Mystical Loadstone

I have been thinking lately of Jalaladin Rumi, the most well-known poet within the mystical tradition of Islam, or “Sufism.” Rumi belongs to the 13th century and is associated with the Mevlevi Order of Dervishes, or the “whirling dervishes.”  

These words of Rumi had been coming to my mind:


`There is one thing in this world you must never forget to do.
If you forget everything else and not this, there’s nothing to
worry about, but if you remember everything else and forget
this, then you will have done nothing in your life.


Rumi is referring to remembering “the deep root of your being, the presence of your Lord.” For a person not to experience the presence and love of God in his or her heart is to forget one’s “dignity and purpose.”[1]


For mystical temperaments, the spiritual goal that is sought, whether it is the love of God, enlightenment, or an open heart, acts as a loadstone drawing the seeker to it in varying degrees of power. Rumi refers to the drawing (or “flowing”) activity of this loadstone in a little poem:


For sixty years I have been forgetful,
Every minute,
But not for a second has this flowing toward me
Stopped or slowed.[2] 


For very large souls – Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad – the pull of the loadstone is immensely powerful, for saints such as Rumi or for other noted spiritual teachers the pull is also great, and for zazen practitioners in general there is a pull as well.  


Zazen practitioners may not look on themselves as mystics, but it is useful for them to be in some degree aware of the pull of the loadstone. For me, this awareness keeps me on track and faithful to the hard work of sitting. 


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