Hafiz speaks here about the need to understand that there are no short cuts to a spiritual life or to better understanding of our life and how we are in the world. No one is going to carry us there and deliver us. Even if we did find someone willing outside of ourselves to barter with, we would not have what we need when we arrived to utilize what we have found. We would have had to have given what we needed of ourselves to another for the ride that we engaged.
We have both male and female energies within us that need to be recognized, whether we are partnered in this way or not, seeing, valuing and living our inner male and female energies is our personal responsibility. Each yin and yang energy has an individual experience and perception of our spiritual natures. It is a dance that takes place within us that aligns us to our genuine natural celestial rhythm to live a full and engaging life. When Hafiz writes:
Women sometimes pronounce the word God
A little differently:
They can use more feeling and skill
With the heart-lute.
I think he is referring to the difference in how our female energies perceive and and employ spirit. If we are not attuned to valuing this, we lose half of what is necessary to envision what is actually here in reality.
We have every minute of every day with just the right amount of life in it to clarify our experiences and live fully...if we open to it.
Thank you for listening.
music: https://pixabay.com/music/world-arabic-sadness-13404/
Music: John Lennon and The Plastic Ono Band, Watching the Wheels. John Lennon showed all of us many things in his career as an artist but nothing strikes as profoundly to me than his willingness to proudly wear and stand by his feminine side and embrace it. These home films in this video show this in astounding clarity. When this was filmed, it was not common in American culture for a father to fuss over and interact with his small children. I can remember being taken aback when I first saw a man pushing a baby stroller alone up a street by himself in the 1970's. This was shocking to me because men "just didn't do that girlie stuff" at that time - certainly not where another male may witness it. Anything to do with child care was not considered manly. It just, in general, was not done before that time in the USA. We have come a long way and we've a long way to go yet to recover these long suppressed appreciations for what is within all of us for nurturing, compassion and understanding. I watch this and my heart fills with a bittersweet feeling. I miss John walking still among us and teaching us.
The original post in this series of poems by Hafiz (including an addendum regarding the authenticity of these poems) can be found here.
The Gift: Poems by Hafiz and translated by Daniel Ladinsky can be purchased here.