The Calmness of the Heart

Talk to me about love

Talk to me about the mere sense of mode

Talk to me about truth

For only what comes from the heart

We can love

Talk to me about forgiveness

Talk to me about patience

Talk to me about understanding

For everyone has his reasons

Love yourself without being loved

Don’t claim to be loved

For only he is loved who has proved himself worthy

Accept that life’s pleasures

Can only develop from pain

And learn to see him as a friend

Don’t place yourself above others

Nor control them

Nor force your opinion upon them

For we are all of the same blood

And no one outranks others

Which post he may ever hold

Talk to me about hatred

Talk to me about oppression

Talk to me about bloodshed

For what is part of your life

Is part of the whole world

Talk to me about weakness

Talk to me about greed

Talk to me about fear

Without being embarrassed

Talk to me about your darkest fantasies

Yet keep to yourself what seems wrong to you

And walk hand in hand with your doubts

Through valleys so desperate

And over heights so bright

And only cease when you have found your answers

Yet never be sure to know the answer

Grasp that you are never lost

However dark it may be in your heart

Learn from those who are poor

For they possess the most

Don’t believe what everyone believes

But what you understand

Don’t be part of a whole

Which is not part of yourself

Dare to dream and to disappoint

Don’t do what is expected from you

But what you don’t even expect from yourself

Listen to people

But don’t admire them

Respect the experience

For it owns an inestimable value

Share your own experience with the unexperienced

Without regulating them

For they only take what they need

Accept the unknown

Without deploring it

For in the eyes of the unknown you are a stranger yourself

Don’t close the door to it

For transformation comes when you doubt the known

Accept our own finitude

Recognise that we are not in possession of the absolute truth

And thus our truth is part of a far greater truth

Delight in the mysteries of life

As life delights in your curiosity

And not settle down

Before your heart comes to fulfilment

Don’t reach out to the one

Who decides to stay on the ground

For he will only debilitate you

Without understanding

Realize that it is on us

To save ourselves

And it is not cruel

To walk on

Yet reach out to the one

Who requires and accepts it

Not for your own sake

But knowing that

He will help you in return

Should it be you who is lying on the ground

Don’t give without taking

No one is a hero

Forgetting himself out of sheer giving

Don’t seek fame

Nor power nor money

For those come as fast

As they go

And poison your mind

Take up the struggle

Even in yourself

And be aware of your capabilities

Don’t be someone you aren't

For a duty

Carried out in whatever noble purpose

Not exploiting your full potential

Is a waste of time in the end

Don’t try to change the world

But change yourself

For this works by far faster and easier

Don’t just criticise the deeds of others

But suggest possibilities

Of doing it better

For the critic principally 

Often misses on principle

That the world doesn’t get better

By simply being against it

Be yourself

For this is what it’s all about in the end

[Fakhreddin Mokhberi]

Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen
Try as you may

 Whatever is destined to happen will happen
Do what you may to prevent it

This is certain

The best course, therefore, is to remain silent

Ramana Maharshi 

 ~

You give but little when you give of your possessions

It is when you give of yourself that you truly give

Khalil Gibran