این عشق که مست آمد در باغ الست آمد

کانگور وجودم را در جهد و عنا کوبد

“This drunken love started at the dawn of creation

after the grapes of my existence were crushed so

many times under the trampling of my ignorance.”

~Rumi

Source: Divan Shams, Ghazal 624

Reflection on the Quote:

A message from Dr. Fariba Enteshari, Founder & Executive Director

More than ever it has become important that we become our ‘brother’s keeper’.

The phrase “my brother’s keeper” refers to the story of Cain and Abel in the Bible, Genesis 4:1-9. After Cain killed his brother Abel out of jealously, God being fully aware of what had happened, asked Cain where Abel was.

And Cain responded, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

And the answer is, while we do not have control over everyone’s safety, if we want to live in a peaceful, functional society, we are all our ‘brother’s keeper’ in refraining from committing crimes against one another.

We live in a fragmented polarized era and keeping ourselves and others safe has become more difficult than ever. In the last few days, we have witnessed the tragedy of a 15-year-old boy killing four of his classmates in Oxford Township, Michigan. Why? Because his parents bought him a gun as a “Christmas present” and because of their gift, their son will be sitting in a cold cell by himself this Christmas!

As we approach the time of celebrating the ‘Festival of Lights’ among many traditions, the grotesque symbolic reality of our era is staring at us.

Where are the ethos and logos of our time to help us to understand the complexity of the time we live in?

In book II of Mathnawi, Rumi tells the story of someone giving four men a limited fund to buy something to eat. The men who were from different parts of the world and could not understand each others’ languages started to express their desire for what they would like to eat. The Persian man expressed his desire to get some “Angur”, meaning grapes. The Arabian man mentioned that he really wanted some “Anaab”(meaning grapes in Arabic) but not “Angur” (meaning grapes in Farsi)! The Turkish man added his voice to the crowd that he really would like to have some “Üzüm” (meaning grapes in Turkish) and not “Eanab”. The Greek man expressed his dismay that he wanted only some “Stafylia” (meaning grapes in Greek). Before long, the four of them started to fight due to their ignorance. Someone who knew 100 languages walked into their fight and enlightened them that they all wanted was the same thing.

In Rumi’s view, the four enemies became united after they became silent and listened to the knowledgeable man.

The Grapes, in Mystical Rumi’s poetry are the pre-stage of becoming the wine of love. The hope is that we become mature enough to choose better ways to unify and not fight from our ignorance. Acting on our ignorance is endangering our children, our environment, our health and our political atmosphere.

-Dr. Fariba Enteshari

Touched by Rumi

Rumi consistently conveys this idea that destruction, on some level, is necessary for coming close to the Divine. In order to make wine, a consistent symbol of the substance that brings one closer to God, grapes have to be crushed and thus destroyed. Experiencing destruction may be the force that pushes one to find a connection to a higher power, to understand the necessity of ruin. Sometimes, we have to lose something or let go in order to make space for something greater. This is a great practice of faith. When you are not getting what you want, or experience a loss or failure, respond with faith in the idea that something more perfect is getting ready to present itself in your life. When one door closes, another opens.

In this Ghazal, Rumi also creates a beautiful separation between the self, “existence” and his human ignorance. This is a powerful separation to make. While the human experience, as opposed to the divine, is responsible for decisions made in ignorance, there is also a level of consciousness that is pure and loving, the grapes which are destroyed and mature into wine. When ignorance, hate, and impatience, step back into this divine self, the one that is unconditionally loving and understanding, and feel peace arise.

-Kiana Ranjbaran, REC Intern

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