The challenge of calligraphy is to be able to let the marker dance like a whirling dervish on the canvas. Move and turn, steered by the breathing of the cosmos. Let the ink robe spin around the surface of the canvas, let the words come to life, and the music shall never stop.

Here is The Religion of Love. My first calligraphy. I chose a poem of Ibn Arabi, the soufi poet. I think this verse can by itself save the world, these words, these letters could end the wars, the hatred, the torture, the human rights abuses, the suffering…, if only we could read…

My heart has become capable,
of every form.
It is a pasture for gazelles
and a convent for monks.
And a temple for idols, And the circulating-pilgrim’s Ka’ba
And the tables of the Torah
And the book of the Quran.
My religion is the religion of love:
whatever way Love’s caravan takes!
So love is my religion and my faith.