Hafiz, the great Sufi Poet, was also called the Tongue of the Invisible because he captured the ecstatic love song which God dictated to the world. A collection, or bible, of sorts for there are no books used to understand Sufism. Like all meaningful teachings in the world, Lao Tzu, Zen, Sufism is an experience, not dogma.
As with all allegory, the beloved in Sufi literature is God, you and me. But there are many parallels that exist in the modern world that talk about transcending our hum-drum reality. Some have managed to capture it - in art, through words, via music. And the similarities are astonishing.
Take this for example, the uncanny similarities expressed in this painting, Der Sparziergang, by the Belarusian French artist Marc Chagall, known for his defiance and naive portraits of what he felt and knew (a reality that transcended the hum-drum of everyday living) and this poem of Hafiz, that speaks of skies that become oceans.
ONLY ONE RULE
The sky
Is a suspended blue ocean.
The stars are the fish that swim.
The planets are the white whales I sometimes
Hitch a ride
On,
The sun and all light
Have forever fused themselves into my heart
And upon my
Skin.
As with all allegory, the beloved in Sufi literature is God, you and me. But there are many parallels that exist in the modern world that talk about transcending our hum-drum reality. Some have managed to capture it - in art, through words, via music. And the similarities are astonishing.
Take this for example, the uncanny similarities expressed in this painting, Der Sparziergang, by the Belarusian French artist Marc Chagall, known for his defiance and naive portraits of what he felt and knew (a reality that transcended the hum-drum of everyday living) and this poem of Hafiz, that speaks of skies that become oceans.
ONLY ONE RULE
The sky
Is a suspended blue ocean.
The stars are the fish that swim.
The planets are the white whales I sometimes
Hitch a ride
On,
The sun and all light
Have forever fused themselves into my heart
And upon my
Skin.
There is only one rule on this Wild Playground,
Every sign Hafiz has ever seen
Reads the same.
They all say,
"Have fun, my dear; my dear have fun,
In the Beloved's divine
Game,
O, in the Beloved's
Wonderful
Game."
The world is more connected than what it seems. We just need to learn (or unlearn) in order to connect the dots. The essence of our humanity depends it - this ability to explore and enjoy "the Beloved's Wonderful Game."
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