Rumi

n this world everyone is preoccupied with something. Some are preoccupied with love for women, some with possessions, some with making money, some with learning - and each one believes that his well-being and happiness depend on that. And that also is God's Mercy. When a man goes after it in search and does not find it, he turns his back on it. After pausing a while he says: "That joy and mercy must be sought. Maybe I did not look enough. Let me search again". When he seeks again he still does not find it, but he continues until the mercy manifests itself unveiled. Only then does he realise that he was on the wrong track before. God, however, has some servants who see clearly even before the Resurrection. Ali said: "If the veil were lifted I would not be more certain". By this he meant that if the shell was to be taken away and the Apocalypse were to appear, his certitude would not increase. His perception was like a group of people who go into a dark room at night and pray, each facing a different direction. When day breaks they all turn themselves around, all except the one man who had been facing Mecca all night long. Since the others now turn to face his direction, why should he turn around? Those servants of God face Him even during the night: they have turned away from all that is other than Him. For them the Resurrection is immediate and present. In a human being is such a love, a pain, an itch, a desire that, even if he were to possess a hundred thousand worlds, he would not rest or find peace. People work variously at all sorts of callings, crafts, and professions, and they learn astrology and medicine, and so forth, but they are not at peace because what they are seeking cannot be found. The beloved is called dil-aram because the heart finds peace through the beloved. How then can it find peace through anything else? All these other joys and objects of search are like a ladder. The rungs on the ladder are not places to stay but to pass through. The sooner one wakes up and becomes aware, the shorter the long road becomes and the less one's life is wasted on these "ladder rungs". Rumi, Fihi ma Fihi