Seeking Our Layla

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Qays ibn al-Mulawwah, better known as “Majnun”, wrote of Layla bint Mahdi, a thousand lines and more of love achingly beautiful.  Wandering the desert in a daze of despair, separation ate him to death.  O virgin love, he never forgot her.  But she married another.  Had he chosen the Beloved instead, never would he have known despair since there is no separation from the Immanent.  Are we not all Majnun seeking our Layla? 

In truth, people are looking for a glimpse of a reality that the heart knows, but the mind cannot yet conceive.  They assuage this unconscious yearning in relationships, in vices, in distractions, in fleeting pleasure.  And yet, it is found when one has been utterly broken such that the soul has no pretensions, no veils, no illusions of accomplishments.  When we stop looking at the reflection in the waters of the material world, we are able to look up, and see the Real that was always there.