We see light. We think we know.

But to truly know,

we must experience

shadow.

We see beauty and mercy

and everything good.

But to become

full participants,

we must traverse evil.

Such is the price

of consciousness.

We find meaning in

what is, even if

we have to arrive through what is not.

When "I Am"

comes the answer,

it is in response to our wonder.

We say,

"La Ilaha Illallah."

***

There is nothing else.

This is everything.

Come, hear the plaint of the reed flute

And so begins the 800-year-old Masnavi, a collection of about 25,00 Persian couplets. Its author was Hz. Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi, also known as the poet Rumi.

The reed flute is made from a simple grass reed. The reed is plucked from its bed, then carved, dried, and burned. A mouthpiece is hand-chiseled. The reed flute's lament is haunting and sad. It stirs the heart and invites all who are estranged to join it. We call the invitation music.

***

And so began this wanderer's way on the Path of Love called

Islam.