Rumi (1207-1273)

Randomly found "The Teachings of Rumi" at the Harold Washinton library (BP 189.7.M42 T43) by Jelalludin Rumi. Stories and poems, they are all about wisdom, love, eternal and consuming; what it is, the obligations, the burden and the reward. He uses God and Him as the nouns of choice in his texts, but don't let personal connotations of those words obscure what he is saying. Love is this man's religion, and his God is the Father of Love. Totally inspiring. Here's some passages and snippets. Enjoy.

For Love, Like for a Furnace

My soul's a furnace; it's happy with fire.
It's enough for a furnace to be the house of fire.
For love, like for a furnace,
There's always something to burn --
If you don't see this,
You're not a furnace

On Fatalism [snippet]

Fatalism takes the gift out of your hands
Fatalism is like sleeping on the journey: don't sleep!

You Are the Macrocosm

You may seem to be the microcosm
In fact, you are the macrocosm
The branch might seem like the fruit's origin:
In fact the branch exists because of the fruit.
Would the gardener have planted the the tree at all
Without a desire and hope for fruit?
That's why the tree is really born from the fruit.
Even if it seems the fruit is created by the tree.
The idea that comes first comes last in realization
Particularly the idea which is eternal.

See the Friend Driectly [snippet]

Your body is a saucepan, your soul the food.
Place this pan on the fire of divine passion.
So its flames can make boil the truth within you.
Then you won't need anyone else's poems or teachings --
you yourself will know the value of your state of soul.

Gaze Into the Rose Garden [snippet]

"Do not mourn what does not exist, cling to what does"