readings…

Lately, to counter an almost inundated barrage of information I have to process, do, strategize, and delegate to; I try to read other things in “my time”. That space of time I dedicate exclusively to myself- to the exclusion of even my dear and lovable hubby! He has his own “my time” that we set up years ago because otherwise our lives would truly be work, kids, home, marriage responsibilities, etc. The individuals that we are would fade and that was a scary prospect to say the least.

So we headed to a therapist early in our marriage to help us develop solid coping skills, and tools to help us move forward- continuously as a result renewing our union. But we are human, and to err is most definitely human- so once in a while when the fabric of our lives starts to bleed one into the other we renew those skills and stick to our ‘my time’ with determination.

The books I have been re reading range from C G Jung, to Thomas Moore, to Robert Gerzon, to Mark Epstein, to Rumi, Hafiz, and Hamza Yusuf with his book Purification of the Heart. I have found that all talk about the Soul, Beginner’s Mind, and Fitra. All have different terminology, all come from different ‘religious’ traditions- but all speak to the one thing that we have that is endless, enormous, and with a capacity to help us life full, solid lives. Our Soul.

Being Muslim has never stopped me from reading the insights other religions offer. I have always encouraged my children because it breeds tolerance towards others. Mine isn’t better than yours. Mine is mine, and Yours is yours. Why because I feel secure in my faith that is based on spirituality and not on dogma. Gotten me into hot water for sure- but hasn’t shaken who I believe myself to be- Allah Knowing better than I.

This has allowed me to read with an open mind. And the expansion in me is worth every moment I spend solidifying my core beliefs. It most definitely helps with the stress of daily life- which everyone deals with at varying degrees. But it has also helped me view, say a diamond from each of its facets. None less than the other, all equally brilliant. And when ‘my time’ is over and I get back to the daily world, I come into it much more serene. Less knee jerk reactions- though it hasn’t stopped me from occasionally suffering from ‘foot in mouth’ syndrome! LOL

Hafiz… Everywhere

Running

Through the streets

Screaming,

Throwing rocks through windows,

Using my own head to ring

Great bells,

Pulling out my hair,

Tearing off my clothes,

Tying everything I own

To a stick,

And setting in on

Fire.

What else can Hafiz do tonight

To celebrate the madness,

The joy,

Of seeing God

Everywhere!

Hafiz… I rain

I rain

Because your meadows call

For God.

I weave light into words so that

When you mind holds them

Your eyes will relinquish their sadness,

Turn bright, a little brighter, giving to us

The way a candle does

To the dark.

I have wrapped my laughter like a birthday gift

And left it beside your bed.

I have planned the wisdom in my heart

Next to every signpost in the sky.

A wealthy man

Often becomes eccentric,

A divine crazed soul

Is transformed to infinite generosity

Tying gold sacks of gratuity

To the dangling feet of moons, planets, ecstatic

Midair dervishes, and singing birds.

I speak

Because every cell in your body

Is reaching out

For God.

Hafiz… You’re it

God

Disguised

As a myraid things and

Playing a game

Of tag

Has kissed you and said,

“You’re it–

“I mean, you’re Really IT!”

Now

It does not matter

What you believe or feel

For something wonderful,

Major-league Wonderful

Is someday going

to

Happen.

Hafiz…This sane idea

Let your

Intelligence begin to rule

Whenever you sit with others

Using this sane idea:

Leave all your cocked guns in a field

Far from us,

One of those damn things

Might go

Off.

Hafiz…

Hafiz of Shiraz was born Shams-ud-din Muhammad (c.1320-1389) and lived approximately at the same time as Chaucer in England, and about 100 years after Rumi. Most in the West know Hafiz through Goethe and Ralph Waldo Emerson who translated Hafiz in the 19th Century. The Translations of Hafiz that I will quote come from Daniel Ladinsky of St. Louis, Missouri. “The voice of the river that has emptied into the Ocean, Now laughs and sings just like God.”  Enjoy…

Startled By God

Not like

A lone beautiful bird

These poems now rise in great white flocks

Against my mind’s vast hills

Startled by God

Breaking a branch

When His foot

Touches

Earth

Near

Me.

Rumi…Love is reckless

Love is reckless; not reason.

Reason seeks a profit.

Love comes on strong, consuming herself, unabashed.

Yet, in the midst of suffering,

Love proceeds like a millstone,

hard surfaced and straightforward.

Having died to self-interest,

she risks everything and asks for nothing.

Love gambles away every gift God bestows.

Without cause God gave us Being;

without cause, give it back again.

Gambling yourself away is beyond any religion.

Religion seeks grace and favor,

but those who gamble these away are God’s favorites,

for they neither put God to the test

nor knock at the door of gain and loss.

Translated by Kabir Helminski, Mathnawi VI

Rumi… The War Inside

Rest your cheek, for a moment,

on this drunken cheek.

Let me forget the war and cruelty inside myself,

I hold these silver coins in my hand;

give me Your wine of golden light.

You have opened the seven doors of heaven;

now lay Your hand generously on my tightened heart,

All I have to offer is this illusion, my self.

Give it a nickname at least that is real.

Only you can restore what You have broken;

help my broken head.

I’m not asking for some sweet pistachio candy,

but Your everlasting love.

Fifty times I’ve said,

“Heart, stop hunting and step into this net.”

Translated by Kabir Hlminski, Love is a Stranger

Rumi.. From Ibrahim, son of adham

Already,

Don’t you rush toward the garden?

That garden that contains the joy you seek.

Already, don’t you clear the way?

Smell that fragrance,

Seducing your soul.

You only need so little,

Let the scent draw your soul,

Make that scent the light of your eyes.

Cast this light on everyone you see,

Like prayer and ritual take this light

To all the senses that are linked together.

All grown from a single root.

Each giving strength to the other,

Each bringing sustenance to all.

Seeing with the eye increases the word,

As the word makes the eye more sharp.

The sharp eye makes sharper wit,

And all that senses grow.

Translation by Dunn, Dunn Mascetti and Nicholson, The Mathnawi

The Illustrated Rumi- A Treasury of Wisdom from the Poet of the Soul

rumi…buy me from my words

Before now I wanted

to be paid for what I said,

but now I need you

to buy me from my words.

The idols I used to carve

charmed everyone. Now I’m drunk

on Abraham and tired of idols.

An idol with no color or scent

ended my whole career.

Find someone else for the job.

A happy madman wihout thought,

I have swept the shop clean.

If something enters my mind,

I say, “Leave. You’re a distraction.”

Whatever is coarse and heavy, I destroy.

Who should be with Layla?

Someone who can be Majnun.

The man holding up this waving flag

actually belongs to the other side.

Translated by Kabir Helmiski, Love is a Stranger