Discourses of Rumi

FIHI MA FIHI V 59A poet said:My eye is fixed upon another, what shall I do?Look to yourself, for that eye’s light is you.“My eye is fixed upon another.” That meansyou are seeking something apart from yourself,like the dryness of the flour that longs for waterfrom the dough-maker’s hand. “What can I do?”Know that you seek only yourself, that longing isfor you. The light you seek is your own lightreflected, but you will not escape this blindingglare of the outward lights until your own InnerLight becomes a hundred thousand times greater.There was once a skinny person, feeble as asparrow, and exceedingly ugly. He was so uglythat even other ugly people looked on him withcontempt and gave thanks to God, though beforeseeing him they used to complain of their ownugliness. Yet, for all that, he was very rude in hisway of speaking and bragged enormously. He wasin the court of the king, and his behavior painedthe vizier, but the vizier swallowed it down. Thenone day the vizier lost his temper.“People of the court,” he shouted. “I pickedthis creature out of the gutter and nourished him.By eating my bread and sitting at my table, by