Discourses of Rumi

192 V DISCOURSES OF RUMIconfusion. Therefore, in reality all those actionsproceed from Spirit—the body is the instrumentof Spirit’s tongue.In the same way, there is a great person, thecaliph of their time. They are like the UniversalSpirit, and the spirits of humankind are theirbody. Whatever the people of this world do is intheir shadow. If the actions of some are in error, itis because the Universal Spirit has lifted its shadowfrom their heads. When someone goes madand acts crazy, everyone knows that reason hasleft them, and no longer casts its shadow overthem. They are far away from the shadow andshelter of Spirit.Spirit is kin to the angel. Although angels havedefinite form, while Spirit does not, both possessthe same nature and act exactly the same. Weshould not be fooled by the form when they areidentical in every way. If you dissolved an angel’sform, nothing would remain but Spirit. Thereforeangels are the embodiment of Spirit.A bird can be molded of wax, complete withfeathers and wings, but still it is wax. If you meltit, don’t you see that its head and feet, feathersand wings all return to wax? Nothing else