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The first poem I opened the book to.
Choosing and Total Submission
A philosophically minded thief was shaking down fruit
in an orchard when the owner
came by. "Have you no reverence for divine commandments?"
"But look at this abundance!
I am just the agent of its enjoyment." The owner tied the
man to a fruit tree and began
beating him. "This is a simple, uncomplicated cudgel. I am
merely the instrument of its justice."
"Wait! You're right. I recant the necessitarianism. There
is free will. We do
have choices! Please stop!" Everyone has the power to
choose, because the creator
chose to create, so that freedom is innate. And this is
the extraordinary truth:
every human choice bows like a slave in submission to
the absolute's creative
will, yet this does not deprive us of freedom or of taking
responsibility for what
we choose! You might get clever and say, "My doubting
God's existence was
willed by God." Only half true. You also chose to doubt.
-Rumi
A philosophically minded thief was shaking down fruit
in an orchard when the owner
came by. "Have you no reverence for divine commandments?"
"But look at this abundance!
I am just the agent of its enjoyment." The owner tied the
man to a fruit tree and began
beating him. "This is a simple, uncomplicated cudgel. I am
merely the instrument of its justice."
"Wait! You're right. I recant the necessitarianism. There
is free will. We do
have choices! Please stop!" Everyone has the power to
choose, because the creator
chose to create, so that freedom is innate. And this is
the extraordinary truth:
every human choice bows like a slave in submission to
the absolute's creative
will, yet this does not deprive us of freedom or of taking
responsibility for what
we choose! You might get clever and say, "My doubting
God's existence was
willed by God." Only half true. You also chose to doubt.
-Rumi