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The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) · 19 of 37 · tr. E.H. Whinfield

STORY VIIc

My ardour arises not from joy or grief, My sense mates not with illusion and fancy. My condition is different, for it is strange. Deny it not ! God is all-powerful. Argue not from the condition of common men, Stumble not at severity and at mercy. For mercy and severity, joy and sorrow, are transient, And transient things die; "God is heir of all." 7 "Tis dawn! O Protector and Asylum of the dawn! Make excuse for me to my lord Husamu-'d-Din! Thou makest excuses for c(Universal Reason and Soul; 8 Soul of souls and Gem of life art Thou! The light of my dawn is a beam from Thy light, Shining in the morning draught of Thy protection! Since Thy gift keeps me, as it were, intoxicated, What is this spiritual wine that causes me this joy? Natural wine lacks the ferment in my breast, The spheres lag behind me in revolutions! Wine is intoxicated with me, not I with it! The world takes its being from me, not I from it! I am like bees, and earthly bodies like wax, 9 I build up these bodies as with my own wax! *NOTES: 1. This is a comment on the saying of Faridu-'d-Din Attar, "Thou art a man of lusts, O fool! In dust eat blood! but if a man of heart eats poison, 'tis as honey." 2. See Koran xxi. 68, and Rodwell's note. 3. This is a comment on the Hadis, "Verily Sa'd is a jealous man, and I am more jealous than he, and God is more jealous than I, and of His jealousy He prohibits 'All pollutions, both outward and inward.'" (Koran vi. 152.) 4. This is a quotation from Hakim Sanai, and forms the text of the following discourse. 5. See Gulshan i Raz, I. 140, and Omar Khayyam Quatr., 270. 6. See Gulshan i Raz, I. 745: Frowns are the occultation of the Beloved by the veil of phenomena; smiles, the revelation of Absolute Being to its votaries. Sa'di (Gulistan, Book II. Story XI.) says: "The vision, of God to the pious consists of manifestation and occultation; He shows Himself, and again withdraws Himself from our sight." 7. Koran xv. 23. 8. i.e., the Logos, and First Soul, upposed to be referred to in the text: "O men, fear your Lord, who hath created you from one Soul, and of him created his wife" (Koran iv. I). See Gulshan i Raz, I. 203. 9. i.e., in his spiritual exaltation he feels himself as the Logos, where from tho whole material creation emanates.
Themes
◇Divine Intoxicationpraxis

Ecstatic, non-rational receptivity to the divine figured as drunkenness — Plato's symposium wine, Rumi's sukr, Eckhart's 'sober drunkenness'; the passive/receptive metaphor for divine encounter, distinct from divine_madness's active possessing rapture.

[auto] The text explicitly describes being 'intoxicated' by a 'spiritual wine' that surpasses natural wine, a central Sufi metaphor for divine ecstasy.

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◇Divine Lighttheology

The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.

[auto] The text repeatedly references light as divine origin: 'The light of my dawn is a beam from Thy light.'

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◇Mystical Unionsoteriology

The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.

[auto] The speaker identifies so closely with the divine source that 'Wine is intoxicated with me' and the world derives being from him, indicating a merging of identities.

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◇Opposites Transcendedanthropology

The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.

[auto] The passage states that 'mercy and severity, joy and sorrow, are transient' and the speaker's condition is different, transcending these dualities.

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◇Prayerpraxis

Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward.

[auto] The passage contains direct address to the divine: 'O Protector and Asylum of the dawn! Make excuse for me to my lord Husamu-'d-Din!'

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◇Unity Of Beingtheology

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

[auto] The speaker claims 'The world takes its being from me,' reflecting the Sufi doctrine of Wahdat al-Wujud where existence is ultimately one divine reality.

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Related passages · 6 parallels
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 2 (part 7)
“The light of God has also the quality of the fire, but in it the wrath is changed into love; hate and bitter pain into mild beneficence and sweet desire or satisfaction." ( Menschwerdung , i. 5–16.) "The fountain of love is a clasping and…”
Both passages explore the transformative power of divine love and light, emphasizing the transcendence of human limitations and the unity of creation with the divine. They share a mystical perspective on the relationship between the individual soul and the divine, highlighting themes of spiritual awakening and the overcoming of worldly constraints.
◆renaissance_hermeticism|Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter LX — Of Madness, and Divinations which are made when men are awake, and of the Power of a Melancholy Humor, by which Spirits are sometimes induced into Men's Bodies|Chapter LX, Section 1a
“CHAPTER LX. Of Madness, and Divinations which are made when men are awake, and of the Power of a Melancholy Humor, by which Spirits are sometimes induced into Men's Bodies . It happens also, sometimes, that not only they that are asleep,…”
Both passages discuss the concept of divine inspiration or madness that leads to higher knowledge or prophecy. Rumi describes a spiritual state where the individual transcends ordinary human experience and becomes a conduit for divine light, while the second passage discusses how a melancholy humor can induce a state of divine inspiration or prophecy. Both explore the idea of a heightened state of consciousness that connects the individual to a higher reality.
◆renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori)|First Dialogueb
“This is precisely the humour of a furious lover, though the same may be said of nearly all mortals who are seriously affected in any way. We cannot say that this accords with all conditions in a general way, but only with those mortals who…”
Both passages explore the transient nature of human conditions and the divine essence that transcends these states. They share a mystical perspective on the relationship between the divine and the human experience, emphasizing the impermanence of worldly states and the enduring nature of the divine.
◆renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori)|First Dialoguec
“And I will say, because to me this pain Is dearer than all other pleasures are. Mar. In reference to this I told you that although one should be attached to corporeal and external beauty yet he may honourably and worthily be so attached;…”
Both passages explore the theme of divine beauty and the soul's journey towards it. They discuss how worldly beauty and experiences are mere shadows or symbols of a higher, divine reality, and how the soul can use these to elevate itself towards the divine.
◆renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori)|First Dialogued
“You see, Cesarino, how this enthusiast is justified in his anger against those who reproach him with being in captivity to a low beauty, to which he dedicates his vows, and attributes these forms, so that he is deaf to those voices which ca…”
Both passages explore the theme of divine love and the transcendence of earthly desires. They describe a state of spiritual exaltation where the individual is consumed by a higher love, which brings both joy and torment, and see the material world as a reflection of the divine.
◆western_esoteric|Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi)|4. The Conjuration Of The Fourb
“Prayer of the Sylphs Spirit of Light, Spirit of Wisdom, Who breath gives and takes away the form of all things; Thou before Whom the life of every being is; a shadow which transforms and a vapour which passes away; Thou who ascendest upon t…”
Both passages share a mystical insight into the divine nature and the transient nature of worldly phenomena. They both emphasize the eternal and all-powerful nature of God, contrasting it with the fleeting and impermanent nature of the material world.