The encounter with Shams opened Rumi’s eyes to deeper and more unseen layers of truth. It broadened his view of the self, of humanity, and of servitude and religiosity. After meeting Shams, Rumi transformed from a rigid ascetic, steeped in ritual, social expectations, and religious formalities, into a joyful, free-spirited mystic — a lover, a singer of ghazals, and a whirling soul.
The Blossoming Soil
How can springtime make a stone green and lush?
Become soil — only then will you bloom with colour and fragrance.
For years, you were like a sharp, heart-wounding stone.
Let yourself, for once, be as the soil — soft and fertile.
(Rumi)
One of Rumi’s central teachings is the renunciation of pride and the adoption of a humble, grounded manner and mindset.
I believe his words here express just that: humility is essential for human growth and flourishing.
Rumi conveys both the advice and the reason for it with elegant subtlety.
He explains: just as a hard, impenetrable stone absorbs nothing from the life-giving spring rain — and no flowers ever grow from it — pride and self-importance also turn a person into a hardened, closed-off being, deprived of growth and vitality.
But a humble person, like soft, receptive soil, absorbs the rain of wisdom and grace and becomes a garden full of flowers and life.
