Discourses of Rumi

FIHI MA FIHI V 61den things, like clear water shows everythingwithin it—pebbles, broken shards and the like—and reflects the sky above from its surface like amirror. This is Soul’s true nature, without treatmentor training. But once Soul has mingled withthe earth and its earthly elements, this clarityleaves it and is forgotten. So God sends forth theprophets and saints, like a great translucent oceanthat accepts all waters, and yet no matter howdark or dirty are the rivers that pour into it, thatocean remains pure. Then Soul remembers. Whenit sees its reflection in that unsullied water, itknows for sure that in the beginning it too waspure, and these shadows and colors are mere accidents.The prophets and the saints, therefore, remindus of our original state; they do not implant anythingnew. Now, every water, no matter howdark, that recognizes that great water, saying, “Icome from this and I belong to this,” is truly apart of that ocean. But the dark elements that donot recognize that ocean and believe they are kinto another kind, they make their home with thecolors and shadows of the earth.