The Illuminated Rumi Setting & Symbolism

The Illuminated Rumi Objects/Places

Oysterappears in Who Are These Two?

Rumi uses a metaphor of an oyster who drinks and creates a pearl to show how the wondrous can come unexpectedly from the everyday.

Joseph's Shirtappears in The Whole Catastrophe

Joseph sends his shirt to his blinded father Jacob, and laying Joseph's shirt over his father's blind eyes cures Jacob's blindness.

The Golden Bowlappears in Rise Up Nimbly and Go on Your Strange Journey

Rumi writes that a human being not doing spiritual work is wasting his valuable soul, like a man who uses a golden bowl to cook turnips.

The Valuable Daggerappears in Rise Up Nimbly and Go on Your Strange Journey

Rumi writes that a human being not doing spiritual work is wasting his valuable soul, like a man who uses a valuable dagger as a peg in the wall.

The Worm Addicted to Grape Leavesappears in Rise Up Nimbly and Go on Your Strange Journey

Rumi uses the worm as a metaphor for how human beings can change through a spiritual journey. The worm is addicted to grape leaves, until he wakes to discover that he is now what he has been consuming. The worm is the vineyard and everything in it.

The Reedappears in Rise Up Nimbly and Go on Your Strange Journey

Rumi uses...
(read more)