Anamcara - The Blessing of Peace

"Come out of the
circle of time and
into the circle of love."

Jelaluddin Rumi.
Mystic Poet

In Corrogue there is synchronicity - "meaningful co-incidence."

I am reminded of this fact in an email I received this week. This was an email from others engaged in the dynamic I practice as an Anamcara. As a practitioner of "soul friendship" I am no longer surprised at the way in which we as beings of light connect with each other.

On this frosty morning at this "place of the briars" the receipt of this email warms this heart.

As an Anamcara I am getting to meet more regularly with the Divine in others. This is the beauty of heart sharing. This is beyond social convention, beyond small talk. It is a meeting of two that becomes as one in the silence between words. This silence between words was lived as Love by one of my dearest soul friends. This soul friend is the beautiful Jelaluddin Rumi.

He was born in 1207 and seven hundred years later, Rumi is the bestselling poet in America. Day by day he becomes a deeper and deeper resonance in this Anamcara`s heart. He teaches me the great lesson of balancing discipline with surrender. Rumi is a fierce friend. He wants me to work for the grace of the Beloved. Yet he knows that there is no other delight worth working for.

Rumi was a Sufi mystic. Sufis practice prayer, meditation and companionship. They practice deep soul friendship. In this 21st Century of noise and haste there is a lack of friendship. I recall the writer Thomas Moore author of "Care of the Soul" being asked what was the one thing that would make a difference in one`s life and in the life of the workplace. His reply was in a word, "friendship."

When Thomas Moore answered thus there was a long silence. Then followed the question, "Is that all?"

For this Anamcara friendship is the beginning. Friendship is greatly needed. Friendship needs to be allowed to enter deeply into the heart. This is a friendship of one's being. This friendship is what we are. It is not something we do. It is the natural expression of the soul beyond the defensiveness of the ego.

Rumi, this poet of love is fierce.

He calls us to pull down our own house. He calls us to do the work of love and come to the grace of the Beloved. He tells us that the treasure of soul friendship is underneath the house. This is the house of illusion. This is the house of separateness and non-connection with all that is. This is the house we have erected that says "I am me and this is mine."

This work we do is in order to come out of the circle of time and into the circle of love is work we do alone. This is so even though we are never in truth alone. Our real longing is simple "to be." We also long "to know who we are."

Longing is an experience of open heartedness.

It is surrender. It is not an intellectual discussion but a deep vulnerability. It is a willingness to enter into the other room of unknowing. We are required to go emotionally naked into that other room. We are required to cross the threshold between the world of the visible and the invisible. We are asked to enter naked into the magical and mystical land of Tir Na Nog.

This is a state of timeless beauty.

In the Sufi tradition longing is surrendered through discipline. This is the discipline of prayer, meditation and soul friendship. This soul friendship is the deep communication of words and the silence between words.

This communication is "the breaking of bread together." This is what a companion and soul friend does. They do this together. The word "companion" originates from the French word "pain" (pronounced "pan"). The New Oxford Dictionary of English translates "companion" as "one who breaks bread together."

An Anamcara is not a teacher but one who trusts the beauty of unfolding.

They are trusting of their inner beauty and so they are trusting of your inner beauty. They know their purpose and they write their purpose. They do this in words and through love in action. The purpose of this Anamcara is simple. It is to be an instrument of peace. The best that this Anamcara can ever be graced is the peace of the Beloved. This is the peace that passeth understanding.

This peace is the miracle. As the wonderful Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us, "The miracle is not walking on water. The miracle is walking peacefully in this world."

We think we are so small. We think we can make little difference in manifesting beauty in our world. An Anamcara tells you that you have the greatest opportunity to make a "real" difference. With your knowing of the Beloved all is possible. This is because you are already one with the Divine and can never be other than at one ment. You become the perfume of the Divine through love in action. Nothing is ever lost. Love is and never will not be. All else is transient.

We are each wounded healers in a world upon which we visit our woundedness.

Our real wound is the illusion of separateness from this oneness. In order to heal this wound we are required to follow the instruction of the beautiful Jelaluddin Rumi. This is the instruction to, "Come out of the circle of time and into the circle of love." This circle of love is timeless. It has no beginning and no end. It is the timeless state of that place we in Ireland refer to as "Tir Na Nog."

Tir Na Nog is a metaphor.

It is not an island somewhere off the West Coast of Ireland beyond the mist. It is a state of being beyond the mist of ego. Beyond this mist lies the true friend of the soul. The Beloved is ever waiting for you to surrender to this joy. John O`Donoghue, author of the wonderful book "Anam Cara" calls the surrender "at-one-ment." This is the best work you can ever do because it is work beyond the limitation of time and space.

Out of this state of being and out of this surrender synchronicity happens. This is meeting with others through meaningful co-incidence. It is the miracle of connectivity. It is the Universe saying, "YES, this is a way to go." This is the experience of the unity of consciousness that says," This is a path to follow without regard to outcomes."

So I am off to contemplate a reply to an email from other Anamcara`s. These are other healers, other beings of light who are willing to serve beauty via love in action. In words of appreciation I wish to send the perfume of the Beloved. This is the best that I might ever be allowed to gift.

This week I leave you with one of my favourite quotes from Osho.

A man of peace is not a pacifist; a man of peace is simply a pool of silence.

He pulsates a new kind of energy into the world. He sings a new song. He lives in a totally new way. His very way of life is that of grace, that of prayer, that of compassion. Whomsoever he touches, he creates more love energy.

The man of peace is creative. He is not against war, because to be against anything is to be at war. He is not against war; he simply understands why war exists. And out of that understanding he becomes peaceful. Only when there are many people who are pools of peace, silence, understanding, will war disappear.

-- Osho

Blessings upon you and all those you love and do not love.

© Tony Cuckson 2005

Tony Cuckson is an Anam Cara. This Celtic term means "Soul Friend." He specializes in providing insight for the spiritual journey, Blessings for YOU, words of wisdom and finding inner peace. Visitors to Irish Blessings Matter website and Tony's Blog get the opportunity to develop a purpose driven life through articles, newsletters and other programs.

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