to that
is a ring on the door.

Keep knocking, and the joy inside
will eventually open a window
and look out to see who’s there.

The Sunrise Ruby by Rumi

Coleman Barks, The Essential Rumi (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997),
100-101.

The last 6 lines of this poem was read today by Van James, a facilitating artist (and author of Spirit and Art and the Secret Language of Form) on the first day of an art retreat I am participating in until Wednesday at a biodynamic farm north of Manila.

I'm inspired to share this because out of the other powerful ones he shared while we were drawing today, this one stood out as an affirmation from the universe about my current step to commit to my inner work for inner peace. 

Lately has been a lot of releasing, old patterns and relationships from which valuable life lessons are now starting to permeate my soul DNA. There's a lot to say about what has been happening lately, lots of learning about being fully present to every breath, tear (the salty one and the torn), love, and respect to loved ones to let them be and who what they want so they can also fulfill their soul's intention... to learn that love, lover, and beloved are one (the ruby and the sunrise)...

And the submission to daily practice is a reminder... again and again.

So from now on, I am dedicating my energies to my yoga, meditation, and mandala work.  

I look back at my lack of seriousness in my practice of yoga for 7 years and exploration of meditation for 9. Today, the whole day was dedicated to the Mandala from the cosmological, mythological, historical, and spiritual science perspectives. This time, I am a mandala student not a mandala facilitator. Its such a poignant experience because I realized, I have not been to myself and doing art for my self for quite some time already. I have forgotten that what started me in doing mandalas 3 years ago was for a self-healing process.

Wow...3,7,and 9 years... important numbers... maybe reaching to this point are important trail markers that are leading me to this renewal of ritual and of commitment to my self.


Being here at a farm on an art retreat is giving me the space for inner work and inner  peace. It also helps me emotionally prepare for wo other meditation courses (IAM and Vipassana) that are upcoming towards the end of this month. I have been letting go of temp job offers to go through these and leaping with faith that resources will come... as with all paths, one can only see and experience the unfolding and becoming one PEACE at a time...