FINDING YOUR INNER TREASURE

The New Rule

It’s the old rule that drunks have to argue
and get into fights.
The lover is just as bad: he falls into a hole.
But down in that hole he finds something shining,
worth more than any amount of money or power.

Last night the moon came dropping her clothes in the street.
I took it as a sign to start singing,
falling up into the bowl of sky.
The bowl breaks. Everywhere is falling everywhere.
Nothing else to do.

Here’s the new rule: break the wineglass,
and fall toward the Glassblower’s breath.

Rumi

The stories we are being fed, the social norms we think we must follow, don’t nurture us anymore. We know it is time for something new. But what?

Rumi reminds us that however badly things are falling apart, even to the point that “Everywhere is falling everywhere,” this too is a holy time. And it is holy, in part, because it forces us to find the light within.

Months of Covid deaths, economies crumbling, racism rising, politicians failing, climate disasters abounding, and it all too easy to fall into the despair of fatalism and pessimism.

And yet, what if it is precisely when everything is falling apart that we are closest to the divine?

What if it is when the wineglass breaks that we discover there is nothing else to do but find the true source of love and power within?

We are living in mythic times. The old rules don’t apply. We must enter the darkness—fall down the hole—and become like the lover, the one that finds the thing that is more precious than money or power.

That thing is the true shining treasure of your own soul. The part of you that is the keeper of the inner pattern and deepest meaning of your life. When the world rattles and everything turns upside down, then it is time to uncover and hold to the inner thread of your unique being.

The world needs you now more than ever. The center is not holding; everything is falling apart. And the bravest most powerful thing you can do is reclaim your inborn spirit and story so that you can contribute your particular genius, meaning, and vitality to this beautiful, broken world.

Please join me for Untame Your Story, Rewild Your Life, an online five-part memoir writing series hosted by the Rowe Center.

A Rumi says, these times are a “sign to start singing.”