In my blog on "Faith", I said faith for me is faith in my fellow human beings to do the right thing.
On personal level of one to one people behave with honor and do the right things.
However, when they get layered by the desire to make a living they will look the other way. For exmple anyone working for a phone company will give the pitch because that is what they need to do keep their jobs.
Also in a blog by "K" (Khaalidah) she explains fasting for "Ramadan" and ties it into "Faith". I thank her very much for that post because any honest discussion of "Allah" and the Muslim religion is a blessing to those in the Christian world. We all need to learn and understand our fellows human beings.
This week I received my weekly poem from
"POETRY CHAIKHANA". Sacred Poetry from Around the World
"A chaikhana is a teahouse along the legendary Silk Road pilgrimage and trading route linking China to the Middle East and Europe. It is a place of rest along the journey, a place to shake off the dust of the road, to sip tea, and to gather together to sing songs of the Divine..."
Poetry Chainhana is a great site. The poets from the past have inspired me on many occasions. It is like Rumi came to read a special poem just for me.
This week's poem is on fasting enlightens us on the virtues of fasting. I think "K" may understand "faith" better than most.
Fasting
By Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi
(1207 - 1273)
English version by Coleman Barks
"There's hidden sweetness in the stomach's emptiness.
We are lutes, no more, no less. If the soundbox
is stuffed full of anything, no music.
If the brain and belly are burning clean
with fasting, every moment a new song comes out of the fire.
The fog clears, and new energy makes you
run up the steps in front of you.
Be emptier and cry like reed instruments cry.
Emptier, write secrets with the reed pen.
When you're full of food and drink, Satan sits
where your spirit should, an ugly metal statue
in place of the Kaaba. When you fast,
good habits gather like friends who want to help.
Fasting is Solomon's ring. Don't give it
to some illusion and lose your power,
but even if you have, if you've lost all will and control,
they come back when you fast, like soldiers appearing
out of the ground, pennants flying above them.
A table descends to your tents,
Jesus' table.
Expect to see it, when you fast, this table
spread with other food, better than the broth of cabbages."
"Also in a blog by "K" (Khaalidah) she explains fasting for "Ramadan" and ties it into "Faith". I thank her very much for that post because any honest discussion of "Allah" and the Muslim religion is a blessing to those in the Christian world. We all need to learn and understand our fellows human beings."
ReplyDeleteAs a lapsed Baptist, I say AMEN.
As one who has little tolerance for, and patience with, people who aren't open to learning of different faiths, I say "Right on."