months of learning and asceticism
Bisimillah ir Rahman ir Rahim. Well, entering into the second day of Ramazan has brought with it a profound need to express some things,although ı always ahve my doubts that they will actually comginf from my fingers and show up on this page quite the way I want them to. I have finally found some rest after the last months of stress and I may even be finding some mental clarity. Imagine that! At the same time, I am staying with a friend who is a very big challenge and I am trying to grow from that. Whether I will or not is still something of a question mark. Some days I just want to smack this girl and other days I see value in being here. There is this kind of unspoken understanding that developed that I was supposed to offer feedback to her because of many reasons. Now I am here and I teeming with feedback. This is not a good thing. I am embracing a bit of nonviolent communication (NVC a la Marshal Rosenberg) and trying to see where and when an interventin is appropriate but I actually don't have a f)(/% clue. She is sort of prone to fits of constant criticism, endless little microagressions and attempts at politely telling me that I am doing something wrong every time she speaks. almost every single time. So, lets see what happens.
I came here with a lot of love and with the intention to be of help and I am trying to re-find my balance. The first day or so that I was here, I attended a workshop given by an amazing woman from India named Reena who really impacted me quite powerfully. She has created an amazing set of cards based on the poetry and teaching of Kabir, illustrated with art work from an indigenous people of India known as the Warli community. When I met Reena we all took a card and I got the following (keeping in mind that, on top of everything else, I am on an island now with my friend):
'If you make a boat of stones
And set it on the water,
Says Kabir, pay head to my words,
You did not connect with God,
What did you earn 'Baavara' - Oh Naive One?'
Well that just about says it. If I don't want my boat to sink, I will indeed need to keep very connected to God. Thank God its Ramazan.
R
I came here with a lot of love and with the intention to be of help and I am trying to re-find my balance. The first day or so that I was here, I attended a workshop given by an amazing woman from India named Reena who really impacted me quite powerfully. She has created an amazing set of cards based on the poetry and teaching of Kabir, illustrated with art work from an indigenous people of India known as the Warli community. When I met Reena we all took a card and I got the following (keeping in mind that, on top of everything else, I am on an island now with my friend):
'If you make a boat of stones
And set it on the water,
Says Kabir, pay head to my words,
You did not connect with God,
What did you earn 'Baavara' - Oh Naive One?'
Well that just about says it. If I don't want my boat to sink, I will indeed need to keep very connected to God. Thank God its Ramazan.
R