Perspective

PERSPECTIVE

At times we look

With critical eye

And ask ourselves

The question why

 

How could another

Hurt their brother

Or show a selfish

Action or wish

 

When you push

And tear apart

It brings wounds

Within my heart

 

At those times

When you ignore

It makes me want

To even the score

 

The question I ask

These judgments

Brought to task

 

is as follows

 

Could it be

That the flaw I see

Is a reflection of

That same flaw

In me

 

Is my reaction

A way of retraction

Of my own thoughts and ways

Through whom which I defray

 

It stands to reason

If there is a truth to be found

That the action and reaction

Can find satisfaction

In finding those things

We love to see

And in some way reflect

The good in you and me     

-Shiidon, Bahá 166 BE, March 2009

This thought came to me while I was driving in traffic the other day.  Why is it we are sometimes patient and sometimes not at the same thing.  Why is it that sometimes it is pointed out to us that the thing we are saying we dislike is that same thing others see in us.  We should see the positive in each other and focus on those positive attributes.  The questions of tearing apart and evening the score are not specific examples of actual feelings or events but an attempt to capture the essence of what can be found out in the world.

 

State of Being

STATE OF BEING

When others comment

On my life

Upon the troubles

And the strife

The sorrows rife

 

Upon reflection

And self inspection

a new understanding

of life’s direction

 

 a purpose in my life I’ve sought

one to which

 these tests have brought

the goal to which I’ve

given much thought

 

The answer to my questions why

Wait not until that day I die

For the answer before me doth lie

T’is clearly open before mine eye

 

The answer is the same

 for one and all

The one to which

 we all are called

 

when we

with open hearts observe

The answer before us

Is to serve

 

To serve

Without reserve

And give to each other

As sister and brother

With love and care

And with each other

To share

 

That elusive goal

To which I head

Is before me now, instead

each and every day

To be of service in some way

 

Live is worth living

In those moments of giving

 

For the action

 is not for me

or for others to see

but a state of

heart mind and soul

for us to be

-Shiidon, Bahá 166 BE, March 2009

I sat reading God Passes By at the bank of my creek.  The water is flowing a bit more forcefully after the rains of last week and the trees are blooming with fresh green leaves.  The green of these trees is so much brighter and full of life than the evergreen of the cedars and other year round trees.  Flowers started to bloom along the creek and nature has awakened from its winter slumber.  In some ways, I too have awakened from a slumber of sorts and am looking at a new spring.  May everyone have a blessed new year full of joy and happiness.  

The Fast

THE FAST

Walking down the street

The breeze against my cheek

All my senses abound

With heightened sensitivity resound

 

On this precious day

Abstain have I

From the world of clay

To His call

I attempt to obey

 

And now the hour

Has come and passed

And still I abstain

Hoping to make it last

 

A peace has come to me

On this days fast

As I approach with need

my evening repast

 

This fast is a precious gift

The high from low we doth sift

Allowing our soul to drift

Along that higher plane

And away from

The truly inane

 

I do not sorrow at taking food

it is a need

Which I have understood

This world of dust

Will soon give way

To the time when I

Will fly away

To that world of which

My heart longs

That world to which

We all belong

 

So of that world

We have a taste

To which

With heart, body and soul

We long to embrace

-Shiidon, ‘Alá 165 BE, March 2009 AD

This years fast has been very special to me.  I have found myself breaking my fast sometimes an hour or more after sunset as I relish the feeling of peace and comfort that I feel.  Work has been quite busy taking away some of my attention but my thoughts return to the fast with a focus.  For once I am not vowing to reform my eating habits or other such things, I am truly enjoying each moment of the day without much thought to want or need.  I simply remember the blessings and challenges surrounding me.  I think of the Bahá'í's in prison in Iran or my students in Iran and how they are doing.  I think of family and friends.  I wonder at the world around me.  Right now the birds are singing outside my window and between that and the classical music playing I feel inspired and so this poem came to me.  Fasting is a precious gift.  Bahá'u'lláh, in a prayer for the fast, describes observing it as "...a light unto the people of Thy kingdom..."

I look ruefully upon the last days of this years fast.  The days are drawing to a close and another New Year is about to begin.  What a precious year this has been and I look forward to Naw Ruz with joyful anticipation.

Waning Years

WANING YEARS

You struggle with me every day

Sometimes not knowing what to say

Sometimes lucid sometimes not

There are so many things

I have forgot

 

There was a time

When together we were

A time when my words

Did not slur

So many things we have done

For you life has just begun

 

I am in my waning days

Together we still pray

You see me losing touch

More and more

You are my crutch

 

What you cannot see

As from this world I flea

Is how I approach my destiny

 

Those moments when I seem gone

With my loved ones in the beyond

To that place I will soon belong

For when I am not here

It is there I will be

Sorrow not, it’s my destiny

-Shiidon, ‘Alá’ 162 BE, March 2009

I know that this is a more somber subject but I was moved by a thought.  I was watching a dear friend and a customer both speaking about their mothers losing their memories.  Senility is a subject I have experienced with my fathers mother.  I would watch her lose facts and get confused.  Even so, it took a few years of going that rout when she almost did not recognize my father.  I also remember my mothers mother (Khanoom Joon), who almost passed away before me.  I have written earlier about her and watching her look at me as I held her hand and then she would go off elsewhere.  What occurred to me is in some way I think that when these dear ones start wandering they are in someways transitioning to that next realm, just as my Khanum Joon would when she would see people that were not there.

