Some lines from Masnavi, Book III, by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi.
Translation: A person can walk fearlessly on a path half a yard wide on the ground. But if you have to walk over a high wall which is 2 yards wide, you won’t be able to do so. Your preconceived fears have deluded your mind and you fall. Use your intellect to understand fear and delusion.
“There are worse things
than being alone
but it often takes
decades to realize this
and most often when you do
it’s too late
and there’s nothing worse
than too late”
― Charles Bukowski
“I loved you
like a man loves a woman he never touches, only writes to, keeps little photographs of. I would have loved you more if I had sat in a small room rolling a cigarette and listened to you piss in the bathroom, but that didn’t happen. Your letters got sadder. Your lovers betrayed you. Kid, I wrote back, all lovers betray.”― Charles Bukowski, “Love is a Dog from Hell”
You are the call and I am the answer,
You are the wish, and I the fulfilment,
You are the night, and I the day.
What else? it is perfect enough.
It is perfectly complete,
You and I,
What more—?
Strange, how we suffer in spite of this!
— D.H. Lawrence
(Excerpt from the poem Bei Hennef)
“Love is a form of prejudice. You love what you need, you love what makes you feel good, you love what is convenient. How can you say you love one person when there are ten thousand people in the world that you would love more if you ever met them? But you’ll never meet them.”
― Charles Bukowski, Hot Water Music
Do you love me
Or hate seeing me
without you?
— Knonie.
Here’s a passage about the concept of Memory in relation to how we tend to live our lives, from Paulo Coelho’s book “Aleph”.
“I think you still love me, but we can’t escape the fact that I’m not enough for you. I knew this was going to happen. So I’m not blaming you for falling in love with another woman. I’m not angry, either. I should be, but I’m not. I just feel pain. A lot of pain. I thought I could imagine how much this would hurt, but I was wrong.”
― Haruki Murakami, “South of the Border, West of the Sun”
Divided and multiplied self.
Because of you, in gardens of blossoming
Flowers, I ache from the perfumes of spring.
I have forgotten your face, I no longer
Remember your hands; how did your lips
Feel on mine?
Because of you, I love the white statues
Drowsing in the parks, the white statues that
Have neither voice nor sight.
I have forgotten your voice, your happy voice;
I have forgotten your eyes.
Like a flower to its perfume, I am bound to
My vague memory of you. I live with pain
That is like a wound; if you touch me, you will
Make to me an irreperable harm.
Your caresses enfold me, like climbing
Vines on melancholy walls.
I have forgotten your love, yet I seem to
Glimpse you in every window.
Because of you, the heady perfumes of
Summer pain me; because of you, I again
Seek out the signs that precipitate desires:
Shooting stars, falling objects.
— Pablo Neruda.
From the book “Passions and Impressions”
© 1978 by the Estate of Pablo Neruda. Translation by Margaret Sayers Peden. © Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, Inc.
I died as a mineral and became a plant,
I died as plant and rose to animal,
I died as animal and I was Man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Yet once more I shall die as Man, to soar
With angels blest; but even from angelhood
I must pass on: all except God doth perish.
When I have sacrificed my angel-soul,
I shall become what no mind e’er conceived.
Oh, let me not exist! for Non-existence
Proclaims in organ tones, To Him we shall return.
— Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi,
Translated by Reynold A. Nicholson
Original Persian script:
از جمادی مُردم و نامی شدم
وز نما مُردم بحیوان سرزدم
مُردم از حیوانی و آدم شدم
پس چه ترسم کی ز مردم کم شدم
حملهء دیگر بمیرم از بشر
تا برآرم از ملایک بال و پر
وز ملک هم بایدم جستن ز جو
کل شییء هالک الاوجهه
بار دیگر از ملک پران شوم
آنچه اندر وهم ناید آن شوم
پس عدم گردم عدم چو ارغنون
گویدم کانا الیه راجعون
”Society does not want individuals who are alert, keen, revolutionary, because such individuals will not fit into the established social patten and they may break it up. This is why society seeks to hold your mind in its pattern, and why your so-called education encourages you to imitate, to follow, to conform.”
When you saw me, without false robes
You offered your heart
When I held your hands
I touched your heart
You talked to me
but had a conversation with yourself
We met each other wearing mirrors
and fell in love with each other
(Knonie, 7 May, 2011)
“Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life.”
― Bob Marley
“A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself- and especially to feel, or not feel. Whatever you happen to be feeling at any moment is fine with them. That’s what real love amounts to – letting a person be what he really is.
Most people love you for who you pretend to be. To keep their love, you keep pretending – performing. You get to love your pretence. It’s true, we’re locked in an image, an act – and the sad thing is, people get so used to their image, they grow attached to their masks. They love their chains. They forget all about who they really are. And if you try to remind them, they hate you for it, they feel like you’re trying to steal their most precious possession.”
- Jim Morrison
