I just got back to India and wrote this in the Amsterdam airport during my 30 hour flight. I can’t wait to blog more about my experience in India!
Airports…..Oy Vey! How could I be honest and say they do not annoy me… Yet airports and plane flights are an excellent place to practice meditation, patience, and to develop the “fruits of the Spirit,” as Paul the apostle called them. A person of Spirit does not surf on a wave of light above the annoyances of daily life, but simply views daily “problems” with a spiritual mentality. Every temporary hassle is an opportunity to practice kindness and patience. Every time someone gets angry with me is an opportunity to practice unconditional love. If I spiritualize my life I do not think, “How frustrating is this!” or “How annoying is this person!” but rather think, “This is an opportunity to deepen my spiritual practice.” If you free your mind and view everything as meditation, nothing can hinder your peace. The secret of all the great yogi’s and mystics is that they realized that their own mind is the key to peace, not outer circumstance. For is not our own mind the temple of God Himself, who is peace Itself? Now does Hafiz, that poet of poets, have a verse for this very principal? Of course he does…
BECOMING HUMAN
Once a man came to me and spoke for hours about
“His great visions of God” he felt he was having.
He asked me for confirmation, saying,
“Are these wondrous dreams true?”
I replied, “How many goats do you have?”
He looked surprised and said,
“I am speaking of sublime visions
And you ask
About goats!”
And I spoke again saying,
“Yes, brother – how many do you have?”
“Well, Hafiz, I have sixty-two.”
“And how many wives?”
Again he looked surprised, then said,
“Four.”
“How many rose bushes in your garden,
How many children,
Are your parents still alive,
Do you feed the birds in winter?”
And to all he answered.
Then I said,
“You asked me if I thought your visions were true,
I would say that they were if they make you become
More human,
More kind to every creature and plant
That you know.”
-Hafiz, the poet of poets!
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