learn all the rules

I created my destiny sometime ago. Exactly when is a subject of heated debate between those who presume to be experts about religion or spirituality. It has been my experience that experts know nothing. Anyone who goes outside of themselves to learn about what is outside of themselves is, sadly, just being distracted.

I began to read a book by Pico Ayer, Abandon. In it, there is a professor of Religious Studies (an expert on Sufism) who commented "you have to learn all the rules, and then throw them out the window." I liked that. The rest of it I didn't like. For here I had a group of highly intelligent men in this elite circle of Religious Studies, esoterically atempting to find the secret to illumination, ecstasy, and love. It could have been laughable, but it was actually saddening. I hurt when reading that they are picking apart Rumi's poems, rather then living them. How can you read those poems and not feel an impulse to really live? Is it just me?

I feel lonely when I read books like that. Later I'll remember to listen to the whispers of my Heart, and hope that soon they will become the only thing I hear.