Ego is Veil between man and God...is it really Mevlana?

[Kashif Vohra]

Salam Sheikh,
The very popular "Ego is a veil between man and God" statement...is it really Mevlana and  how is it stated in Persian?
Regards

[Ibrahim]

Salâm,

It's not from Rumi. It's too psychological to be from Rumi. It is probably from the pseudo-Christian "channeled" book, "A Course in Miracles"--or from one of its teachers/interpreters. See the following article:

http://journalofmcc.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-ego-is-veil.html

Another overly psychological quote widely attributed to Rumi (but is false Rumi) is definitely from "A Course In Miracles":

Your task is not to seek for love 

but merely to Seek and find 

all the barriers within yourself,

that you have built against it. 

 (Rumi)

***************

Ibrahim

[Iljas Baker]

Salaam Ibrahim,

You wrote: "It's not from Rumi. It's too psychological to be from Rumi." 

I wonder what you mean by "too psychological" ? Are you simply referring to the language used or do you think there's a conceptual error? For example taking the quoted falsely attributed to Rumi verse:

Your task is not to seek for love 

but merely to Seek and find 

all the barriers within yourself,

that you have built against it. 

 

This could and has been seen as not a bad version of a Rumi poem and that would be the end of the story. 

But for me seeking and finding all the barriers is impossible if conceived as a purely psychological task. Hence the language and concepts are too psychological. It is only a task that can be achieved by appealing for God's help and with the help of God's grace. This is because the barriers are often so subtle and so deep in our being. This is the reality of spiritual seeking.

Iljas

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[Ibrahim]

Dear Iljas,

Salām,

The fake Rumi quote that I cited  (“Your task is not to seek for love but merely to Seek and find all the barriers within yourself, that you have built against it”) is not a bad version of a Rumi poem, but was written by Helen Schucman (in “A Course In Miracles”) prior to 1972.

(See paragraph #6: https://www.miraclecenter.org/a-course-in-miracles/T-16.IV.php) I agree with you that it is too psychological in that it asserts that an adjustment in thinking and attitude can lead to spiritual transformation. This is what I call “New Age” thinking, such as “Science of Mind” (change your thinking, change your reality) and the “Law of Attraction” (what your thoughts are attracted to will come to you). This apparent if the quote is changed to: Your task is not to seek for (God) but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself, that you have built against (finding God).

In contrast, Rumi was a deeply religious God-centered mystic who taught to seek God with prayerful yearning and neediness while hoping for His help and submitting to His Will.

When I express the view that a particular quote is “fake Rumi” (such as, “Ego is a veil between man and God”), it means that I could not find it in Rumi’s works, but also that, “It doesn’t sound like Rumi to me”. To say more, it often means to me: too modern-sounding, Western-sounding, New Age-sounding, and (modern) psychologcal-sounding.

When Coleman Barks altered the first verse of a fake Rumi poem (“What is to be done, O Moslems? for I do not recognise myself. I am neither Christian nor Jew, nor Gabr, nor Moslem” [che tadbīr ay musalmānān, ke man khūd-rā namīdān-am // na tarsā na yahūd-am man, na gabr-am na musalmān-am]) to: “Not Christian, or Jew or Muslim, nor Hindu, Buddhist, sufi, or zen. Not any religion or cultural system”––his version is too New Age-sounding and anachronistic, because there is no evidence that Rumi was familiar with the teachings of Hinduism and Chinese-Japanese Buddhism. 

When Coleman Barks, in his well-known version,  “The Guest House,” altered Nicholson’s accurate translation (“Whenever the thought (of sorrow) comes into thy breast anew, go to meet it with smiles and laughter, saying, ‘O my Creator, preserve me from its evil: do not deprive me, (but) let me partake, of its good! O my Lord, prompt me to give thanks for that which I see (receive): do not let me feel any subsequent regret, if it (the benefit received) shall pass away.’” to: "The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond”––his version is too New Age-sounding because he eliminated the reference to God (prayer to God seeking protection from the evil of sorrowful thoughts) and thereby made his version more similar to non-religious Buddhist acceptance.