M1:263 — آمد اندر گفت طوطی آن زمان / بانگ بر درویش زد چون عاقلان

Translation: The parrot then returned to speech, / And like the wise, it cried out to the dervish. Meaning: After a period of silence, the parrot spoke again, and upon seeing a dervish who was also bald, it questioned him, assuming his baldness had the same cause as its own.

This verse marks a pivotal moment in the famous tale of the Parrot and the Grocer, which Rumi employs to expound upon a profound epistemic fallacy. The parrot, having been struck by the grocer and rendered bald and speechless after breaking oil jars, one day observes a bald dervish passing by the shop. The parrot, which had remained silent all this time, upon seeing this dervish, assumes that the cause of his baldness is precisely the same as what made itself bald. With its simple, "parroting mind," it cries out: "O bald one, why consort with the bald? / Did you, too, spill oil from a bottle?"

Here, Rumi, with his characteristic subtlety, points to one of the greatest pitfalls of human thought: the "parroting analogy" (qiyās-e ṭūṭiyāna) or the "fallacy of reductionism." This fallacy occurs when we reduce a phenomenon to a single cause, based solely on our limited and personal experience. This is what I have often referred to as the "Nothing But" fallacy. For instance, someone who believes the sun's heat is solely due to the burning of fuel like wood or oil is caught in this parroting analogy. Yet, as science later demonstrated, the source of the sun's heat involves far more complex and different processes.

This fallacy even extends to matters of faith and philosophy. Those who deem the birth of Jesus without a father impossible are trapped in this parrot-like mode of thinking. They limit an effect to a single, accustomed cause, failing to consider other possibilities and unfamiliar paths. This approach is literally a "highway robber" of thought, as it deprives us of understanding the multiple causes and diverse mechanisms of existence. Rumi, in this story, teaches us to always be open to the idea that an effect can have a thousand causes, and what we know is merely one of those paths. His perspective always transcended appearances and reductionism, offering a profound comprehension of the complexities of the universe.

Key takeaways

• Shared appearances do not necessarily imply shared causes; every phenomenon can have diverse roots.
• Beware of the "parroting analogy" (reductionism); a single effect can have multiple, varied causes.
• Our personal experience is limited; we should not judge others or the world solely based on it.
• Rumi's insight transcends reductionism and acknowledges the inherent complexities of existence.