Tho' the vault seems a prison, 'tis the release of the soul.

Excerpt

Why should setting be injurious to the sun and moon? To thee it seems a setting, but 'tis a rising; Tho' the vault seems a prison, 'tis the release of the soul. Shut thy mouth on this side and open it beyond, For in placeless air will be thy triumphal song.

Source Rûmî, Divan (Davis), “Life in Death” · 📖 Read the full passage

✨ To meditate on today

According to Rumi, the Persian Sufi poet, who speaks here of his own death, what looks like a setting is in truth a rising: the grave — “the vault” — seems a prison, but it is the release of the soul, which will sing freely on the other side. Today, at each ending of a moment — a meal, a meeting, a task — remember that it also opens onto a beginning.

Receive a lesson of this teaching every day by email or Telegram