Discourses of Rumi

176 V DISCOURSES OF RUMIit. Yet some see this bowl and say it should beplaced just as it is on the table. Some say theinside of it should be washed first, some say theoutside of it must be cleaned. Some say all of it,some say it must never be washed at all. Thediversity of opinion comes from the bowl’s manyuses, but as to the fact that the bowl certainly hada creator who fashioned it, and that it did notcome into existence of itself, on this all agree.Now, men and women in their inmost heartslove God, seek Him, pray to Him and in all thingsput their hope in Him, recognizing none but Godas the central reality ordering their affairs. This isneither belief nor non-belief. Within the heart ithas no name. But when the water of innate truthflows out of the heart towards the sluice of thetongue and takes form, it acquires shape andexpression. There it is given the name of infidelityor faith, good or evil. It is the same with plantsgrowing out of the earth. At first they have noform at all. When they make their appearance inthis world their shoots all look fine, delicate andwhite. But as they grow further they take on dif-