It's been a busy week in the studio and I'm finally caught up. It feels good. Only one more show of the season and then I have to get cracking on holiday gifts for my family. I took the handmade pledge and with only two exceptions (my brother and husband) my gifts will be handmade this year.I don't know what will happen next year...or how I'll handle the holidays if I declare, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
I'm excited because I may enroll in this class. I've not been the best steward of my body over the years. I'm better now, but still paying a price...I have a great deal of weight to lose and some bad habits (not sleeping enough) that need to be changed.
I like the idea of pairing my first class with my need for help learning how to respect and tend my body.
I know at this stage, someone visiting this blog may be thinking "Laura, ask not what the Baha'i faith can do for you..." but, this is how I do things...what I can do for the faith will come later.
I immerse myself in the writings and prayers and then find ways to practically apply them to my own life. It's how I learn. If (or when) the time comes, it may be how I share.
I think I've been a little worried with this blog that perhaps my way of coming to understanding may seem fairly self-absorbed and while it may be and perhaps someday I'll reread these entries with a different view, for right now...I learn as I go.
I love taking pleasure in even a line or two of a prayer and then applying it, usually in a very literal way, as a means to opening up understanding of the next line.
For example, this one has lots of references to fragrance..sweet-scented streams, fragrant breezes of Thy joy, essence of the fragrance of Thy beauty...
I used to be a practicing aromatherapist, so anything that mentions scent and fragrance immediately pulls me in. It's like my code language. When I see the words I can't help but to begin to envision ways to use them to help me reflect on what the true meaning of the prayer or meditation is.
In this case, when I read the line "sweet-scented streams" I knew that a fragrant bath was in order and that I should incorporate scents native to Iran/Persia such as marjoram, lime, cardamom and rose into my bath. I knew when I read (and reread) the meditation, that I'd create an environment very much suited to my kind of learning.
I know that Baha'is are all over the world, but because I'm new to this, I find myself interested in Persia (I think it annoys my mother that I don't say Iran, but everything in reference to the culture of Iran is still called Persian...or so it seems).
I already knew about Ibn Sina (Avicenna) from my studies on essential oil distillation, so it's fun to make connections and I knew I just had to include rose otto in my bath...rose has always been a favorite whether it's Bulgarian or Turkish and scents like rose, marjoram and lime would have most certainly been familiar to Baha'u'llah as they were used in the medicine and cuisine of his time and region.
So, as I settle into the tub and into my reading more in-depth, I feel somehow connected by the scents and I'm tending my body at the same time.
Scents have the power to relax us or stimulate us...they have a profound and scientifically proven effect on the limbic system of the brain and for me, the fragrance from plants and flowers connects me to the spiritual world as well. We all find our own way to navigate learning and understanding the words of Baha'u'llah and his reference to fragrance is mine.
The connection made through fragrance makes it easier for me to work my way through other words/sections that I don't understand.
Just a tip for those of you who may like taking warm baths with pure essential oils (the life-force of plants), if you mix just a few drops with honey the essential oils will disperse into your bathwater with ease...and always be careful...some oils are too strong to use more than a drop or two.
Does anyone know if there is a list of specific flowers and spices that might be referenced (if any) in Baha'i writings? I'd love to know...
p.s. I didn't have any pictures of streams, so in went a picture from my rose bush...it's a tea rose. :)...Aghaaha! Please don't let my bad sense of humor keep you from coming back.
p.s. double s: I just discovered this poem by Persian poet Hafiz...it's not truly related, but it is beautiful and we can all relate to the fear and subsequent reward of opening.
How
Did the rose
Ever open its heart
And give this world
All its
Beauty?
It felt the encouragement of light
Against its
Being,
Otherwise,
We all remain
Too
Frightened
-Hafiz
Did the rose
Ever open its heart
And give this world
All its
Beauty?
It felt the encouragement of light
Against its
Being,
Otherwise,
We all remain
Too
Frightened
-Hafiz
Oh my...your post led me off on a real voyage of discovery. I did a search on the Ocean software for mentions of "rose garden" and discovered something I hadn't at all realized before! The first three Hidden Words from the Persian all mention the word "rose". Here they are...
