Dear Tom:
Sufi mystic Rumi says that life is cooking us, and we resist because we don’t know our purpose in Life — the meal that is being prepared. In Rumi’s view, the whole world is involved in transformation. We are being cooked so we can be transformed into something better.
Suzy’s described me before my transplant by saying I was like the frog in boiling water. I had jumped into the pot when the water was cold, and is it slowly heated up to a boil, yet I was oblivious that I was being cooked. I was getting sicker and sicker, but had no idea that I was any different.
Now I have been given this new opportunity, but how do I make sure I am transformed into something better? Many of us find it easier to deal with failure than with success. Outward success can be so seductive that we know subconsciously we can be easily led astray and do something foolish. So we just as soon not try. Our lack of self-esteem gets in the way of accomplishment.
Rumi gives us a clue to how we go forward as opposed to just keeping to ourselves. He says don’t dwell on the self you think you are. Instead concentrate on that place within you where you find stability and feel evidence of God. It is in that place you will find the beginnings of your transformation.
Your friend,
Webb
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