Love has been cherished since the beginning of time.
Many men and women tried to sing its greatness and many cultures and ideologies preached
its importance, each with its own interpretation of what love is.
In particular, one movement has built its whole essence on love and considers love to
be the origin of life.
This movement is called Sufism, meaning mysticism in Arabic.
Sufism began some 9 centuries ago and is focused on reaching the divine - the power that created
the skies, the earth, us and life as a whole, through love.
It means that in Sufism, we human beings are
lovers, the divine is beloved and to love the divine, we need to connect back to the
essence of life and understand that we and the world are one.
Sufism has given the world some of its brightest minds and poets and one of those people is
known as Maulana, Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī, arguably the best Sufi poet in history.
Rumi, a Persian scholar at first, then a Mystic, has written many illustrious poems depicting
love and its central role as the bridge to reach the divine; poems that are engraved
in the literature books for eternity.
His brilliance caught the eyes of people since
his childhood.
His father, a famous scholar back then, had personally taken the responsibility of teaching
him.
He deepened his knowledge at a very young age and after the death of his father, he
was destined to succeed him as a scholar.
But Rumi wanted to learn more, so he connected with another brilliant teacher named Al Tarmithi
and a few years later, his teacher left him because he considered that he had nothing
left to teach his student, Rumi was now a complete scholar.
Rumi was adored by his followers and when he held assemblies, he had a large crowd as
attendees.
However, life and the divine had other plans
for him.
In 1244, Rumi encountered Shams Tabrizi, a traveling Sufi dervish who changed his core
understanding of life.
Rumi became so fond of Shams that he neglected his students and his family and spent days
and nights with him, all to grasp the essence of pure love and how to express it to reach
the divine.
Rumi turned from a Scholar to a Sufi poet who sang for love, danced in circles, which
is now called Sufi whirling or the whirling dervish, and wrote poems that are still relevant
today continuing to have a deep influence, which is why in this video, we bring you 7
life lessons from the philosophy of Rumi.
There is something you can do better than
anyone else
Rumi says “Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work
has been put in every heart.”
When Rumi was a scholar, he was brilliant.
If he had remained a scholar, he likely would have made big contributions.
However, it was becoming a Sufi poet that cemented his name in the history books.
By using his own words, Rumi found the thing that he can do better than anyone else - the
work he was made for - Expressing his love for the divine, the aches of the heart, and
the magnitude of our inner worlds through piercing poems that would live on forever.
This desire made him produce some of the greatest pieces of literature in history.
It is fair to conclude that Rumi was meant to be a Sufi poet.
He understood his mission.
He loved it and he had the desire to fulfill it.
He produced many illustrious works, and he conquered millions of hearts.
Connecting with what matters to you is as
relevant today as when it was back then.
We see many people getting caught out by default decisions and drifting away from their true
essence, thinking that what they’re doing is the right thing because it’s what everyone
else is doing.
However, all they are really doing is moving away from what makes them different and unique.
We see many cases of depression among people who can’t find meaning in what they do.
This is something we inherit from the industrial revolution where people were considered part
of a chain - a means to turn the wheels of capitalism, rather than considering the individual.
Connecting back to what we consider meaningful
is, according to Rumi, the only way to be useful in the best way possible for our society,
and ourselves.
Meaning makes people feel alive, and when they feel alive, they produce work that is
unmatched.
That is because they have the desire to do so, rather than being forced to do something
they don’t actually agree with.
Finding meaning doesn’t have to be a massive,
life-changing event.
Finding meaning can be found in the simplest things you enjoy and give your best in.
For example, you might enjoy painting if that’s what wakes up in the morning.
You might enjoy your job as an accountant and that’s where your heart is.
Meaning is not about the what, it is about the why and when you find your why, in any
job or task, you’ve found your meaning and that’s where you’ll give your best, and
be the best.
You don’t have to see the whole staircase
To quote Rumi “As you start to walk out on the way, the way appears.”
