Rumi-natin

I bring our conversations home with me. Even before I get home, I'm replaying the scene, figuring out what I really wanted to say. We blog, so I can share (and it's no longer psychosis).

We have been focusing on the verbal and behavioral presence of the workshop. I'm thinking that the written exchange - and comment - is just as much a conversation, or should be. A conversation about, in and through the work.

The very word submission shows the author's perceived position in the exchange. That could be due to our view of the process, as a machine, where the writer shoves something in one side, and the classmates shove something in the other, and what comes out is some finished product with a slim chance of being useful. The writer takes these handful of products home, decides which ones are junk, or decides that her piece is junk, neither of which help the piece, or the writer.

But if these written comments are part of a conversation, with the piece and the writer, they are no longer static, no longer judgmental weight. They are fluid, and likely to change with more information; the writer can engage with them, seek clarification or test a solution, because the sources are accessible. The comments are for revelation - both in the uncovering and the sparking of thought.

The presence of the piece can be acknowledged as a member of the thought exchange. If the comments are fluid, the piece is also. Neither are etched in stone, unwavering, judging and judged. It's just us talking while we're polishing and trying new things, getting smarter and developing our skills with each exchange pursued, as long as there are questions and thoughts to drive it. Until the work declares "I'm Done."


[The general theme of Rumi's thought, like that of other mystic and Sufi poets of Persian literature, is essentially that of the concept of tawhīd – union with his beloved (the primal root) from which/whom he has been cut off and become aloof – and his longing and desire to restore it.[citation needed]]