| Printed in The Essence of Love: Time, Life and Thought of Rumi, Oct. 1998 The Psychology of Love from the Perspective of Molana Jalaluddin Rumi By: Elham (Ellie) Ezzati, M.A., C.M.T. |
Those who are familiar with the works of Molana Jalaluddin Rumi, revere him for the beautiful poetry
he has written about and dedicated to his teacher and beloved master, Shams of Tabriz. Through out
most of his adult life, Rumi wrote approximately 3,500 odes and 2,000 quatrains about love. Basically,
from the time he met Shams and was touched by his presence, he dedicated the rest of his life to writing
and teaching about love.
Rumi not only knew and wrote about love, he experienced it so profoundly that he believed this burning
rapture would eventually consume him and make him vanish from this world. Those of us who are also
preoccupied with the idea or the experience of love go through life having a certain concept of it. Many
of us search for it and never seem to find it. Some find it only to watch it flee from them. Others choose
to only contemplate and dream about it because they believe it is not a tangible object to have or to
hold. But was this magnificent outpour of love purely for another individual, namely his teacher, or was
there something else happening within Rumi?
In most of his teachings, Rumi discusses the love between the Lover and the Beloved and the
unification of the two. He has dedicated most of his poetry describing the journey these two take in
order to find one another and the final outpour of love that flows and flourishes once these two unite.
There is countless number of references to either the Lover seeking the Beloved or the Beloved
seeking the Lover and when the two unite, there is ultimate oneness, and completion of being.
While this dance between the Lover and the Beloved is more directed at the union of spirit and matter,
it can also be felt between two individuals. For Rumi, Shams was the catalyst responsible for taking
Rumi to the depths of his heart and enabling him to discover God or the Divine within himself.
Many of us have the false notion that this kind of love is to be found only between two individuals.
There fore, we often spend most of our life time being fixated on finding it in someone else and often
think that we failed if we did not encounter it along our life journey. This type of love is referred to as
"Romantic love," where as the more rapturous and intoxicating love is what Rumi referred to as
"Divine love."
Divine love is created through the process of Alchemy. Alchemy dates back to ancient times. It was a
science of turning base materials such as lead and copper into more precious substances such as gold
and silver. Rumi and other Sufi masters would apply this science to the purification of their own heart
and mind. They would spend years studying, praying and meditating with a teacher or a master who
would gradually teach them how to turn all their basic human emotions, such as, bitterness, hatred,
jealousy, pain and suffering into more pure and refined states or (Haal). The natural outcome of this
work would be the kind of ecstatic or intoxicating love Rumi and other masters experienced.
While "Romantic love" is usually short lived and is always dependent on another individual to provide
the feelings within us, "Divine love," is felt from within the self. It is experienced at any time
regardless of one’s outward circumstances in life. In other words, even during the most difficult or
trying times, one can be in touch with this inner joy. At the same time, however, once this "Divine love"
is obtained and the individual has become more whole, the chances of creating a more loving and
healthy relationship with another person becomes even more likely.
In the following ode, Rumi talks about finding this "Divine love" within oneself and realizing that
everything else in life is just a reflection of this Love.
Look into your own eye, and make no mistake,
So that essence of seer and seen become one.
On whatever side you gaze, you shall see my form,
Whether you gaze upon self, or the mass that is visible.
Shun distorted vision and heal your sight,
For the evil eye will be distant from my beauty in that moment.
Beware, lest in error you see me in human form,
For the spirit is extremely subtle, Love is jealous.
What room is there for form, if what is felt extends beyond?
The soul's mirror reflects light that illuminates the world.
(Rumi's Divan of Shams of Tabriz--A new interpretation by
James Cowan. Element Classics of World Spirituality, P.101)
Attaining Divine love is no small duty or task. It requires tremendous amount of courage, work,
patience, trust and surrender to find it within one self. Before Shams came into Rumi's life, Rumi was
already considered as one of the highest priests and scholars of his time. However, Shams’ influence
was to teach him to stop relying on his intellect alone, but to learn to integrate the intellectual
knowledge with the wisdom of his heart. Eventually, Shams taught Rumi how to make love his one and
only journey and goal in life.
As Rumi got to experience more of this ecstatic love, his poetry and teachings became filled with
teaching others to also follow their own heart. He continuously wrote about leaving behind the world of
matter that consists of duality, pain and suffering and to instead adopt the greater understanding of life
and our role as humans in this divine plan.
The more he wrote about love, the more he understood the hypocrisy of religion and dogma of his time.
He became so enraged about the atrocities that men in religious garb committed under the name of
God that he began to radically oppose them. He understood that this true or Divine love is only to be
found within the self and a true teacher would teach his disciples to find it within themselves. Instead,
all he witnessed was the clergy using this sacred knowledge to dis-empower the masses by making the
people believe that they were powerless. This, he understood was a radical abuse of power to exploit
and control the people.
It is amazing to know that despite much of the sacrilegious concepts Rumi used to describe love,
(mainly using the metaphor of spirits and alcohol) his work remains intact and untouched to this day.
Many believe that it the power of love that he instilled in his poetry that guarded his work from being
destroyed. Others believe that his teachings were so powerful that they went beyond time and space
and that his followers made sure that his work was kept alive and passed on to the next generations.
Whatever it was, it is truly remarkable to still have access to his teachings.
Today, in the West, many Western scholars and intellectuals are discovering his works and have
already created many different translations of his writings into English and French. His philosophy and
the process of alchemy on love are being taught in major universities throughout out the United States
and Europe and many others have created schools of thought and places of prayer and meditation
around his teachings.
