Letting Go Of Ourselves

July presents the theme of “Altruism,” and the impulse of letting go of ourselves for the needs of another. Typically altruism is thought of as a heroic action and such stories of self sacrifice move our hearts and we may ask, if I were in a similar situation, how would I respond? Yet, is altruism something that can be practiced? Can we practice letting go of all the minutia and holding as foremost our love for one another?

Speaking of love ~ you all know my love of the poet Hafiz, here’s a poem he named for himself ~ that steps into the heart of “Altruism,”

Hafiz

It
Is all
Just a love contest
And I never
Lose.
Now you have another good reason
To spend more time
With
Me.

Hafiz also reminds that it is possible to receive love, care and comfort across space and time....

The Gift

Our
Union is like this:
You feel cold
So I reach for a blanket to cover
Our shivering feet.
A hunger comes into your body
So I run to my garden
And start digging potatoes.
You ask for a few words of comfort and guidance,
I quickly kneel at your side offering you
This whole book—
As a gift.
You ache with loneliness one night
So much you weep
And I say,
Here’s a rope,
Tie it around me.
Hafiz
Will be your companion
For life.

Altruism reaches beyond limits of body into the experience of another to cover the feet, feed the hunger, ease the ache of loneliness. In the dog days of summer may we find opportunities to experiment and play with practicing altruism and opening to love and care across space and time.

*selections of poetry taken from "The Gift," Poems by Hafiz, The Great Sufi Master, translated by Daniel Ladinsky