Would It Not Be?
Many times I have been asked. What is it like to know the Truth?
And my answers have varied depending on who posed the question, but this one I have never quite said before,
and it is, To know the Truth is to be able to enjoy deeply anything, anything that can happen in this world.
For the one who knows the Truth knows all is perfect. But sometimes it is best I pretend as if it is not. Some words come to mind about this, they are:
There are wings that can applaud even the madness
but to it never add one’s own precious touch.
The seer can see any event as if it were the only
event that has ever happened in creation, or will happen.
Thus all appears miraculous, miraculous. Would
it then not?
I have decided (for now) to make my yearly readings follow a monthly theme. For October the theme will be “Hafiz on Life”.
His above poem reminds me of a quote from Dean Koontz, From the Corner of His Eye: “Not one day in anyone’s life is an uneventful day, no day without profound meaning, no matter how dull and boring it might seem, no matter whether you are a seamstress or a queen, a shoeshine boy, or a movie star, a renowned philosopher or a Down’s-syndrome child. Because in every day of your life, there are opportunities to perform little kindnesses for others, both by conscious acts of will and unconscious example. Each smallest act of kindness—even just words of hope when they are needed, the remembrance of a birthday, a compliment that engenders a smile—reverberates across great distances and spans of time, affecting lives unknown to the one whose generous spirit was the source of this good echo, because kindness is passed on and grows each time it’s passed, until a simple courtesy becomes an act of selfless courage years later and far away.”
So is this how we should look at life? That each moment is both miraculous and intricate? That every hour contains a critical life-force? That every minute contains thrilling possibilities? That every second contains the infinite? Can we choose to see life perfectly? To enjoy anything?
I’m not sure that is possible. To know, and moreover, to understand Hafiz’s “Truth”, I believe one would need to achieve some form of spiritual enlightenment. In this world, most of us are guilty of adding our “own precious touch” to everything. This is not necessarily a bad thing when it is used to help others, but as Hafiz questions, could we also do it when confronted with the madness (i.e. the troubling facets of the world)? If we are able to, then we have discovered his Truth.
Meanwhile, perhaps we should challenge ourselves to recognize the miraculous more often. To recognize that angels can walk among us. We will never know what form they’ll take. One day, a wise old man. The next day, a mentally retarded young girl. Yesterday, a homeless teenager. Tomorrow, the person you love. They whisper to our hearts, and they can remind us that we create our vision of the world, our Truth.
Many times I have been asked. What is it like to know the Truth?
And my answers have varied depending on who posed the question, but this one I have never quite said before,
and it is, To know the Truth is to be able to enjoy deeply anything, anything that can happen in this world.
For the one who knows the Truth knows all is perfect. But sometimes it is best I pretend as if it is not. Some words come to mind about this, they are:
There are wings that can applaud even the madness
but to it never add one’s own precious touch.
The seer can see any event as if it were the only
event that has ever happened in creation, or will happen.
Thus all appears miraculous, miraculous. Would
it then not?
I have decided (for now) to make my yearly readings follow a monthly theme. For October the theme will be “Hafiz on Life”.
His above poem reminds me of a quote from Dean Koontz, From the Corner of His Eye: “Not one day in anyone’s life is an uneventful day, no day without profound meaning, no matter how dull and boring it might seem, no matter whether you are a seamstress or a queen, a shoeshine boy, or a movie star, a renowned philosopher or a Down’s-syndrome child. Because in every day of your life, there are opportunities to perform little kindnesses for others, both by conscious acts of will and unconscious example. Each smallest act of kindness—even just words of hope when they are needed, the remembrance of a birthday, a compliment that engenders a smile—reverberates across great distances and spans of time, affecting lives unknown to the one whose generous spirit was the source of this good echo, because kindness is passed on and grows each time it’s passed, until a simple courtesy becomes an act of selfless courage years later and far away.”
So is this how we should look at life? That each moment is both miraculous and intricate? That every hour contains a critical life-force? That every minute contains thrilling possibilities? That every second contains the infinite? Can we choose to see life perfectly? To enjoy anything?
I’m not sure that is possible. To know, and moreover, to understand Hafiz’s “Truth”, I believe one would need to achieve some form of spiritual enlightenment. In this world, most of us are guilty of adding our “own precious touch” to everything. This is not necessarily a bad thing when it is used to help others, but as Hafiz questions, could we also do it when confronted with the madness (i.e. the troubling facets of the world)? If we are able to, then we have discovered his Truth.
Meanwhile, perhaps we should challenge ourselves to recognize the miraculous more often. To recognize that angels can walk among us. We will never know what form they’ll take. One day, a wise old man. The next day, a mentally retarded young girl. Yesterday, a homeless teenager. Tomorrow, the person you love. They whisper to our hearts, and they can remind us that we create our vision of the world, our Truth.
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