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“The one who finds faith is the one

who has seen faith in others,

The one who has seen and received justice.”

~Rumi

Source: Mathnawi I, 510

Reflection on the Quote:

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

When was the first time that you became hopeful about life despite the dire situation you were in? Life’s moments that change us are hard to come by. But when they do, it is worth paying attention and noticing them.

Thirty-three years ago when I moved to the United States, Iran was still at war with Iraq which means that I was always anxious about whether my family in Iran were safe. I adored my little sister and thinking of being away from her was the hardest thing in my life. The idea that she was not safe was too hard to bear. However, making a decision together with my father, I left all behind in 1980. I was young enough to not understand that cutting off myself from my feelings would not help.

I grew up in a comfortable household with a father that everyone dreamt of having. At the end of the summer of 1980, I was tossed into chaos from a loving home, all by myself. I flew to Germany in a rush just a few weeks before the war between Iran and Iraq started, because my father was concerned about my freedom in a country that was undergoing unpredictable changes. Unwillingly, I left, a decision we made together.

When one is anxious for many years it becomes very difficult to be motivated about life...for me seasons were coming and going but always with worry. There were unseen marks of damage on many families that were hard to overcome -- enormous effects on everyone I knew in our town. The only difference for me was that I was away and not directly under the threat of bodily harm. Separation like this has its own price on the psyche.

The good news is that life can always surprise us, especially through people we meet. In Summer 1988, when I moved to the United States, my very first friend was a petite Brazilian woman who had enormous faith — in some ways she was the strongest person I knew. She was divorced, raising two teenagers on her own while she was studying for her doctoral degree in economics and also working part time in a number of different jobs.

She was a walking miracle to me. She was kind and loving and alive, paying attention to everything. My second language is German so I had to communicate with her through a German/English dictionary...so she patiently would listen and then help. Slowly I became familiar with her life and could not believe how she could study with so little time left at the end of her day. What was the source of her kindness and love? What was the source of her energy? How could she be so strong?

One day, I asked her and she replied that she has faith — she knows that she is not alone in her difficulties.

I think I was too young to understand her and her type of faith. I am not sure I understood her at all but day by day I saw her going through her difficulties. I saw her raising two teenagers on her own which was very difficult. I saw that working different jobs along with her studying as an international student was not achievable, in my opinion. Yet I saw her passing exam after exam without much sleep. Occasionally, I did step in to help as much as I could. I am happy to say that we are still friends after 33 years and she has a wonderful life with her children and grandchildren.

Meanwhile, I went from being a biochemist to who I am today. In many ways, I circulate in the ocean of Rumi’s poetry and I am so passionate to share the above verse with you. We are the reason for who we are. We collectively, our generosity, our love and the way we live, give birth to seeds that we have planted in ourselves. While we nurture and nourish those seeds, we spread them to others. So if we want more justice, we have to be just and promote that justice with our own actions, too. If we want love, we need to be love and show more love.

Rumi believes that in our essence we are godlike, we only need to activate it. This is why verse 510 of book one of Mathnawi made me think of the chain reactions that Rumi is pointing out. I do not need to believe it but I do not have to disbelieve it either— when I know that to create a safe community we need love and justice. Still, it is perplexing to me that Rumi connects these to faith. Faith is the result of how safe we are for each other. Witnessing others do good feeds our faith in a world that can be harsh. We have been given the free will to build toward something better or condemn, action by action.

In a way, it is within our awareness that in nature we can be kind and generous despite the hardship we find in life’s circumstances.

“They go to the well of deep love inside each of us

They fill their jars there, and they leave.

There is a source they come from, and a fountain inside here. Be generous. Be grateful. Confess when you're not.

We can't know what the divine intelligence has in mind!

Who am I, standing in the midst of this thought-traffic?”

The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks, page 84 Source: Mathnawi VI, 2632.

-Dr. Fariba Enteshari

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