SEPARATION
The divided life is a wounded life, and the soul keeps calling us to heal the wound. Ignore that call, and we find ourselves trying to numb our pain with an anesthetic of choice, be it substance abuse, overwork, consumerism, or mindless media noise.
- Parker J. Palmer
On my birthday, I hear the faint sound of the reedflute murmuring:
Listen and heed the Reed-flute’s narration
It’s longing for unison after separation,
Since ‘twas torn from the reedbed to play
A mystical melody day by day
It says: a heart I need that pounds upon hearing, swaying in longing
Feeling, oh feeling, the reed’s pain of craving
Whoever’s been cut from their source
Turns back to seek a way of recourse
Back , O back to the unity whither I came
I was brought into diversity, I have no blame
- Rumi, The Masnavi, Book One (Oxford World's Classics) (Bk. 1)