The tomb of Rumi at Konya, Turkey (Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I hear hints of a premortal existence in the famous \u201cSong of the Flute\u201d from the opening of the Mathnavi<\/em>, written by\u00a0the great Persian Sufi poet Jalal al-Din Rumi\u00a0(1207-1273). \u00a0Why, Rumi asks, implicitly comparing a reed flute to the human soul, is the sound of the flute so plaintive and sad?<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Listen to the song of the reed,\u00a0<\/span>
\n How it wails with the pain of separation:<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cEver since I was taken from my reed bed<\/span>
\n My woeful song has caused men and women to weep.<\/span><\/p>\nI seek out those whose hearts are torn by separation\u00a0<\/span>
\n For only they understand the pain of this longing.<\/span><\/p>\nWhoever is taken away from his homeland\u00a0<\/span>
\n Yearns for the day he will return.<\/span><\/p>\nIn every gathering, among those who are happy or sad,\u00a0<\/span>
\n I cry with the same lament.<\/span><\/p>\nEveryone hears according to his own understanding,\u00a0<\/span>
\n None has searched for the secrets within me.<\/span><\/p>\nMy secret is found in my lament\u201a\u00a0<\/span>
\n But an eye or ear without light cannot know it . . .\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nThe sound of the reed comes from fire, not wind\u201a\u00a0<\/span>
\n What use is one\u2019s life without this fire?<\/span><\/p>\nIt is the fire of love that brings music to the reed.\u00a0<\/span>
\n It is the ferment of love that gives taste to the wine.<\/span><\/p>\nThe song of the reed soothes the pain of lost love.\u00a0<\/span>
\n Its melody sweeps the veils from the heart.<\/span><\/p>\nCan there be a poison so bitter or a sugar so sweet\u00a0<\/span>
\n As the song of the reed?<\/span><\/p>\nTo hear the song of the reed\u00a0<\/span>
\n everything you have ever known must be left behind.<\/span><\/p>\n\u2013Translation by Jonathan Star,\u00a0Rumi: In the Arms of the\u00a0<\/em><\/span>
\n Beloved<\/em> (New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher\/Putnam, 1997).<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Do you see, as I do, suggestions of a doctrine of theosis<\/em> or human deification in the following passage from Rumi, translated by the late A. J. Arberry ?<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I died as a mineral and became a plant,\u00a0<\/span>
\n I died as plant and rose to animal,\u00a0<\/span>
\n I died as animal and I was Man.\u00a0<\/span>
\n Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?\u00a0<\/span>
\n Yet once more I shall die as Man, to soar\u00a0<\/span>
\n With angels blest; but even from angelhood\u00a0<\/span>
\n I must pass on: all except God doth perish.\u00a0<\/span>
\n When I have sacrificed my angel-soul,\u00a0<\/span>
\n I shall become what no mind e\u2019er conceived.\u00a0<\/span>
\n Oh, let me not exist! for Non-existence\u00a0<\/span>
\n Proclaims in organ tones, \u2018To Him we shall return.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 I hear hints of a premortal existence in the famous \u201cSong of the Flute\u201d from the opening of the Mathnavi, written by\u00a0the great Persian Sufi poet Jalal al-Din Rumi\u00a0(1207-1273). \u00a0Why, Rumi asks, implicitly comparing a reed flute to the human soul, is the sound of the flute so plaintive and sad? \u00a0 Listen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2319,4955,9146,1965,1209,66,2950,9147,9150,9153,2322,4225,5403,5406,9156,1206],"class_list":["post-83661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-antemortal","tag-antemortal-existence","tag-antemortality","tag-deification","tag-exaltation","tag-islam","tag-islamic","tag-masnavi","tag-mathnavi","tag-mathnawi","tag-premortal","tag-premortal-existence","tag-premortality","tag-rumi","tag-spiritual-verses","tag-theosis"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Mevlana's](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/02\/800px-Konya_01.jpg\")
<\/a>