In our hemisphere and our culture, the new year has begun. You, like me, might feel a mixture of trepidation and even despair, along with the hope and faith that is taught to us by the only true scripture, the scripture of nature (from the 3rd of the ten Sufi thoughts by Hazrat Inayat Khan – “There is One Holy Book, the sacred manuscript of nature, the only scripture which can enlighten the reader.”).
As ordinary mystics, as Mirabai Starr teaches us in her new book, we hold that balance, acknowledging both the sorrow and the joy. And we remember that we live in mystery where the future is unknown, and the past is gone. We breathe gratitude, hope, and our willingness to serve with every new inhalation and breathe out our fears, giving them to the earth that will hold, heal, compost, and recycle them as medicine and sustenance. Inshallah.
The following poem comes from one of the ascended ones of our time, Sophie Strand. Her poetry reminds us again to stay soft and open and to be in radical acceptance and surrender. May it be so.
