For lovers, the only teaching is the beauty of the Beloved:
the only book and lecture is the Face.*
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I would love to kiss you.
The price of kissing is your life.
Now my loving is running toward my life shouting,
What a bargain, let’s buy it.
—FURUZANFAR #388
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*For lovers, the only teaching is the beauty of the Beloved:
the only book and lecture is the Face.
Outwardly they are silent,
but their penetrating remembrance rises
to the high throne of their Friend.
Their only lesson is enthusiasm, whirling, and trembling,
not the minor details of law.
—MATHNAWI III, 3847-3819, “The Only Teaching” (translated by Kabir Helminski and Camille Helminski)
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The real work of religion is permanent astonishment.
By that I don’t mean in astonishment turning your back on Him—
I mean: blazing in blind ecstasy, drowned in God and drunk on
Love.
RUMI, from “Can Anyone Really Describe” (translated by Andrew Harvey)
