BECAUSE IT'S SUNDAY: The Marvelous Garden

The Dervishes by Murat Oruc, originally uploaded by aleyna.

I've always been fascinated by Sufism for its emphasis on music, poetry and dancing (!) as a way to draw closer to the divine. In fact, it was a line from the Rumi Poem, "The Drunkards" that provided the name of my blog. Thus, I was particularly excited to find an excellent piece in today's Guardian on the Sufi poet and saint, Rumi. From it, I have drawn my Sunday inspiration:

Because God can best be reached through the gateway of the heart, Rumi believed you did not necessarily need ritual to get to him, and that the Divine is as accessible to Christians and Jews as to Muslims: "Love's creed is separate from all religions," he wrote. "The creed and denomination of lovers is God." All traditions are tolerated, because in the opinion of Rumi anyone is capable of expressing their love for God, and that transcends both religious associations and your place in the social order: "My religion," he wrote, "is to live through love."