The fault you see in another lies within yourself...

(These are from the book "The Essence of Rumi" ..)

"The Sufis' profound understanding of human psychology is illustrated in the following extract from the Sixth Discourse which, although written over 700 years ago, offers a succinct analysis of the modern psychological phenomenon know as "projection":

If you perceive a fault in your brother, the fault that you see see in him lies within yourself. The things of this world are like a mirror in which you see your own image, for "The believer is the mirror for his fellow believer."Get rid of the fault in yourself, because what distresses you in others lies within you.

An elephant was led to a well to drink. When it saw itself in the water, it shied away, it thought it was shying away from another elephant, not realizing that it was shying away from itself.

You are not offended by negative qualities such as injustice, hatred, envy, greed, harshness, or pride when they are within yourself. But when you see them in another, you feel offended and shy away. A person does not find his own scab or abscess repellent; he will dip his infected hand into the stew and lick his fingers without feeling the least bit squeamish. But, if he sees a tiny cut or abscess on another's hand, he has no stomach for the stew that man's hand has been dipped in. Negative qualities are just like scabs and abscesses; you are not offended by them when they are within yourself, but when you see the least hint of them in another you take great offence. Just as you shy away from another, so you should excuse them when they shy away from you, offended. The pain you feel is his excuse for shying away, because your pain comes from seeing the same faults he sees. The Prophet said, "The believer is the mirror for his fellow believer." He did not say, "the unbeliever is the mirror of the unbeliever. This was not because the unbeliever is not a mirror for others, but because he is unaware of the mirror of his own heart."

Two kinds of Intelligence -Rumi from Mathnawi

There are two kinds of intelligence. The first is the one you acquire through learning, in the manner of school children, from books and teachers, from reflection and memorizing facts, from forming concepts and from the study of subjects that are new to you. In this way your intelligence surpasses that of others, but in reality the retention of all this knowledge in your mind is a burden.

In your quest for knowledge you have become little more than a tablet on which one records information. Yet there is another kind of tablet, another form of intelligence.

This other intelligence is the gift of God; it flows from within you, from the depths of your soul. Unlike the first kind of intelligence, the water of divine knowledge never stinks with stagnation. It doesn't matter if it is prevented from flowing into the outside world, for it pours forth from the heart in an unending flow.

On the other hand, acquired intelligence is like the water supply entering a house from the outside; it if gets blocked, the house ends up without any water. So, seek the fount of knowledge within you! ( M IV:1960-8)

This is Love

This is love: to soar towards the heavens,
every moment, to tear aside a hundred veils.
The first move, to let go of life.
The last step, to walk without feet.
To regard this world as invisible,
and to disregard the eye of the self.

"O heart", I said, "you are blessed
to enter this circle of lovers,
to see beyond what eye can see,
to enter the windings of the breast.
O soul, how did you begin to beat?
O soul-bird, speak the language of birds,
for I understand your hidden meaning."

My soul replied, "I was in the Workshop
the day this house of water and clay was fired.
I was fleeing from the phenomenal world,
even while it was being created.
When I could resist no more, I was dragged down,
and, like a ball of clay, I was moulded into form.