Rumi was first introduced to Sufism in his
childhood.
His father taught him about its ideology and spirituality, giving him a first glimpse of
what will go on to dictate his life and his relationship with God.
But let’s fast forward a few years to his
famous encounter with Shams Tabrizi, the Persian dervish poet we mentioned in the introduction.
After meeting Shams, Rumi took days, weeks and months to absorb the love that Shams was
full of.
After their separation, Rumi spent many years writing about the purity of that love and
the essence of Sufism.
All to finally dictate his most notorious work, “The Masnavi”.
When you look at the path that Rumi has been on, you know that his success was not an accident.
It was the end result of many years of step by step learning.
Even when we look at “The Masnavi”, this wasn’t something he composed overnight.
In fact, it took him 15 years in all, and that doesn’t even include much of his earlier
work which also had a massive impact on The Masnavi.
Today, everyone has dreams and aspirations
to do something tremendous but, for the most part, those dreams fade away, Everest is too
high to climb for many, and traveling the world is too costly for others.
We end up dismissing those dreams because we think of it as unattainable, unachievable
- But it is just a matter of perspective.
Ok, so the stair to the seventh floor of a building is long, but look at what you have
right in front of you, just one small step.
All you have to do is take it!
Then what’s next?
Another small step, so take that too!
And there you go, getting closer and closer, step by step, to reach that seventh floor
that seemed impossibly out of reach at the start.
The wisdom of life teaches us to look at what’s in front of us and not what’s ahead of us.
The secret ingredient of success is that it can be found by anyone who remains disciplined
in their small actions.
The wound is the place where the light enters you
Rumi tells us that “What hurts you, blesses
you.
Darkness is your candle.”
Through his friendship with Shams, Rumi found
a new meaning and joy.
He made sure to make the most out of every second of Shams presence and enjoy the purity
of their alignment.
The school, the family gatherings, the Friday preachings, and the friendly meetings, he
left it all at that time to spend time with Shams.
They spent sleepless nights sharing knowledge and driving powerful discussions, talking
about the divine and exploring how to love the divine.
The crowd that was once mesmerised by him
when he was a scholar, became disappointed with him when Rumi started dedicating his
whole time to his friendship with Shams and Sufism.
This is why people around Rumi became disdainful toward Shams.
They threatened him, disrespected him and made him feel uncomfortable.
As far as they were concerned, he took Rumi for himself, and that’s something that can’t
be forgiven.
Shams was fed up by the huge animosity to which he was the target, and one day, he left,
leaving no sign whatsoever.
Rumi could not accept it, and he did his best
to get him back.
He even declared that he would reward anyone who finds out where Shams is.
People saw an opportunity there to take advantage of the situation, many of them claiming they
saw him in misleading places, and Rumi, even though he was aware of those lies, rewarded
them regardless.
For him, they gave him hope, and that was enough to be rewarded.
Months later he found him, and his son was
tasked to bring him back, but that loss and temporary separation deeply wounded Rumi - something
he would never forget.
A wound that would be reopened when Shams disappeared again, only this time forever.
Some say he left on his own, others say he was killed.
However, that wound was the inspiration and the driving force behind a great deal of his
work, giving him the creative outburst and energy to write no less than 70.000 poetic
verses.
Indeed he suffered, but suffering got the best out of him.
Suffering guided him to understand life, love and pain, three inseparable things that would
become the basis of his work.
Pain has a bad reputation, and we avoid it
at all costs.
Especially with today’s heavy emphasis on seeking pleasures and satisfying desires,
facing pain is something we try to avoid wherever possible.
However, it is often through that pain that we grow.
Denying pain is denying real life.
Our teeth gave us pain as children when they started coming through, understanding people
can come at the cost of being disappointed, and growing a project or business typically
requires painful periods of dedication.
Pain is necessary to see the light beyond the pain.
