Destroying the Mystery

Longing is the core of mystery.
Longing itself brings the cure.

- Rumi

When I saw this quote on a greeting card, I was stunned. I scribbled it on a scrap of paper and looked at it several times a day. Every time desire arose, I pulled this out of my pocket, and reflected from the midst of longing. Are these words true? If true, how are they true?

Only as a being of desire, a being who wishes and yearns, will I find what I seek. And...what am I truly seeking?

Yearning is born from some sense of lack, some aspiration to wholeness and beauty. And from a belief in my own separation; from a belief that there is something to have and to own; something that can be had and owned through time. If "I" could "get" "that." Then "I" would be "happy." Complete. Not so suddenly alone.

As if anything or anyone could confer that power.

And yet we must yearn. Within the relative realm, within the human sphere, there is the wanting-of-things. We're made to yearn. And, says Rumi, that longing is itself the path.

So feeling the longing, and feeling the cure: really asking What matters most? What is true happiness? Will I survive without this piece of antique jewelry, without the attentions of this stranger? Feeling the feeling below the story, feeling some more, and then moving on.

One day, finally, googling the quote. And finding there's more:

Longing is the core of mystery.
Longing itself brings the cure.

The only rule is, suffer the pain.

Your desire must be disciplined,
and what you want to happen
in time, sacrificed.

--Rumi

Arising then: disgust. That someone would cut off the most important part of a quote, the better to make a buck from an attractive half-thought.

Although. The whole lugubrious quote might never have caught my eye, or made its way into my pocket, or lodged in my heart.

And now there are a few more lines to chew on, as precious as the first.

The only rule is, suffer the pain.