Lost All Reason

While doing research on the dark goddess for the book, Love Poems to Aphrodite, I discovered the Arabian goddess of the night named Layla. The Sufis serenade here in their lyrical poetry and song. She is the goddess of night. The beautiful dark night that one would see if you were a Bedouin nomad. The night in the deserts with no electrical pollution from city skylines is pitch and primordial. Also the hair of Bedouin women is dark black like their eyes and the burkas that they wear. Especially the eyes in many Muslim communities is where a woman communicates so much with a glance, a look, a wink. The dark eyes of Layla may have been another place of inspiration for spiritual practices of the Sufis. Well when I was looking into the myth of Layla and Majnun, I thought to myself this reminds me of that old Eric Clapton song....Layla which I heard a lot when I was growing up. I wonder if their is any connection. And sure enough, there is. The ideas of the dark goddess permeates our culture in many sublime ways. Here is one of the many musicians who were inspired by ancient mythology. The first part above shows an excerpt from the book, Love Poems to Aphrodite. The song below is by Eric Clapton which mirrors the ideas of the original belief. More on Layla and Majnun can be found at the end of this blog.

In poetry, Layla's dark hair and dark eyes represent this divine formless eternity. In her eyes, are the mystery of mysteries and the source of the grand design. [73] The darkness of night along with the star and crescent symbolism can be seen as symbols for the dark goddess as Layla and as dark mothers of Arabian prehistory. [112]

After that evening Majnun lost his heart. And as he lost his heart, he lost his reason. He wandered in the desert, and as he wandered, he tore his clothes and wildly sang his songs. From afar, people would say, "There goes Majnun, once called Qays. Because of his love of Layla, he wanders in the desert and brings dishonor to his father and his tribe." [57]

The powers of Layla can be found in Muslim love poems, especially in the love story between Layla and Majnun. Her presence, her reality stupefies, as is shown when Majnun sank into the depths of love at the mere glance of her toes, revealed under the hem of her gown. [112] Majnun went crazy due to his love for Layla. His name literally means crazy. This is called in Sufism fana or annihilation, in which the Sufi completely dissolves his social conditioning. His social mind is literally erased. [73]

Layla by Eric Clapton
What'll you do when you get lonely
And nobody's waiting by your side?
You've been running and hiding much too long.
You know it's just your foolish pride.

CHORUS:
Layla, you've got me on my knees.
Layla, I'm begging, darling please.
Layla, darling won't you ease my worried mind.

I tried to give you consolation
When your old man had let you down.
Like a fool, I fell in love with you,
Turned my whole world upside down.

CHORUS
Let's make the best of the situation
Before I finally go insane.
Please don't say we'll never find a way
And tell me all my love's in vain.

CHORUS CHORUS
More on Layla and Majnun - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layla_and_Majnun

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