5 Musings from Middle Eastern Mystics and Poets for Inner Alchemy
Contemplations to transmute your jarring metallic mind to golden joie de vivre
The Middle East is a region that has intrigued humankind for millennia; an abode in which scientific inquiry and heartfelt musings blended to catalyse the beauty of the heart, with the sharpness of the mind.
Both literary poetry and the medieval chemical science, alchemy, have their origins in the Middle East. Mesopotamia’s The Epic of Gilgamesh is the world’s first known literary poem, while the strand of what is now know as Western alchemy, arose in the civilisation of Egypt.
The ancient Egyptians were entranced with the aspiration of transmuting base metals to gold. Gold was a treasured mineral, partially because it dazzled like the sun, as is observed in this ancient Egyptian hymn to the sun, “ It is you who break the seal in the heavens and spread gold dust over the earth”.
Mystical Persian poets, Rumi and Shams Tabrizi, captured a sense of inner alchemy through their poetry: transmuting the ignorant or egoic mind, to a state of sheer radiance, love and what we might describe as joie de vivre (buoyant enjoyment of life); an inner life that glitters like gold when caressed by the rays of the sun.
1. Rumi (1207 C. E)
Known in Persia as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī, he was popularly called Rumi (Arabic for ‘Roman’), due to spending much of his life in the Anatolia region (modern-day Turkey; once conquered by Eastern Romans). Rumi’s magnetic influence and eloquence was in his blood: he was descended from a long line of prolific Islamic scholars and mystics (his father, Bahāʾ al-Dīn Walad, was known as the “Sultan of Scholars”).
Rumi, one of the world’s most beloved, esteemed and celebrated poets, was also a renowned Islamic jurist, scholar and theologian. His conventional life, however, was altered irrevocably, when he encountered a wandering dervish (an Islamic, particularly Sufi, practitioner, who takes austere vows and partakes in ecstatic rituals) by the name of Shams Tabrizi.
Rumi believed that this is when his true poetry began. Under the guidance of Shams, he committed to the cathartic path of the heart, where he wrote thousands of captivatingly evocative poems about spirituality and divinity; about love.
Here are some alchemic words of lucidity, from the enthralling Rumi:
Learn the alchemy True Human Beings know: the moment you accept what troubles you’ve been given, the door opens.
One cannot deny the reality of harrowing emotions. Instead of jostling with them (which simply creates more disharmony), Rumi counsels us that it is wiser to accept whichever ‘guest’ (be it shame, malice, or dark thoughts) enters, and ultimately, experience the “sweetness that comes after grief”. That is, one should feel and witness pain and suffering, to release it.
Why are you so enchanted by this world, when a mine of gold lies within you?
We relentlessly seek fulfilment from careers, lovers, qualifications, accolades, travels and material possessions. This happiness is often ephemeral, and these objects, fleeting — when the lover departs, the job is lost, or the material item disintegrates — the delight wanes into despair, withdrawal or sorrow.
The true treasure, riches, and bliss, are within one’s own being — an experience of eudaimonia (flourishing) not found in, or intrinsically dependent on, the ebb and flow of the material world. If we can accept, and then, immunise ourselves from the tyrants of relentless greed, and immerse ourselves in the present moment; the sweetness of connection and being, we can feel what it truly means to be awake and alive.
2. Shams Tabrizi (1186 C.E)
Rumi’s fame is universal, while far fewer have heard of his more obscure mentor, Shams-i-Tabrīzī, who was the profound inspiration behind some of Rumi’s most bewitchingly beautiful ghazals (lyric poems). Shams (which means ‘sun’ in Arabic) illuminated the path of sheer love and devotion, beyond theology and theory, to Rumi. Upon meeting Shams, Rumi wrote:
The power of love came into me,
and I became fierce as a lion,
then tender like the evening star.
Shams was born in Tabriz, Iran, and met Rumi in Konya (modern-day Turkey). As a modest mystic and dervish, he abided by his Forty Rules of Love, in a bid to experience truth as a “labour of the heart, [and] not of the head”. Rumi instantaneously became his ardent disciple, and the two remained soulful companions, up until Shams’ mysterious disappearance, which left Rumi in a state of yearning, followed by profuse poetic expression.
Although he was immortalised through the words of Rumi, Shams’ own insights were deeply saturated with profound wisdom:
It is never too late to ask yourself “Am I ready to change my life, am I ready to change myself?”. However old we are, whatever we went through, it is always possible to be reborn. If each day is a copy of the last one, what a pity! Every breath is a chance to be reborn. But to be reborn into a new life, you have to die before dying.
These words ignite the imagery of the mythical phoenix — dying in the flames, but being reborn in its ashes. For us to truly live, flourish and fly, everything that is not true (false constructs, conditioning and narratives, ignorance and toxic patterns) must first die.
Shams and Rumi were Sufi practitioners, who sought to transcend the nafs (ego; false self) with authentic union with the Divine, through spiritual disciplines.
Whether one commits to spiritual, religious or secular practices is a subjective choice and path. Essentially, transcending stagnant belief patterns can be done by rewiring our neural pathways, with the practices of mindfulness, meditation and deep breathing, to aid us in blossoming into true and authentic being.
Love is a travel. All travellers whether they want or not are changed. No one can travel into love and remain the same.
Shams emphasised the vital virtue and experience of pure love beyond intellect and mind; that silence (as opposed to language), was the space in which we meet love. Love transmutes the labels and distinctions that we attribute to it, and aids us in dispelling the nafs (ego).
Authentic, unconditional love, not tainted by the ego; its self-gratifying desires and emotions, cleanses, deeply purges and alchemises a person’s inner journey of the heart, and outer journey of life.
