Half Way

"Hundreds of thousands of times. O unique Prince, did my wits fly away in longing for your ear-
That hearing of yours, and that listening of yours, and those life quickening smiles of yours;
Then my false coins. which are well known to You, You accepted, as though they were genuine money.
You did this for the sake of the boldness of one who was impudent and deluded...
The ill-fated man has forsaken this world full of sunshine and moonlight and has plunged his head into a pit,
Saying, " If it is true, then where is the radiance?!" Lift up your head from the pit and look, O miserable wretch!
The whole world, east and west, obtained that light, but while your head is in the pit, it will not shine on you.
Leave the pit, go to the palace and the vineyards; do not wrangle here, know that quarreling is unlucky...
In consequence of a fracture of a leg, God bestows a wing: likewise from the depth of the pit He opens a door of escape.
God says, "Do not consider whether you are on a tree, or in a pit: consider Me, for I am the Key of the Way.
If you wish to read the rest of this tale, seek it , O my brother and sister, in the Fourth Book."

Rumi, (Vol. 3, 4698-4810)

Commentary: There are six books in the Mathnawi. We have just passed the half way mark. Rumi hasn't wavered yet in his insistence that we don't see the help we are receiving, and we don't realize that ultimately, the spiritual journey is not about our delusions and flaws: instead the subject is God's mercy and love.