In this episode we are on to the second chapter of The Gift by Hafiz. I read this first poem and I'm reminded of Kurt Cobain's lyric from All Apologies
What else should I be? All apologies
What else could I say? Everyone is gay
What else could I write? I don't have the right
What else should I be? All apologies
There comes a juncture, and I think the younger among us might understand this better than we do with our fixed orientation towards gender that we have been raised with, that in loving there is so very little involved regarding sex and gender. Perhaps they are born with a more complex sense of what love and attraction actually are beyond romance. Likewise, religion. What does loving have to do with religion beyond distorting what is a pure energetic flow to be contorted into a palatable (and sadly, malleable) mash of edicts for people to employ? Well, we all needed guidance and permission at one time but, I think, the time has come to leave people to their own heartfelt discretion in spiritual and relationship matters without apology. We are equipped. We can get to love from here by cultivating instinct and intuition; by elevating and developing the feminine energy within us all.
Thank you for listening.
We have an idea of reality that we trust daily to hold us in its center. We have this reality in a combination of what we are taught, our experiences, and what has worked to navigate us through our lives. Hafiz is inviting us to realize that this is truly just an idea of reality and that there is a vast horizon of alternative places to center our awareness and our experiences. There are other places to stand to understand better a world that can embrace a more benevolent and compassionate lifestyle if we want to invite ourselves to enjoy the once rarefied air beyond religion and our idea of our identity.
Music: This song has always meant so much to me with my having experienced a spiritual emergence when I was young. It surfaces now and again to remind me - as I do still need to be reminded - that I am part of a larger engagement of life that requires I try and keep apace in my perspective. The song truly captures a hint of the drama and ecstasy of such an overwhelming, life altering and affirming experience. While that cannot be thoroughly described with our crude tools in this dulled and laden life, this song - like Hafiz' poetry - can sneak around and tap on the doors of perception like a memo.
The original post in this series of poems by Hafiz can be found here.
The Gift: Poems by Hafiz and translated by Daniel Ladinsky can be purchased here.