What is the subject of this photo? Look carefully, the actual subject is more than it seems. At first glance, it appears as though the three young women are the subject. But they have beautiful, loving companions—the crowd of tulips bowing toward them, leaning in to be part of the picture, part of the selfie.
And look at all the things that cannot as easily be seen—the air they are breathing, the companionship with each other, the daylight that surrounds them, the photographer who took the photo, and you, the eyes looking at this now.
We think the “selfie” is so limited. And we take it so seriously. The flowers are celebrating, joining in. Everything is joining in. The grass is sending out its quiet green joy. There is the taken-for-granted presence of all the people passing by. Somewhere in the background, where you can’t see it, someone is walking their dog and people are stopping to say hello. The whole universe is leaning in, supporting your existence.
You cannot breathe without the entire universe supporting it. Do you think you control the ocean of air that makes way for every outbreath, that flows toward you for every inbreath? Your heart beats to the unknown rhythm of the life force that empowers your every move. Your eyes see, your ears hear, and all this not through some endeavor of your own. With every move of your arm, of your hand, somehow space makes way for it. And not only for you, for everyone and everything. Every waving branch on every tree, birds flying by, the scrap of paper blowing down the street—every movement, every breath, a vast symphony of mutuality.
The flowers are always leaning in. And we are leaning in. Everything is leaning in. We are bowing to each other. We may not always feel it, we may not always know it, but we can expand our view and our sense of being to see and feel the true nature of the subject, what it includes, and the source it comes from.
© 2022 Shanti Natania Grace
Photo: “Group Pic” by Shira Tamir
With thanks to Shira Tamir for her comment “It almost looks as if the flowers are leaning in for the selfie.”
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Kindness
Consider the tulip,
how it rises every spring
out of the same soil,
which is, of course,
not at all the same soil,
but new. How long ago
someone’s hands planted a bulb
and gave to this place
a living scrap of beauty.
Consider the six red petals,
the yellow at the center,
the soft green rubber of the stem,
how it bows to the world. How,
the longer we sit beside it,
the more we bow to it.
It is something like kindness,
is it not? The way someone plants
in you a bit of beauty—a kind word,
perhaps, or a touch, the gift
of their time or their smile.
And years later, in the soil that is you,
it emerges again, pushing aside
the dead leaves, insisting on beauty,
a celebration of the one who planted it,
the one who perceives it, and
the fertile place where it has grown.
~ Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
From Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s blog, “A Hundred Falling Veils”
First published in The Path to Kindness: Poems of Connection and Joy
(Storey Publishing, 2022)
Image by Raw Pixel.com
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Toward Each Other’s Hearts
God commands us
to pray in the direction of the Ka’ba
Imagine this:
People all over the world
are gathered
making a circle
around the Ka’ba
They bow down
in prayer
Now
imagine:
Remove the Ka’ba
from the middle of the circle
Are they not prostrating
toward one another?
They are bowing down
toward each other’s hearts.
From the writings of Shams-i Tabrizi, Maqalat, 653
Translated by Omid Safi
(from: Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition)
A note on Shams-i Tabrizi:
The Sufi mystic Shams-i Tabrizi was Rumi’s spiritual master. When he met Shams, Rumi was a highly respected scholar, teacher and jurist. The meeting with Shams was a turning point in Rumi’s life. Shams’ teachings and Rumi’s deep devotion changed Rumi forever. After Shams came into his life, Rumi became a devotee filled with music, dance, and poetry.
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