To be deeply religious is to be scrupulously faithful and conscientious. To do this with the sadness that passes through our lives far beyond its use to heal and reveal is to be addicted to sorrow. Our feelings are true and they require tending but they can, too, become a well worn path via a narrative we adopt and overly identify with. To maintain this we are required to always step aside to accommodate the narrative as the world spins on beyond our experience. The narrative demands that we live in the past while the present runs on to the sea like a life sustaining river. Hafiz advises us to be careful of this kind of worship; be careful about making suffering the foundation of our faith.
Thank you for listening.
Music: Serena Ryder and William Prince testify to this life sustaining river that runs through our lives.
I heard that they call it the river of tears
but it just feels like water to me...
Music: This is an old favorite from back-in-the-day by The Pretenders. Hynde sings it plain here in Stop Your Sobbing. When we're done with our grieving, we can live with endings in a way that feeds a presence that honors but doesn't fix us into our past. If our faith is not supporting us living our best life unfolding before us, we might consider finding allegiance to what will.
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.