| Printed in Iran: Land of Sun, October 1999 The Subject Tonight is Love: An ecumenical approach to the poetry of Shams-ud-din Mohammad Hafez By: Elham (Ellie) Ezzati, M.A., C.M.T, |
Hafez the great Persian poet, mystic and philosopher was born in the mid fourteenth century in the city
of Shiraz (Alston, 1996, p.9). In the Iranian culture he is considered as one of the most eloquent and
magnetic poets of all time. In some circles, he is considered even greater than Rumi and Attar. His
most striking gift is his ability to reach a variety of people from many different walks of life. Depending
on who reads it, his poetry can be construed as higher mystical or spiritual teachings or as
commentaries written about worldly and daily affairs. Six hundred years later his divan can be found in
almost every Iranian home, placed on an alter, placed either next to or in place of the Koran.
As a court poet, Hafez had direct influence on the people of power who would be making daily decisions
affecting thousands of people at a time. Hafez understood that intellect alone was not enough to rule
the masses and influence them in positive ways. He was often harassed and tormented by people of
power who were considered intellectuals of his era. But he considered them as men of spiritual poverty
or “sobriety.” To Hafez only those who had become drunk from the wine of the Beloved or whose
hearts had opened up were worthy of holding true power. He understood that true power was using one’
s wisdom to uplift and empower humanity and not to exploit or disenfranchise them.
My own relationship with Hafez is one of deep admiration, love and respect. As a teacher he appeared
to me in a dream. In the dream he revealed to me detailed knowledge about myself and went on to even
foretell what the future holds for me. It was not long before what he predicted became a reality in my
life. However, for a long time I was not able to fully grasp the depth of this connection. But gradually,
with the passing of time, I have come to accept and embrace him as one of my most revered teachers.
In that respect, what I write about is very much in alignment with the teachings I continue to receive
from him.
Looking at today’s global condition, we can begin to appreciate the message Hafez was conveying. In
one of his couplets he writes,
“Intelligence, the revolving force behind the creation of life,
remains but in a whirlwind of confusion in the absence of love. ”
During these modern times, intellectual hierarchy, technology, industrialism and scientific inquiry are
some of the ways to find and achieve power. But their byproduct has become exploitation and
destruction.
As a race, humans have profound intellectual ability. We have been able to split the atom and create
nuclear energy, send men to space and back, link countries with each other within split seconds and
create invisible planes and ships. But we have also chosen to use this intellect to create nuclear
weapons, participate in mass genocides and homicides. We continue to pollute our atmosphere and
deplete earth of its natural resources that have kept us alive for thousands of years. We also continue
to fight wars, destroy nations and take away innocent lives. Ironically, the human race with its superior
intellectual abilities is the only creature that threatens to send earth into a state of complete oblivion.
This mass confusion can be seen on a personal level as well. Nearly one half of all marriages in the
United States fail in the first four years. Domestic violence cases such as spousal and child abuse are
on the rise and racial and religious tensions are becoming ever more violent. The war with drugs and
alcohol has become an epidemic in this country not to mention problems with hepatitis and AIDS. These
social, cultural and political breakdowns are great indications of the confusion we are facing as a human
race and the urgent call for which they need to be addressed.
Hafez goes on to say that love is the only power that removes the confusion. In other words, when there
is intellect without Love there is confusion. But when Love is applied to knowledge there is wisdom.
When there is wisdom, there is the understanding that we are all equal, and that helping and uplifting
others is in fact helping and uplifting ourselves. There is also the understanding that war and
destruction do not solve anything but create more confusion and chaos. Educating the mind is only the
first step towards higher understanding. It is not enough to stop there otherwise the result is what see
today; exploitation without understanding the consequences of our actions.
Once we tap into this Divine love, one of the most important lessons we learn is becoming responsible
for our own lives. By accepting personal responsibility, the need to blame disappears. So often we go
through life blaming others for our misfortunes and never seem to stop for a moment to think how we
participated in creating the situation for ourselves. When we are young we blame our parents for our
shortcomings. When we get older we blame our spouse or our children for not providing the life we had
hoped for. Then we blame our government, race, culture, gender or religion for hindering our growth
and putting up boundaries for us. With higher understanding we know that placing blame on others is a
defense from looking at personal responsibility. Blame creates a vicious cycle of victimization and
powerlessness. If we think and believe we are victims, we stay defenseless in the face of adversity and
leave ourselves open to being used and abused by others.
Divine love is the manifestation of hard work. It is not something that we can just decide to have or to
feel, otherwise we would just choose to be in Love and work from that place. Divine Love takes time
and energy to cultivate and those who often embark on a path of self-realization work with a teacher.
One of the greatest adversaries of divine Love is the ego. In most spiritual traditions of the world,
working with and eliminating the ego is by itself the most difficult task of all. One of the reasons
intellectual awareness is not enough along this path is because it feeds the ego. People who attain
higher knowledge often think they know much, but the path of wisdom knows that the more one knows,
the less they actually know. Divine Love cultivates humility and compassion. It enables one to step
back and examine the motives, thoughts and intentions behind our actions while knowledge alone
assumes the position of superiority and can breed selfishness and greed.
Finally, once we come to realize the state of emergency our world is in, we cannot afford to continue our
old thought patterns and actions. To make a difference, in the words of Hafez, we must first educate the
mind and then open up the heart. While the path of Divine Love is a difficult one to take, its rewards
are plenty and profound. Once we have made this realization, Hafez comes to us calling
out,
“…I am hungry to know you.
Every desire of your body is holy;
Every desire of your body is Holy.