A light that gives us a fresh perspective and new gains.
So when pain comes your way, embrace it - or at least accept it, because as it turns out,
the more you accept, the less painful it becomes.
The gold mine lies within you
In the words of Rumi “Why are you so enchanted by this world, when a mine of gold lies within
you?”
One day walking the streets of the city, Rumi
heard some blacksmiths hitting on an iron not too far from the place where he was standing.
He listened carefully to process those hits until he became overwhelmed, mesmerized by
their sound.
He felt it within himself, he closed his eyes, raised his hand, and moving in circles, round
and round, dancing to the sound of those hits.
When the blacksmiths saw him, they thought he was possessed.
But the head of the group told them to keep going, for watching Rumi dancing was a beautiful
blessing.
Rumi did not hear them talking though, nor knew people were watching him.
He was just absorbed in the moment, or more precisely, absorbed by his inner world.
A place that opened up to him at that time thanks to the sound of those Iron hits.
He was immersed.
That dance later on became known as the whirling dervish, and many who have experienced that
dance say they feel an overwhelming connection with the inner world.
The Whirling Dervishes that Rumi performed
was only a fraction of the richness of what we have within us.
The state of love, of calmness, of ease and of oneness that we experience when we connect
with the world inside of us, is proof that, no matter how shiny the outer world is, the
real treasure is within.
Nowadays, when we stay alone, we get bored
fast, and when we do get bored, we rush to the fastest way that will entertain us, for
most of the time that’s our phones, looking for an escape.
We are losing the desire to listen to our inner voices and discover the world within.
We’re starting to become like a precious Ming vase - beautiful on the outside, but
empty on the inside.
And just like that vase which has nothing to support it from the inside, we’re fragile
and easy to break.
For many of us, the moment we lose our external beauty, we lose our senses.
Our inner world gives meaning, deepness, understanding,
openness, and while the outer world is designed inherently to be turbulent, the inner world
will bring that calmness to overcome the storms.
And if you’re wondering how to reconnect with the world within, start by spending some
time alone, start listening to the voice within, give yourself the opportunity to discover
your own body by paying attention to the flow of your blood, and explore the thoughts that
feel meaningful to you.
Make sure to listen to your heart, and acknowledge the existence of your soul.
And this doesn’t have to be a silent meditation,
with your eyes closed - You can move, dance, write - whatever helps you connect…
with you.
The world within is vast, and the roads to access it are multiple.
Love is within you
According to Rumi “Your task is not to seek
for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have
built against it.”
When Rumi was pursuing knowledge to become
a scholar, he had two great teachers among many.
He even had the chance to travel and learn abroad.
However, when Rumi met Shams, he did not leave, nor went to meet different teachers.
Not because Shams held all the external knowledge about love or sufism, but because he held
the ability to destroy all the barriers that Rumi had that were preventing from finding
true love.
All those long nights, long walks, countless discussions, they were not meant to transmit
love, but to free it.
The moment those barriers were destroyed, Rumi became Maulana, the honorary title Sufists
gave him, and which means Master.
He became immersed by a love that was confined within him since his birth.
When you see people walking around talking
about finding love, and going after it, we start imagining love as if it’s a product
or this thing that is independent from us.
Love is not a car.
People only wish to have a car once they acknowledge its importance and existence.
But if they never encountered something called a car before, they’ll never pursue having
one since they have no idea what a car is.
But with love, you could be isolated in a mountain, you could live in any part of the
world, and you’ll still think about it.
No matter where we come from, love is already in us.
Just like Rumi said, if you want to seek something,
seek out and destroy the barriers that are confining the love within.
That’s what he did, and when he succeeded, once he got a taste of that love, he never
left it nor got bored of it.
You can have many barriers preventing you from tasting that love.
It can be that you believe that love only enters when someone walks into your life.
It can be your upbringing in an unloving environment, it can be doing something you don't enjoy,
and so on.
