از میانِ شمع بینی، بَرفُروزَد شمعِ تو

نورِ شمعَت اَنْدَرآمیزَد به نورِ اولیا

"I see the flame of your candle increases in the middle.

Your flame flares when your light joins the lights of Saints."

~Rumi

Source: Divine Shams, Ghazal, 155-158

Reflection on the Quote:

A message from Dr. Fariba Enteshari, Founder & Executive Director

Rumi describes our connection to each other as a flame of a candle in our hearts that is ready to be kindled when we feel the joy or sadness of others.

We have this heart connection as an honor of being an awake human being. It is through this connection that someone may feel compelled to run into danger to rescue another human being without even thinking about his or her own life.

Humanity rises or falls because of this connection or lack of it.

When we fail to take action, making life a less safer place for many, we neglect our own safety as well. Lack of kindness decreases the light of empathy for everyone. Creating an unsafe, hostile society, considering our own views only and fighting each other, benefits no one.

We can increase the hope of a better society with each deliberate well-thought-out action collectively and individually. We can choose to become more connected to our communities and find ways to solutions or be a part of the problem.

The flame can consume us with a goal that can lift us up as an awake spiritual being. Didn’t Jesus teach us the alchemy of coming together no matter how small our assembly might be!

“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” New Testament: Matthew 18:20

The journey of becoming fully human (Enssan, انسان) is only determined by our acts of kindness toward each other. To turn a blind eye toward disaster after disaster without taking any action shows only how insane and selfish we have become.

Where are the actions of those who care for others beyond the preservation of themselves?

جُمله عشق و جُمله لُطف و جُمله قدرت، جُمله دید

گشته در هستی شهید و در عَدَم او مُرتضی

All love, all kindness, all powers, and all insights are slaughtered in their existence but resurrected in heaven in thy name!

Source: Divine Shams: Ghazal 155–211

The hard decisions in life help to build our characters while we respond to the fire we witness in our time. For this to happen we need more mature egos to come together and collaborate. Who wants to live in the time of wars driven by immature egos who care only for themselves.

-Dr. Fariba Enteshari

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