M6:1120 — سخت پس پس می‌رود او سوی بن / گفت دمش را به سوی خانه کن

Translation: The horse stubbornly moved backwards towards its destination. The Amir said: "Turn its tail towards the home you seek." Meaning: This verse offers a remedy for taming unruly impulses; rather than negating or eradicating them, Mowlana advises redirecting the soul's inclinations towards noble and proper ends.

In this verse and its underlying narrative, Mowlana delivers a fundamental lesson on self-purification and how to manage unruly desires and impulses. The story begins with a man asking an Amir for a horse. He is offered a horse that is 'wāpas-row' (always moving backward) and 'harūn' (stubborn). The man initially refuses, but the Amir's reply is profoundly insightful: "Turn its tail towards the home you seek." This means that if the horse only moves backward, it doesn't matter; you merely need to reverse its orientation so that, by its very backward motion, it carries you to your desired destination.

This is a teaching that stands in stark contrast to many Sufi, and even philosophical, schools that emphasize the 'extirpation' and 'uprooting' of desires and the passionate or aggressive faculties. Some Sufis advocated for completely eradicating carnal desires; they believed one should purify oneself to the point where no trace of such emotions remains. This approach is akin to killing the backward-moving horse. However, Mowlana, and I concur with him, believes this 'surgical' and 'brutal' approach to the soul is not only incorrect but often impossible, leading to undesirable consequences. One cannot simply remove something from the soul; rather, one must reform it, cultivate it, treat it; much like pruning a tree, where removing superfluous branches leads to better and more abundant fruit.

This verse also implicitly critiques the Buddhist approach to the self. In Buddhism, and in certain sayings attributed to Sa'di and Saeb, the principle of 'negating desire' (نفی تمنا) is put forth; the idea that suffering arises from wanting, and one should want nothing to suffer nothing. Saeb says: "The ascetic's life was spent in longing for paradise / He did not know that paradise lies in abandoning longing." But Mowlana considers this impractical and impossible. By creation, humans possess inclinations and desires. The solution is not to negate desire itself, but to change its 'object' (متعلق). The horse of desire exists, but its direction can be altered. Mowlana himself states: "The tail of this steed, your self, is desire / For this reason, the self-worshipper ever moves backward. / O Transformer, turn its desire, which came from the root as a tail / O Transformer, turn its desire towards the hereafter (ʿuqbā)." That is, O God, the transformer of states, redirect the inclination and longing of this self from worldly and transient matters towards the hereafter and eternity.

This stratagem of Mowlana beautifully aligns with Freud's theory of 'sublimation.' Freud believed that the energy of repressed desires re-emerges in other ways and can be channeled towards higher activities. Mowlana asserts precisely this: "When you restrain its desire for raghif (bread) / That desire will emerge from the noble intellect." When you divest the self of gluttony and lower impulses, that same energy will manifest itself in rational and noble aspirations. This signifies the virtuous utilization of anything that might appear base or impure; one must employ it in such a way that it serves a good purpose. A horse that moves backward, though it may not possess the speed of 'Moses's body' which traversed a seven-hundred-year journey as if stepping across the width of a rug, can still guide you to your home.

Key takeaways

• Unruly desires and impulses should not be denied or eradicated; rather, they must be reformed and managed.
• The goal is to change the 'object' of desire, not desire itself; redirecting inclinations from worldly ends to the hereafter and higher purposes.
• Mowlana rejects a 'surgical' approach to the soul, advocating instead for the 'gardening' and 'treatment' of the spirit.
• Energy expended on lower impulses can be guided towards intellectual and spiritual elevation through 'sublimation'.
• Negative traits and weaknesses, like the backward-moving horse, can be reoriented and utilized to reach one's ultimate destination.