Good

projects succeed

in the company of other

goodnesses. If you pass through

a cloud of soot, you will feel the grime

descend. As you walk the orchard

musk, you feel absorbed

in fragrance.

This

world is an

open sky and also

a dustbin, giving life to

some and death to others;

the outcomes are not

controlled by this

world.

Press

your finger into

the world and put it to

your nose. You may smell

sweetness, or you may smell

dung. Discernment is

possible in these

matters.

True hearts

stay awake if love is possible.

The others have no need for beauty,

nor hope of it. If you are holding

gold in your hand, don’t

imagine ways to

turn it into

mud.

Bahauddin,

father of Rumi