August 24, 2022 —
Part of my process of moving towards healing and wholeness is reflecting on thoughts and ideas from those who have gone before me.
Often these come in the form of poetry.
I have a poem today that speaks to me about finding the place of wholeness in our fractured world.
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From the Poet, Kabir
Are You Looking for Me?
Are you looking for me?
My shoulder is against yours.
You will not find me in stupas, not in Indian shrine rooms, nor in synagogues, nor in cathedrals:
Not in masses, nor kirtans, not in legs winding around your neck, nor in eating nothing but vegetables.
When you really look for me, you will see me instantly—
You will find me in the tiniest house of time.
Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God?
She is the breath inside the breath.
Those last lines — “You will find me in the tiniest house of time… She is the breath inside the breath.”
You can chase the magic away from the sunset by trying to describe all of the beauty you see — so if my reflections begin to do that for you, please just re-read the poem and take a moment to bathe yourself in wonder.
The poem speaks to finding depth in even the smallest of spaces — those “tiniest houses of time.”
Yes, you won’t find the source of what you’re looking for in any of the physical realities described in the poem — food, places, things — most of us have learned that through trial and error.
But once you breathe in the depth of reality — the breath within the breath — you can carry it with you everywhere.
Even the scarred and wounded places within us can experience this life, even the places which seem uncomfortably alien to us can be integrated with the greater whole of your being.
You’ll be amazed one day when you wake up and begin moving through the world only to realize that what you’ve been searching for is actually shoulder to shoulder with you.
And it’s been that way for some time now.
What have you been looking for? Where have you been searching? How has the journey been going?
I hope these thoughts can bring a breath of fresh air and a place to rest.
Take care of yourself today.
And be well.