Warnings!
In all the world there is nothing more difficult than enduring the ridiculous. Suppose for instance that you have studied a certain book, corrected, amended, and fully recited it. Then someone sitting beside you reads the book all wrong. Can you endure that? No, it is impossible. However, if you never read the book, it makes no difference to you whether anyone reads it wrong or right—you cannot tell the difference. So, enduring the ridiculous is a great discipline.
— Rumi / Jalāluddīn Muhammad Rūmī
difference between the mystics and ordinary philosophers and theologians
Another difference between the mystics and ordinary philosophers and theologians was that, instead of trying to convince the reader of the truth of their ideas through argument, the mystics insisted that anyone willing to undertake the appropriate spiritual disciplines and practices could discover it directly for themselves.
Thus, among Sufis (the mystics of Islam), seekers who reach the end of the path are called al-muhaqqiqun, which means “verifiers.”
This is because, as the thirteenth-century Sufi shaykh (master), Ibn al-`Arabi, declares, Knowledge of mystical states can only be had by actual experience, nor can the reason of man define it, nor arrive at any cognizing of it by deduction.
— Excerpt
student of action and student of words:
The Amir said: “The root of the matter is action.”
Rumi said:
Where are such people of action, so that I can teach them action? But now look how you cock your ears, seeking after words instead of action.
If I were to stop speaking now, you would become upset. Become a seeker of action, so that I can show you action! I am looking all over the world for students of action so that I can teach action.
I am looking all over the world for anyone who knows action, but I find no student of action—only of words, and so I occupy myself with words.
What do you know of action? Action is only known through action. There is not one traveler upon this road—it is empty—so how will anyone see if we are on the true path of action?
— Excerpt