What It Means - Day 297

And Love Says

And love

Says,

"I will, I will take care of you,"

To everything that is

Near.

Hafiz

OK, so I clearly lied when I said that I was just about finished focusing on Hafiz poems. Sorry, they just seem to be the perfect artifacts for the beginning of a new year. When I'm writing this blog, and not focusing so exclusively on Hafiz, I often opine that I'm amazed/disgusted that we as Muslims - and, well, people of faith of so many faiths - try so hard to turn our respective Gods into Gods of Righteous Anger and Hate, when how could God be anything other than love; if not, none of this makes any sense.

What It Means - Day 296

I Wish I Could Speak Like Music

I wish I could speak like music.

I wish I could put the swaying splendor

Of the fields into words

So that you could hold Truth

Against your body

And dance.

I am trying the best I can

With this crude brush, the tongue,

Top cover you with light.

I wish I could speak like divine music.

I want to give you the sublime rhythms

Of this earth and the sky's limbs

As they joyously spin and surrender,

Surrender

Against God's luminous breath.

Hafiz wants you to hold me

Against your precious Body

And dance,

Dance.

Hafiz

Ultra orthodox Muslims such as the Wahabbis have a very tortured relationship with music - well, actually, I suppose I shouldn't say tortured because they are actively opposed to music. It's probably better to say that Islam itself has a bit of a tortured relationship with music, since some like the Wahabbis think it is absolutely haram and others like the Sufis find it an essential path to the divine.  If you consider that the divine is, by definition, ineffable, then music seems as good a medium as any to express it.

What It Means - Day 295

Reverence

Because

There is nothing

Outside of my Master's body

I try

To show reverence

To all things.

Because

There is nothing

Inside of my Master's body

I am saved

From all reason

And surrender understanding.

No wonder, Hafiz,

It has been

Unusual

For a smile to forsake

You!

Hafiz

OK, I'll stop with the Hafiz poems soon, although I suspect you'll find them better than my generally witless reflections on the Quran or the ahadith.  This is another beautiful poem speaking of the universality of the divine. If there is "nothing/Outside of my Master's body" then we should show reverence to all things. This brings us back to the Hafiz poem from two or three days ago. And, with this knowledge, of course Hafiz would be smiling.

The Trip of Mystery Reveal

OK, it's 7 January 2020 and I've turned 60 today. Inshallah I'm still alive and am where I'm supposed to be on the Trip of Mystery itinerary. Those who had Swakopmund, Namibia in the pool are the winners! As you know, while all the proceeds went to TechDren and their work to bring laptops to Zanzibar, you do win two things: 1) glory (it is a big planet), and 2) I will take you to dinner on my own dime. Now, at this moment - and obviously and writing this months in advance and leaving it to the Nano Overlords to release on schedule - no one has in fact chosen Swakopmund, Namibia. In case no one actually jumps in with Swakopmund (which means that my efforts to distribute red herrings has worked) then I'll probably reward the person who has chosen the closest destination. Seriously, someone should win.

I'll apologize in advance for posting this picture, which I obviously borrowed from the Internet (my apologies, Internet). When I actually drive by the sign on 7 January, 2020 I'll snap another picture, hopefully with me in it somehow, and replace this one when I get back.

And I desperately hope to replace this one with my own. I'm sure Swakopmund is a lovely town and I'm looking forward to the stay, but giant sand dunes crashing into the ocean is clearly why I'm heading to this corner of the planet.

What It Means - Day 294

Stop Being So Religious

What

Do sad people have in

Common?

It seems

They have all built a shrine

To the past

And often go there

And do a strange wail and

Worship.

What is the beginning of

Happiness?

It is to stop being

So religious

Like

That.

Hafiz

I'm sitting here looking through The Gift, a collection of Hafiz poems that I often use in class. This is a clean copy, and thus not the one with my innumerable scribbles all over it, but it's amazing how many of the poems I remember. This is one of my favorites. Yes, and I know that it seems strange that a historian by training would cull out a poem featuring the line: "It seems/They have all built a shrine/To the past" but it is the real deal. Naturally, it always brings me back to Marcus Aurelius and his admonition that we only control this moment in time, but yet so many people are trapped by something that happened in the past. In a larger sense I do think it speaks to one of failings as people of faith, in that we should be living this spiritual moment and not focusing on what someone said centuries ago.

The Trip of Mystery Reveal Eve

Yes, it's 6 January 2020, which means that it is the day before my 60th birthday, and also the eve of the big reveal of my Trip of Mystery destination. So, where's Scuddo?  As you know I've been talking about the idea of heading off to parts unknown for my 60th birthday for seemingly ever, but in the end I decided to just plan it and go. As anyone who knows me will tell you I'm a huge believer that crimes of omission are much worse than crimes of commission. Happily all the proceeds from the Trip of Mystery contest are going to support TechDren, the NGO run by Champlain College students that collects, refurbishes and delivers laptops to elementary school children in Zanzibar; in fact, there is a TechDren team in Zanzibar even as we speak delivering laptops - the only reason why I'm not with them is that, well, I'm here, wherever here is.

Damn, the world is really big. I don't envy you guys having to figure out where I am right now. You're clearly going to earn your 1) glory, and 2) victory dinner on my dime.

My guess is that today I'm probably feeling more than a bit melancholy (obviously I'm writing this months in advance and leaving it to the Nano Overlords to release the blog post on schedule) as I head into 60, but who knows? It's going to be so strange to be that north/south of the Equator/Tropic of Capricorn/Tropic of Cancer and the days are so long/short . . .

Another Day at the Dead Sea

Traditionally we spend the majority of our last day in Jordan at a Dead Sea resort, in this case the Holiday Inn (which, ironically, is where I stayed on my first trip to Jordan fifteen years ago when I was there on a State Department grant). It's way too posh for the likes of our students (or their professors) but it does make them happy. And, well, they've spent the last two nights camping in the Wadi Rum.

I also have a video of this scene where they're playing White Christmas in the background, adding to the otherworldliness of it all.

Sadly, the Dead Sea, due to global warming, continues to drop precipitously. Not only can I tell the dramatic difference from fifteen years ago, but you can see if almost yearly.

This is when it really begins to get to the students that their time in Jordan is drawing to a close.

They were a uniformly happy group from beginning to end.

See, this is what happens when you leave your picture unattended for a couple minutes.

Yet another spectacular Jordan sunset, in this case setting over the Dead Sea. It has a strange Lake Champlain feel to it as the sun is setting.

And this is when I truly made the connection that this is where I stayed on the trip in 2004.