2 Quotes to Meditate Upon
Because truth agrees with itself, here are two quotations uttered centuries apart and from different traditions, that echo one another:
"The few who hear the truths the reed has sung
Have lost their wits so they can speak this tongue
...
And if the rose should vanish from its sight
The nightingale will keep its beak shut tight --
The loved one's all, the lover's just a screen,
A dead thing, while the loved one lives, unseen
...
Don't you know why we can't perceive it here?
Your mirror's face is rusty -- scrape it clear!"
—Rumi's masterwork, "The Masnavi"
(Translation from the Persian, by Jawid Mojaddedi)
‘Life is infinitely great and profound as the immensity of the stars above us. One can only look at it through the narrow keyhole of one’s personal experience. But through it one perceives more than one can see. So above all one must keep the keyhole clean.’
—Franz Kafka, Conversations with Gustav Janouch
I love both, but that Kafka hit me in the third eye (in the best way).
Yeah, for better or worse, Kafka is closer to us, our contemporary. The quote of his I often return to, as a reader is:
PS — How’d your poetry contest turn out ?
Yes ... a clear mind and consciousness is a real advantage to understanding and loving the world:)
Sigh So, I hear... I hope/pray to experience it, one day 🙏🏼
Somedays are different than others. Namaste, Yahia:)
Thank you, Pryde :)
Jalaluddin rumi was he not an islamic preacher and philospher??
Yes, also a mystic and poet.
I have been thinking about interpreting the above words. and have not found the meaning 😔😔
It means (among other things) that we must purify our hearts to perceive, properly.