3. Kahlil Gibran (1833 C.E)
Kahlil Gibran was a Lebanese poet, whose work contributed to reforming, reshaping and revitalising the world of Arabic poetry in the twentieth century. This occurred in spite of him writing most of his published poems in English, and living in America for the vast majority of his life. Gibran discarded rigorous literary prose conventions, in favour of raw directness and simplicity.
Gibran had a fondness for romanticising the natural awe, wonders and beauty of the world. This was apparent in Gibran’s most revered book of prose; The Prophet, where he swiftly, lyrically and eloquently touched on the themes of love and solitude, life and death, reason and passion, and joy and sorrow. Sculptor August Rodin is said to have labelled him “the William Blake of the twentieth century.”
One classic line from The Prophet emphasises Gibran’s connection to the rhythm of nature:
And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
Kahlil Gibran’s emotive language stirs up a voracious quest to transmute the qualities of one’s heart:
The chemist who can extract from his heart’s elements compassion, respect, longing, patience, regret, surprise, and forgiveness and compound them into one can create that atom which is called love.
Essentially, the real alchemy of life occurs within the depths of one’s psyche, spirit and heart space. The true alchemist is she who transmutes anger to compassion, vexation to patience, callousness to regret, and resentment to forgiveness, thus creating an atom of love: the building block of a life of peace, purpose and connection.
The appearance of things changes according to the emotions; and thus we see magic and beauty in them, while the magic and beauty are really in ourselves.
Our lives are reflections of our minds. If the mind is consumed by excessive anger, malice, ill-will, judgment and resistance, the world outside us seems a faraway, gloomy and derelict place of isolation. If the mind is, in turn, filled with awe, serenity, beauty and the magic of being, we see, feel and dance with rhythm, harmony and connection, with the world around us.
4. Omar Khayyam (1048 C.E)
Omar Khayyam was not only a venerated poet of Persia, he was also an esteemed mathematician and astronomer. He was a man of both sharp intellect and poetic prowess; a man who contributed greatly to the worlds of mathematics and literature; of science and the heart.
Khayyam advanced cubic equations in algebra; discovering they could have more than one solution. In addition, through his astronomical observations, he devised the Jalālī calendar; a calendar more accurate than the current Gregorian one. He calculated that each year has, on average, 365.242424 days.
Khayyam is presently cherished, especially in the West, for his writing of quatrains in The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (rubā’iyyāt is Persian for ‘quatrain’). In the nineteenth century, The Rubáiyát was freely translated to English, by poet Edward Fitzgerald, who also elaborated upon it with his own Romantic elements and sentimental language. Nonetheless, The Rubáiyát became a literary obsession of the Western world, with Oscar Wilde gushing, “[it is a] masterpiece of art”.
Here are some simple, yet profusely piercing, lines from the poetry of Omar Khayyam:
I came like Water, and like Wind I go
We can learn to graciously flow through life and around obstacles, like water. We can surrender to being fluid and dynamic, and accepting of the inevitable passage of time, like a river, flowing abundantly along its course, until it meets the ocean. We can also be like wind: transparent, free and amorphous; transcending the attachment to material forms, and embracing that which cannot be seen. Water nourishes life, while wind carries it.
If I don’t enjoy myself now, when shall I?
A great deal of Khayyam’s quatrains emphatically voice the philosophy of residing in the present moment. This moment is where life, peace and connection are rediscovered, like old friends. Khayyam also muses:
“Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.”
5. Hafez (1310 C.E)
Born Khwāja Šamsu d-Dīn Muḥammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī, Hafez (also known as ‘Hafiz’) was a grand Persian lyrical poet from Shiraz (where he was born and buried). He was called ‘Hafiz’, which means “one who has memorised the Quran” in Arabic, because he is said to have memorised the entire Qur’an at a tender age.
Although he was (and still is) one of Persia’s (Iran’s) most cherished poets, the full details of his personal life remain somewhat obscure. It is known that he was well educated, and a poet at the court of the ruler Abu Ishak. Hafez was also fascinated by the transcendent love of Sufism, which is frequently and soulfully reflected in his verses.
Hafez was fully revered by Ralph Waldo Emerson, with Emerson even praising him as “a poet for poets.” He is ardently admired by those far and near; East and West, with locals and foreigners venturing to Shiraz, to pay homage to his tomb. Local tradition also entails devotees selecting one of Hafez’s poetry books, opening to an arbitrary page, and reading the poem that their eyes fall upon, for more clarity and guidance in their lives.
Here are some elegantly graceful lines, penned by the man who has set hearts aflame for centuries:
You yourself are your own obstacle, rise above yourself.
Oftentimes, we blame others for antagonising us, when we, ourselves, are our own worst critics and enemies. We choose self-criticism over self-compassion, self-doubt over self-confidence and self-loathing over self-love. Transmute this. Do not wait to be fully loved and accepted by another, before giving yourself all the love that you wish to receive, absorb and share.
I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.
The true alchemy comes from within one’s own heart — lead becomes gold; darkness becomes light; anguish becomes peace. Sometimes, the world around us will seem dark and despondent. We feel like we are blindly stumbling in the harsh, austere night. We often forget that we have a candle within, waiting to burn radiantly, to dispel the winter, to illuminate the way forward, and give light to others.
We venture far and wide, to exquisite sites and exotic locations, hungering insatiably for love, buoyance, fresh experiences and decadent riches, blithely unaware of the deep love and abundant joviality that we can freely and invaluably, give to ourselves. And once our own candle is burning steadily, that light can, quite effortlessly, set aflame the hearts of others.
“A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.” — James Keller
