"You may learn to imitate a birdcall, but do you experience what the nightingale feels for the rose?”
One of my cultural inheritances is the symbolic story of how the Nightingale falls in love with the Rose. Upon laying its eyes on a dewy fully blossomed sensuous Rose for the first time, the Nightingale finds itself irrevocably in Love. The Nightingale flutters its wings along with the flutter of its Heart, flying from branch to branch overcome by Passion and Desire.
Suddenly, the Love drunk Nightingale was so overcome with a rapturous sensation that its song sung itself from its chest through its golden throat, out of its beak … eyes aglow… as the song not only reached the Rose but filled the soundscapes all around. All who were touched by this Love Song for the Rose felt the same Love.
There was just one problem: the Nightingale yearned for Union with Rose, to touch it and to bathe in its divine scent. The Rose though contains within her body the softness of the petals as much as the sharpness of her thorns.
Eventually, the Nightingale sacrifices its body for that one moment of Union. It flies Heart first into the Rose, blissfully enjoying touch and scent as the most Divine experience … as the thorn pierces its chest.
The Nightingale dies in Union with the Beloved… could this be the moment the Phoenix is birthed and rises to its flight of Glory?
I created a dance artivism visual story telling from creative conceptualization, creative direction, direction to choreography with exactly this theme.
It is called ‘Ashka-ye-Eshgh * Tears of Love’ .
This was my ‘Pain into Purpose’ creation as I was deeply affected by the WomanLifeFreedom revolution. A lot of ancestral, family and compatriot trauma and pain had resurfaced upon the death and torture of the people in Iran whilst fighting for True Living in FREEDOM. And more solidarity and closeness and expansion with my Iranian family and community within the diaspora. So much tears and laughter together… and this recognition from the experience of this tragedy. Allies and friends have supported me/us.
People outside of Iran mostly have no idea how far the expression of dystopia reaches in Iran. It’s so intense! And when one thinks that it couldn’t get any worse or horrific, it does!
Spiritually, I felt to cast myself as the Nightingale.
I know the Rose inside out in its archetypal embodiment. It may sound conceited, yet I was born as one. And the plight of the Nightingale, the willingness to give my all and everything above and beyond for the sake of Truth from my deepest Heart’s gnosis…. This has been my life quest!!! The Divine doesn’t let me get away with deceit or abandonment towards myself and towards alignment with Truth. My body and my life reflect any transgression that I knowingly or unconsciously overstep.
What I am talking about is that I have a deepest spiritual desire for the Sacred, for Truth, for Innocence, for an existence from the deepest Heart… for the Beloved, Union, Source, Creation itself!
This desire has put me on a quest of radical self honesty to leave no stone unturned and to face my own shadows, to love them, to integrate them and to find their wisdom and thus transform them. I am ever humbled by my many human traits including my weaknesses, and I am amazed by the magic that is Creation itself. I love this mystical journey in which it truly is the way, not the destination that counts.
One of the biggest gifts has been fearlessness which only happens when we master aspects of the mind and allow the Heart to be our compass. The Beloved within tells us how to live…
Why are we so afraid of Truth?! Why are we so afraid to admit our own lies that we tell ourselves? Why do we allow ourselves to cast our shadow on others, on the outside world and burden them with our lies told to ourselves?!?
I am also learning more compassion for myself and others. I can find it insulting to my Soul when I find another lying even to themselves in front of me. Compassion…Schirin… or is it actually enough now?!?!
If you wish to have access to my inner sanctum and be part of my Life, you have to have a pure Heart and the willingness for Truth. An uncompromising integrity from your Heart and backbone! In my humaness, it is too painful otherwise. Your actions tell who you are… your energy, body language and eyes tell who you are…
The fearlessness I have observed in my Iranian compatriots, the valor, courage, nobility and willingness to give
their very life for the Sacred WomanLifeFreedom ZanZendegiAzadi … inspires me to be a better human, to even have a fraction of that commitment for something Greater than Ourselves.
I will share more with you the coming days…
With Love, Schirin