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Eyesight is in conflict with inner knowing. Always check your inner state with the Lord of your heart.

Jalaluddin Mevlana Rumi

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Inner Knowing

Topic: Prayer, Meditation, & Contemplation

Eyesight is in conflict with inner knowing. Always check your inner state with the Lord of your heart. A little while alone in your room will prove more valuable than anything else that could ever be given you.

Jalaluddin Mevlana Rumi

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, born on September 30, 1207, and also known as Jalaluddin Mevlana (Mawlānā) Rumi, J. M. Rumi, or simply as Rumi in the Western world, was an extraordinary poet, philosopher, and Sufi mystic. He was a prominent figure in the Islamic world, born in the region of present-day Afghanistan, then within the greater Persian Empire, and later settled in Konya, present-day Turkey. Rumi's passionate love for humanity and his deep spiritual insights transcended geographical, linguistic, and cultural barriers, making his poetry and teachings resonate not only within the Islamic world but also with audiences globally.

Rumi's spiritual journey led him to develop a unique approach to Sufism that emphasized love, tolerance, and the pursuit of enlightenment. He created a fusion of traditional Islamic beliefs with mysticism, nurturing a school of thought that flourished in his followers. They established a sect known to the Western world as the 'Whirling Dervishes', a term derived from their mesmerizing practice of whirling as a form of physical meditation. The proper name for this branch is the Mevlevi order, dedicated to preserving and promoting Rumi's teachings.

In addition to being a mystic, Rumi was an accomplished scholar and theologian who left behind an impressive literary legacy. His best-known work, the Mathnawi or Masnavi, is a six-volume poetic epic that explores themes of love, divine mystery, and human connection to the spiritual world. Rumi's poetic style is marked by profound emotion and philosophical depth, weaving metaphors and allegory to create timeless pieces that continue to inspire readers today. Rumi's influence reaches far beyond his time, as his teachings on love, compassion, and unity continue to touch the hearts of millions, transcending barriers of religion, culture, and era.

(1207-1273) Islam
The Essential Rumi

Rūmī, Jalāl al-Dīn. The Essential Rumi. Translated by Coleman Barks, HarperCollins, 2004.

Jalaluddin Mevlana Rumi


Theme: Meditation and Contemplation

About This Quotation From Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī [Commentary] 

Jalaluddin Mevlana Rumi [aka Jalaluddin Mevlana Rumi] opens with a direct insight: “Eyesight is in conflict with inner knowing.” What the eyes take in—the surface of things—often distracts from a deeper truth that can only be accessed inwardly. The tension between outer appearance and inner clarity calls for a different kind of perception. Rumi advises: “Always check your inner state with the Lord of your heart.” This is not merely self-reflection; it is a turning toward the Divine within, the one who sees beyond appearances and guides from the center of our being.

Rumi’s phrase, “the Lord of your heart,” points to an interior relationship with the Divine that is deeply personal and always present. To “check your inner state” is to ask where one stands in relation to that presence. Rather than being led by outer impressions or emotional reaction, one turns inward to align with what is quietly trustworthy. This is not a rejection of the world, but a way of seeing that begins from within. The eye may be drawn outward, but the heart listens in stillness.

For Rumi, this inner listening is cultivated through solitude: “A little while alone in your room will prove more valuable than anything else that could ever be given you.” The room becomes a symbol of inward retreat—not escape, but quiet return. In this space, free from external demands, one can attend to the state of the heart. It is here that meditation becomes possible—not as a technique, but as a remembering. What is given in this solitude is not a reward from outside, but a clarity already present within.

A Coleman Barks Quote With Commentary

Consider this quote from Rumi interpreter and translator Coleman Barks: “Solitude is a fount of healing which makes my life worth living. Talking is often a torment for me, and I need many days of silence to recover from the futility of words”​​. This sentiment echoes Rumi’s instruction to retreat into the silence of one’s room for self-reflection. It emphasizes the transformative power of solitude and silence, suggesting that they offer a potent antidote to the noise and turbulence of the world. It is in this quiet solitude that we are able to commune with the Divine, to seek inner wisdom, and to find healing. Just as Rumi advises us to check our inner state with the Lord of our heart, Barks reminds us that silence can serve as a refuge where we can pause, reflect, and rejuvenate, away from the external clamor that can often obscure our inner knowing.

Additional Coleman Barks Quotes

“Solitude is a fount of healing which makes my life worth living. Talking is often a torment for me, and I need many days of silence to recover from the futility of words.”

―Coleman Barks, The Soul of Rumi: A New Collection of Ecstatic Poems

“Be loyal to your daily practice. Keep working. And keep knocking on the door. As you’ll remember, it is said in one of Rumi’s most pithy moments that the door we’re knocking on opens from the inside.”

―Coleman Barks

“There was also more practical inquiry. How should I make a living? How do I get my relatives out of my house? Could you help me postpone payment of this loan? The dervishes had jobs in the workday world: mason, weaver, bookbinder, grocer, hatmaker, tailor, carpenter. They were craftsmen and -women, not renunciates of everyday life, but affirmative makers and ecstatics. Some people call them sufis, or mystics. I say they’re on the way of the heart.”
―Coleman Barks, The Soul of Rumi: A New Collection of Ecstatic Poems

An Additional Rūmī Quote

When you do things from your soul,
you feel a river moving in you, a joy.
When actions come from another section,
the feeling disappears.
Don’t let others lead you. They may be blind,
or worse, vultures. Reach for the rope
of God. And what is that?
Putting aside self-will.
Because of willfulness people sit in jail.
From willfulness, the trapped birds’ wings are tied.
From willfulness, the fish sizzles in the skillet.
The anger of police is willfulness. You’ve seen
a magistrate inflict visible punishment.
Now see the invisible.
If you could leave selfishness, you would see
how your soul has been tortured.
We are born and live inside black water in a well.
How could we know what an open field of sunlight is?
Don’t insist on going where you think you want to go.
Ask the way to the Spring.
Your living pieces will form a harmony.
There is a moving palace that floats through the air,
with balconies and clear water running in every part of it,
infinity everywhere, yet contained under a single tent.

—Rūmī, Jalāl al-Dīn [aka Jalaluddin Mevlana Rumi]. The Essential Rumi. Translated by Coleman Barks, HarperCollins, 2004.

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