The Lids of Time

Sa'di wrote:
The children of Adam are limbs of one body
Having been created of one essence.
When the calamity of time afflicts one limb
The other limbs cannot remain at rest.
If you have no sympathy for the troubles of others
You are not worthy to be called by the name of "man."

Sa’di, was a favorite of Ralph Waldo Emerson, American philosopher and writer, and like Emerson, this American writer is deeply affected by the profound thought of Sa’di, Rumi, Hafiz and other Persian thinkers. From my first look at the works of Rumi, I have been aware of the clarity of insight available to us through these ancient scholars, and then, my mind skips a beat when I read:

The snow falls on no two trees alike, but the forms it assumes are as various as those of the twigs and leaves which receives it. They are, as it were, predetermined by the genius of the tree. So one divine spirit descends alike on all, but bears a peculiar fruit in each…I look under the lids of time.

–Henry David Thoreau, Journal, February 1841.

But, let me change the mood here a little bit. Years ago, my son would crawl into our bed early in the morning, and I, wishing a few minutes more of delicious rest, would pretend to be asleep. He, child of practicality, would lift up my eyelid and ask, “Are you in there, Mommy?” In just such a way, like small children, let us lift the lids of time, and witness to the truth of nature and God that is within.
--Sue Petrovski