THE BREEZE AT DAWN
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back & forth across the door sill where the two worlds touch.
The door is round & open.
Don’t go back to sleep.
…by Rumi “The Essential Rumi” New Expanded Edition Translation by Coleman Barks Harper Collins, 2004, p. 36The Breeze at Dawn is a Rumi poem. Rumi (Sept. 30, 1207-Dec. 17, 1273), as he is popularly called, was a 13th century Persian Muslim poet, jurist, theologian & Sufi mystic. There is a good deal of information about him on Wikipedia. His followers founded the Mawlawi Sufi Order after his death in 1273. Every major religion has a mystical form it seems. In Islam it’s Sufism, in Judaism it’s Kabbalah & in Christianity it’s Gnosticism. These are just the ones I know. I’m sure there are many others.
I consider this poem to be one of my theme songs, so to speak. It was first brought to my attention by one of my mentors (I highly recommend having at least one mentor but that will be a post for another day) & it seems that every time it is brought to my attention again, it fits me & my life perfectly. When I decided to begin this blog, yet again came the reminder. So, of course, I had to plaster it on the front page. I can’t possibly explain in one small post all of the reasons why it fits & belongs on the front page but I will attempt a few just to introduce myself & this blog.
First off is the obvious in that it has my name in it! Despite my moniker & that I was born at dawn (hence the name), I am not a morning person & I have a lot of trouble waking up in the morning. Often falling back asleep, when I intend to wake up. “Don’t go back to sleep” is a reminder to remain conscious & to remember who I really am – a spiritual being having a physical experience – something that many of us have forgotten & that causes us to live our lives half asleep. Life can seem so much easier & simpler to sleepwalk through it. Spirit has worked hard to wake me up in this lifetime & keep me awake!
Asking for what I want is something I am still learning to do. This requires that I be aware enough of myself that I know what I need. After waking up enough to realize what I need, I still have to take it a step further & ask. I don’t mean ask others which could also be another meaning of this line but ask Spirit. This reminds me of the bible verse on my “Wisdom” page Matthew 7:7-8 NIV “So I say to you: Ask & it will be given to you; seek & you will find; knock & the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds & to the one who knocks the door will be opened.” My absolute, all time favorite bible verse since I was young that never fails to bring tears to my eyes & to give me goosebumps when I read it. By the way, I’ve learned that anything that causes goosebumps or brings tears to the eyes is significant to me in someway. Just one way that Spirit communicates.
“People are going back & forth across the door sill where the two worlds touch.” This for me refers to the waking & the dream state, the physical world & the spiritual world, being born & passing away among other possibilities. These two worlds only seem disconnected from each other but aren’t as “the door is round & open,” implying that you can easily cross “back & forth” from one to the other. My earliest memory of crossing the door sill was when I was 2 years old. I was reaching for a red ball in the corner next to the stove when a pot of hot coffee was accidentally knocked over on top of me. I went into shock from suffering 2nd & 3rd degree burns. I have no memory after the red ball until the hospital where I remember watching from the corner of the curtained off emergency room as the hospital staff worked on me. I was not afraid & just stayed there & watched. The next memory is of waking up back in my body in the hospital crib with something uncomfortable wrapped around my middle, probably a blanket. This was my first out-of-body-experience (OOBE) that I can remember & possibly my first spiritual experience in general, also.
“The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you” would be me. I have kept my spiritual life a complete secret from others for most of my life. “Coming out of the closet” so to speak, is something I never intended to do & yet here I am telling secrets! I can’t keep quiet any longer. The pressure from Spirit to speak can no longer be denied. For anyone who understands metaphysics, the study of things beyond the physical, my not speaking all this time explains in part my developing thyroid problems. It’s time to speak. I hope Spirit & God are happy, now. 🙂
And with that, this blog has officially begun.
Happy New Year!
Love, Dawn