Rumi Wisdom [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION"Lovers have a religion all of their own. Their only creed is Love."MEVLASA JAL.U AL-DI\ RU.MIWho was Mevlana Jalal al-Din Rumi? He would have been the first to lau^h out loud at the impossibility of ever really answering this question. Rumi spent his life looking for Rumi. When he finally found him, he concluded that he didn't exist. Rumi is a paradoxical conundrum. He is a religious teacher who taught that all spiritual philosophies are inadequate. He is a great poet who regarded poetry as trifling entertainment. He is a sophisticated scholar who delighted in colloquial jokes. He is a teetotaler who wrote enthusiastically about drunkenness. He is a narrator of fables who saw himself as a fictional character. He is a venerated sage who regarded himself as a devil. He is a mortal man \\ho claimed to be God incognito.Rumi is famous as a Sufi poet.The Sufis are Islamic mystics. Their doctrines are practically indistinguishable from those of other mystical traditions. This has led to the claim that SuBsm is a syncretic mix of Islam, Hinduism, Neo-platonic Paganism, and Christian Gnosticism. These traditions influenced the Sufis, but this doesn't mean that Sufism is a later deviation from the original Islam of Muhammad. Although they have often found themselves horribly persecuted by orthodox Muslim authorities, the Sufis see themselves as maintaining