Discourses of Rumi

254 V DISCOURSES OF RUMIWhen God wishes to produce rare and wonderfulthings in this world; orchards, gardens,meadows and sciences, It first implants the desireand demand for them in our inward hearts. Andso, everything you see in this world existed first inthat inner world. For instance, what you see inthe dew also exists in the ocean, for this dew isfrom that ocean. In the same way this creation ofheaven and earth, and all the other marvels, Godimplanted the desire for these in the spirits of theancients, and so the world came into beingaccordingly.The philosophers who say that the world iseternal—how can they be taken seriously? Theirstatement simply means the world was never createdin time, and this claim is impossible to prove.But those who say it is created in time; they arethe saints and the prophets who are more ancientthan the world. God implanted desire for theworld within their spirits, and only then did theworld appear. So they know for a fact and reportout of their own experience that the world wascreated in time.