Speaking with a Group

Speaking with a Group

与群体交谈

在鲁米《训诫集》第十篇开头讲述了一个故事，我常常回味这个故事想要传达的深意。一位政府官员，前来拜访鲁米的父亲巴哈乌丁。巴哈乌丁对他说，他本不该如此大费周章。“我会经历各种各样的状态，”他接着说道，“在一种状态下我能与人交谈，而在另一种状态下我则沉默不语。在一种状态下，我能聆听他人生活中的故事并做出回应。在另一种状态下，我会把自己关在屋里，不见任何人。还有一种状态下，我会心烦意乱至极，沉浸在冥想中，根本无法与人交流。你贸然前来碰运气，指望我可能心情好且能与人交谈，这太冒险了。”

我很欣赏这样一种观点，即巴哈乌丁无法控制那些状态。它们就像天气一样变幻无常。在他这种顺其自然的生活中，如果内心的状态合适，他就可以走出来提供建议、解答疑问，为朋友们做些有益的事。否则，那就闭门谢客。他要与自己那无比专横的灵魂一起静修。在我看来，对于一位塑造灵魂的艺术家而言，这是合情合理的行为。毕加索、乔治亚·欧姬芙、柯勒律治、梵高、贝多芬，不要去打扰他们充满灵感的独处时光。
There's an incident told in Rumi's Discourses at the beginning of#10 that I keep returning to for what it's trying to show. A government official,comes to visit Rumis father, Bahauddin. Bahauddin tells him he should not have gone to such trouble. "I am subject to various states,"he continues. "In one state I can speak and in another I do not speak.In one state I can listen to the stories of other lives and respond to them. In another I withdraw to my room and see no one. In yet another I am utterly distraught, absorbed, unable to communicate at all. It's too risky for you to come here on the chance I might be amiable and able to have conversation."
I love the assumption that Bahauddin is not in control of those states. They wash over like weather. In his life, if the inner weather is right,he can come out and give counsel, attend to questions, and do some good for his friends.Otherwise, it's close the door. He's on retreat with his outrageously imperious soul. This has seemed to me justified behavior in a soul-making artist. Picasso,Georgia O'Keefe,Coleridge van Gogh,Beethoven. Don't interrupt their inspired solitudes.