We are a mix of babies, young, middle age and elders.  We all have something to contribute to this world and each other.  I still remember both of my grandmothers and have valuable memories and an appreciation of life.  It is hard to find a person in their thirties who remember what it was like not to have a computer or video game, yet I remember the first pong game and playing it.  I remember the first PC that I ever saw.  I guess what I am saying is that I am beginning to head in the direction of being an elder.  I just don't know what it will be like when I get to be middle aged (just kidding).  Just in the past couple of weeks a young man who frequents the house was showing me his hair cut after we all had a discussion on the economy and the merits of keeping jobs, or the young man who is struggling to find his balance in life and how excited he is at getting a step closer.  The young do seem to listen.

May you enjoy wherever you find yourself in this life.

Unbroken Chain

UNBROKEN CHAIN

When a person hath lived

For many years

Accumulating joys and tears

Facing challenges

Overcoming fears

 

It stands to reason

Through many a season

A wisdom hath grown

A way can be shown

By drinking deeply

Of that knowledge gained

From those elders

 Who have remained

 

For on any path well worn

Someone previous to us born

Hath tread along ahead

And with what they’ve seen

We can but hope to glean

 

Within that elder we doth see

An unbroken chain of eternity

For generations hath come to rest

Briefly in that revered guest

And in our own turn it shall become

When those who follow

To us will come

-Shiidon, ‘Alá’  165 BE, March 2009

The thoughts of our elders has come to me often recently.  I noted the anniversary of the passing of my Grandfather in Iran this past month.  The sadness that my one time of seeing his resting place would be my last as the fanatics in Iran destroyed the Bahá'í Cemetary he was buried in.  In some ways it is a joy to know that even in that form of dust he would still be giving to the Faith he loved so much.

Each day I drive to work and home I pass by the homes of three of the elders of our community in this area.  It is almost without exception that I am not praying as I pass their homes and reflect on them and what they have meant to my growth as an individual.  I am in many ways the person that I am having been influenced by them.  Foye and Yvonne Justice who stand as two of the early believers in Texas.  They were able to spend time and know the very first Bahá'í from Texas who is buried not more than a mile from my house.  Mr. Moshref, who I will forever see as a link to the times past when Bahá'u'lláh's daughter was still alive and so many were still living who had met 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of Bahá'u'lláh.  Whenever I am with Mr. Moshref I am transported in time to a place I long to go and see but will have to wait for that journey that is to come.

Those who precede us are treasures of knowledge and wisdom that are not always fully taken advantage of.  The computer is a great and powerful tool, yet sometimes we are confused that we gain knowledge from them.  They are carriers of information.  It is those who have lived and experienced life that have knowledge that has led to wisdom.  May we remember to take advantage of this wisdom and hopefully build upon it and in our time pass it on to those who follow.

Five Year Plan

FIVE YEAR PLAN

I sit here, thinking of You

Wondering what it is,

I am meant to do

I move along each and every day

Serving as best as I can

In every way

Never knowing if my focus is right

Am I distracted or did I stray

 

I look for signs to lead aright

Morning, noon and night

Knowing in my heart

That I must do my part

In serving my fellow man

Single, family and clan

 

In my soul I know it clearly

That of which I search so dearly

Will become evident when I’ve moved on

To that world above and beyond

 

In this world of dust

It takes faith for one to trust

That our efforts and actions

Fulfill a plan

Leading mankind

Over a time, long span

The end results of our action

Though but a fraction

Are part of a whole

Helping to fulfill the goal

That is destined to be

The unity

Of humanity

-Shiidon, March 2009

It is March second,  almost a month since my last posting.  I sit here on the eve of the Bahá'í Fast contemplating much in life.  For one thing, this is my daughter Shahdi's first fast as she is now fifteen.  From sunrise to sunset I will, along with others across the globe will abstain from food or drink.  That is but the physical aspect of the fast.  What comes with it is the sharpening of focus on the more important things in life.  Over the last month work has been busy if not steady.  However, I have had an increasing number of people who have recently lost their jobs come in for work to be done on their cars.  What is interesting to see is the return of focus on the things in life that have no monetary value but are priceless, that of the pursuit of virtues and the re-orienteering of our attention to family and friends.  The focus on money and its pursuit are very much part of the troubles that we find ourselves in and amazingly enough people are still equating what is happening to numbers.  How much money spent here or there.  What needs to be remembered is the human cost.  We are human beings and not numbers.  Each and every day of this fast I will continue to pray for all of us, since no one is truly spared.  Some people may think that this approach is overly empathetic, so be it.  What we are learning more clearly now than ever before is how much we all depend on each other in this small little planet we were all born on.

Today I was finishing grading my last papers of the term for the students in Iran that I am working with.  As I was doing so I was listening to my classical music enhanced by the sound many birds outside my window and the laughter of the youth in the other room having a great time.  It is easy to focus on the pain, suffering and sorrow that encroaches on us all, but there is much to celebrate and enjoy in life.  I sat by the lake today before sunset and saw a body of water, not half empty from a drought, but a place where boats were speeding, dogs were running, children were playing and food was cooking.  Spring is anon, and the signs are everywhere.  This poem is the result of my meditations today.