Paradise of the Heart

The human person has been created by Love, for Love, to become Love... this is a journey of the Heart and into the Heart... it is a dance, a whirl, a bow, a touch... it is an ecstatic movement of the isolated, solitary, ego into the Unity of the transcendental and immanent: re-created into One Love...

This essential journey into the "Paradise of the Heart" is the full realization of life's purpose and meaning: only "This" paradise can put into perspective every life event and transform "event" into "ah!"... it's like the tips of your fingers tracing love-circles on the Great Belly of God: but not just for you, but for the delight of the entire Universe! Rumi says, "It is time... time to be totally free... time to give up our souls, to set fire to structures and run out into the street... Time to ferment... Spread your wings as a tree lifts in the orchard. A seed scattered on the road, a stone melting to wax, candle becoming moth... With our faces so close to the love mirror, we must not breathe, but rather change to a cleared place where the building was and feel the treasure hiding in us... With no beginning or end, we live in lovers as a story they know... If you will be the key, we will be tumblers in the lock." We are infinitely intimate with the Cosmic Consciousness: the Holy One, our Beloved Friend: just as we are infinitely intimate with every other human being, every creature, and all of creation: we are One: and that One is Love: not a mamby-pamby-one-more-under-the-boardwalk-love (however delightful that might be), but an obliteration of ego into its Original Sacred Identity: the "What if? before the Big Bang"...

Do you look at your life and see only a "thorn"? If so, that too is okay... just move a little bit closer to the Rose... Have you hurt someone and has someone hurt you (of course, you are a human being!)? ...Just move a little bit closer to the Rose... Does 'religion' give you a sort-of sick feeling in your gut? ...That's okay, just move a little bit closer to the Rose... Do you have secrets that humble your heart -- and scare you away from the Divine? Don't worry! The Divine has no memory -- save for every act of Love! ...And so you can move a little bit closer to the Rose... Are you worried about how to say that you are sorry -- and perhaps also about what your family and friends will think? ...Well, will it help to know that everyone is exactly the same? ...So feel free to move a little bit closer to the Rose: let the scent of the Rose of Love fill your mind, body, and soul: let that scent caress you into your Paradise Heart... let the soft petals of the Rose tickle your face, slide down your neck, swirl around your nipples, down your belly, through your swelling genitals, down your legs, and curling all around your feet... You need to know how sacred, holy, and beautiful you are! Understand: your true self is already the Rose... and the Rose is the Divine... and the gift of your life is this journey of return to the Paradise of the Heart... "Come, come, whoever you are, wanderer, fire worshiper, lover of leaving. This is not a caravan of despair. It does not matter that you have broken your vow a thousand times, still come, and yet again come." (Rumi).

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