This was the post from my book for this past week of Summer. It is so fitting for this time even though written some time ago. I hope you enjoy it. habiba
Summer Week 7 Barriers Falling
“All the talents of God are within you.
How could this be otherwise
When your soul
Derived from His Genes!
I love that expression,
‘All the talents of God are within you.’”
-Daniel Ladinsky, The Gift: Poems by Hafiz
It feels right now as if all of the barriers that we have erected to separate us from Life, from creation, from each other are falling away. I feel a shakiness deep inside, like I have no idea what tomorrow will bring. People call, wanting to make plans and I don’t know what to say. Who knows what the next moment will be like, let alone next week? All of the carefully built walls are crumbling. The back of my heart is on fire.
Something is burning and I remember a poem that our Sheikha Fariha wrote a few years ago that started, “Burn, lovers, burn.” It said that as we enter the fiery furnace we will hear a voice saying, “Fire, be cool for my friend, as you were cool for Abraham!” I am yearning for that voice right now. It isn’t just the temperature outside, but something deep within that is burning. I decide to stop and to just breathe into this as I bring my consciousness to this burning. I enter the furnace and it does feel cool, even though the heat flows now through my entire body, not just centered in one place. Allow! Just allow it to flow! Another wave arises and now I see that it is light, not fire, and that the sense of fire came from the friction of my own resistance. Asking if there are words to explain this, I hear, “This is the light of a soul becoming embodied. Do not resist.” The ego/donkey is afraid, but is assured that the best master is coming now, just relax and allow something entirely new to occur. Allow the talents of God to awaken. Let the light of His Genes bring light to every cell of the body. Let the light of wisdom bring light to the mental faculties.
The words of a mystic hymn that we often sing at zikr arise from deep within me. “Burning, burning, drifting in a sea of Love. Lost is my body. Lost is my intellect. Like wind blowing on an empty mountain road, come see what mystic love has done to me.” Enter with me into the bright majesty of this sacred moment. We are like sparks as the iron and flint of this moment strike together. Prepare the tinder. Prepare the kindling. Bring branches and logs to add as the fire grows. All is welcome in the sacred fire. Some say that this is Agni, the mouth of the Gods, a place of sacrifice. Let us surrender to the burning. Our belief in separation is the only sacrifice needed. Burn, lovers, burn. You don’t have to believe in separation any more. Enter the sacred fire and be. The talents that you carry are hidden behind the walls that are ripe for burning. Come with me. Enter the fire with me. It is time.
Kabir, Habiba Ashki. Embracing a New Planetary Consciousness (pp. 74-75). Wasteland Press. Kindle Edition.
