First of all he came into the inert world.
From minerality he developed, into the realm of vegetation.
For years he lived thus.
Then he passed into an animal state,
yet bereft of any memory of his being vegetable--
except for his attraction to Spring and to blossoms.
This was something like the innate desire of an infant for its mother's breast.
Or like the affinity of disciples for an illustrious guide.
When the shadow is no more,
they know the cause of their attachment to the teacher. . . .

From realm to realm man went, reaching his present reasoning,
knowledgeable, robust state; forgetting earlier forms of intelligence.
So too shall he pass beyond the current form of perception.
There are a thousand other forms of Mind. . . .

But he has fallen asleep.
He will say: "I had forgotten my fulfillment,
ignorant that sleep and fancy were the cause of my sufferings."
He says: "My sleeping experiences do not matter."
Come, leave such asses to their meadow.
Because of necessity, man acquires organs.
So, necessitous one, increase your need.

Originally you were clay.
From being mineral, you became vegetable.
From vegetable, you became animal, and from animal, man.
During these periods man did not know where he was going,
but he was being taken on a long journey nonetheless.
And you have to go through a hundred different worlds yet.

I have again and again grown like grass;
I have experienced seven hundred and seventy molds.
I died from minerality and became vegetable;
And from vegetativeness I died and became animal.
I died from animality and became man.
Then why fear disappearance and death?

Next time I shall die bringing forth wings and feathers like angels:
After that soaring higher than angels--
What you cannot imagine. I shall be that.
Work is not what people think it is.
It is not just something which,
when it is operating, you can see from outside.
How long shall we, in the Earth-world, like children
fill our laps with dust and stones and scraps?

Let us leave earth and fly to the heavens,
Let us leave babyhood and go to the assembly of Man.
You have a duty to perform.
Do anything else, do any number of things, occupy your time fully,
and yet, if you do not do this task, all your time will have been wasted.

The people of Love are hidden within the populace;
Like a good man surrounded by the bad.
The hidden world has its clouds and rain, but of a different kind.
Its sky and sunshine are of a different kind.
This is made apparent only to the refined ones--
those not deceived by the seeming completeness of the ordinary world.

A man may be in an ecstatic state,
and another man may try to rouse him.
It is considered good to do so.
Yet this state may be bad for him,
and the awakening may be good for him.
Rousing a sleeper is good or bad according to who is doing it.
If the rouser is of greater attainment,
this will elevate the state of the other person.
If he is not, it will deteriorate the consciousness of the other man.

Jalaludin Rumi


Ancient Wisdom

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