M6:3145 — در رو اندر چاه کین از وی بکش / چون ازو غالب‌تری سر بر کنش

Translation: Go, enter the well and draw out the malice (kīn) from him; Since you are mightier than him, cut off his head. Meaning: This verse urges us to confront and eliminate malice, not in an external adversary, but within ourselves, recognizing it as a projection of our own inner state.

This verse from Book Six of the Mathnavi guides us to one of Mawlana’s profound psychological teachings, connected to the tale of the Lion and the Rabbit. In that story, the lion, deceived by the rabbit, sees its own reflection in a well, mistakes it for another lion, and leaps in to fight, meeting its demise. Mawlana uses this event as an allegory for human «projection» (farafkanī).

I have often stated that Mawlana is an unparalleled psychoanalyst, and in these verses, he precisely targets this point: numerous evils, sorrows, and malices (kīn) that we perceive in others, believing them to originate externally, are in fact shadows of our own vices and shortcomings reflected back to us in the other. It is just like the lion that saw its own image in the well, mistook it for another lion, and consequently perished.

Therefore, when the verse says: “Go, enter the well and draw out the malice from him,” it is not an injunction to wage war against an external enemy. Rather, it means to return within yourself, seek that “well of malice” in your own being, and extract it from there. For if you wish to eradicate the root of animosity and grudge, you must dry it up within yourself, not in another.

When the verse continues: “Since you are mightier than him, cut off his head,” it refers to the mastery we possess over ourselves, which is far greater than any control we might have over others. You are mightier over yourself; therefore, sever the head of this malice, which is fundamentally your own, within your own being. Others are merely mirrors reflecting our faults. As Mawlana says: “Your ugly disposition showed its face in him / For he was the polished mirror’s face for you.” When you perceive your own ugliness and flaws in another, you must not shatter the mirror or rage at it; instead, you must reform yourself.

Mawlana further illustrates this with the parable of a star reflected in water: if you see a star in the water and, deeming it inauspicious, throw dirt into the water to obscure it, the star remains in the sky; you have merely hidden its reflection. The inauspiciousness has not vanished. The remedy must be applied to the source, not to the shadow. Malice and animosity in another are merely the image and shadow of our own inner malice. This is a profound lesson that steers us away from fruitless blame of others and calls us to self-examination and self-improvement. O you who are imprisoned by the “six directions” of the world and err in every way; “that enmity in him is a reflection of God,” derived from His attributes of wrath, but “that sin in him is of the same kind as your own transgression.”

Key takeaways

• The faults we perceive in others are often reflections of our own inner shortcomings and malice (projection).
• The battle against malice and animosity must begin within oneself; the 'well of malice' resides in our own being, not in another.
• Others serve as mirrors reflecting our flaws; instead of blaming the mirror, we must reform ourselves.
• Eradicating malice means conquering the self, not an external foe.
• The remedy for ill-fortune and animosity lies in its true source, the celestial realm of the soul, not in its earthly reflection.
• Mawlana acts as an unparalleled psychoanalyst, unveiling deep truths of the human psyche through stories and parables.