Just in the Mail—Meditations of Mine Featured in a Canadian Journal

in #spirituality6 years ago (edited)

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Below, is a selection of my literary, spiritual and philosophical reflections in the latest print issue of the Journal of Baha'i Studies a peer-reviewed, academic journal published in Canada:


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A poem arrives like a hand in the dark.​

A poem should be flesh-warm, scented Spirit.

All languages are rough translations of our native tongue: the Spirit.

As we make ‪peace ‬with ourselves, we become more ‪tolerant‬ of our faults — in others.

The only real borders are those of our compassion.

Wars are only possible when people are united by what they hate rather than what they love: Peace.

Between comedy and tragedy, a hairline — the depth of an abyss.


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True artists disturb the false peace, also known as complacency.

The path to Peace is littered with dead selves.

Self-peace: our first step towards world peace.

The divided self is spiritually‬ immature. Divine union begins with self unity.

The inspiration for all our art? Mortality.

A cluttered mind makes for a poor mirror.

40's: when our bodies begin to prepare us for dying.


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Turning 40: When the fruit that is our body starts to spoil, and the rose tree of our soul begins to bloom.

Turning 40: When we begin to repeat ourselves and, hopefully, to hear ourselves, as well.

Getting older is realizing that we've been repeating ourselves all along.

Certain silences are more damning than words; they are actions.

Certain silences are hard to take back.

Spiritual fast food leads to spiritual indigestion.

Aphorisms respect the wisdom of silence by disturbing it, briefly.


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Talk is cheap, because it is the language of the body; silence golden, since it's the native tongue of the spirit.

As protection from your lower soul, surround yourself with reminders of your higher ‪soul.‬

Said a poem to a poet: can I trust you? Is your heart pure to carry me; are your hands clean to pass can lessen suffering and also save lives.

Numbness is a spiritual malady, true detachment its opposite.

The pursuit of Art and Spirituality is not a refuge from the world. We return from such exalted regions of the soul revitalized, with renewed care for one another.

When we behave unbeautifully, we give others permission to do so.

Unlike prose, poetry can keep its secrets.


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Aphorisms are the marriage of heaven and hell: poetry and philosophy.

While the number of celebrities mounts, that of saints remains constant throughout the ages.

Know your Muse, and its diet.

Attention: a tension.

The highest function of literature is transformational.

One never becomes a poet, except when they are writing a poem.

What we love in the next world, we begin by loving here, first.


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If religions are understood as organized Love then, by definition, hate is heresy.

An angry prayer is a contradiction in terms.

First, seek to become a luminous example — lastly, you may speak of religion and G_d.

Before you blaspheme, declaring yourself an agent of light acting in His Name, make sure that you stand clear of your own shadow.

Contradiction: the cloak preferred by profound truths.

Paradox: where truth hides in plain view. The paradox‬ of ‎enlightenment‬: to see our reflection in everything, and not to see our reflection in everything.

© Yahia Lababidi


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The Bahá’í Faith, its followers believe, is “divine in origin, all-embracing in scope, broad in its outlook, scientific in its method, humanitarian in its principles and dynamic in the influence it exerts on the hearts and minds of men.” The mission of the Bahá’í Faith is “to proclaim that religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is continuous and progressive, that the Founders of all past religions, though different in the non-essential aspects of their teachings, “abide in the same Tabernacle, soar in the same heaven, are seated upon the same throne, utter the same speech and proclaim the same Faith” (Shoghi Effendi).

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