As a people, we Iranians are truly blessed to readily have access to his work without having to go
through translations or translators. As a great teacher and master he is readily available to us in almost
every household. May we forever celebrate his life and his teachings by learning to ignite the same
power of love and light within our own heart.
he has written about and dedicated to his teacher and beloved master, Shams of Tabriz. Through out
most of his adult life, Rumi wrote approximately 3,500 odes and 2,000 quatrains about love. Basically,
from the time he met Shams and was touched by his presence, he dedicated the rest of his life to writing
and teaching about love.
Rumi not only knew and wrote about love, he experienced it so profoundly that he believed this burning
rapture would eventually consume him and make him vanish from this world. Those of us who are also
preoccupied with the idea or the experience of love go through life having a certain concept of it. Many
of us search for it and never seem to find it. Some find it only to watch it flee from them. Others choose
to only contemplate and dream about it because they believe it is not a tangible object to have or to
hold. But was this magnificent outpour of love purely for another individual, namely his teacher, or was
there something else happening within Rumi?
In most of his teachings, Rumi discusses the love between the Lover and the Beloved and the
unification of the two. He has dedicated most of his poetry describing the journey these two take in
order to find one another and the final outpour of love that flows and flourishes once these two unite.
There is countless number of references to either the Lover seeking the Beloved or the Beloved
seeking the Lover and when the two unite, there is ultimate oneness, and completion of being.
While this dance between the Lover and the Beloved is more directed at the union of spirit and matter,
it can also be felt between two individuals. For Rumi, Shams was the catalyst responsible for taking
Rumi to the depths of his heart and enabling him to discover God or the Divine within himself.
Many of us have the false notion that this kind of love is to be found only between two individuals.
There fore, we often spend most of our life time being fixated on finding it in someone else and often
think that we failed if we did not encounter it along our life journey. This type of love is referred to as
"Romantic love," where as the more rapturous and intoxicating love is what Rumi referred to as
"Divine love."
Divine love is created through the process of Alchemy. Alchemy dates back to ancient times. It was a
science of turning base materials such as lead and copper into more precious substances such as gold
and silver. Rumi and other Sufi masters would apply this science to the purification of their own heart
and mind. They would spend years studying, praying and meditating with a teacher or a master who
would gradually teach them how to turn all their basic human emotions, such as, bitterness, hatred,
jealousy, pain and suffering into more pure and refined states or (Haal). The natural outcome of this
work would be the kind of ecstatic or intoxicating love Rumi and other masters experienced.
While "Romantic love" is usually short lived and is always dependent on another individual to provide
the feelings within us, "Divine love," is felt from within the self. It is experienced at any time
regardless of one’s outward circumstances in life. In other words, even during the most difficult or
trying times, one can be in touch with this inner joy. At the same time, however, once this "Divine love"
is obtained and the individual has become more whole, the chances of creating a more loving and
healthy relationship with another person becomes even more likely.
In the following ode, Rumi talks about finding this "Divine love" within oneself and realizing that
everything else in life is just a reflection of this Love.
Look into your own eye, and make no mistake,
So that essence of seer and seen become one.
On whatever side you gaze, you shall see my form,
Whether you gaze upon self, or the mass that is visible.
Shun distorted vision and heal your sight,
For the evil eye will be distant from my beauty in that moment.
Beware, lest in error you see me in human form,
For the spirit is extremely subtle, Love is jealous.
What room is there for form, if what is felt extends beyond?
The soul's mirror reflects light that illuminates the world.
(Rumi's Divan of Shams of Tabriz--A new interpretation by
James Cowan. Element Classics of World Spirituality, P.101)
Attaining Divine love is no small duty or task. It requires tremendous amount of courage, work,
patience, trust and surrender to find it within one self. Before Shams came into Rumi's life, Rumi was
already considered as one of the highest priests and scholars of his time. However, Shams’ influence
was to teach him to stop relying on his intellect alone, but to learn to integrate the intellectual
knowledge with the wisdom of his heart. Eventually, Shams taught Rumi how to make love his one and
only journey and goal in life.
As Rumi got to experience more of this ecstatic love, his poetry and teachings became filled with
teaching others to also follow their own heart. He continuously wrote about leaving behind the world of
matter that consists of duality, pain and suffering and to instead adopt the greater understanding of life
and our role as humans in this divine plan.
The more he wrote about love, the more he understood the hypocrisy of religion and dogma of his time.
He became so enraged about the atrocities that men in religious garb committed under the name of
God that he began to radically oppose them. He understood that this true or Divine love is only to be
found within the self and a true teacher would teach his disciples to find it within themselves. Instead,
all he witnessed was the clergy using this sacred knowledge to dis-empower the masses by making the
people believe that they were powerless. This, he understood was a radical abuse of power to exploit
and control the people.
It is amazing to know that despite much of the sacrilegious concepts Rumi used to describe love,
(mainly using the metaphor of spirits and alcohol) his work remains intact and untouched to this day.
Many believe that it the power of love that he instilled in his poetry that guarded his work from being
destroyed. Others believe that his teachings were so powerful that they went beyond time and space
and that his followers made sure that his work was kept alive and passed on to the next generations.
Whatever it was, it is truly remarkable to still have access to his teachings.
Today, in the West, many Western scholars and intellectuals are discovering his works and have
already created many different translations of his writings into English and French. His philosophy and
the process of alchemy on love are being taught in major universities throughout out the United States
and Europe and many others have created schools of thought and places of prayer and meditation
around his teachings.
As a people, we Iranians are truly blessed to readily have access to his work without having to go
through translations or translators. As a great teacher and master he is readily available to us in almost
every household. May we forever celebrate his life and his teachings by learning to ignite the same
power of love and light within our own heart.
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