A Doorway to Understanding

I just finished reading a novel by Turkish author Elif Shafak. It’s called The Forty Rules of Love. It’s about the Sufi poet, Rumi. Maybe you’ve heard that name before, maybe not. Sufism is a mystical expression of Islam.

This book is also about a Jewish housewife in New England who is finding her life no longer fulfilling.

But mostly the book is about the man who turned Rumi from a preacher to a poet. He is the one who reveals the forty rules of love which, in turn,  reveal that the greatest teachings of Islam are in perfect harmony with the greatest teachings of Christianity, Buddhism and foundation of yoga.

The housewife and Rumi are revealed to be the same. I interpreted that to mean that Rumi and I are the same.

Here is one of Rumi’s poems:

Be with those who help your being

Be with those who help your being.
Don’t sit with indifferent people, whose breath
comes cold out of their mouths.
Not these visible forms, your work is deeper.

A chunk of dirt thrown in the air breaks to pieces.
If you don’t try to fly,
and so break yourself apart,
you will be broken open by death,
when it’s too late for all you could become.

Leaves get yellow. The tree puts out fresh roots
and makes them green.
Why are you so content with a love that turns you yellow?

Ode 2865 Trans. Coleman Barks