Lonliness, love and doing good

Rumi says:

I have five things to say to the Beloved.

First, when I was apart from you this world did not exist.

Second, whatever I was wanting was always you.

Third, why did I learn to count to three?

Forth, my cornfield is burning.

Five….five stands for wisdom and confusion.

Is weeping speech?

What shall I do with all this love?

So she speaks, and everyone around her begins

to cry with her, laughing crazily,

moaning at the spreading union of lover and Beloved.

This is true religion!

All others are torn away bandages beside it.

This is slavery and mastery dancing together.

I know these dancers!

Day and night I sing their sons

in this phenomenal cage.

My soul, don’t try to answer yet.

Find a friend and hide. But what

can be hidden?

Love is always lifting its head out from under

the covers: “Here I am!”

I begin with this poem on a day when I wake up feeling lonely and self-critical. How could I have made so  many bad decisions? I’m separated from many of those I love by geography or because of mutual failures in the ability to forge and maintain connections. The children I adore might just as well live in another country. Financial challenges are mounting. Certain bodily symptoms worry me. Today I must do a long list of things I’d rather not do.

In short, I’m fully human and fully a part of the human condition. As I write this, young soldiers are fighting and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan. Millions with frightening prognoses will have chemotherapy today. In every nation, victims of violence, abuse and unjust imprisonment will suffer. Lonely grandparents, alienated spouses, and unprotected children are everywhere.

In contrast, millions of every age will express their love to someone. Old friends will greet each other with delight. At tens of thousands of coffee shops in many countries, friends will connect and share their lives. A quiet army of people determined to do good will volunteer in hospices and soup kitchens. Countless psychotherapists will reach deeply inside themselves and find empathy and acceptance to offer patients facing every kind of challenge. Teachers in a million classrooms will do their best. The great human virtues will be felt by many: forgiveness, laughter, joy and simplicity.

Spirit of life, show us how to take this precious day and make it sweet.

You may post a response below or email it to me at drvlee1234@aol.com. Blessings!