Circles & God's Classroom - Hafiz by Ladinsky

Circles: “God has shouted ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ To every luminous movement in Existence.” ~ Hafiz

Seems like we are all sitting in God’s Classroom – at all times! 🙂 … here’s Daniel Ladinsky making a simple yet compelling case about that:

“Hafiz tells us that Love’s Journey unfolds through every process of life. Divine principles are constantly being demonstrated all around us. We cannot learn them through words or books or limited systems of human values. Hafiz says God is fully known only through love, which accepts everything. Love reveals the Universe as a cosmic playground where everything and being participates in a single, magnificent Game.

“God has shouted ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ To every luminous movement in Existence.” ~ Hafiz

Circles, of course, are a good symbol to illustrate why we are in God’s Classroom at all times. As Carl Jung said: “The circle is one of the great primordial images of mankind, that in considering the symbol of the circle, we are analyzing the self.” …

OR as Joseph Campbell continued (after Bill Moyers above reference of Jung on Circles – in Ep. 6: Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth — ‘Masks of Eternity’): “… {Circle is} an ever-present thing. It’s the center from which you’ve come, back to which you go …” … and … “… you read in Plato somewhere, the soul is a circle. I suppose the circle represents. totality. … the temporal aspect of the circle is, you leave, go somewhere and come back, the alpha and omega. God is the alpha and omega, the source and the end. Somehow the circle suggests immediately a completed totality, whether in time or in space. …” … and Campbell adds … “… Jung used {circle} as a pedagogical device, actually, what he called the mandala…a Hindu term for a sacred circle …”

Campbell elaborates further: “… in working out a mandala for oneself, what one does is draw a circle and then think of the different impulse systems in your life, the different value systems in your life, and try then to compose them and find what the center is. It’s kind of discipline for pulling all those scattered aspects of your life together, finding a center and ordering yourself to it. So you’re trying to coordinate your circle with the universal circle. …”

In his book, I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Love and Joy (see full attribution below), Ladinsky offers his take on the “theme” of each chapter through a brief preamble at the start … plus an excerpted quote from one of the poems within that chapter. Today’s poem – Circles – is from the chapter We All Sit in God’s Classroom … with the above preamble (his “compelling case” at the start of the opening blockquote).

Daniel Ladinsky, of course, is known for his “renderings” of Hafiz poems (more on renderings at the bottom of this post) … which made Hafiz more accessible to the “western ear” consequently making him popular in the West … somewhat similar to Rumi by Coleman Barks 🙂

So, let’s see what Hafiz has to say (through Daniel) about Circles …

Circles

The moon is most happy
When it is full.
And the sun always looks
Like a perfectly minted gold coin
That was just Polished
And placed in flight
By God’s playful Kiss.

And so many varieties of fruit
Hang plump and round
From branches that seem like a Sculptor’s hands.

I see the beautiful curve of a pregnant belly
Shaped by a soul within,

And the Earth itself,
And the planets and the Spheres—
I have gotten the hint:
There is something about circles
The Beloved likes.

Hafiz,
Within the Circle of a Perfect One
There is an Infinite Community
Of Light.

~ Hafiz

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To learn more about Daniel’s views on the matter of translation vs rendering … and his journey of “finding” Hafiz, please read one of our previous posts: Awake Awhile – Hafiz by Ladinsky … and click here for a deeper exploration of all our Hafiz related posts.

And, for all you Rumi lovers, click here for all of our Rumi posts.

And, in the spirit of being in God’s Classroom at all times, let us do our part in dissolving or minimizing the current humanitarian crisis unfolding in Ukraine … by helping in whatever way we can … and to that end here are some options:

1) NPR: Want to support the people in Ukraine? Here’s how you can help

2) Washington Post: Here’s how Americans can donate to help people in Ukraine.

3) Go Fund Me: How to Help: Donate to Ukraine Relief Efforts.

4) USA Today: Want to support the people of Ukraine? These apps and websites can help you send money.

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We are all facing financial challenges but IF your situation allows you to donate and help then please do so …

THANK YOU!