Inter-Faith Meditations

My readings from Inter-Faith meditation on 19 December,2012 at New Thought Center for Spiritual Living:

LIGHT AND SHADOWS

I am not I.

I am this one

walking beside me whom I do not see,

whom at times I manage to visit.

and whom at other times I forget;

who remains calm and silent while I talk,

and forgives, gently, when I hate,

who walks where I am not,

who will remain standing when I die.

Juan Ramon Jimenez

This poem is a favorite meditation of mine. I prefaced my reading of it with two repeated questions: “Who are you?” and “What do you want?”

These are ultimate questions – if you think you have answers to them… you are mistaken. Go deeper…

RUMI

I AM NOT

SHARIF

I AM

Not Christian or Jew or Muslim,

Not Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi or Zen.

Not of any religion or cultural system.

I am Christian and Jew and Muslim,

I am Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi and Zen.

I am all religions and cultural systems.

I am not from the East or the West,

Not out of the Ocean or up from the ground,

Not of Nature or the Ether,

Not composed of elements at all.

I am of the East, West, North and South.

I am of the Ocean and the Earth.

I am Nature and Essence,

I am composed of all elements.

I don’t belong to Earth, Water, Fire or Air.

I am not of the Invisible nor of the material.

I am not a process or a being.

I am not of this world nor the next.

I am Earth, Water, Fire and Air.

I am the Invisible and the material.

I am all processes and all beings.

I am of this world and of the next.

My home has no address.

I am neither body nor soul.

I belong to the Beloved.

My home is all addresses.

I am both body and soul.

All belong to the Beloved.

I search for One;

I recognize One,

I see the One clearly;

I call the name of the One.

I have seen all the worlds as One.

I am drunk on the Cup of Love.

We all search for One;

We all can recognize One,

We all can see the One clearly;

We all call the name of the One.

We all can see the worlds as One.

We all can drink from the Cup of Love.

This combined reading came to me as I was preparing for the Inter-Faith Meditation at New Thought Center for Spiritual Living. As I copied the Rumi text, I saw that it was true, but it also had a positive balance point. As I meditated on that, the right-hand column emerged.

I hesitate to put my name on it, since it is so obviously derived from the work of Rumi.

I prefaced this reading with the invitation: “Go deeper”. I invite you to re-read the poems from a still-deeper perspective.

Peace,

Sharif

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December 24, 2012 at 11:40 am

Blog: Currents & Futures

Faith, interfaith, spirituality

Shariff

3 Comments, RSS

Pingback/Trackback December 25, 2012 at 12:11 am

Dec 25th: The Return of the Light + New “ERA” Resolutions | Dr. Sharif Abdullah

Maya Davila
says on:

December 25, 2012 at 12:58 pm

Thank you for your thoughtful writings. I run a correspondence program for people in prison who are trying to develop a mindfulness practice. I sent them your last article and will send them this one as well. I have already had two responses back from the first one, saying how meaningful the message was. Your words seem so applicable to these beautiful souls who are doing such important transformational work in our world. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your inspiration on this journey.

gwyn stetler
says on:

January 8, 2014 at 4:13 am

this interfaith devotion website really spoke to me this morning – thank you. gwyn

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