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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Rumi challenges us to "work in the ______ world as hard as we do in the visible" and to "be a companion with the prophets."

2. Rumi asks when seeing the birds flying in frenzied patterns whether the one he _______ is everywhere.

3. Rumi relishes things like walking, meditation, and fasting as they help to bring a person into ____________.

4. Rumi's mystical work was contained within the patterns of ______ Sufism but the life was witness to the boundless universality of the heart.

5. Rumi encourages the reader to be the __________ nearest the thorn that he is, according to his writing.

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the story of Ramahrishna that Rumi tells at the start of this section of the book?

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

3. What is the profession of Rumi when Barks introduces him at the beginning of this book?

4. What does Rumi realize about his friend Shams when he doesn't believe that he is actually dead?

5. What happens after Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers, according to the writings of Rumi?

6. What does Rumi have to say about the road to Mecca when he is describing the idea that some mysteries aren't meant to be known?

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

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

9. Why was Shams pushed out of the area by the students of Rumi, according to the beginning of the book?

10. What is the question Shams asks Rumi, which leads Rumi to believe that Shams is a great person?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Rumi says that the emptiness inside of a person is what allows for music to be sung and heard.

Part 1: What do you think Rumi means by the emptiness inside of a person?

Part 2: Do you agree that having emptiness is essential for creating music in one's life?

Part 3: How do you think a person can cultivate emptiness in order to create music in one's life?

Essay Topic 2

Some of the poems in this collection of Rumi's work celebrate the idea of openness in life and in spirit.

Part 1: Why do you think openness is essential in life?

Part 2: Do you think that openness is something which can be easily cultivated in life?

Part 3: How do you think that you can personally cultivate more openness in your own life?

Essay Topic 3

Human beings don't know what they are, according to Rumi. He believes human beings are much more powerful than they realize.

Part 1: Do you think that human beings are more powerful than they realize?

Part 2: What sorts of powers might human beings have which they are not using as well as they could?

Part 3: Why do you think Rumi wants to ensure the reader knows they are powerful?

(see the answer keys)

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