M6:1933 — کانک می‌جستی ز چرخ با نهیب / سر بر آوردستت ای موسی ز جیب

Translation: That which you sought from the sky with zeal, Has emerged, O Moses, from your own pocket. Meaning: This verse asserts that the ultimate truth or treasure one searches for outwardly in the vast cosmos is, in reality, already present within one's own being and the depths of one's perceptions.

This verse, in my view, is an undeniable gem where Rumi, within a single line, encapsulates oceans of meaning. When he says, “That which you sought from the sky with zeal, / Has emerged, O Moses, from your own pocket,” he unveils the very nature of the cosmos and the place of human perception through a brilliant allegory. This narrative, whose roots can also be found in Maqālāt-e Shams, recounts the search for a treasure whose location is initially described as external, but which is ultimately discovered within the seeker himself.

I have always presented this verse as one of the keys to understanding Rumi’s theory of perception. The true meaning of this statement is that the entire cosmos, all the heavens and whatever you seek within them, is not in an external world, but rather in your “pocket” (jayb), meaning within your own essence and soul. This is precisely the point Rumi articulates with even greater clarity in the subsequent verse: “So that you may know that the receptive heavens / Are but reflections of human perceptions.” The vast, listening heavens are, in reality, the mirror image and reflection of human consciousness itself.

This insight has deep philosophical roots. Rumi believes that God’s first creation was the “Intellect” (‘aql); an intellect that is an aware and fully conscious being. Therefore, all other beings, including us humans and the entire existence, are immersed in the perception of that First Intellect and are its effects. This implies that we and the entire world exist within a shared domain of perception. This profound kinship between humanity and the cosmos arises from the fact that both are fundamentally of the nature of perception and consciousness. From the moment intellect manifested within us, we became aligned with a world that is itself constructed from Intellect.

This teaching, that the heavens are reflections of human perceptions, stands in direct contrast to philosophies that consider the world to be entirely independent of our awareness. For Rumi, the world is not a lifeless, mechanical mass, but is entirely consciousness and awareness, and humanity is in harmony and akin to it. This is the sublime idea Rumi alludes to elsewhere: “The wine became drunk from us, not we from it” or “Truth was drowned in Truth.” This suggests that not only do we perceive the world, but on a deeper level, the world is also affected by us and our perception.

Of course, Rumi himself emphasizes, “This truth is both manifest and hidden / For a fly cannot be the confidant of the phoenix.” This signifies that this great secret, despite its apparent clarity, is not evident to everyone, and not everyone possesses the capacity to grasp it. It is a treasure whose name may be on everyone’s lips, but its essence, like that of the ‘Anqā or Simorgh, is accessible only to a select few. This is an invitation to inward reflection, rather than a futile search in external skies.

Key takeaways

• What is sought in the external world is fundamentally hidden within the depths of our own perceptions and being.
• The cosmos and heavens are reflections and manifestations of human consciousness and inner perceptions.
• This profound harmony stems from the shared essence of the world and humanity in the 'First Intellect' and the nature of perception itself.
• This treasure of knowledge, though apparent, remains a hidden secret, not manifest to all, requiring deep introspection.