{"id":8698,"date":"2026-05-08T06:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T13:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=8698"},"modified":"2026-05-16T17:39:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T00:39:45","slug":"rumi-today-like-every-other-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/08\/rumi-today-like-every-other-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Rumi – Today, like every other day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
\nby Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by Coleman Barks<\/font><\/p>\n

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
\nand frightened. Don\u2019t open the door to the study
\nand begin reading. Take down the dulcimer.<\/p>\n

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
\nThere are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from Open Secret: Versions of Rumi<\/a>, Translated by Coleman Barks \/ Translated by John Moyne<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by https:\/\/unsplash.com\/@lovestephaniegreene<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

Each time I come across this short selection by Rumi I read it slightly differently. It\u2019s one of those magical, enigmatic poems that suggests something new each time your own perspective and circumstance change.<\/p>\n

Every time we feel our lives or the world has become frightening, overwhelming, chaotic, it\u2019s natural to want to reestablish control through thought, as if by getting just the right concepts and mental framing life will behave just as we think it should.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t open the door to the study
\nand begin reading. Take down the dulcimer.<\/i><\/p>\n

Or we can open. We can find a natural flow and discover the beauty that is right here regardless of the mess.<\/p>\n

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
\nThere are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.<\/i><\/p>\n

Have a beautiful day!<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Longing in Between: Sacred Poetry from Around the World (A Poetry Chaikhana Anthology)<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThis Dance of Bliss: Ecstatic Poetry from Around the World<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nPoetry for the Spirit: Poems of Universal Wisdom and Beauty<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nMusic of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nPerfume of the Desert: Inspirations from Sufi Wisdom<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More Books >><\/a><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\"Mevlana<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nMevlana Jelaluddin Rumi<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Afghanistan & Turkey (1207 \u2013 1273) Timeline<\/a>
\nMuslim \/ Sufi<\/a><\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Rumi was a war refugee and an asylum seeker. He was born in Balkh, in what is today Afghanistan. While he was still a child his family moved all the way to Konya in Asia Minor (Turkey). They moved to flee from Mongol invaders who were beginning to sweep into Central Asia. Konya, far to the west of the invaded territories, became one of the major destinations for expatriates to settle, turning the city into a cosmopolitan center of culture, education, and spirituality. (These lands were part of the Persian Empire, so, while he lived most of his life in what is today called Turkey, culturally he was Persian.) <\/p>\n

In fact, Rumi wasn\u2019t the only famous Sufi teacher living in Konya at the time. The best known spiritual figure in Konya at the time was not Rumi, but the son-in-law of the greatly respected Sufi philosopher ibn \u2018Arabi. The wonderful Sufi poet Fakhruddin Iraqi also lived in Konya at the same time as Rumi.<\/p>\n

\u201cRumi\u201d was not his proper name; it was more of a nickname. Rumi means literally \u201cThe Roman.\u201d Why the Roman? Asia Minor (Turkey) was referred to as the land of the Rum, the Romans. The Byzantine Empire, which had only recently been pushed back to a small area of control around Constantinople, was still thought of as the old Eastern Roman Empire. Rumi was nicknamed the Roman because he lived in what was once the Eastern Roman Empire. \u2026But not everyone calls him Rumi. In Afghanistan, where he was born, they call him Balkhi, \u201cthe man from Balkh,\u201d to emphasize his birth in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Rumi\u2019s father was himself a respected religious authority and spiritual teacher. Rumi was raised and educated to follow in his father\u2019s footsteps. And, in fact, Rumi inherited his father\u2019s religious school. But this was all along very traditional lines. Rumi was already a man with religious position when he first started to experience transcendent states of spiritual ecstasy. This created a radical upheaval, not only in himself, but also within his rather formal spiritual community as everyone tried to adjust to their leader\u2019s transformation.<\/p>\n

One more note about Rumi\u2019s father: It was only after his death that some of the father\u2019s private writings were discovered, revealing that he himself was also a profound mystic, though he had kept this part of himself private, apparently even from his son Rumi.<\/p>\n

Many of Rumi\u2019s poems make reference to the sun. This always has layered meaning for Rumi since he was deeply devoted to his spiritual teacher Shams of Tabriz\u2026 as the name Shams means \u201cthe sun.\u201d The sun for Rumi becomes the radiance of God shining through his beloved teacher.<\/p>\n

The spiritual bond between Rumi and Shams was profound, but the two individuals were very different. Rumi was a member of the educated elite within the urban expatriate community, while Shams was a poor wandering mystic who rarely stayed in one place long. Shams would often disappear unexpectedly, then return months later. Many of Rumi\u2019s family and students were jealous of Shams, resenting the closeness he shared with their master. Finally, Shams disappeared, never to return. Some believe that he was actually kidnapped and murdered, possibly by Rumi\u2019s own sons! Or he may have simply followed his dervish nature and journeyed on, never to return to Konya.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve heard of \u201cwhirling dervishes,\u201d right? Not all Sufis practice that spinning meditative dance. That is specific to the Mevlana Sufis, founded by \u2014 yes, Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi. The story is told that Rumi would circle around a column, while ecstatically reciting his poetry. The spinning is a meditation on many levels. It teaches stillness and centeredness in the midst of movement. One hand is kept raised to receive from heaven, the other hand is kept lowered to the earth, thus the individual becomes a bridge joining heaven and earth.<\/p>\n

More poetry by Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty by Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi English version by Coleman Barks Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened. Don\u2019t open the door to the study and begin reading. Take down the dulcimer. Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2628,1324,2627,286,5,193,991,88,19],"class_list":["post-8698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-anxieties","tag-beauty","tag-fears","tag-mevlana-jelaluddin-rumi","tag-music","tag-muslim-poetry","tag-prayer","tag-rumi","tag-sufi-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8698"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8706,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8698\/revisions\/8706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}