Pensive Introspection

Tonight, I found a copy of "Whispers of the Beloved" - a collection of Rumi's quatrains at a bookstore. I sat in my secluded spot in the kid's section and went through the whole book.

You know what love is?
It is all kindness and generosity
Disharmony prevails when you
Confuse lust with love, while
The distance between the two is endless.
- Rumi

The other book I'm reading is Murakami's "Sputnik Sweetheart". There's this quote from that book which keeps jumping at me:

No man should go through life without experiencing healthy, even bored solitude in the wilderness, finding himself depending solely on himself, thereby learning his true and hidden inner strength.
- The Lonesome Traveler, Jack Kerouc