Dear one, why wait until you are dying
To discover that divine Truth?”
(Translation by Daniel Ladinsky, Pumpkin House Press, p.9)
of Shiraz (Alston, 1996, p.9). In the Iranian culture he is considered as one of the most eloquent and
magnetic poets of all time. In some circles, he is considered even greater than Rumi and Attar. His
most striking gift is his ability to reach a variety of people from many different walks of life. Depending
on who reads it, his poetry can be construed as higher mystical or spiritual teachings or as
commentaries written about worldly and daily affairs. Six hundred years later his divan can be found in
almost every Iranian home, placed on an alter, placed either next to or in place of the Koran.
As a court poet, Hafez had direct influence on the people of power who would be making daily decisions
affecting thousands of people at a time. Hafez understood that intellect alone was not enough to rule
the masses and influence them in positive ways. He was often harassed and tormented by people of
power who were considered intellectuals of his era. But he considered them as men of spiritual poverty
or “sobriety.” To Hafez only those who had become drunk from the wine of the Beloved or whose
hearts had opened up were worthy of holding true power. He understood that true power was using one’
s wisdom to uplift and empower humanity and not to exploit or disenfranchise them.
My own relationship with Hafez is one of deep admiration, love and respect. As a teacher he appeared
to me in a dream. In the dream he revealed to me detailed knowledge about myself and went on to even
foretell what the future holds for me. It was not long before what he predicted became a reality in my
life. However, for a long time I was not able to fully grasp the depth of this connection. But gradually,
with the passing of time, I have come to accept and embrace him as one of my most revered teachers.
In that respect, what I write about is very much in alignment with the teachings I continue to receive
from him.
Looking at today’s global condition, we can begin to appreciate the message Hafez was conveying. In
one of his couplets he writes,
“Intelligence, the revolving force behind the creation of life,
remains but in a whirlwind of confusion in the absence of love. ”
During these modern times, intellectual hierarchy, technology, industrialism and scientific inquiry are
some of the ways to find and achieve power. But their byproduct has become exploitation and
destruction.
As a race, humans have profound intellectual ability. We have been able to split the atom and create
nuclear energy, send men to space and back, link countries with each other within split seconds and
create invisible planes and ships. But we have also chosen to use this intellect to create nuclear
weapons, participate in mass genocides and homicides. We continue to pollute our atmosphere and
deplete earth of its natural resources that have kept us alive for thousands of years. We also continue
to fight wars, destroy nations and take away innocent lives. Ironically, the human race with its superior
intellectual abilities is the only creature that threatens to send earth into a state of complete oblivion.
This mass confusion can be seen on a personal level as well. Nearly one half of all marriages in the
United States fail in the first four years. Domestic violence cases such as spousal and child abuse are
on the rise and racial and religious tensions are becoming ever more violent. The war with drugs and
alcohol has become an epidemic in this country not to mention problems with hepatitis and AIDS. These
social, cultural and political breakdowns are great indications of the confusion we are facing as a human
race and the urgent call for which they need to be addressed.
Hafez goes on to say that love is the only power that removes the confusion. In other words, when there
is intellect without Love there is confusion. But when Love is applied to knowledge there is wisdom.
When there is wisdom, there is the understanding that we are all equal, and that helping and uplifting
others is in fact helping and uplifting ourselves. There is also the understanding that war and
destruction do not solve anything but create more confusion and chaos. Educating the mind is only the
first step towards higher understanding. It is not enough to stop there otherwise the result is what see
today; exploitation without understanding the consequences of our actions.
Once we tap into this Divine love, one of the most important lessons we learn is becoming responsible
for our own lives. By accepting personal responsibility, the need to blame disappears. So often we go
through life blaming others for our misfortunes and never seem to stop for a moment to think how we
participated in creating the situation for ourselves. When we are young we blame our parents for our
shortcomings. When we get older we blame our spouse or our children for not providing the life we had
hoped for. Then we blame our government, race, culture, gender or religion for hindering our growth
and putting up boundaries for us. With higher understanding we know that placing blame on others is a
defense from looking at personal responsibility. Blame creates a vicious cycle of victimization and
powerlessness. If we think and believe we are victims, we stay defenseless in the face of adversity and
leave ourselves open to being used and abused by others.
Divine love is the manifestation of hard work. It is not something that we can just decide to have or to
feel, otherwise we would just choose to be in Love and work from that place. Divine Love takes time
and energy to cultivate and those who often embark on a path of self-realization work with a teacher.
One of the greatest adversaries of divine Love is the ego. In most spiritual traditions of the world,
working with and eliminating the ego is by itself the most difficult task of all. One of the reasons
intellectual awareness is not enough along this path is because it feeds the ego. People who attain
higher knowledge often think they know much, but the path of wisdom knows that the more one knows,
the less they actually know. Divine Love cultivates humility and compassion. It enables one to step
back and examine the motives, thoughts and intentions behind our actions while knowledge alone
assumes the position of superiority and can breed selfishness and greed.
Finally, once we come to realize the state of emergency our world is in, we cannot afford to continue our
old thought patterns and actions. To make a difference, in the words of Hafez, we must first educate the
mind and then open up the heart. While the path of Divine Love is a difficult one to take, its rewards
are plenty and profound. Once we have made this realization, Hafez comes to us calling
out,
“…I am hungry to know you.
Every desire of your body is holy;
Every desire of your body is Holy.
Dear one, why wait until you are dying
To discover that divine Truth?”
(Translation by Daniel Ladinsky, Pumpkin House Press, p.9)
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |