Out beyond ideas
of wrongdoing and right doing,
there is a field.
I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down
in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language
- even the phrase "each other" -
do not make any sense.
From The Essential Rumi, Translated by Coleman Barks.
© Copyright, 2004, HarperSanFrancisco.
I woke up this morning to find the word "raukkadessa" floating in my mind, between sips of coffee. The word came from a song on Beyond Love (Sami Records, 2004), an album by my friend Kathi Huhtaluhta. Kathi lived in Finland where she studied "Yoik" traditions of Sami chanting. She told me her song, Raukkadessa, derived from a word she learned while there, which meant "beyond love".
Meaning, beyond the pairs of opposites, beyond loss, conflict, history, and the constructs of personality and culture, beyond even our temporal experience of love, "there is a field".
I've always loved that Rumi poem...and I JUST got a more contemporary meaning to it with the word "field". Or is it contemporary, was HE meaning this? Cool, I suppose its one and the same, but thanks, its a wonderful new take on that poem!
ReplyDeleteAnd I LOVE yoiking. My singing is yoik-like.
lots here in this short post. beautiful photo! I adore rumi and especially this poem. and i love to read about and hear about the Sami people. I clicked on the link and nothing happened so I'll look this song up on the web. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
ReplyDeleteYears ago I attended a conference on art and shamanism and Gloria Orenstein brought her Sami teacher, a woman who was a hereditary Sami shaman. She "yoiked" as a blessing for the Conference in a large auditorium - and I never forgot how powerfully she changed the energy in that room. it was extraordinary.
Wishing you a lovely summer!
Love this rumi poem. The field sounds a lot like Lynn McTaggert's work or the quantum field that scientists like Michio Kaku talk about. Great post.
ReplyDelete