RUMI Tradition: Rumi was an evolutionary thinker in the sense that he believed that the spirit after devolution from the divine Ego undergoes an evolutionary process by which it comes nearer and nearer to the same divine Ego.[62] All matter in the universe obeys this law and this movement is due to an inbuilt urge (which Rumi calls love) to evolve and seek enjoinment with the divinity from which it has emerged. Evolution into a human being from an animal is only one stage in this process. The doctrine of the Fall of Adam is reinterpreted as the devolution of the Ego from the universal ground of divinity and is a universal, cosmic phenomenon.[63] The French philosopher Henri Bergsons idea of life being creative and evolutionary is similar, though unlike Bergson, Rumi believes that there is a specific goal to the process: the attainment of God. For Rumi, God is the ground as well as the goal of all existence. However Rumi need not be considered a biological evolutionary creationist. In view of the fact that Rumi lived hundreds of years before Darwin, and was least interested in scientific theories, it is probable to conclude that he does not deal with biological evolution at all. Rather he is concerned with the spiritual evolution of a human being: Man not conscious of God is akin to an animal and true consciousness makes him divine. Nicholson has seen this as a Neo-Platonic doctrine: the universal soul working through the various spheres of being, a doctrine introduced into Islam by Muslim philosophers like Al Farabi and being related at the same time to Ibn Sinas idea of love as the magnetically working power by which life is driven into an upward trend.[64] “ I died as a mineral and became a plant, I died as plant and rose to animal, I died as animal and I was Man. Why should I fear? When was I less by dying? Yet once more I shall die as Man, to soar With angels blessd; but even from angelhood I must pass on: all except God doth perish. When I have sacrificed my angel-soul, I shall become what no mind eer conceived. Oh, let me not exist! for Non-existence Proclaims in organ tones, To Him we shall return. ” “ از جمادی مُردم و نامی شدم — وز نما مُردم به حیوان سرزدم مُردم از حیوانی و آدم شدم — پس چه ترسم؟ کی ز مردن کم شدم؟ حملهٔ دیگر بمیرم از بشر — تا برآرم از ملائک بال و پر وز ملک هم بایدم جستن ز جو — کل شیء هالک الا وجهه بار دیگر از ملک پران شوم — آنچه اندر وهم ناید آن شوم پس عدم گردم عدم چو ارغنون — گویدم کانا الیه راجعون ” Universality It is often said that the teachings of Rumi are ecumenical in nature.[65] For Rumi, religion was mostly a personal experience and not limited to logical arguments or perceptions of the senses.[66] Creative love, or the urge to rejoin the spirit to divinity, was the goal towards which every thing moves.[66] The dignity of life, in particular human life (which is conscious of its divine origin and goal), was important.[66] ملت عشق از همه دین‌ها جداست — عاشقان را ملت و مذهب خداست The nation of Love has a different religion of all religions — For lovers, God alone is their religion. It is undeniable that Rumi was a Muslim scholar and took Islam seriously. Nonetheless, the depth of his spiritual vision extended beyond narrow sectarian concerns. One rubaiyat reads: On the seeker’s path, wise men/fools are one. In his love, brothers and strangers are one. Go on! Drink the wine of the Beloved! In that faith, Muslims and pagans are one.[67]
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 23:17:47 +0000