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22 Nov: "Love has nothing to do with the five senses" by Rumi

Love has nothing to do with
the five senses and the six directions:
its goal is only to experience
the attraction exerted by the Beloved.
Afterwards, perhaps, permission
will come from God:
the secrets that ought to be told with be told
with an eloquence nearer to the understanding
that these subtle confusing allusions.
The secret is partner with none
but the knower of the secret:
in the skeptic's ear
the secret is no secret at all.

-Rumi

I found a problem with the second "with" in the seventh line, so I looked up the poem. I found another translation/version.


Love has nothing to do with
the five senses and the six directions:
its goal is only to experience
the attraction exerted by the Beloved.
Afterwards, perhaps, permission
will come from God:
the secrets that ought to be told will be told
with an eloquence nearer to the understanding
of these subtle confusing allusions.
The secret is partner with none
but the knower of the secret:
in the skeptic's ear
the secret is no secret at all. 

5 comments:

  1. Six directions: North, South, East, West, Above/Upperworld, Below/Underworld
    Five senses: touch, sight, hearing, smell, taste
    Allusion: an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.
    God: an all-seeing, all-knowing, and loving higher power in the definition of Rumi? "Permission"...from...
    The idea of love as in the Bible...the falling in love with another should be similar to a relationship with God/Jesus..."partner with none but the knower of the secret"...partner with none except who share similar beliefs?
    I don't know if I agree with a "goal" of love. In this sense, the goal is to please a higher power...I argue, what if the higher power is LOVE itself.

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  2. So you're saying, Love loves to be loved by the beloved? We discussed love before and I claimed it is an emotion. Maybe it is more of an idea. One that justifies an explanation of our feelings.

    The most interesting part of the poem in the conclusion.

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  3. Back to the conclusion.

    "in the skeptic's ear
    the secret is no secret at all."

    Does the skeptic already knows the secret? Or can the skeptic never know the secret because the skeptic is cannot know anything?

    Is something missing? I didn't see any allusions in the poem? What allusions is the narrator referring to in the poem?

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  4. Allusion to those finally gaining this all told "secret" of love? Some will gain it, but the skeptic won't? A sort of end of the world promise. A division in those who love and those who haven't accepted love.
    With all of the mindsets there are in this world do you think that the same "conclusion" will satisfy all? That is where I get caught up. To some, the answer to the secret of life would make sense, to others...they would still be wondering about all of the other possibilities that could have been the secret of life. Lol.

    ReplyDelete
  5. To understand the secret that is love which has nothing to do with five senses and the six direction,partner with none but the knower of the secret,and that is God or the beloved.since God is love and love is God,and one can only know God through God, then you can only know love through the beloved. And not through the five senses or the six directions.

    ReplyDelete