Tag: forgiveness

“Out beyond ideas” (Rumi)

On By Oby BallingerIn Wisdom from Others1 Comment

Again and again when tempted to believe in the utter stupidity of someone else’s position, or buy 100% my own passionate convictions, I come back to the wisdom of this Sufi philosopher and poet from the 1200s. Rumi helps me leave enough cracks in the walls of certitude that the Other–the one with whom I disagree, even my sworn enemy–might have something of value for me to learn from. Let my actions and words strongly claim the truth as I know it, and yet hold open space for the humanity of someone on another other side, so that one day we might picnic together in the field of transcendent grace.

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
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
Doesn’t make any sense.

Rumi

Outwitted (Edwin Markham)

On By Oby BallingerIn Wisdom from OthersLeave a comment

I first heard this perhaps twenty years ago in a sermon. I love how the speaker refuses to accept the definition of “outsider” that would be imposed by another. The poet doesn’t even seek to establish a counter-definition: “No, you’re the outsider!” Instead, this leads us from the usual paradigms of “us” and “them” to a place that Rumi called “beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing”, transcending such categories altogether by the power of Love.

He drew a circle that shut me out—
Heretic, a rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in!

Edwin Markham

In particular this Holy Week, I’m recalling how Jesus sat for his final meal with the betrayer Judas and all the deserting disciples, who would disavow knowing him just a few hours later. Nevertheless, the table of mercy and grace draws a circle that includes all, no matter what.