In my soul there is a temple --- Sufi mystic Rabia al Basri

“In my soul there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque, a church where I kneel.

Prayer should bring us to an altar where no walls or names exist.

Is there not a region of love

where the sovereignty is illumined nothing,

where ecstasy gets poured into itself and becomes lost,

where the wing is fully alive but has no mind or body?

In my soul there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque, a church

that dissolve, that dissolve in God.

By Rabia of Basra (c. 717-801)

who is considered the most popular and influential female Muslim saint in the Sufi tradition.

Born nearly 500 years before Maulana Jalaludin Rumi,

she - perhaps more than any other poet - is said to have influenced his writing.

This poem has come via Jessica Morrison on Facebook

And from Lyndon Marcotte’s blog, InHabitude

Zen and the art of social movement maintenance

Prayer, Meditation, Mindfulness.  What have these to do with social justice?  What have these to do with penetrating and  putting right the structural wrongs of society?

From the Christian tradition we can take a look at Jesus himself, move forward to the seventeenth century and Quakers, and into the twentieth century where we can find that notable mystic and anti-war activist, Thomas Merton. At this point, it seems good to ask that readers contact Beyond The Creek with people of mindfulness/mysticism who were/are also social justice activists.

The title of the story is, for those too young to recall, a pun.


At the event tweeted above, Angela Davis asked Jon Kabat-Zinn a question:

In a racially unjust world what good is mindfulness?

The most interesting and illuminating response can be found here.

I am indebted to my Friend, Dale Hess who is a Quaker, for the provision of this article.

A Memory

In 1985, I attended the UN Women's Forum in Nairobi, Kenya.

Angela Davis - at the height of controversy in her life and career -

turned up.

Not for Angela a formal speaking platform or workshop.  No!

I have a fond memory of sitting on the grass at the Nairobi University

below a knoll on top of which Angela Davis stood and spoke to us.

I can't recall what she said - only how I felt.

I felt amazed to be in the presence of a great mind - 

a mind clear, trained, incisive.

For a girl from a remote northern town, this was a wonder!

Prayer ... in the lowest depths of need - Julian of Norwich

1.  Retweeted by Daniel Hill

   lynne hybels ‏@lynnehybels  13h

   "The best prayer is to rest in the goodness of God, knowing that (it) can reach right down to our lowest depths of need." Julian of Norwich

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