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Today, September 30, 2007, is the 800th birthday of Rumi, the immortal poet and mystic, who realized in his lifetime the infinity of truth that he longed for. He is now the number one selling poet in the English language. He was born, as we all are, as a finite drop. But before he died, so the story goes, he realized that he was the Ocean.

I realize that this is a hard concept to grasp. But he was a Sufi and Sufi concepts are known to stretch the limits of human understanding. But since I was asked today by a close friend to explain it, I will try to put it into words:

First and foremost, we are non-physical beings. We are part of Infinity. This infinity, by the nature of being infinite, includes everything. It thus follows that this Infinity includes all opposites. It includes light and darkness, intelligence and ignorance, beauty and ugliness, inspiration and despair.

If the Infinite did not include everything, then it would not be infinite. Therefore, included in the infinite is the finite. Included in its consciousness is unconsciousness. Included in its reality is its illusion. Included in its light is darkness. Included in its truth is the false.

In order for the Infinite to know itself as Infinite, it has to experience and transcend the finite. In order for the Light to know itself as Light, it has to experience its opposite as darkness. It’s as if a bird, to appreciate its freedom, has to experience being caged.

If I get out of this, I’ll never live again in the limits of a lake. Next time, the Ocean! I’ll make the Infinite my Home. (Mathnawi, IV, 2203-2286, translated by Coleman Barks)

The Infinite in us is experiencing various stages of the finite in order that it can know itself consciously as Infinite. The Source of our being, our non-physical self, is indeed infinite, but it is an infinity that is still striving to know itself consciously as the Infinite, beyond all limits of finite perception.

We are all part of that same Infinity, but finite parts of that infinity. To understand the Infinite as also being finite, consider a finite drop of an infinite ocean. It experiences itself as finite when it considers itself separate from the Ocean. But when it surrenders its separate existence from the Ocean, it gains the experience of Infinity.

The world of form that we find ourselves in is a product of the infinite experiencing itself as finite so that it can know itself as Infinite, which it really is eternally.

As we make our way through this world of finite form, we gain greater and greater perception of who we are. We do this by the process of elimination. After exhausting all of the possibilities of an identification, whether that of a form or of a mental concept, or an emotional pattern, we move on to a higher form, a form more capable of experiencing the consciousness gained. As we gain consciousness, as we move closer to consciously realizing our infinite nature, the more strongly we are attracted to the source of infinite consciousness. That is, the more clearly we see our finite form to be one with the Infinite, the more we long for the Infinite.

This is all the result of consciousness striving to know itself. The more we can experience Light, the more we are drawn to Light. We become connoisseurs of light. Just as the wine connoisseur is always looking for the most subtle and exquisite wine, so the connoisseur of light is continuously seeking purer and purer expressions of Light. This is the mystic path. This is the path to Pure Conscious Awareness.

Our non-physical self — our source of being — contains the synthesis of all experience and thoughts we experience in our human forms. Simply put, knowledge and perception is gained in the physical world through experiences, and most acutely through opposite experiences — pleasure and pain, good and bad, virtue and vice, sickness and health, strength and weakness, etc. This leads to an understanding or perception of higher or finer levels of consciousness.

This inner self, with its perception (though limited) is the inner guide to the physical self. It’s like a computer that processes divergent bits of information to form conclusions. This is why some people’s conviction and perception of God are so different than others. Truth is subjective, based on your level of consciousness.

To see this more clearly, imagine yourself as a blind person using a cane for information about your surroundings. It’s helpful information, but it is far from complete.

Or imagine your inner self as a blind person using a cane (the physical body) to determine the next step on a journey to the ocean. The blind person gets his or her perception from the cane. And based on what the blind person learns with the cane determines the next step.

This going forward with knowledge (knowledge gained from experience) is experienced as joy or bliss — the joy and bliss of reaching a goal. The vibration of this feeling is felt even by the cane.

In this analogy the purpose of the cane is the same as the purpose of the physical body. It is a tool for finding the goal. Once the blind man with his cane finds the Ocean, the cane’s purpose has been fulfilled. To truly experience the Ocean, he doesn’t need to keep splashing the cane in the Ocean. He needs to jump in. Likewise, our non-physical drop-soul-selves do not need our physical bodies once the Ocean is found. All that is needed is the final merging of the limited with the unlimited — the finite with the Infinite.

This is Self-Realization. — the purpose and significance of creation. That, as best as I understand (and with apologies for shortcomings of actual knowledge), was the experience of Rumi.

To get an idea of what he felt, spend some time reading his poetry. That is a recipe for spiritual intoxication and, if you’re fortunate, a step forward on the path to Self-Knowledge.