ReplyDelete1. O YE PEOPLE THAT HAVE MINDS TO KNOW AND EARS TO HEAR!
The first call of the Beloved is this: O mystic nightingale! Abide not but in the rose-garden of the spirit. O messenger of the Solomon of love! Seek thou no shelter except in the Sheba of the well-beloved, and O immortal phoenix! dwell not save on the mount of faithfulness. Therein is thy habitation, if on the wings of thy soul thou soarest to the realm of the infinite and seekest to attain thy goal.
2. O SON OF SPIRIT!
The bird seeketh its nest; the nightingale the charm of the rose; whilst those birds, the hearts of men, content with transient dust, have strayed far from their eternal nest, and with eyes turned towards the slough of heedlessness are bereft of the glory of the divine presence. Alas! How strange and pitiful; for a mere cupful, they have turned away from the billowing seas of the Most High, and remained far from the most effulgent horizon.
3. O FRIEND!
In the garden of thy heart plant naught but the rose of love, and from the nightingale of affection and desire loosen not thy hold. Treasure the companionship of the righteous and eschew all fellowship with the ungodly.
(Baha'u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words)
Amazing.
I've been a Baha'i for 57 years and taught my Faith in Asia and Africa as well as the US. I suggest the following: Everyone has to make a decision as to the TRUTH when he/she comes across it. In the last analysis it is up to you, alone and uninfluenced by others. Those faced with Jesus in His time had to do the same thing and few chose correctly. If you had lived in His time, how would you have chosen? Would you have seen Him what what He was or would you have stood by as He was led to His execution by the BLIND? You are now faced with this "cross roads" of humanity and it is your quality of choice that is being "tested." A thousand years from now, when you are in the other world, how will you view your actions at this time? Did you choose right or were you of those who stood by and watched?
ReplyDeleteThank you NY and Don...
ReplyDeleteHi Don, I know that ultimately this is up to me and I won't be swayed by others into or away from anything I don't feel entirely comfortable with, however, I have much to learn from others regarding the specifics of the faith. I love to share and accept sharing.
My faith exists, but I'm still doing my "independent investigation" and enjoying it very much. I can't say what I would have done if I'd been around during the manifestation of Jesus, but I can say that it would have been a right choice either way. I can't view these things as right or wrong...or good quality or not...what's a right path to God for one may not be for another. Perhaps I'm not understanding the comment, but is there really a wrong choice when it comes to finding your way to God? I honestly thought this was whole basis of the faith-one light many lamps idea. Thank you for your comment, it offers a different perspective.
Consider the uses of smell in this praise:
ReplyDeleteO thou Greatest Holy Leaf! …
Except for a very few… no soul of this nether world has known or recognized thine immaculate, thy most sacred essence, nor has any befittingly perceived that ambergris fragrance of thy noble qualities, which richly anoints thy brow, and which issues from the divine wellspring of mystic musk; nor has any caught its sweetness.
To this bear witness the Company on High, and beyond them God Himself, the Supreme Lord of all the heavens and the earths: that during all thy days, from thine earliest years until the close of thy life, thou didst personify the attributes of thy Father, the Matchless, the Mighty. Thou wert the fruit of His Tree, thou wert the lamp of His love, thou wert the symbol of His serenity, and of His meekness, the pathway of His guidance, the channel of His blessings, the sweet scent of His robe, the refuge of His loved ones and His handmaidens, the mantle of His generosity and grace.
That poem was also published as a song by David Wilcox and his wife....
ReplyDeleteHi Laura, thank you so much for your lovely comment on my blog.
ReplyDelete"I don't know what will happen next year...or how I'll handle the holidays if I declare, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."
I had this dilemma last year - my first Christmas after I declared - and wrote something about it in my blog if you're interested, but basically what everyone I've spoken to seems to agree on is don't let it be divisive. ie. don't not celebrate it if it's going to alienate you from your loved ones. This year I'm going to go the whole Christmas thing with my family, but I'm not doing anything with my Bahá'í friends.