If You Want To Learn… Poem by Ray Lucero

If you want to learn theory
Talk with a theoretician
This way is oral

If you want to learn a craft
Practice
Learning comes through the hands

If you want austerity, physical poverty
Emptiness, befriend corruption

Practice and talk about such things won’t help
A Seeker receives from a knowing soul

The mystery of spiritual emptiness
May be living in the heart of a Saint
But he may not yet understand

He must wait for the openness of illumination
As if his chest were filling with Light

Do not look outside yourself
Do not ask for water from a tiny puddle
Do not walk around with an empty bucket
There is an ocean inside of you
You have access to this vast Ocean

Expand your heart
Expand your love
Ever sure
He is with you

ROTMS

(Dedicated to the brilliance of Rumi)