{"id":5908,"date":"2017-10-11T07:46:50","date_gmt":"2017-10-11T14:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=5908"},"modified":"2017-10-11T07:47:53","modified_gmt":"2017-10-11T14:47:53","slug":"abu-said-abil-kheir-the-sum-total-of-our-life-is-a-breath-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2017\/10\/11\/abu-said-abil-kheir-the-sum-total-of-our-life-is-a-breath-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Abu-Said Abil-Kheir – The sum total of our life is a breath"},"content":{"rendered":"

The sum total of our life is a breath
\nby Abu-Said Abil-Kheir<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by Vraje Abramian<\/font><\/p>\n

The sum total of our life is a breath
\nspent in the company of the Beloved.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from Nobody, Son of Nobody: Poems of Shaikh Abu-Saeed Abil-Kheir<\/a>, Translated by Vraje Abramian<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by Cochalita<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

I find it fascinating that \u201cbreath\u201d and \u201clife\u201d and \u201cspirit\u201d are synonyms in many languages and cultures. When you read sacred writings and the word \u201cspirit\u201d is used, substitute the word \u201cbreath\u201d and see how the meaning changes and expands. <\/p>\n

This connection between breath \u2013 life \u2013 spirit is much deeper than the simple observation that the living breathe and the dead do not. <\/p>\n

We tend to think in terms of borders and boundaries, constantly noting what separates ourselves, mentally and physically, from everything else. But the reality is that there is a constant flow of awareness across those borders. Every one of us has the unseen movement of the breath. Through the breath, what is outside becomes inside; what is non-self becomes self. And what was self is released again out into the world. This is communion, nothing less.<\/p>\n

That inbreath of yours is the outbreath of another. The air we breathe is the breath of all.<\/p>\n

A deep breath opens the chest and expands the heart. A full breath requires us to feel. We feel ourselves, and we feel others. Feeling, too, is communion. When feeling is shut down, the breath is shut down, and life has become limited.<\/p>\n

The current of the breath continuously teaches us that the boundaries of self exist only in the mental map. In reality, we flow out into the universe, and the universe flows back in. The only way to secure our borders is to stop breathing, which is, of course, death. Life requires breath, and we live in each other, in the same breath.<\/p>\n

When we really breathe, with a sense of the fulness of life, we might just come to the same conclusion that Sheikh Abu-Said Abil-Kheir came to: An individual\u2019s lifetime may be brief or long, the experiences of life may be tangible or fleeting, but this communal breath \u2013 life \u2013 spirit in which we participate, is the very breath of the Beloved.<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Abu-Said Abil-Kheir<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Longing in Between: Sacred Poetry from Around the World (A Poetry Chaikhana Anthology)<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Drunken Universe: An Anthology of Persian Sufi Poetry<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nNobody, Son of Nobody: Poems of Shaikh Abu-Saeed Abil-Kheir<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nLove\u2019s Alchemy: Poems from the Sufi Tradition<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Mystics of Islam<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More Books >><\/a><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n<\/td>\n\nAbu-Said Abil-Kheir<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Turkmenistan (967 \u2013 1049) Timeline<\/a>
\nMuslim \/ Sufi<\/a><\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n

<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Sheikh Abu-Said Abil-Kheir was one of the earlier Sufi poets. He lived more than two centuries before Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, yet, like Rumi, much of his mysticism follows a similar path of annihilation in divine Love.<\/p>\n

Abu-Said\u2019s poetry ranges from the ecstatic and celestial, to struggles with abandonment. His poetry has an immediacy and even a sort of devoutly wry petulance that can draw comparisons with the great Bengali poet, Ramprasad.<\/p>\n

Abu Said referred to himself as \u201cNobody, Son of Nobody,\u201d to convey the mystic\u2019s sense of having completely merged or disappeared into the Divine, leaving no trace of the ego behind.<\/p>\n

He lived in Mayhana in what is modern day Turkmenistan, just north of Iran and Afghanistan in Central Asia.<\/p>\n

More poetry by Abu-Said Abil-Kheir<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The sum total of our life is a breath by Abu-Said Abil-Kheir English version by Vraje Abramian The sum total of our life is a breath spent in the company of the Beloved. \u2014 from Nobody, Son of Nobody: Poems of Shaikh Abu-Saeed Abil-Kheir, Translated by Vraje Abramian \/ Image by Cochalita \/ I find […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[109,525,2120,526],"class_list":["post-5908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-abu-said-abil-kheir","tag-breath","tag-breath-and-spirit","tag-breathe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5908"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5910,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5908\/revisions\/5910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}