Longing

There was many a time when I wanted to emulate the Star Trek character named Spock. This is due to the lack of emotional attachment that he was supposed to show. However, as is clear with my verse, emotions are as big a part of me as with everyone else in this world. Clearly we are not Vulcan nor do we lack emotions. Find the most "unemotional" person you know and raging within there will be emotions. We are human, it is human to feel, to feel is to feel both joy and pain. How we master those feelings and do not let them take control of our selves is a challenge. In the Bahá'í Faith it is understood that we are of two natures, human and animal. The animal part of us, unlike the members of the animal kingdom, knows no limits or controls other than what we choose. It is our human nature that must struggle with that animal nature and master it. I could go on and on but needless to say, like Spock, when I have suppressed the emotions they still come out in the end but with more severity than if I had acknowledged them in the first place and mastered them as best as possible.

Tears were coming down as I spoke with my students in Iran. One of them asked another what their father did. It turned out he had passed away years ago when she was two. The joy and laughter though, that comes from those wonderful souls among these days of tests and tribulations facing them and their families is profound and humbling. What a joy to know them.

LONGING

Looking around with longing
Feeding a need for belonging
On the outside looking in
Not knowing what is lacking within
Is it me or those around
Looking for that love surround
For others it seems to abound

Truthfully it is not in me
Or in the others that I see
We each have our day
When we find our way
Through those hills and valleys
That swing up and down
Sometimes flying
Or threatening to drown

Whether high or low
On this path we go
The knowledge that we must know
Is to be certain in times of stress
That regardless of duress
We will find rest
In the time when we come upon that path
That leads us back to higher ground
And the joy that can be found

So while deep within the pain
When sorrows upon us do rain
The joy that can be found
Is the knowledge that life comes around
And back to joy do we rebound
-Shiidon, May 2008