M6:2211 — چون نبیند اصل ترسش را عیون / ترس دارد از خیال گونه‌گون

Translation: When eyes perceive not the root of their fear, They then fear imagined forms, varied and sheer. Meaning: This verse explains that when the true origin of one's fears remains hidden from sight, one inevitably projects those fears onto various imagined or superficial causes, becoming afraid of them.

This verse, to my mind, stands as a profound testament to Rumi's epistemological and psychological insight, far ahead of his time. Here, Rumi points to a fundamental cognitive error: when a human being fails to grasp the “origin” (asl) and true root of their fears and anxieties, they inevitably turn to “imagination” (khiyāl). That is, they attribute their fears to phenomena that are merely “concomitant” with the fear, rather than being its “cause.” Consider, as Rumi himself illustrates further, a blind person who is kicked by an ill-mannered drunkard. This blind person cannot see the assailant, but at that very moment, hears the sound of a camel. Due to their lack of sight and sole reliance on hearing, they fall into a cognitive error, associating the camel's sound with the kick. They fail to see the “root of their fear” (the actual assailant) and instead fear “imagined forms, varied and sheer” (the camel), perceiving it as the cause. This is precisely the error of mistaking “concomitance” for “causation”—a phenomenon that philosophers of science and logic would meticulously explore centuries later. Rumi, in essence, expands upon the Aristotelian notion that “he who loses a sense, loses a branch of knowledge” (man faqada ḥassan faqada ḥilmā). The blind person lacks sight, so their ear becomes their mirror. In this mirror, only sounds are reflected, leading them to entirely exclude many silent causes from their calculations. This insight applies not only to physical blindness but also to our epistemic blind spots. In many instances, due to sensory limitations, prejudices, or even oversimplified analysis, we cling to concomitant effects instead of discovering the true underlying cause. This mental fallacy is also observed in the natural sciences; for example, someone witnessing lightning and thunder might mistake lightning for the cause of thunder, whereas both are effects of a larger phenomenon (the electrical discharge between clouds). Or consider the example of the thyroid and parathyroid glands; before the discovery of the parathyroid, many ailments were attributed solely to the thyroid. However, this error becomes far more complex and misleading in human, psychological, and social domains. In the human realm, we contend with intentions, multiple layers of being, and intricate interactions, making it difficult—at times impossible—to distinguish primary causes from mere concomitants. Marxists sought to identify class factors as the primary cause of social transformations, while revolution scholars like Theda Skocpol looked for a combination of causes (social unrest coupled with the weakening of the central state). Rumi, however, in a single verse, reveals this fundamental truth: until we perceive the “root,” we will continue to fear shadows and make mistakes. This statement demonstrates the profound depth and meticulous observation of a mystic exploring the hidden dimensions of the human mind.

Key takeaways

• Failing to understand the “root of fear” leads individuals to illusory and false assumptions.
• Rumi points to the cognitive error of mistaking “concomitance for causation,” a principle relevant across various sciences.
• Deficiencies in senses or insight (like blindness) can lead to misidentification of true causes.
• This epistemological error is far more perilous in human and social affairs due to their inherent complexity.
• Rumi's mystical insight deeply penetrates modern epistemological and psychological concerns.