Ripening Fruit

It is difficult to speak to your unripeness.

You may still be in your springtime,

unaware that autumn exists.

This world is a tree to which we cling----

we, the half-ripe fruit upon it.

 

The immature fruit clings tightly to the branch

because, not yet ripe, it's unfit for the palace.

When fruits become ripe, sweet, and juicy,

then, biting their lips,

they loosen their hold.

 

When the mouth has been sweetened by intense happiness,

the kingdom of the world loses it's appeal.

To be tightly attached to the world is immaturity. 

                                                                                           from Ripened Fruit by Rumi 

As incessant as the tide is what grows us. This life is our incubator, practice field, dojo, humus, and nest. Sometimes growing hurts, sometimes it’s an adventure. You will know it is happening, when you notice you are not what you used to be.  Some call it human plasticity, some amazing adaptability, some Karma, some aging, some are just silent, overwhelmed by ripening awe. Each of us, passing so quickly, becomes something that is naturally consumed. It isn’t what we intend — it is what we are — fruit for evolution, the Universe’s divinity.

There isn’t anything to do. There isn’t anything to not do. The sun of providence is always shining, quickening the inner impulse, delivering our unique taste. Urgent sweat, or relaxed confidence, gets us just as far. Gravity pulls us all into shape. The orbit of inevitability runs equally through all our mysterious lives.

We notice the tide goes in and out. So, do we. Ripening can be deceptive. It can look, and feel, like it’s opposite. Sometimes being thwarted is maturing. Life is a thrill ride — that manufactures unexpected beauty and poignant taste. The ripening one’s, the wrinkled, stooped, and memoryless — remind us all of where we are headed —  and of the great good fortune that awaits us. Ripening is a good thing to be up to. The Universe gets to expand through us.

Your nutritional value isn’t up to you either. It is a product of your being. Stretch out and become yourself. The palace is waiting.