The Trail

The world of imagination is greater than facts and concepts, for all concepts are born of imagination. Yet imagination itself is narrow compared to that world from which imagination is born. This is the limit of explanations, for that reality cannot be made known by words and expressions.
Someone asked: “Then what is the use of expressions and words?”
Rumi answered: Words set you searching. They are not the objects of your quest. If that were the case, there would be no need for all this spiritual struggle and self-sacrifice.
Words are like glimpsing something far away. You follow in its trail to see it better, but this doesn’t mean the trail is what you are seeking. Speech is inwardly the same—it excites you to seek the meaning, even though the words are never the reality.
The other day someone said, “I have studied many sciences and mastered many ideas, yet I still do not know what essence in the human being exists forever. I have searched, but I have not discovered it.” If such things were knowable through words alone, you would never need to pass away from your self and suffer such pains. But if you did not endure the struggle of losing your temporary self, how could you ever know that essence which will remain?
A boy says, “I have heard about the Kaaba, but no matter how far I look I can not see it. I will go up to the roof and search from there.” When he gets to the roof and stretches out his neck, he still can not see the Kaaba, so he rejects that any Kaaba exists. To see the Kaaba takes more than that. It is impossible to see it from the place where one abides.
Fihi Ma Fihi - Discourse 52

ArtWork: Inga Moore - The Secret Garden