This is what the 13^th century Persian Sufi poet Hafiz has to say about self-emptying:

First, the self-emptying:

I Have Learned
So much from God
That I can no longer call myself
A Christian, a Hindu,
A Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jew.

The Truth has shared so much of Itself with me,
That I can no longer call myself
A man, a woman, an angel,
Or even pure Soul.

Love has befriended Hafiz so completely,
It has turned to ash,
And freed me
Of every concept and image
My mind has ever known.

To be followed by the feast!

Why
Just show you God’s menu?
Hell, we are all starving –
Let’s Eat!

The story of Hafiz’ awakening is a lesson in itself. It demonstrates the alchemical transformation of a soul from common desire to the gold of enlightenment:

When he was 21 and working as a baker’s assistant, Hafiz delivered some bread to a mansion and happened to catch a fleeting glimpse of a beautiful girl on the terrace. That one glimpse captured his heart, and he fell madly in love with her, though she did not even notice him. She was from a wealthy noble family and he was a poor baker’s assistant. She was beautiful, he was short and physically unattractive — the situation was hopeless.

As months went by, Hafiz made up poems and love songs celebrating her beauty and his longing for her. People heard him singing his poems and began to repeat them; the poems were so touching that they became popular all over Shiraz.

Hafiz was oblivious of his new fame as a poet; he thought only of his beloved. Desperate to win her, he undertook and arduous spiritual discipline that required him to keep a vigil at the tomb of a certain saint all night long for forty nights. It was said that anyone who could accomplish this near-impossible austerity would be granted his heart’s desire. Every day Hafiz went to work at the bakery. Every night he went to the saint’s tomb and stayed awake for this girl. His love was so strong that he succeeded in completing this vigil.

At daybreak on the fortieth day, the archangel Gabriel appeared before Hafiz and told him to ask for whatever he wished. Hafiz had never seen such a glorious, radiant being as Gabriel. He found himself thinking, “If God’s messenger is so beautiful, how much more beautiful must God be!” Gazing on the unimaginable splendor of God’s angel, Hafiz forgot all about the girl, his wish, everything. He said: “I want God!”

From 27 March, 2005
On this Easter weekend, I am also reflecting on the process of kenosis our self-emptying of all concepts, ideas, desires, mental superimpositions — to be followed by the fulfillment of a resurrection into a fuller, richer life.