Discourses of Rumi

discourse 53Rumi was asked the meaning of the followinglines from his Masnavi:You are that very thought, my brother:Those bones and nerves are something other.Rumi said: You should think about this. “Thatvery thought” in reality is not “thought” at all,and if it is, it does not belong to the kind ofthought that people usually mean by the term. Inusing the word “thought” my intention was the“idea” or “essential element.” If you need to putthis “idea” into a more humdrum way so thatcommon people can understand, then say: “Thehuman being is a speaking animal.”Speech is thought, whether spoken or not. Therest of the human being is animal. Therefore, it isperfectly true to say people consist of thought,and the rest is “bones and nerves.” Speech is likethe sun, all people derive warmth and life fromthe sun, and the sun is always there. The entireworld is warmed by the sun, yet the sun’s rays are