This offering from Rumi contains such beauty and wisdom. In terms of our being able to enter into the land of our true self and the transformation we seek, I think that the “secret formula” is in the last word in the poem.
A Necessary Autumn Inside Each
You and I have spoken all these words, but as for the way we have to go,
words are no preparation. There is no getting ready other than grace.
I have one small drop of knowing in my soul. Let it dissolve in your ocean.
Inside each of us, there’s continual autumn. Our leaves fall and are blown out
over the water. A crow sits in the blackened limbs and talks about what’s gone.
Then, your generosity returns: spring, moisture, intelligence,
the scent of the hyacinth and rose and cypress. Joseph is back! And if you don’t feel in yourself the freshness of Joseph, be Jacob!
Weep and then smile. Don’t pretend to know something you haven’t experienced.
There’s a necessary dying, and then Jesus is breathing again.
Very little grows on jagged rock.
Be ground.
Be crumbled, so wildflowers will come up where you are.
You’ve been stony for too many years.
Try something different.
Surrender.
Rumi
