In much of the world the year is marked by four distinct seasons, and each season has its own particular work, outwardly and inwardly as well.  Spring is a time of green beginnings, of tenderness and innocence together with tremendous energy and hope.  The Summer, where we stand now, is the time when all the growth of Spring can take advantage of the warmth and light of long days to accomplish that for which it was created.  It is also the time when people may have some leisure for ‘re-creation,’ and with that in mind one group in our wide-spread Sufi family recently asked for a ‘Summer task,’ something to work with on the inner planes while their regular meetings are suspended for a couple of months.

There is a sentence in the Nature Meditations that is worth examining; it is easy to remember, it can be co-ordinated with the breath, and although it looks rather straightforward in its meaning, if we spend much time with it it will take us to the very foundations of spirituality.  The phrase is:
O Knower of my heart,
Fulfil my desires.

A possible way of working with this phrase would be to repeat it a number of times aloud in the morning, and then place it upon the breath, inhaling the meaning of the first part of the sentence and exhaling the meaning of the second part.  This attunement of the breath to the phrase could be something to return to through the day, whenever there is time: waiting for the train or sitting in a park, for example.  If one is walking slowly, it can also be co-ordinated with the steps, placing the first part of the phrase on the left step and the second part on the right.

Of course, the more we think about this phrase, the more we are confronted with the question: what do I really desire?  It is not ‘unspiritual” to desire; on the contrary, desire is a natural part of the flow of Life, but we must be aware of the science of desiring or our longing will remain unfulfilled.  The power of desire depends upon singleness of focus; if our desire is scattered over many different goals, or if we change from one desire to another to another, the result is never satisfactory.   We might think of the fairy stories, in which the hero is given just three wishes, and usually wastes the first two; if, like the fairy tale fool, we waste our power of wishing, in the end we will have nothing.

Another aspect of the practice is this: to discover ourselves whatever longing is hidden  in our heart.  The heart is the depth of our consciousness, but often we are being tossed about by the waves on the surface–in the mind, in other words.  Unavoidably there is confusion in our life when the mind tries to go in one direction while the silent current of the heart is urging us in another.

Like the trees in the orchard, like the flowers in the garden, we have been planted here for some purpose. Speaking each day with our Creator, opening our hearts to the Gardener Who sowed us, is a fine way to ripen and prepare for the inevitable days of harvest.