Wipe The Dust Off Your Inner Mirror - a Poem by Rumi

Do you know why your mirror is not shining back at you?
It's 'cause the face of your mirror is still covered with dust.
Go and wipe the dust off the face of your inner mirror,
so you can clearly see the bright light shining through.
Each and every one of us is capable of deciphering
the  invisible mysteries of God,
it all depends on how cleanly the mirror of our hearts is polished.
Any believer who's constantly polishing the heart
has a much greater chance and possibility
the hidden Face appearing on the mirror of his/her perception.
If you're arguing that purity and cleanliness of a heart is by the Grace of God,
then I'd argue that the successful realization of the constant need
for polishing your heart is also a Gift from God.
God is the ONLY ONE who bestows infinite courage
upon us all in our cleaning efforts.
No one can ever act as The KING does, NO ONE!
No ifs or buts, period!
Rumi.


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Throughout Rumi poetic and prose works, there are thousands of verses and references to one of the main concepts and practices of Sufism: 'All creation is a reflection of the image of Divine Creator.' Hence, a Sufi dervish's lifelong task of constantly dusting and polishing the inner mirror of heart is precisely for the main purpose of clearly seeing and appreciating the reflection of the Beloved. Within the teachings of Sufism, purification of the heart and soul is known as Tazkiyah-
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Rumi's cleverly using the "Dust On The Mirror" as a Sufi Metaphor in the above highly meaningful and mystical poem is also further analyzed in great details by him in his astonishing prose work, FIHI-MA-FIHI-??? ?? ??? or Discourses of Rumi--magnificently translated into English by the imminent British scholar of Rumi, late Professor A.J.Arberry-- Here is how Rumi ponders deeply upon the "Inner Mirror" and teaches us in his Discourses:

"Everyone likes a  mirror, and is in love with re?ections of their own attributes and attainments, but friends you misses the true nature of the face. You think this bodily veil is a face, and the mirror of this veil  is  the  mirror of  your face. Uncover your face, so you can know for sure the mirror of your true self...

The true Su? is like  a  mirror where you see your own image, for �The believer is a mirror of their fellow believers.�...a  mirror shows no image of itself. Any image it re?ects is the image of another...The seeker of truth is a mirror for their neighbors. But  those who cannot feel the sting of truth are not mirrors to anyone but themselves..If you ?nd fault in your brother or sister, the fault you see in them is within yourself. Get rid of those  faults in yourself, because what bothers you in them bothers you in yourself...

An elephant was led to a well to drink. Seeing itself in the water, it shied away. It thought it was shying  away  from  another  elephant.  It  did  not realize it was shying away from its own self. All  evil  qualities�oppression,  hatred,  envy, greed, mercilessness, pride�when they are within
yourself, they bring no pain. When you see them in another, then you shy away and feel the pain. We feel no disgust at our own scab and abscess. We will dip our infected hand into our food and lick  our  ?ngers  without  turning  in  the  least  bit squeamish. But if we see a tiny abscess or half a scratch on another�s hand, we shy away from that person�s food and have no stomach for it whatsoever. Evil qualities are just like scabs and abscesses; when they are within us they cause no pain, but when we see them even to a small degree in another, then we feel pain and disgust.

Within our being all sciences  were  originally joined as one, so that our spirit displayed all hidden things,  like  clear  water  shows  everything within it�pebbles, broken shards and the like�and re?ects the sky above from its surface like a mirror.  This  is  Soul�s  true  nature,  without  treatment or training. But once Soul has mingled with the  earth  and  its  earthly  elements,  this  clarity leaves it and is forgotten. So God sends forth the prophets and saints, like a great translucent ocean that  accepts  all  waters,  and  yet  no  matter  how dark or dirty are the rivers that pour into it, that ocean remains pure. Then Soul remembers. When it  sees  its  re?ection  in  that  unsullied  water,  it knows  for  sure  that  in  the  beginning  it  too  was pure, and these shadows and colors are mere accidents...

A friend of Joseph returned from a far journey. Joseph  asked,  �What  present  have  you  brought
me?� The friend replied, �What is there you do not possess? What could you need? Since no one
exists more handsome than you, I have brought a mirror so that every moment you may gaze in it upon your own face.�

What is there that God does not possess? What does He  need?  Therefore,  bring  before  God  a
heart, crystal clear, so that He may see His own perfection. �God looks not at your form, nor at
your deeds, but at your heart.�
Excerpts from Rumi's FIHI-MA-FIHI-??? ?? ??? - or Discourses of Rumi translated by A.J.Arberry.