The Hermit's Path

Thank you for your heartfelt message, it means a lot to me, may God continue to illuminate your path forward. ❤️

Beautiful poems, thank you for sharing. However I want to address the spinning dervish is no different to the Christian who kneels at the feet of a statue praying into their rosary beads and singing their hymns, or the Muslim getting out his mat four times a day to pray towards a particular geographic area they call Mecca. These external practices do not bring us closer to God, to find God is to journey within, it is not something expressed in physical movements or reciting prayers, the journey back to our Creator and our divine nature is an inner journey of the heart.

The spinning dervishes were founded by Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (1207-1273), known to his followers as Mevlana, ‘our master’. Farid al-Din Attar (the writer of this poem) does not seem to have been part of this movement. The spinning dervish movement became popularized in the 1950s as part of the annual celebration at Konya in Anatolia.

14:7: I am asked how this Far Away Formless One, awesome in changelessness, whose Spirit fills the whole universe, can be worshipped. My friends, how can He be influenced by the lower depths of His creation? Can rain wet the sky or rivers fill the ocean? Concerning the form of worship which is praise and prayer. Do you think that doleful chants, mournful music and mumbled prayer add to His glory or fill His heart with joy? These are gifts gathered from the woodland. Far more acceptable would be a freely dedicated heart purged of evil, the offering of a body wherein lust and unhealthy desires have been uprooted, the display of a mouth untainted by lewdness and falsehood, and the showing of integrity, honesty and purity. - The Kolbrin Bible: Chapter 14 – Book of Lucius

14:20: Those who say they can find The Great Spirit through means outside of themselves will seek in vain; what they will find will be worthless pebbles, the real jewel lies within. Only when the unreal is revealed for what it is and penetrated in consciousness, can the real come into sight. This can be proved beyond any dispute by personal experience, but few care to pay the price of such knowledge. The waters of illumination cannot be gathered on the heights of arrogant self-assurance, or on the hilltop of prejudice. Neither can they be drawn from the valley of apathy or the dale of agnosia. - The Kolbrin Bible: Chapter 14 – Book of Lucius

15:45: I am not influenced by the mere formal actions of men, or by empty sacrifice. Lighted lamps and candles, days of fasting and self-mortification by man cannot sway Me in his favour. I am not to be bribed, for I am God. He who handles fire carelessly and gets burnt cannot blame the fire; neither can he who goes into swift waters and drowns blame the waters. There are laws, the violation of which brings retribution in its train. They who by their own deeds bring pain and suffering upon themselves cannot blame Me for what ensues. These are the effects of the lesser laws which are easily understood, but above these is the Great Law, which is not so incomprehensible. Under this, the link between the deed and its effect is not so apparent; men bring down calamity and suffering upon their own heads and blame Me, when the fault lies with them and the cause is their own misconduct or misconception. Men reap as they sow and I am the Fertile Field, which takes no part in the sowing or the reaping. Man is his own master and the lord of his own destiny. He cannot expect help from any great power, unless he expend effort to contact such power or be deserving of help. Everything a man is or becomes is the result of his own striving and efforts, or his lack of them. I made man to be a man, not a mere puppet or nursling. I am the God of the Law. I am the God of the Stalwart." - The Kolbrin Bible - Egyptian Texts of the Bronze Books: Book of Gleanings: Chapter Fifteen - The Voice of God

Hmmm not sure why I have to keep approving, will check it out.

Okay fixed it, I thought you were already a moderator, all good now.