Higher education. We are raised to believe and, as infants, it is confirmed constantly that we are not the most powerful embodiment in the room. There is something about this orientation that is given to comfort in continuing to design our realities in this construct that says, "I am just here on this earth, in this body to do the bidding of those more powerful."
This absurd foundation of rationalization is not conscious. If it was, well, there would be questions when one reaches adulthood, right? No. This is the foundation and the framework that we are oriented to and - except for the few who fall out, are pushed out, raised exceptionally, or awaken to a curiosity - this is the familiar construct we all gather and group to bond with for our entire lives.
Hafiz is speaking here about an advanced curriculum; a higher education as a kind of higher consciousness. He is suggesting that there is a knowing that we have - if not a hand, a whole mind, body and soul involved - in our destinies. This world is functional by our being with it - not reacting to it. It is uncomfortable for people to recognize that they are the creator in anything outside of a craft project or some tangible manifestation that holds some kind of a fixed dimentionality. It is so much easier to default to a separate entity that dictates our greatest good and by which we are judged. There is enough truth in the higher power trope to keep it a working belief system for many people. This is fine and good.
There is another layer to all of this, however. The joke, the curve, the stinger or the saving grace (as Hafiz suggests) is that we ourselves are the actual higher power maintaining a higher vibration. We are the person behind the curtain, the puppet master. All the joys, sorrows, trials, and tribulations are of our own design. We are not born into this knowledge. There is a large faction of human beings who'll hear none of it and for good reason: murder, rape, terrorism, molestation, torture and all the subsequent traumas of these tragedies, to name just a few. These are human tragedies that many will never admit to being privy to or having any responsibility for. To this, it might be recognized, that awareness is on a spectrum. There is no escaping the need to recognize the pain of violation. One must stand in that as if on fire to recognize and respect it in a life. There is no true healing without it. It may take thirty minutes; it may take thirty years or a lifetime. Our body's experience and those of others needs to be witnessed as valuable and that value is validated by expressing its involvement as authentic. One comes to understanding one's own hand in their life lessons in stages. Some will not come to this at all in a life. That, too, is part of how evolution works.
Thank you for listening.
Music: I've had this saved for awhile. One thing about being empowered as a creator is the responsibility that carries. Our thoughts carry energy that travels as Willie Nelson sings about here and we require a discipline around that. To yammer about assuming no consequence is like running with scissors. Someone is going to get hurt. Some of that discipline comes with age and experience in recognizing how we are actually very powerful with the thoughts we project whether we are aware of it or not. That's how prayer works. It is also how hating works and we may want to reconsider that kind of tangle in feeding that beast.
Your mind is in control
Even when you do not know
And if you let it idle
Ain't no telling where it'll go
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.