Rumi and Love
Rumi illustrates the different ways that we should love in each of his poetry. In "A King Dressed as a Servant", Rumi says that we need to wait for love to come to us, and that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to love. In "Any Sprig of an Herb", he tells us to be appreciative, to tame our ego, and that we should not be afraid to blunder in love. In "Split the Shack", Rumi says to surmount the sense of self-preservation, to give our entirety and not fragments, and to leave behind the egocentric form of love.
In “A King Dressed as a Servant”, Rumi writes “Your friend has come”. He is depicting God here; God chooses to come at midnight because during the daytime, we are present in the material world, while during …show more content…
This shows a clear contrast between intellectual knowledge and emotional knowledge. To Rumi, kindness and gladness are more of an action. One chooses to be glad and kind. This is a difficult element of discipline- we must discipline ourselves to be appreciative no matter what. Rumi exemplifies the distinction between the static learning in a book and the dynamic movement toward others. When Rumi writes, “Ideas of right and wrong operate in us until we die. Love does not have those limits”, he is saying that we transcend death by taming our ego. Once our ego has died, the sense of right and wrong do not apply. Rumi continues: “Do not try to be a shepherd. Become the flock”, meaning we cannot force for love to arrive in our lives. Love is not something that we can make happen- it is something that happens to us. Rumi includes a parable when he says, “It is as clear and direct as a blind man stubbing his foot against a stone jar”. We bump into things when we try too hard- love is this kind of blundering around. Love is not a clear cut highway. We should not have a highway that we create for ourselves; instead, we should become like the blind man. The blind man continues to walk even if he makes mistakes. Rumi tells us that the doorway is open but we do not see it- we all have doorways open for …show more content…
Why does a fish, gasping on land, but near the water, not move back into the sea?” He is parallelling us to the bird and the fish when it comes to love. Love is right there, but we think we will die if we jump into the water. Rumi says that once we learn to fly, what we thought we were going to lose, we will gain. If we are struggling to safeguard a part of ourself, we will lose even that. If we are capable of surmounting the sense of self-preservation, we will blossom. We actually find our true selves- our true element of love- in the water and the air. When Rumi writes, “We keep collecting rocks and broken bits of pottery like children pretending they are merchants”, he is saying that we are often like these kids, exchanging fragments. We give fragments when we love, because we are so shattered inside. We have to find healing and be able to give our whole self. Rumi says, “We should split the sack of this culture and stick our heads out. Look around. Leave your childhood”. He is telling us to leave behind the material world and go into the spiritual world. The sack is where we are comfortable, but Rumi says to be bold, to not be afraid to leave behind the comfort and safety in order to find true life. The perversity of the child is natural egocentricity. Rumi tells us to leave behind this notion that love is about
Rumi illustrates the different ways that we should love in each of his poetry. In "A King Dressed as a Servant", Rumi says that we need to wait for love to come to us, and that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to love. In "Any Sprig of an Herb", he tells us to be appreciative, to tame our ego, and that we should not be afraid to blunder in love. In "Split the Shack", Rumi says to surmount the sense of self-preservation, to give our entirety and not fragments, and to leave behind the egocentric form of love.
In “A King Dressed as a Servant”, Rumi writes “Your friend has come”. He is depicting God here; God chooses to come at midnight because during the daytime, we are present in the material world, while during …show more content…
This shows a clear contrast between intellectual knowledge and emotional knowledge. To Rumi, kindness and gladness are more of an action. One chooses to be glad and kind. This is a difficult element of discipline- we must discipline ourselves to be appreciative no matter what. Rumi exemplifies the distinction between the static learning in a book and the dynamic movement toward others. When Rumi writes, “Ideas of right and wrong operate in us until we die. Love does not have those limits”, he is saying that we transcend death by taming our ego. Once our ego has died, the sense of right and wrong do not apply. Rumi continues: “Do not try to be a shepherd. Become the flock”, meaning we cannot force for love to arrive in our lives. Love is not something that we can make happen- it is something that happens to us. Rumi includes a parable when he says, “It is as clear and direct as a blind man stubbing his foot against a stone jar”. We bump into things when we try too hard- love is this kind of blundering around. Love is not a clear cut highway. We should not have a highway that we create for ourselves; instead, we should become like the blind man. The blind man continues to walk even if he makes mistakes. Rumi tells us that the doorway is open but we do not see it- we all have doorways open for …show more content…
Why does a fish, gasping on land, but near the water, not move back into the sea?” He is parallelling us to the bird and the fish when it comes to love. Love is right there, but we think we will die if we jump into the water. Rumi says that once we learn to fly, what we thought we were going to lose, we will gain. If we are struggling to safeguard a part of ourself, we will lose even that. If we are capable of surmounting the sense of self-preservation, we will blossom. We actually find our true selves- our true element of love- in the water and the air. When Rumi writes, “We keep collecting rocks and broken bits of pottery like children pretending they are merchants”, he is saying that we are often like these kids, exchanging fragments. We give fragments when we love, because we are so shattered inside. We have to find healing and be able to give our whole self. Rumi says, “We should split the sack of this culture and stick our heads out. Look around. Leave your childhood”. He is telling us to leave behind the material world and go into the spiritual world. The sack is where we are comfortable, but Rumi says to be bold, to not be afraid to leave behind the comfort and safety in order to find true life. The perversity of the child is natural egocentricity. Rumi tells us to leave behind this notion that love is about