February 13, 2026

How the Sufi Core Tennantsts Resonate, 

In and Throughout My Truths

With Kahlil Gibran Dissertation On Love from The Prophet (below) 

“The minute I heard my first love story,
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.
Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.
They’re in each other all along.”
-Rumi

 Key aspects of this philosophy include:

The Power of Opposites: Progress in life and faith comes from confronting opposing forces, not from stability or similarity.

Inner Integration: Every individual contains both the believer and the nonbeliever, the good and the bad, the creative and the stagnant.

Gradual Faith: True faith is a journey that necessitates acknowledging and integrating its opposite (disbelief). 

Shams of Tabriz teaches that to reach enlightenment, one must embrace all facets of themselves rather than suppressing their contradictions.

Parker J Palmer 

Today is a good time to remind ourselves that — in places around this country and around the world — people wake up empty and frightened every day because of the non-stop violence in their lives. Our hearts must go out to them.

As we grieve terrible events — and do what we can to make our families, neighborhoods, communities, nation, and planet a safe place for all beings — it is equally important to celebrate the beauty of life and express our gratitude for it.

So today, I am asking myself this question: This day, and every day, what might it mean for me to “kneel and kiss the ground”?

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty

and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study

and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.

There are a hundred ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

— Rumi

Kahlil Gibran On Love

From The Prophet 

Then said Almitra, Speak to us of Love.

And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them. And with a great voice he said :

When love beckons to you, follow him,

Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him,

Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.

And when he speaks to you believe in him,

Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,

So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.

He threshes you to make you naked.

He sifts you to free you from your husks.

He grinds you to whiteness.

He kneads you until you are pliant;

And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life’s heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure,

Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing-floor,

Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love possesses not nor would it be pos¬ sessed;

For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, “God is in my heart,” but rather, “I am in the heart of God.”

And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfil it¬ self.

But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires : *

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tender¬ ness.

To be wounded by your own under¬ standing of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstacy;

To return home at eventide with grati¬ tude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.