A Lover's Tale

One day, one of God’s lovers goes to the home of his shaikh.  The shaikh begins to speak to him about love.  Little by little, as the shaikh speaks, the lover begins to melt, becoming more and more subtle until he just flows like a trickling stream.  His whole physical being dissolved in front of the shaikh, until there was nothing but some water on the floor.
                Just then a friend of the shaikh enters the room and asks, “Where is that fellow who just arrived?”  The shaikh points to the water on the floor and says, “That man is that water.”
               This kind of melting is as astonishing transformation of state.  The man lost his density in such a way that he became what he originally was: a drop of liquid.  Originally he had arrived at human form from water, for as God has said: “We created all of life from water.”
               This lover merely returned to his original essence, the water that is the source of life.  And so we may draw the following conclusion: A lover is that being by whom everything is brought to life.
A story attributed to Shaikh Ibn al-Arabi,  as told by Kabir Helminski in The Knowing Heart.

I read this story and broke down in tears and as I mopped my face dry a whole new appreciation for what tears represent came to mind.  They reflect our opening to our true essence, our Beingness, our Love.
And immediately a song arose from somewhere deep in memory, just this fragment, out of context and yet so fitting:
We lay down and wept
And wept for thee Zion
We remember, thee remember
Thee remember, thee Zion

There was grieving heartbreak and yet there seemed to be some hope within the song, which to my surprise was sourced not in psalm but rather science fiction and American Pie.

 

And after humming for some time another classic came to mind regarding love and water, evil and melting:  I’m melting!  I’m melting!  ... Who would have thought a good little girl like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness!

Yes, who would have thought?  Enjoy your tears and melting heart... 'cause we are each our own wicked witch and we do not die so much as melt back into our original essence.