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Step Into the Fire with Me
I’m just a little bit in love with Rumi. His words are divine.
A Daily Dose of Bliss guest teacher Richard Miller shared this with me on retreat a couple of weeks ago, and I’m delighted to be sharing it here with you (if you’re in a rush, just read the part in bold).
THE QUESTION
One Dervish to another, What was your vision of God’s presence?
I haven’t seen anything.
But for the sake of conversation, I’ll tell you a story.
God’s presence is there in front of me, a fire on the left,
a lovely stream on the right.
One group walks towards the fire, into the fire, another toward the sweet flowing water.
No one knows which are blessed and which not.
Whoever walks into the fire appears suddenly in the stream.
A head goes under on the water surface, that head pokes out of the fire.
Most people guard against going into the fire,
and so end up in it.
Those who love the water of pleasure and make it their devotion are cheated with this reversal.
The trickery goes further.
The voice of the fire tells the truth saying, I am not fire.
I am fountainhead. Come into me and don’t mind the sparks.
If you are a friend of God, fire is your water.
You should wish to have a hundred thousand sets of mothwings, so you could burn them away, one set a night.
The moth sees light and goes into the fire.
You should see fire and go toward the light.
Fire is what of God is world-consuming.
Water, world-protecting.
Somehow each gives the appearance of the other. To these eyes you have now, what looks like water burns.
What looks like fire is a great relief to be inside.
You’ve seen a magician make a bowl of rice seem a dish full of tiny live worms.
Before an assembly with one breath he made a floor swarm with scorpions that weren’t there.
How much more amazing God’s tricks.
Generation after generation lies down defeated, they think, but they’re like a woman underneath a man,
circling him.
One molecule-mote-second thinking of God’s reversal
of comfort and pain is better than attending any ritual.
That splinter of intelligence is substance.
The fire and water themselves:
accidental, done with mirrors.
Rumi
Paradoxically, when we avoid the fire and head straight for the cool water, we end up burnt. When we dive straight into the fire, we find ourselves in the cool water.
In iRest Yoga Nidra we welcome in everything that arises. Even the hard stuff.
We walk straight into the fire of all our sensations, emotions and beliefs, welcoming them all as friends. And we find when we do, that like the boogie-man under the bed, they’re not as scary as they seem. When we turn towards them, rather than away from them, we find ourselves in bliss.
Have you had this experience yourself before? I’d love to hear about it.
Leave me a comment below about your thoughts and experiences of stepping into the fire.
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That sounds divine Angel. Thanks for sharing your experience 🙂