What is this surrendering to our fates and our designs besides a pile of words suggesting a vulnerability? To some of us, vulnerability is not a goal. To some of us being vulnerable is an invitation to grief and difficulty. And it's true. It IS an invitation to grief and drama and comedy and a rich, pulsating life of all stripes. So many of us are full up, thank you very much, of this life that arrives with wretched experiences. Some are damaged and determined to defend themselves in all ways. Many do not understand these experiences as an invitation to choose. Still, we know that limiting experiences limits life. We can get hooked on cancelling ourselves in the name of feeling overwhelmed.
It sounds so easy to just relax and let the current carry us to distant shores of experience but it isn't that simple, is it? It takes a kind of courage to let go of our fears and be vulnerable. A kind of disquietude settles upon us when we pass on an invitation and fight a flow of benevolence. There is no shame in this yet there is consequence as both are actions. We all vacillate back and forth to different degrees between being headstrong and being openhearted. Some of us have learned to recognize the price of being stubborn and circumspect and find that it is too expensive, prompting us to pay the price required - whatever the weight - that vulnerability asks. It seems counter intuitive but the heart gets stronger with surrendering to how delicious our experiences we are. So often life is an acquired taste. Learning to savor the variety is a skill.
Thank you for listening.
https://pixabay.com/music/world-desert-voices-11468/
Music: The chorus of this song floated up into my mind as I wrote this so, here you go.
Sweet surrender
Is all that I have to give
Sarah McLachlan singing Sweet Surrender. There is usually a conflict or a struggle before the surrender and it doesn't come easily but it does require us to make a choice before the heart will open to receive.
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.