The following discourse on Love & Beauty was taken from "Fihi ma Fihi" or "It is What It Is" (Signs of the Unseen: The Discourses of Jalaluddin Rumi translated by W. M. Thackston).
Anyone who is loved is beautiful. The reverse, however, is not necessarily true. It doesn't follow that all beauties are loved.
Beauty is part of being loved: being loved is primary, so when that quality is present, beauty follows necessarily. A part of a thing cannot be separated from the whole. The part must pertain to the whole.
During Majnun's time there were girls much more beautiful than Layla, but they were not loved by him. When told, "There are girls more beautiful than Layla. Let us show them to you," he would always reply, "I do not love Layla for her external form. She is not external form; she is like a goblet which I hold and from which I drink wine. I am in love with the wine I drink therefore. You see only the goblet and are not aware of the wine. Or what use would a golden goblet be to me if it were filled with vinegar or something other than wine? For me a broken gourd filled with wine would be better than a hundred such goblets."
One needs love and yearning to distinguish the wine from the cup.
Anyone who is loved is beautiful. The reverse, however, is not necessarily true. It doesn't follow that all beauties are loved.
Beauty is part of being loved: being loved is primary, so when that quality is present, beauty follows necessarily. A part of a thing cannot be separated from the whole. The part must pertain to the whole.
During Majnun's time there were girls much more beautiful than Layla, but they were not loved by him. When told, "There are girls more beautiful than Layla. Let us show them to you," he would always reply, "I do not love Layla for her external form. She is not external form; she is like a goblet which I hold and from which I drink wine. I am in love with the wine I drink therefore. You see only the goblet and are not aware of the wine. Or what use would a golden goblet be to me if it were filled with vinegar or something other than wine? For me a broken gourd filled with wine would be better than a hundred such goblets."
One needs love and yearning to distinguish the wine from the cup.
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