To be an authentic individual one needs to volunteer. That step seems on the surface to be an obvious and easy thing to do as we appear to ourselves as separate from everyone else. For most people it is not easy in practice, however. We are so oriented into being what is expected of us that, for many, it never even occurs to us to be otherwise. This poem is for those who want to know themselves and live from a full sense of who they are. It is for those who have an interest in interacting with the world consciously, sincerely and with an open heart. It is for those who want to know more and be involved. It is for those who find themselves in the wrong trousers.
To walk through this world with curiosity requires at kind of vulnerability and bravery. Hafiz suggests we melt down our idea of a heroic courage and wage love by awkwardly stepping outside our comfort zone. Can we risk ourselves forward into the world to love those who we have yet to love; those we need to better understand and to share what is of great value within us to share?
Thank you for listening.
https://pixabay.com/music/id-109186
Video: Blind Faith is a band that was popular from my teen years. It was a time that was richly steeped in rock and roll and popular culture. This song, Can't Find My Way Home was my first introduction to the idea that I might be lost, too. It was an awakening that this 'home' that was being sought had less to do with the physical world as it did with the spiritual. When I was young I confused this "home" with romantic relationships and drug induced "other realms" but I came around eventually. Not all who wander are lost, as it turns out, but all who step into their authentic lives require the courage to hazard being lost.
Come down off your throne and leave your body alone
Somebody must change
You are the reason I've been waiting so long
Somebody holds the key
The original post in this series of poems by Hafiz (including an addendum regarding the authenticity of these poems) can be found here. Also, my thoughts on this series a year into these poems, HERE.
The Gift: Poems by Hafiz and translated by Daniel Ladinsky can be purchased here.
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