So if you do want to break those barriers,
listen to yourself, question your own ideas about love, question your perspectives and
the cultural or societal pressures that have impacted your thoughts about what love is.
Understanding those barriers will push you towards the right path.
The path of finding the love that has been ingrained in you and me since we were in our
mothers womb.
Let go of judgment
Rumi teaches us that “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 too full to talk about.”
Imagine you’re Rumi.
Imagine you’re this great scholar that is admired by the crowds, a superstar, and one
day someone comes and shares a path with you that is about to change your mindset and alter
your heart completely.
While trying to explore that path, you see yourself labeled as a loser, and your companion
as a wrongdoer, and find yourselves thrashed by the crowd.
Both of you are judged severely.
So imagine you’re in this position, Would you have been able to handle it?
Most people would give up and get back to their original path where glory and adoration
was all laid out for them.
But not Rumi.
He did not bow down, nor confined himself in those judgments.
He knew that beyond any kind of judgment, there is something deeper that needs to be
discovered - something that can truly make sense of this life.
He sailed against the windy crowd, but paradoxically, that same crowd chanted his name when Rumi’s
work was published, and happily sang every verse of his poems.
Rumi’s struggle with judgment is not unique.
Humans have suffered from it since the dawn of time, and we still do to this day, and
as much as we think we’re open minded, judging and deciding what is right and wrong on behalf
of the community is deeply entrenched in every culture.
Awareness is key for the world to understand that judging someone is like pulling a seed
from the earth.
You would think it’s just a seed, but that seed could have been a magnificent lemon tree
who would have fed and helped countless families for generations.
On the other hand, if someone judges you for
a path you want to take and labels every single move you make as either right or wrong, just
say to yourself “So what?”
Free yourself from the fear of being judged because, at the end of the day, people will
be people and people will judge.
But then what?
Usually, nothing.
they move on with their lives.
So why wouldn’t you do the same and leave their judgements behind too?
It is easy to let go of judgment.
Human beings are social creatures, but the idea of letting go of judgment is to be aware
of your actions and the heartfelt knowledge that you don’t need others' approval.
Change yourself to change the world
In our final quote from Rumi for this video,
he says…
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world.
Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
Rumi gained a huge following during his scholarly
years.
He preached, and many listened.
He gave advice, and many applied his teachings.
He was an intelligent man, and as a scholar, he was tasked to bring change to the world.
Something he undoubtedly achieved, impacting millions of souls even after his death.
However, he did not do so by seeing himself as clever and having a life mission of changing
the world.
Indeed, it is not Rumi the scholar who brought that lasting change.
It was Rumi the Sufi who did so, the worshiper of love, the mystic poet, the human being
that chose to focus on himself and report about it in the most sincere way possible
by producing some of what is considered by many to be the most profound and heart piercing
poems of all time.
History remembers Rumi today as someone who was wise enough to change himself.
We often hear from people about their will
to change the world, and it often makes you wonder; How come we have this many people
that have this much to say with this amount of willpower, and yet we witness so little
real change?
Isn’t the world supposed to be much better now that we have a huge number of people willing
to change the world for the good of humanity?
One of the key issues is that generally these people want to change everything outside of
themselves, but true change really comes from those who dare to change something within.
The world, more than ever before, needs us
to be more self-oriented, to look at ourselves and say “I need to change this in myself;
I need to manage my spending habits, to control what I say to people and avoid hurting them
or maybe to criticise less and understand more; I need to acknowledge my mental wounds
and heal them, my challenges and mistakes, and overcome them”.
That’s what we need, because positive change is infectious.
If you change yourself, and that convinces others to change, they spread their influence
and in time, the change keeps spreading until one day it becomes global.
If you enjoyed this video, please make sure to check out our full philosophies for life
playlist and for more videos to help you find success and happiness using ancient philosophical
wisdom, don’t forget to subscribe.
Thanks so much for watching.