A Pitiful repentance...and a hopeful bewilderment

"God sends you greeting. and asks you how are you faring in your distress and boundless sorrows?
" O God, help me against this mind of mine, this self of mine, that is seeking help from Thee. I seek justice and redress from no one else, only from this justice-seeking self.."
"O thou, whose knowledge is without knowledge of the Giver of knowledge, your repentance is worse than your sin. O You, who seek to repent of a state that is past, say, when will you repent of this repentance? At one time you turn to the low sound of the treble, at another you are in love with, and are kissing weeping and wailing".....
Since the rose springs from the thorn, and the thorn from the rose, why are both at war and engaged in recrimination? Or is this not really war?   Is it for the Divine purpose? Or is it neither this nor that? Is it bewilderment? The treasure must be sought. And this bewilderment is the ruin where it is hidden."

Rumi (Vol 1:selections from  2183-2474)


Commentary: We are all a mixture of  knowing and not knowing, joy and sorrow, mind and soul. Rumi reminds us that our confusion is a sign of grace, and that it is our bewilderment, and not our repentance, that will take us where we want to go.