Mornings with Hafiz:
MEDITATIONS ON DIVINE LOVE IN THE FACE OF EMPIRE
Pay-What-You-Can
morning meditations
March 5-April 18, 2025
Weekdays, 7:30am/9:00am EST
Nothing evolves us like Love.
—HAFIZ
Hafiz, 14th-century Persian poet, mystic, spiritual rebel and champion of human freedom couldn’t be a better companion to us as we cultivate clarity, compassion, and creative response in the face of Empire. Hafiz was no stranger to the strategies of Empire. In fact, while his estimated 500-700 poems in circulation today may seem prolific to us, scholars estimate these poems comprise only about a tenth of his total output, with most of his poems having been destroyed by clerics and rulers who understood the threat of a populace deeply rooted in extravagant Love. Hafiz’s insights and irresistible invitations to let ourselves be loved and become Love emancipate us from the clutches of those in power, particularly those who, in the words of Hafiz translator Daniel Ladinsky, “exploit the innocent with insane religious propoganda.”
In his poem “We Have Not Come to Take Prisoners,” he writes:
We have not come here to take prisoners,
But to surrender ever more deeply
To freedom and joy.
We have not come into this exquisite world
To hold ourselves hostage from love….
But to experience ever and ever more deeply
Our divine courage, freedom, and
Light!
Soul Friends, the Lover of which Hafiz writes is playful, wildly abundant, flirtatious, exquisitely tender, and indefatigable. Hafiz understands his own calling to be a channel of such Love, writing:
I am
A hole in a flute
That the Christ’s breath moves through—
Listen to this
Music.
A cheeky and unapologetic master of Divine Love, he can’t resist teaching us what he knows. Listen:
I am a man
Who knows the ten thousand positions of
Divine love.
I can can tell by the light of your eyes
That you are still most familiar
With the few earthly ones,
But would not a good father
Instruct all his heirs
Toward that path that will someday
Deeply satisfy?
Further, if you are weary of God-language steeped in patriarchy and religion sullied by homophobia, Hafiz offers images of God as a shapeshifting Friend and Lover unlimited by gender, form, or station in life. God may be referred to as the Friend, the Beloved, but also as the Sweet Uncle, Generous Merchant, the Problem Solver, and the Problem Giver. He concludes one poem:
Sweetheart, O sweetheart
You are God in
Drag!
You see, dear Soul Friends, Hafiz could not be a more timely teacher and guide.
“NOTHING EVOLVES US LIKE LOVE,” he writes, but what PRACTICE love takes!
We practice RECEPTIVITY to Love in daily meditation, a practice that frees us from old ruts of thinking, feeling, and doing and forges new pathways of thinking, feeling, and doing.
In PRACTICE we don’t just know with our heads, but we experience in our bodies how fully sustained and supported we are in Love. We experience both Love’s hunger and abundance.
And, PRACTICE IN COMMUNITY is vital. Our woundings have come— and keep coming— through community, so the same must be true of our healing. We need a re-knitting of trustworthy bonds.
Soul Friend, are you seeking freedom? Are you scanning the waters for a lifeboat? Are you seeking companionship? Hafiz insists,
“THE ONLY LIFEBOAT HERE IS LOVE.”
WHY NOT COME ABOARD THIS LITTLE LIFEBOAT OF LOVE and join this COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE? There’s room for all. Seekers of all backgrounds, orientations, gender, race, and religion are welcome.
Beginning on Ash Wednesday, March 5 and continuing through Good Friday, April 17, we’ll meet via Zoom each Monday through Friday for a time of shared practice. These 30-minute gatherings will begin with a simple guided descent into body and breath, feature a poem by Hafiz, offer time in breakout rooms for listening and sharing (ALWAYS OPTIONAL) with others, and conclude with a closing blessing.You are free to pop in for the entire 30 minutes, or just the beginning.
In an effort to make this offering as accessible as possible to as many as possible…
•you choose what you’re able to pay for this offering; the generosity of one supports the longing of another. Sacred Economy, baby!
•you choose the time that fits your schedule best: 7:00am or 9:00am EST;
•you choose to come as many days as you are able.
Your purchase is for this ENTIRE offering, 33 mornings in total. On any given day you are free to attend either of the sessions, depending on your schedule. Following your purchase you will receive an email with the Zoom link and password to be used for accessing the daily gatherings. If you are unable to afford the lowest price option, or you have recently lost your government funded job, don’t be shy. Please reach out to me at: lorilyn@soulcaresanctuaries.com. I will gladly waive the fee.
All quotes of Hafiz’s poetry are sourced from The Gift: Poems by Hafiz, The Great Sufi Master, translated by Daniel Ladinsky