June 2021: The Inner Senes & Opening of the Mind

سحر را با معجزه کرده قیاس

هر دو را بر مکر پندارد اساس

"In their ignorance, they compare magic to miracles

since they imagine that both are founded on deceit."

~Rumi

Source: Mathnawi I, 277

Translated by Dr. Fariba Enteshari
 © Rumi Educational Center

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Reflection on the Quote:

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

The foundation of our assumptions lead us in a direction. In Rumi’s teachings, there are two directions, the direction toward knowing (light) or the direction toward ignorance (absence of light)— a direction toward the Truth and a direction away from the Truth. We face situations daily and pick one of these choices.

The powerful words of this couplet are offered to us at the beginning of the first book of Mathnawi. They illustrate how in our ignorance we might compare a skill that we have mastered brilliantly to something much greater.

Miracles puzzle us. We see the result of a miracle but we do not understand the process behind it. We understand the rules we know but we do not quite understand the exceptions to those rules.

Is this because our ignorance can lead us to the assumption that everything must obey the rules of what we think we know? Do we disregard the rest? 

Is this the basis of our deception?

Is this why in the age of digital news, we wish to hear only the news that reflects our own views? 

Is this bias the foundation of our illusions and deceitfulness? How sad and limited we have become in our understanding in the 21st century, believing only the thoughts of the “I”.

What does a world built on ignorance look like?

Can knowledge based on limitations of the mind of illusions grow and expand?

With little or no curiosity and interest, other than ‘I know’, can we actually construct a world in which we all can fit?

When Pharaoh’s magicians were challenging Moses’  abilities as the messenger of GOD, they tested Moses by laying the sticks in their hands on the ground and transforming them into snakes. In response,  Moses let go of his staff which became a snake able to devour all the smaller snakes of the Pharaoh’s magicians. In this biblical story, only some of the magicians of the Pharaoh became aware that Moses was the One who was connected to Truth and therefore they abandoned further service to Pharaoh. The rest of the magicians assumed Moses was just like them but possessed more skills.

It doesn’t matter how far back into history we travel,  we always find many people who easily believe in their own altered reality. This is especially true in our time when the mega loudspeaker of the 24-hours news cycle amplifies their views. But would this not require a world built on ignorance? We might ask, “How might a house built on sand be washed away into the ocean of Oneness?”

Rumi’s school of Truth promotes a wisdom teaching that is based on interest, curiosity, observation, logic, expansion, and beyond. To be inclusive, he does not leave out anything that is manifested and stays open to that which is not yet manifested. The mystical teaching that he offers to us is based on the logic and understanding of the deeper reality plus more.   

Rumi wrote Mathnawi to give the insights of the school of Love and the school of the Truth to connect us to his core of teachings. They are based on the precise understanding of existence and show the  possibility that we are and can be sacred sources of more growth.

The gift of Rumi’s teachings is the expansion of our inner receptors which adds to our physical senses and enables us to better navigate the physical realm. As divine beings we are able to access the inner layers of who we are in truth. With no limitation, we can become aware of our inner intuitions that can lead us to the core of our divinity. In our holy awareness, we can leave behind the pettiness of our ignorance that keeps us limited and prone to listen only to like-minded views. Thus we can be open to a knowing that prepares us for a new consciousness of experiencing the infusion of our higher inner senses, a new era of miracles!

-Dr. Fariba Enteshari