Human beings are members of a whole...by Saadi

Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.

If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.

If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain.

~ Saadi
(A poem by the Persian poet Sa’adi (1210 – 1290)
gracing the entrance of the Hall of Nations of the
United Nations building in New York City)

The pilgrim sees no form....by Farid ud-Din Attar

The pilgrim sees no form but His and knows
That He subsists beneath all passing shows 

The pilgrim comes from Him whom he can see,
Lives in Him, with Him, and beyond all three.

Be lost in Unity’s inclusive span,
Or you are human but not yet a man.

Whoever lives, the wicked and the blessed,
Contains a hidden sun within his breast

Its light must dawn though dogged by long delay;
The clouds that veil it must be torn away

Whoever reaches to his hidden sun
Surpasses good and bad and knows the One.

The good and bad are here while you are here;
Surpass yourself and they will disappear.

~ Farid ud-Din Attar
from The Conference of the Birds,
Translated by Afkham Darbandi and Dick Davis

Art by Bryan Dechter