Discourses of Rumi

FIHI MA FIHI V 303then people know it by means of its sound. Andso, people are utterly immersed in the cornfield ofthis world, and your essence, being extremelysubtle, is invisible. So speak, that they may recognizeyou.When we long to see a certain place, our heartgoes first to experience the conditions there. Thenour heart returns and draws our body along. Nowall the men and women of this world are like bodiesin relation to the saints and the prophets, whoare the heart of this world. These beings of theheart first journeyed to the other world, leavingtheir human attributes of flesh and skin. They surveyedthe depths and heights of that world, andtraversed all the stages, until they knew the way.Then they came back and summoned mankind,saying, “Come to that original world! For thisworld is a bleak and empty ruin compared to thatgarden we have discovered.”From this you should realize that the heart isalways attached to its beloved, and has no need totraverse the stages, no need to fear highwaymen,no need of the mule’s packsaddle. It is thewretched body that is tied to these things.