ThirtySeven

umi said: The stories that have been spread against this girl are lies and should go no further. But I can see that even though we may put aside these rumors as false, something has settled in the imagination. Our imagination and heart are like a vestibule - thoughts first enter the vestibule, then they move into the house.

     This whole world is like one house, and every image that lodges in our deepest thoughts must appear and become visible in the house. For instance, this house in which we are seated - the form of it first became visible in the heart of the architect, then this house came into being. Imagination, daydreams and thoughts are the vestibule of this house. Whatever you see entering the vestibule, know that one day it will become visible in the house. And all these things, good and evil alike that you see in the world today, all first appeared in the vestibule before becoming visible here.

     When God wishes to produce rare and wonderful things in this world; orchards, gardens, meadows and sciences, It first implants the desire and demand for them in our inward hearts. And so, everything you see in this world existed first in that inner world. For instance, what you see in the dew also exists in the ocean, for this dew is from that ocean. In the same way this creation of heaven and earth, and all the other marvels, God implanted the desire for these in the spirits of the ancients, and so the world came into being accordingly.

     The philosophers who say that the world is eternal - how can they be taken seriously? Their statement simply means the world was never created in time, and this claim is impossible to prove. But those who say it is created in time; they are the saints and the prophets who are more ancient than the world. God implanted desire for the world within their spirits, and only then did the world appear. So they know for a fact and report out of their own experience that the world was created in time.

     For instance, those of us who watched when this house was built know it did not exist until a few years ago. If living creatures were born in this house, such as scorpions, mice, snakes and other creatures, to them this house was already standing. If they should say, “This house is eternal,” that is no proof to us, for we saw when this house was created. Termites and ants that have grown up in the walls and woodwork know nothing else, just as the people who have grown up within the house of this world. Here they sprout up, and here they will die, knowing nothing else. If they say that the world is eternal, that is no proof to the prophets and saints who existed millions of years before the world. Why speak of years? This is no place for numbers of years...they are infinite and beyond counting. They saw this world come into existence, just as you have seen when this house was first raised.

http://www.littleknownpubs.com/Rumi37.htm

From A.J. Arberry's 1961 translation, edited by Doug Marmon