What is it to know what we know? How many stand outside themselves and wonder of their own thinking processes? Who are we talking to when we talk to ourselves? Which parts of our self are present in these conversations? This poem reminds me of that old adage that talks about how a fish cannot know water because the fish believes that it is the water. Does this make the fish untrue? As s human with free will, don't we have a responsibility to inquire within ourselves when we are aware there is a separation?
It is only through separations that we can know this perspective and as humans we have the ability to separate from the divine in ourselves and apply free will. We have the ability to wonder how we are deeply involved in sustaining each other. We have the ability to recognize our connectedness to each other. This is the teaching.
...I know I was the water,
I know I was the food and the water that nourished Him -
That went into our Beloved's mouth...
Thank you for listening.
Music: The band Franz Ferdinand sings, Always Ascending, as an anthem for change. It is from the album of the same name and it is about becoming the change that one needs to live authentically and empowered, basically. We are feeding and watering each other as we change into the selves we wish ourselves to be. I listened to this album often as I was writing my book. It stabilized me through the rough bits.
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.
My book can be purchased HERE. E-book HERE. The Season Two blogcasts with audio excerpts from my book begin HERE: in Behind The Lines. This reading of the book excerpts in a mixed media format is Season Two of this blog. These recorded excerpts are outside the chronological order in which the book was written. Podcasts with audio only beginning with episode 22 can be found HERE.
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