Mawlānā Jalāl-ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī

Mawlānā Jalāl-ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī was a thirteenth century Persian poet and Sufi mystic. Known in the West as simply Rūmī, his poetry is wildly popular; I've even heard he has sold the most books of any poet in the United States.

Before Jonah was born Sara and I both chose something to recite to him while still in the womb. Every night Sara sang a chilren's book and I recited this poem by Rūmī:

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing

there is a field

I'll meet you there

When the soul lies down in that grass

the world is to full to talk about
ideas, language, and even the phrase each other
doesn't make any sense

Besides being a poet, Rūmī was a teacher. Many of his teaching stories resonate with me. Here is one that I currently find particularly meaningful:

A certain man caught a bird in a trap.
The bird says, "Sir, you have eaten many cows and sheep
in your life and you're still hungry. the little bit
of meat on my bones won't satisfy you either.
If you let me go, I'll give you three pieces of wisdom.
One I'll say standing on your hand. One on your roof.
And one I'll speak from the limb of that tree."


The man was interested. He freed the bird and let it stand on his hand.


"Number one: Do not believe in absurdity, no matter who says it."


The bird flew and lit on the man's roof. "Number two: Do not grieve over what is past; it's over. Never regret what has happened."


By the way, " the bird continued, "in my body there is a huge pearl weighing as much as ten copper coins. it was meant to be an inheritance for you and your children, but now you've lost it. You could have owned the largest pearl in existence, but evidently, it was not meant to be."


The man started wailing like a woman in childbirth.The bird said, "Didn't I just say 'Don't grieve for what's in the past' and also 'Don't believe in absurdity?' My entire body doesn't weigh as much as ten copper coins. How could I have a pearl that heavy inside me?"


The man came to his senses. "All right tell me number three."

"Yes, you've made such good use of the first two!"
"Don't give advice to someone who is groggy and falling asleep. Don't throw seeds on the sand."



How we misinterpret, misconstrue and misuse words based on our fears and insecurities!