{"id":8410,"date":"2024-05-03T07:11:15","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T14:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=8410"},"modified":"2024-05-03T07:12:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T14:12:24","slug":"attar-looking-for-your-own-face","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2024\/05\/03\/attar-looking-for-your-own-face\/","title":{"rendered":"Attar – Looking for your own face"},"content":{"rendered":"

Looking for your own face
\nby Farid ud-Din Attar<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by Coleman Barks<\/font><\/p>\n

Your face is neither infinite nor ephemeral.
\nYou can never see your own face,
\nonly a reflection, not the face itself.<\/p>\n

So you sigh in front of mirrors
\nand cloud the surface.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s better to keep your breath cold.
\nHold it, like a diver does in the ocean.
\nOne slight movement, the mirror-image goes.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be dead or asleep or awake.
\nDon\u2019t be anything.<\/p>\n

What you most want,
\nwhat you travel around wishing to find,
\nlose yourself as lovers lose themselves,
\nand you\u2019ll be that.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from The Hand of Poetry: Five Mystic Poets of Persia, with Lectures by Inayat Khan<\/a>, Translated by Coleman Barks<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by Noah Buscher<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

I like this idea of searching for one\u2019s own face \u2014 something so central to our identity but which we can never see directly.<\/p>\n

You can never see your own face,
\nonly a reflection, not the face itself.<\/i><\/p>\n

How then can we see our own face?<\/p>\n

We seek its reflection constantly, everywhere. All the world becomes a mirror showing ourselves back to us.<\/p>\n

But our vision is unclear, distorted, veiled\u2026<\/p>\n

So you sigh in front of mirrors
\nand cloud the surface.<\/i><\/p>\n

The ego within us covers our self-perception with a thin film, so we think we are seeing ourselves, but we see only a vague shadow of our true nature behind the ego\u2019s haze.<\/p>\n

In some traditions, this is represented by the compulsion of the breath, its continuous inflow and outflow perpetually disrupting true, still perception. Some yogic and Sufi techniques seek to profoundly quiet the breath and the rhythms of the body so that the vision of Reality may come through undistorted:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s better to keep your breath cold.
\nHold it, like a diver does in the ocean.
\nOne slight movement, the mirror-image goes.<\/i><\/p>\n

Most people try to shape the story they tell about themselves. Seekers try to shape themselves. But if we are wise, we shape neither story nor self; we lose ourselves, instead. We let the disrupting ego-self melt away in the fires of our fierce love for the Beloved.<\/p>\n

What you most want,
\nwhat you travel around wishing to find,
\nlose yourself as lovers lose themselves,
\nand you\u2019ll be that.<\/i><\/p>\n

In the search for our true face, a reflection will never satisfy. No journey. We won\u2019t ever properly see our faces by looking outside of ourselves. To know our true face, we inhabit ourselves, instead.<\/p>\n

Have a beautiful day \u2014 and always remain true to your heart\u2019s instinct to open, even in tumultuous times.<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Farid ud-Din Attar<\/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
Poetry for the Spirit: Poems of Universal Wisdom and Beauty<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Drunken Universe: An Anthology of Persian Sufi Poetry<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nMusic of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nPerfume of the Desert: Inspirations from Sufi Wisdom<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Conferences of the Birds<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More Books >><\/a><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\"Farid<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nFarid ud-Din Attar<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Iran\/Persia (1120? \u2013 1220?) Timeline<\/a>
\nMuslim \/ Sufi<\/a><\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Farid ud-Din Attar was born in Nishapur, in what is today north-east Iran. There is disagreement over the exact dates of his birth and death but several sources confirm that he lived about 100 years. He is traditionally said to have been killed by Mongol invaders. His tomb can be seen today in Nishapur.<\/p>\n

As a younger man, Attar went on pilgrimage to Mecca and traveled extensively, seeking wisdom in Egypt, Damascus, India, and other areas, before finally returning to his home city of Nishapur.<\/p>\n

The name Attar means herbalist or healer, which was his profession. (The profession can also carry implications of alchemy.) It is said that he saw as many as 500 patients a day in his shop, prescribing herbal remedies which he prepared himself, and he wrote his poetry while attending to his patients.<\/p>\n

About thirty works by Attar survive, but his masterpiece is the Mantic at-Tayr (The Conference of the Birds). In this collection, he describes a group of birds (individual human souls) under the leadership of a hoopoe (spiritual master) who determine to search for their king, the legendary Simurgh bird (God). The birds must confront their own individual limitations and fears while journeying through seven valleys before they ultimately find the Simurgh and complete their quest. The 30 birds who ultimately complete the quest discover that they themselves are already one with the Simurgh they sought, playing on a pun in Persian (si and murgh can translate as 30 birds) while giving us an esoteric teaching on the presence of the Divine within us collectively.<\/p>\n

Attar\u2019s poetry inspired Rumi and many other Sufi poets. It is said that Rumi actually met Attar when Attar was an old man and Rumi was a boy, though some scholars dispute this possibility.<\/p>\n

Farid ud-Din Attar was apparently tried at one point for heresy and exiled from Nishapur, but he eventually returned to his home city and that is where he died.<\/p>\n

A traditional story is told about Attar\u2019s death. He was taken prisoner by a Mongol during the invasion of Nishapur. Someone soon came and tried to ransom Attar with a thousand pieces of silver. Attar advised the Mongol not to sell him for that price. The Mongol, thinking to gain an even greater sum of money, refused the silver. Later, another person came, this time offering only a sack of straw to free Attar. Attar then told the Mongol to sell him for that was all he was worth. Outraged at being made to look like a fool, the Mongol cut off Attar\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

Whether or not this is literally true isn\u2019t the point. This story is used to teach the mystical insight that the personal self isn\u2019t of much real worth. What is valuable is the Beloved\u2019s presence within us \u2014 and that presence isn\u2019t threatened by the death of the body.<\/p>\n

More poetry by Farid ud-Din Attar<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Looking for your own face by Farid ud-Din Attar English version by Coleman Barks Your face is neither infinite nor ephemeral. You can never see your own face, only a reflection, not the face itself. So you sigh in front of mirrors and cloud the surface. It\u2019s better to keep your breath cold. Hold it, […]<\/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":[44,2415,525,2558,1091,348,1708,193,938,1765,19],"class_list":["post-8410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-attar","tag-being-oneself","tag-breath","tag-breath-retention","tag-face","tag-farid-ud-din-attar","tag-know-thyself","tag-muslim-poetry","tag-reflection","tag-self-realization","tag-sufi-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8410","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=8410"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8412,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8410\/revisions\/8412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}