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Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does. Everything has been figured out, except how to live. One always dies too soon or too late. And yet, life is there, finished. The line is drawn, and it must all be added up. You are nothing other than your life. There is only one day left, always starting over. It is given to us at dawn and taken away from us at dusk. We do not know what we want and yet we are responsible for what we are, that is the fact. When you live alone you no longer know what it is to tell a story: the plausible disappears at the same time as the friends. You let events flow by too.Suddenly you see people appear who speak and then go away; you plunge into stories of which you can't make head or tail. You'd make a terrible witness. It is true that people who live in society have learned how to see themselves in mirrors as they appear to their friends. Luckily, I only have a few...

Dr Shaw is a lecturer in Further Education at Edge Hill University, Ormskirk. She also offers philosophy courses at the School of Continuing Education, Lifelong learning, at the University of Liverpool. In 2015, she has completed her Doctorate in philosophy with a focus on existentialism, the equilibrium doctrine and narrative. She has worked as a teacher of English and Comparative literature and Philosophy at The American University in Cairo, Egypt where she also obtained her BA (Hons). Dr Shaw has an MA in Philosophy and Literature from the University of East Anglia where she also taught on a number of humanities subjects. Whilst working in North Wales in Further education, she gained a PGCE aimed at teaching in FE and HE sectors. Dr Shaw moved to Liverpool in 2010 where she now resides.

Interests: Existentialism, Narrative, Comparative Literature, Feminist Thought, Public Speaking, Arab Existentialism, Philosophy of Education, Art, Music, Film and Theatre, Greek Mythology, Existential counsellor and psychotherapist.

https://liverpool.academia.edu/ShereenHamedShaw


Saturday 6 November 2010

The Beauty of Rumi

Thoughts by Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (Persian: جلال‌الدین محمد رومی), and popularly known as Mowlānā (Persian: مولانا) muslim poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic.

The drum of the realization of the promise is beating, we are sweeping the road to the sky. Your joy is here today, what remains for tomorrow?

The armies of the day have chased the army of the night.
Heaven and earth are filled with purity and light.
 Oh! joy for he who has escaped from this world of perfumes and color!
 For beyond these colors and these perfumes, these are other colors in the heart and the soul.
Oh! joy for this soul and this heart who have escaped the earth of water and clay,
 Although this water and this clay contain the hearth of the philosophical stone.

We are as the flute, and the music in us is from thee;
we are as the mountain and the echo in us is from thee.
We are as pieces of chess engaged in victory and defeat:
our victory and defeat is from thee, O thou whose qualities are comely!
Who are we, O Thou soul of our souls, that we should remain in being beside thee?

We and our existences are really non-existence;
thou art the absolute Being which manifests the perishable.
We all are lions, but lions on a banner:
because of the wind they are rushing onward from moment to moment.
Their onward rush is visible, and the wind is unseen:
may that which is unseen not fail from us!

Our wind whereby we are moved and our being are of thy gift; our whole existence is from thy bringing into being.

From Masnavi Book I, 599-607

References:
http://www.rumi.org.uk/poetry/

http://www.armory.com/~thrace/sufi/poems.html
Posted by SS at 15:28

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous12 May 2013 at 09:06

    Great blog!! I'd appreciate if you could kindly tell me the meaning of the following quote..

    "The drum of the realization of the promise is beating, we are sweeping the road to the sky. Your joy is here today, what remains for tomorrow?"

    Thanks,

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SS12 May 2013 at 14:28

      Thanks for your message. The quote is from Rumi's poem titled "The drum of the realization": here is the full version of the poem and my interpretation of it:

      The drum of the realization of the promise is beating,
      we are sweeping the road to the sky. Your joy is here today, what remains for tomorrow?
      The armies of the day have chased the army of the night,
      Heaven and earth are filled with purity and light.
      Oh! joy for he who has escaped from this world of perfumes and color!
      For beyond these colors and these perfumes, these are other colors in the heart and the soul.
      Oh! joy for this soul and this heart who have escaped the earth of water and clay,
      Although this water and this clay contain the hearth of the philosophical stone.
      If thou will be observant and vigilant, thou wilt see at every moment the response to thy action.
      Be observant if thou wouldst have a pure heart, for something is born to thee in consequence of every action.

      Available book on Amazon.co.uk titled "Masnavi: Teachings of Rumi" by Jelaluddin Rumi and .H. Whinfield as Editor/ Translator.

      The poem calls for one to look into the reality of one's own being from physical sense to the emotional sense to experience the feeling of joy. He spoke of the oppositions in the universe like day and night that are in perfect sequence and harmony. The person who managed to escape (or resist) the distractions of life is a lucky one as he will see the true beauty of the soul, the heart (or the world) beyond the distractions. And finally, he states that if one is observant, perceptive and patient, one will be able to see the benefits or the outcomes of one's actions.

      I hope this clarifies the quote :) and again, thanks for checking out my blog!

      Delete

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