There are moments in life which can not be described in any tongue. You just feel these moments and let their joy flow in your soul. The moment I received the following comment from Sue is one of those moments. I am honored to consider myself one of her friends. Rumi has taught me that sharing hearts is sweeter than sharing a mere tongue. That is what has been happening between Sue and me over the many years of our beautiful friendship.
Here is Sue's comment on Masnavi's first story where Rumi shows that the king was able to buy the slave woman, but not her love:
Oh Ali, On page 43 of Wild Apples I have quoted Thoreau:
You may buy a servant or slave, in short, but you cannot buy a friend. You can't buy the finer part of any fruit--i.e.the highest use and enjoyment of it. You can't buy the pleasure whit it yields to him who truly plucks it; you can't buy a good appetite, even."
Even a King or rich man is kept from the richest enjoyments. We cannot make someone love us. Jesus said, "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Sue I can not wait to hold your beautiful book in my hands and in the hands of my heart.
T
2 comments:
Dear Ali, I have this half-articulated thought: One of the most profound thoughts that has come to me from our wonderful correspondence over the years has been the idea that there is such a thing as universal Truth: There are ideas and glimpses of truth that transcend cultures and time. I believe that these ideas are a part of a higher law, to quote Thoreau. The more universal the truth, the closer it is to Truth with a capital T. IMHO
Part of Rumi's wisdom is his ability to have a uncanny sense of this universality: If I were to make a list of truths that we all can agree to, the first would be, "The things and money of this world will never bring love or true happiness," and "Love thy God with all thy heart and soul, and thy neighbor as thyself."
Sue
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