empty-handed in the end

Our lives, the beauty and abundance of the world,

 are freely given. We enter the world empty-handed

in the beginning and leave it empty-handed in the end.

No doubt there is pleasure in the finer things of life,

in all that is soft to the touch and pleasing to the eye.

While such things do gratify the senses, they mean nothing

to the soul, unless the Real shines through them.

And the Real only appears when the self disappears.

 When one looks beyond one's wants one begins to see

other's needs.  Possessions then seem less desirable.

One is less minded to acquire the things of the world

and more inclined to give them away. The more one

gives the freer one feels. The giver receives as much

as the receiver, for giving is a relief to the soul.

It cannot breathe unless the load is lightened.

The biblical phrase, "Cast your bread upon the waters,"

is meant, to entrust a part of your sustenance to the waves

of the divine bounty.  Trust in the tide that flows through

all that is an will be.

You will find, in the end, that what you truly possess is

what you have given away.

~ Pir Zia Inayat-Kan

from Saraced Chivalry