M6:1373 — چون انیس طمع تو آن نیستیست / از فنا و نیست این پرهیز چیست

Translation: Since that non-being is the companion of your desire, / What is this avoidance of annihilation and non-being? Meaning: Rumi highlights a human paradox: we constantly pursue things that do not yet exist (are in a state of 'non-being'), yet we recoil from our own annihilation and non-being in the mystical sense.

This couplet represents one of Rumi's most subtle yet piercing rhetorical ploys, designed to draw us from one kind of non-being to another. I maintain that Rumi here uncovers a fundamental contradiction in human spirit and action, one from which we are often oblivious.

By referring to our "desire's companion" (anīs-i ṭamaʿ), Rumi directs our attention to a type of "non-being" that is familiar and desirable to all: the initial non-being. Every artisan, entrepreneur, student, and hunter, in essence, seeks something that is not. A builder looks for an unbuilt site; a water-carrier finds an empty pitcher; a carpenter targets a doorless house; and a hunter pursues prey not yet caught. All these actions are in pursuit of "non-existence" (ʿadam) or "present non-being" (nīstī-yi ḥāl) to transform it into "future existence" (hastī-yi āyanda). This is the kind of non-being from which we not only do not flee but cherish as the companion of our desire, for which we expend our wealth and years. Indeed, all our worldly endeavors aim to create "being" from "non-being." We detach ourselves from what we possess and cast the hook of desire into the sea of lā (negation) and "non-being" to catch new prey. This non-being is beloved to our nature.

But Rumi, with "what is this avoidance?" (īn parhīz chīst?), turns his blade upon our contradiction. He asks: If the companion of your desire is that non-being with which you are so intimate and for which you strive, then why do you flee from another non-being—namely, fanā (annihilation) and Sufi "non-being"? Why do you fear the annihilation of the self before the Divine, spiritual poverty, absolute surrender to destiny, and death? Here, Rumi subtly builds a bridge between two types of non-being: the material and worldly non-being that is the object of ambition, and the spiritual and existential non-being that is the path to union. He wishes to tell us that if you are so friendly with the first kind of lā and "non-being," then why do you remain so distant from the second, which is, in fact, the sea of true aspiration and yields hundreds of thousands of spiritual catches to the heart's hook?

This is the very "blinding" and "magic of creation" (siḥr-i ṣanʿat) that Rumi refers to in other verses: "Behold the magic that showed you death as life's leaf" (jādū-yi bīn ke namūdat marg barg). That is, the world of existence has so veiled our eyes that we perceive beloved non-beings as true beings, and true beings as non-beings. This couplet is an invitation to awaken from this inverted perception and to embrace the knowledge-bestowing and life-giving mystical non-being, which is, in truth, the very essence of true fruitfulness and existence.

Key takeaways

• Rumi challenges human beings on the contradiction between their desires and actions.
• Unbeknownst to us, we are constantly pursuing "present non-being" to transform it into "future being."
• The "first non-being" is material or worldly non-existence, which we eagerly seek (e.g., an unbuilt plot of land).
• The "second non-being" is mystical annihilation (fana), from which we flee, even though true aspiration lies within it.
• This couplet serves as Rumi's subtle ruse to guide us towards spiritual non-being.
• Humanity's inverted perception makes us shun true being and fear true non-being.