"Yet once more I shall die as Man, to soar With angels blest..." ~ Rumi

If you are irritated by every rub, how will you be polished?  ~  Rumi


______ ~ Rumi (Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī)  (1207-1273) ~

I died as a mineral and became a plant,
I died as plant and rose to animal,
I died as animal and I was Man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Yet once more I shall die as Man, to soar
With angels blest; but even from angelhood
I must pass on: all except God doth perish.
When I have sacrificed my angel-soul,
I shall become what no mind e'er conceived.
Oh, let me not exist! for Non-existence
Proclaims in organ tones,
'To Him we shall return.'


Love's nationality is separate from all other religions.   ~   Rumi

I searched for God among the Christians and on the Cross and therein I found Him not.

I went into the ancient temples of idolatry; no trace of Him was there.

I entered the mountain cave of Hira* and then went as far as Qandhar but God I found not.

With set purpose I fared to the summit of Mount Caucasus and found there only 'anqa's habitation. 

Then I directed my search to the Kaaba, the resort of old and young; God was not there even.

Turning to philosophy I inquired about him from ibn Sina** but found Him not within his range.

I fared then to the scene of the Prophet's experience of a great divine manifestation only a 'two bow-lengths' distance from him' but God was not there even in that exalted court.

Finally, I looked into my own heart and there I saw Him; He was nowhere else.


Rumi (Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī)  was born in Balkh, Afghanistan on 30 September 1207 and died in Konya, Turkey on 17 December 1273.
* Cave of Hira - where Muhammad is said to have recieved revelation from Angel Gabriel
    'anqa is somewhat akin to the phoenix, in mideastern myth
** Avicenna