I Have Come into This World to See This

I prepared a blog post for today. I was going to wake up this morning, tweak it a bit, and send it out. Instead I woke up with heavy thoughts swirling around in my mind that would not let me go. Much has happened in our world since my last post; the attack in Paris, people upset that attacks in other places were ignored, opinions and debates over Syrian refugees.

Maybe our world really hasn’t changed that much in a week, but certainly our awareness of it has. But this is a spiritual blog and not a political blog, so what does my voice have to offer these events? The last thing I want to do is say anything that will pull us farther apart than we already are. Divisiveness is exactly the opposite of who I am as a Spiritual being, as I feel connected to all humans on this planet, even when we see the world so differently. So I’ve decided not to use my own words at all.

Instead I am posting the words of a 14th century poet named Hafiz which express my feelings about all that is happening in our world today. The first time I read this poem, I knew I had found a kindred spirit, separated only by seven centuries. The world really has not changed much since Hafiz’s time.

Although he mentions Christ in this poem, you do not need to be a Christian to “get” it. Hafiz himself was Muslim. Marianne Williamson, who is Jewish, explains in her book, A Return to Love, that we all have access to the Christ mind, the Divine love and connection that flows through all of us. I pray for a day when we will all feel that connection.

I Have Come into This World to See This

I have come into this world to see this:

the sword drop from men’s hands even at the height

of their arc of anger

because we have finally realized there is just one flesh to wound

and it is His – the Christ’s, our

Beloved’s.

I have come into this world to see this: all creatures hold hands as

we pass through this miraculous existence we share on the way

to even a greater being of soul,

a being of just ecstatic light, forever entwined and at play

with Him.

I have come into this world to hear this:

every song the earth has sung since it was conceived in

the Divine’s womb and began spinning from

His wish,

every song by wing and fin and hoof,

every song by hill and field and tree and woman and child,

every song of stream and rock,

every song of tool and lyre and flute,

every song of gold and emerald

and fire,

every song the heart should cry with magnificent dignity

to know itself as

God;

for all other knowledge will leave us again in want and aching -

only imbibing the glorious Sun

will complete us.

I have come into this world to experience this:

men so true to love

they would rather die before speaking

an unkind

word,

men so true their lives are His covenant -

the promise of

hope.

I have come into this world to see this:

the sword drop from men’s hands

even at the height of

their arc of

rage

because we have finally realized

there is just one flesh

we can wound.

-Hafiz