Are Mystics Unaware?

Hello friends, Powerful leaders (autocrats like Trump and Boltisaro) can’t worry about how they hurt others…e.g. the ride for T around the military hospital today. Others are infected. Mystics confront the strange and even awful, as there may be wisdom in the pain and fright, terror in the eyes yet warmth in the heart. In the photo, Cat Max jumps into my lap to draw me into meditation work. It’s important to remember that leaders always need the advice of others. Thanks, Gene

 

Are Mystics Unaware?

 

I have put duality away, and I have seen
that the two worlds are one: one I seek,
one I know, one I see, one I call. — Rumi

So much suffering:
famine in Sudan, children
killing children in Chicago,
endless war in Syria and Iraq,
prisoners of conscience languishing,
disease of body and brain,

while mystics seem unaware,
talking about peace in divine light.

Cat Max suddenly jumps into my lap,
scattering my wordy pages seeking answers,
his reply of blue eyes and compassionate purr
embraces the ancient drama by going deeper,

like mystics letting breath and mantra
help them feel the pain, dwelling
in a fuller meditative space,
allowing time for the lingering sadness
to birth kindness and active care,
as they refuse to despair
over our broken story,

holding hands of the dying in hospice,
defending the wrongfully imprisoned,
checking the temperature of a sick child,
taking in the war refugee,
even the monk immolating himself in protest,

all in the stubborn oneness grasped only in part.