Childhood Friends ......By Rumi

What is the mirror of being?
Non-being. Always bring a mirror of non-existence
As a gift. Any other present is foolish.
Let the poor man look deep into generosity.
Let bread see a hungry man.
Let kindling behold a spark from the flint.

An empty mirror and your worst destructive habits,
When they are held up to each other,
That's when the real making begins.
That's what art and crafting are.

A tailor needs a torn garment to practice his expertise.
The trunks of trees must be cut and cut again So they can be used for carpentry.
Your doctor must have a broken leg to doctor.
Your defects are the ways that glory gets manifested.
Whoever sees clearly what's diseased in himself
Begins to gallop on the way.

There is nothing worse
Than thinking you are well enough.
More than anything, self-complacency
Blocks the workmanship.

Put your vileness up to a mirror and weep.
Get that self-satisfaction flowing out of you!
Satan thought, "I am better than Adam"
And that "better than" is still strongly in us.
Your stream water may look clean,
But there's unstirred matter on the bottom.
Your sheikh can dig a side channel
That will drain that waste off.

Trust your wound to a teacher's surgery.
Flies collect on a wound. They cover it,
Those flies of your self-protecting feelings,
Your love for what you think is yours.
Let a teacher wave away the flies
And put a plaster on the wound.

Don't turn your head. Keep looking
At the bandaged place. That's where
The light enters you.
And don't believe for a moment
That you're healing yourself.

~ Rumi