[Sunlight] Arguing with it doesn’t help

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The lower self philosophizes:
beat it for its own good,
arguing with it doesn't help.
It witnesses a prophet's miracle
and momentarily glows with belief;
but later on says, "That was just imagination;
for if that incredible sight had been real,
it would have lasted--it would have remained before my eyes."
It is lasting in the eyes of the pure,
but it doesn't haunt the eyes of animals.
Miracles keep their distance from bodily senses:
would a peacock stay in a ditch?

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Nafs sufestâyi âmad mi zanesh
kash zadan sâzandeh hojjat goftanesh
Mo`jezeh binand foruzad ân zamân
ba`d az ân guyad "Khayâli bud ân
Var haqiqat budi ân did-e `ajab
pas moqim-e cheshm budi ruz o shab"
Ân moqim-e cheshm-e pâkân mi bovad
ni qarin-e cheshm-e hayavân mi-shavad
K-ân `ajab zin hessdâr dârad `âr o nang
kay bovad tâ'us andar châh-e tang

-- Mathnawi II: 3500-3504
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

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[Sunlight] Arguing with it doesn’t help