Mystic Rumi

 

 

 

Rumi – Late by Myself

Late, by myself, in the boat of myself,

no light and no land anywhere,

cloud cover thick. I try to stay

just above the surface,

yet I’m already under

and living with the ocean.

 

Khizer – Stopped in Place (emulation)

Stopped,by myself, in the world of myself

no people and no life in sight, anywhere

the clouds move as a slow covering

I attempt to stay right here in my own place

yet when I look down I am already sinking

into the void once again

General Biography: 

  • Honored as: Greatest poet
  • Born: September 30th, 1207
  • Died: December 17th, 1273
  • Nationality includes: Afghan, Iranian
  • Religious Faith: Sunni Muslim
  • Religious enthusiast and wise Sufi
  • Lecturer, teacher and was blessed with a mind that indulged greatly in the works of profound literature
  • Languages: Greek, Arabic, Persian and Turkish

Styles of Literary Work:

  • Wrote encrypted letters
  • Scribes and scrolls of writing
  • Literature to explain religion
  • Lyrical works
  • Poetry (Quatrains)
  • Volumes (Books) of writing
  • Odes and Eulogies
  • It was the ability to understand his own spirituality that enabled him into up taking the art of literature

Influences:

  • Religious Outlook
  • Father’s Death
  • Spiritual community
  • Being a Teacher and having teachers
  • Part of a line of scholars, teachers and writers
  •  Influenced the works of many poets from Persian, and Turkish to Arabic literature
  • Constant influence on today’s society
  • Didactic in its purest sense

Worldview:

  • Belief of life and death
  • Love and philosophies of life
  • Knowledge, wisdom and religious understanding
  • Equality was for all
  • Human beings had a definitive purpose in the universe
  • Effort of individuals enables righteousness to settle into the hearts
  • Aiding citizens of society through teaching

Inspirations: 

Rumi greatly inspired me in terms of the way I critically analyzed the world and the literature around me. It was the different perspective and worldview of another individual that enabled me into having freedom since writing became an application of my beliefs and values; I was beginning to articulate details that were unique to myself as a writer. Rumi’s work has given me both the confidence that I needed to further improve my own writing and through enhancing my own works I was able to create my own profound, writing identity.

Free Choice November-December

 

Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi

Moving Water

When you do things from your soul, you feel a river
moving in you, a joy.

When actions come from another section, the feeling
disappears.

Don’t let others lead you. They may be blind or, worse, vultures.

Reach for the rope of God. And what is that? Putting aside self-will.

Because of willfulness people sit in jail, the trapped bird’s wings are tied,
fish sizzle in the skillet.

The anger of police is willfulness. You’ve seen a magistrate
inflict visible punishment.

Now see the invisible. If you could leave your selfishness, you
would see how you’ve been torturing your soul. We are born and live inside black water in a well.

How could we know what an open field of sunlight is?

Don’t insist on going where you think you want to go. Ask the way to the spring. Your living pieces will form a harmony.

There is a moving palace that floats in the air with balconies and clear water flowing through, infinity everywhere, yet contained under a single tent.

Thesis Planning:

  • Contentment comes from integrity when righteous acts
  • When they are self-righteous than it is evil regardless of the act. Maybe since it removes the proper intention from the act and possibly could be replaced by evil intent
  • One’s actions are guided by self-will therefore the influence of others can actively deceive the mind
  • But self-will alone is also harmful if one cannot overcome inner evils and hypocrisies
  • It is because of one’s mentality that they imprison themselves within this world
  • One must ask and question themselves as to how their life should be carved
  • They should want to see amazing and beautiful aspects of the world
  • This perception is stolen by one’s own selfishness

Thesis Statement:

When a hesitant individual truly desires to accept a life of redemption they will be faced by both internal selfishness and external social pressures. This will entrap the individual in a cyclical pattern of desiring to act righteously but then being hindered by the reoccurrences of negative mentalities. It is only when the individual accepts into contemplating the nature of their past decisions that they will uncover a new, profound identity.

The Nature of Spirituality and Individual Actions

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Moving Water

When  you do things from your soul, you feel a river

moving in you, a joy.

 

When actions come from another section, the feeling

disappears.  Don’t let others lead you.

They may be blind or, worse, vultures.

 

Reach for the rope of God.

And what is that?  Putting aside self-will.

 

Because of willfulness people sit in jail, the trapped bird’s wings are tied,

fish sizzle in the skillet.

 

The anger of police is willfulness.  You’ve seen a magistrate

inflict visible punishment.

 

Now see the invisible.  If you could leave your selfishness, you

would see how you’ve been torturing your soul.

 

We are born, and live inside black water in a well.

 

How could we know what an open field of sunlight is? Don’t

insist on going where you think you want to go.

 

Ask the way to the spring.

Your living pieces will form a harmony.

 

There is a moving palace that floats in the air

with balconies and clear water flowing through,

infinity everywhere, yet contained

under a single tent.

Rumi. “Moving Water.” Poem.org. Steven Boyd, June-July 2005. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.

Seth. “Water Flow.” Google Images. Tumblr.com, May-June 2011. Web. 31 Oct. 2016.

In many of Rumi’s famous poems one can find a great wealth of righteous knowledge that not only intends to give purpose to his poetic literature but to also give practical, beneficial advice to its readers.  Collectively this piece describes two interconnected aspects of beauty that are found within human essence and likewise the absence of these characteristics causes individuals of a society to deviate from their pure human nature. The path of true righteousness is found when one submits themselves to the divine Creator  in which they are retracing their body and soul to the initial instructions of God that had been placed upon the human being. This inevitably instills one with the ability to accept their own faults whilst simultaneously becoming obedient to religious law. These aspects are what Rumi defines as properties that successful, righteous individuals possess and therefore they are better enabled into rediscovering the true path of guidance as shown by God. Although the message presented is one of great virtue it is not yet complete as it entails that servants of the Most-Merciful will receive a reward for their sacrifices. Specifically they will be given spiritual ecstasy that will flow through their hearts in which will fill them with unexplainable happiness in this physical world and in the afterlife they will inhabit an unimaginable paradise. Alongside paradise the equivalent opposite, which is also known as hell, is a place of constant torment and punishment. The individuals who continue to linger in evil and cause their hearts to dwell in darkened, murky water will face a visible punishment in this materialistic world and also a physical consequence for their actions after death. Continuous balance of both reward and pain in this poem are parallel to that of the characteristics of good and evil. This entails that either result is with certainty present but it is not a fixed destination; therefore,  an individual’s free will in the worldly life can in actuality change the outcome of their fate after death.

Rumi describes a general yet large understanding of the Islamic belief of the afterlife and it is by doing so that he impacts the reader into begin thinking for themselves. This is because he causing individuals to question the world around them in order to allow them to acknowledge the truth of this world: human beings are meant to be subservient to the Creator. If one is to become successful they must be willing to stand firm to their belief systems and must overcome the pressures that surround their social environment.