The root of all evil

In the West, we reward ambition. From a Sufi perspective, it’s a disease. Rumi: “All of our suffering results from raw greed and from the desires of the self and its itching palate.”

Beyond right and wrong

“Are you out of your mind?” [Pause here, for effect.] “Yes, I am.”

Dancing with myself

Men come for counselling because they want something to change. The challenge they face is that for something to change, something needs to die. Change and death are dance partners. What ends here?

Life leads

Make no plans. Or as Jesus said, “Take no thought for tomorrow.” Re-stated in the positive: Let life lead. Welcome what comes. All of it. No exceptions, exclusions or judgements. “This being human is a guest house,” Rumi wrote. “Every morning a new arrival.”

True religion

We are what we pay attention to. If I attend to the breath, I am that. Breath awareness transcends our differences. Rumi: “Bringing breath to life is the essence of every true religion.”