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The Level of Words
God has said, "The images that come
with human language
do not correspond to me,
but those who love words
must use them to come near."
Just remember,
it's like saying of the King,
"He is not a weaver."
Is that praise?
Whatever such a statement is,
words are on that level of God-knowledge.
-- Mathnawi II: 1716-1719
Poetic version by Coleman Barks
"Rumi: One-Handed Basket Weaving"
Maypop, 1991
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He has said, "Although I far transcend your commemoration
(of Me), (and although) the pictorial ideas (of human speech) are
not suitable to Me,
Yet he that is intoxicated with (pictorial) imagination and
fancy will never apprehend My essence without (the help of)
similitude."
Bodily commemoration is an imperfect fancy: the Kingly
attributes are remote from those (forms of speech).
If any one say of a king, "He is not a weaver," what praise
is this? He (that person) is surely ignorant.
-- Mathnawi II: 1716-1719
Translation by Reynold A. Nicholson
"The Mathnawi of Jalalu'ddin Rumi"
Published and Distributed by
The Trustees of The "E.J.W. Gibb Memorial"
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