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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Rumi notes there is nothing worse than going to ______ without another person, the vague 'you.'
(a) Read.
(b) Pray.
(c) Eat.
(d) Walk along the street.

2. Rumi challenges us to "work in the ______ world as hard as we do in the visible" and to "be a companion with the prophets."
(a) Spiritual world.
(b) Loving.
(c) Infinite.
(d) Invisible.

3. ______ means the sun, and Rumi often referred to him in his poetry which he began writing after his friend's death.
(a) Solomon.
(b) Shiraz.
(c) Shams.
(d) Moses.

4. Rumi's poetry can be thought of as a conversation with _______, a discussion of what it is to be together in God.
(a) Shams.
(b) St. Francis.
(c) Moses.
(d) Muhammad.

5. Fullness _______ the soul, while emptiness frees it, according to the writing of Rumi in the poem.
(a) Engages.
(b) Fills.
(c) Depletes.
(d) Oppresses.

Short Answer Questions

1. Rumi suggests not doing the work God sent you for is "like using a priceless Indian _____ to cut rotten meat."

2. According to the book, Rumi lived by the idea that _______ is the religion instead of being tied to a particular paradigm.

3. The _____ in which Joseph sits in darkness at the bottom of is recognized as a visionary place.

4. Rumi describes a ______ that wakes up one day to discover that he is "the entire vineyard, and the orchard too."

5. In one of the poems Rumi states, "We are charlatans... or maybe just a ______ hair brush in a painter's hand."

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Rumi do when he is so impressed with the depth of the knowledge of Shams?

2. What does Barks have to say about Rumi as being a True Human Being? What does Barks say this means?

3. Who does Rumi say will not be able to wake to the truth, according to the writings of Rumi?

4. How does breathing help to calm a person, according to Barks' thoughts at the beginning of the section?

5. What is the metaphor Rumi uses in order to describe the pull of love in one's life and how one should be pulled by love?

6. What will happen to a person's present life when they are going on a spiritual journey, according to the writings of Rumi?

7. What does Zuleikha, an Egyptian woman in love with Joseph, do with the shirt that Joseph wears in the story?

8. Describe the metaphor Rumi uses when it comes to the black sky and the moon.

9. After the narrator says they are no religion or culture, not east or west, what does the narrator say they do belong to?

10. What happens to the reed when it is cut, according to the writings of Rumi?

(see the answer keys)

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