We cannot alone see who we really are. This is in part because we are not able to see who we really are nor can others. We see what we think we are. Alot of what we think we see in ourselves and others depends upon the connections we have esablished and the unconscious parameters established around the relationship with the self and our loves...soul contracts, for instance. Sometimes we find ourselves in relationships with people who reflect parts of us that are too hard for us to recognize in ourselves. We find that they are in our lives to help us see what we need to see so we can choose. Many times this is not welcome and there is contention but, ideally, there is growth and a fertility of spirit is exposed to take seed and grow.
Finding that center of ourselves where we recognise that we are unrecognizable is sort of a sweet spot of living peacefully on earth. Hell is always seeking ouselves in another's idea of who we are and living in constant reaction to what is happening around us. The latter is polarizing and granted an exceeding amount of value to percieved reality for most people.
In this poem, Hafiz emphasizes the illusion we carry of wanting to see ourselves in others as actually wanting to see what is love within ourselves.
Thank you for listening.
Music: One of the most difficult things to understand about reflections is when we project an expectation upon another in intimate relationships. It can get pretty sticky when these projections and expectations of others behaviors are revealed as reflections of parts of ourselves that we are unwilling to deal with and accept. This is the home of bitterness and resentment. This is the room where the unwelcome parts of ourselves live. Sadly, often it is located in the chamber of a heart of a beloved leaving confusion, pain and blame. We are learning, ever-so-slowly and sometimes painfully how these mechanisms show up in our lives. We are all a work in progress with different skill sets avaialble at different times of our lives to work these things out. Back in the 1960's these issues surfaced for examination for a generation and became relatable hit songs as in this Motown favorite by Diana Ross and The Supremes, Reflections. We know more now about human relationships sixty years down the line. We know that love is often a medicine that finds our disease, at times before we even know it exists. This is often how romance was experieinced back then.
photo Mirror Reflection by Gëzim Fazliu
For those who enjoyed that taste and want more there is a Motown Jam, here.
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.
My book can be purchased HERE. E-book HERE. The Season Two blogcasts with audio excerpts from my book begin HERE: in Behind The Lines. This reading of the book excerpts in a mixed media format is Season Two of this blog. These recorded excerpts are outside the chronological order in which the book was written. Podcasts with audio only beginning with episode 22 can be found HERE.
留言