The Forty Rules of Love
Contents:
Instead time moves through and within us, in endless spirals. Eternity does not mean infinite time, but simply timelessness. If you want to experience eternal illumination, put the past and the future out of your mind and remain within the present moment. Therefore, to live everything to the fate and to not actively contribute to the music of the universe is a sign of sheer ignorance. The music of the universe is all pervading and it is composed on 40 different levels. Your destiny is the level where you play your tune.
You might not change your instrument but how well to play is entirely in your hands. The true Sufi is such that even when he is unjustly accused, attacked and condemned from all sides, he patiently endures, uttering not a sing bad word about any of his critics. A Sufi never apportions blame. How can there be anyone to blame when there is only One?
If you want to strengthen your faith, you will need to soften inside. For your faith to be rock solid, your heart needs to be as soft as a feather. Through an illness, accident, loss or fright, one way or another, we are all faced with incidents that teach us how to become less selfish and judgmental and more compassionate and generous. Yet some of us learn the lesson and manage to become milder, while some others end up becoming even harsher than before…. Nothing should stand between you and God. No imams, priests, rabbits or any other custodians of moral or religious leadership.
In this lyrical, exuberant follow-up to her novel, The Bastard of Istanbul, acclaimed Turkish author Elif Shafak unfolds two tantalizing parallel narratives— one. Listen to Elif Shafak's The Forty Rules of Love reviewed on NPR In this lyrical, exuberant follow-up to her novel, The Bastard of Istanbul, acclaimed Turkish.
Not spiritual masters and not even your faith. Believe in your values and your rules, but never lord them over others. Stay away from all sorts of idolatry, for they will blur your vision. Let God and only God be your guide. Learn the Truth, my friend, but be careful not to make a fetish out of your truths. While everyone in this world strives to get somewhere and become someone, only to leave it all behind after death, you aim for the supreme stage of nothingness. Live this life as light and empty as the number zero.
We are no different from a pot. It is not the decorations outside but the emptiness inside that holds us straight.
Just like that, it is not what we aspire to achieve but the consciousness of nothingness that keeps us going. Submission does not mean being weak or passive. It leads to neither fatalism nor capitulation.
True power resides in submission a power that comes within. Those who submit to the divine essence of life will live in unperturbed tranquillity and peace even the whole wide world goes through turbulence after turbulence. In this world, it is not similarities or regularities that take us a step forward, but blunt opposites. And all the opposites in the universe are present within each and every one of us. Therefore the believer needs to meet the unbeliever residing within.
And the nonbeliever should get to know the silent faithful in him. Until the day one reaches the stage of Insane-I Kamil, the perfect human being, faith is a gradual process and one that necessitates its seeming opposite: This world is erected upon the principle of reciprocity. Neither a drop of kindness nor a speck of evil will remain unreciprocated.
For not the plots, deceptions, or tricks of other people. If somebody is setting a trap, remember, so is God. He is the biggest plotter. Simply and fully believe in that. Whatever God does, He does it beautifully. God is a meticulous dock maker. So precise is His order that everything on earth happens in its own time. Neither a minute late nor a minute early. And for everyone without exception, the clock works accurately.
For each there is a time to love and a time to die. Am I ready to change within? At every moment and with each new breath, one should be renewed and renewed again. There is only one-way to be born into a new life: While the part change, the whole always remains the same. For every thief who departs this world, a new one is born. And every descent person who passes away is replaced by a new one. In this way not only does nothing remain the same but also nothing ever really changes.
For every Sufi who dies, another is born somewhere. A life without love is of no account. Divisions only lead to more divisions. Love has no labels, no definitions. It is what it is, pure and simple.
16 Powerful Quotes from “The 40 Rules of Love.”
Love is the water of life. And a lover is a soul of fire! The universe turns differently when fire loves water. Am reading the book. Thanks sis, for forcing me to read it. My bedtimes have never been so looked forward to.
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And it would make a wonderful, meaningful film. So if ever you want a screenwriter ;-. Just finished reading the book and I simply loved it. A must read for all. Gave me clarity and direction. One of the best books I have read. A big Thank you to Elif for doing such a wonderful job and sharing this priceless treasure! Reblogged this on Heart on my sleeve and commented: Very Enlightening, and yet you need to filter those rules to set the boundaries between reality and mysticism.
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God is much greater than the boundaries of our mind. Reblogged this on The Storyteller and commented: This is the last part of the rule: If you get to know yourself fully, facing with honesty and hardness both your dark and bright sides, you will arrive as a supreme form of consciousness. When a person knows himself or herself, he or she knows God.
Reblogged this on Reflections and commented: The rules for a fulfilling life. Thank you for doing me this HUGE favour! I was highlighting the rules as I read along untill I realized I was highlight a lot other beautiful text besides the rules. But this, this golden, thank you!
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If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support? Read more Read less. Customers who viewed this item also viewed. Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1. The Bastard of Istanbul. Three Daughters of Eve. Customers who bought this item also bought. A Man Called Ove. An affecting paean to faith and love Metro Colourfully woven and beguilingly intelligent Daily Telegraph The past and present fit together beautifully in a passionate defence of passion itself The Times From the Back Cover 'With its timely, thought-provoking message.
The Forty Rules of Love deserves to be a global publishing phenomenon' Independent Discover the forty rules of love. An affecting paean to faith and love' Metro 'Colourfully woven and beguilingly intelligent' Daily Telegraph 'The past and present fit together beautifully in a passionate defence of passion itself' The Times www. To get the free app, enter mobile phone number. See all free Kindle reading apps. Don't have a Kindle? Penguin UK; 1 edition 2 June Language: Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a product review. Read reviews that mention rumi shams elif sufi shafak tabriz ella sufism words human god heart changing journey beautifully deep page poet century spiritual.
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. I would love to give it a 4. The first half of the book did nothing for me I found it just like every other book and philosophy on heart-centered philosophy that I had read and studied.
I even wondered what all the hoohaa about the book was. Then all of a sudden, I was past mid-way into the story and I realised I had spent close to a month with the book, which in itself was a first.
To en light the world with the hidden treasures of love peace & tranquility.
And just like that, the story became a reflection and an introspection - a pause to consider what these different rules of love meant to me. The story line in itself was lovely and complete in the various facets of observation - looking through the lens and inside the thoughts of the various characters was very liberating - and insightful. What really drew me in was not the forty rules of love, but the sudden realisation that like Ella, I too had embarked on this year with an intention and instinct that this, my fortieth, was holding the promise and potential of major change.
I could relate to Ella and her emotions at many times - and it was quite the coincidence and my son is also named Avi. It was freeing to notice the patriarchy of spiritual pursuits in an ancient age and how the author has allowed both Rumi and Shams to dip into the idea of equal opportunity as well as explore the potential of social limitations of their time. I found myself empathising with Ella's notion of love and marriage, holding my own relationships as a benchmark, and at the same time wondering if I were as hardened as her - knowing that I was not, yet allowing enough space to question, "Are you holding something back?
What is stopping you? The rules explored in this book and the narratives leading to it along with the parables interspersed are a good guide for those who find mystic sufism of interest - more so, if you have a philosophical tangent to spirituality and don't yet realise that it is a sufi trait. I could sense it and then it fell away as I couldn't always accept them putting their love above and beyond those around them. Or perhaps it is because I still am on the 'spiritual' vibration of a lesser kind of love: Something that is still working on the relational level and hoping to edge towards the madness of divine spiritual love and oneness.
Deep - too deep even for me today. I couldn't understand it. It brought up all those ideals of pain where the woman is left yearning in the throes of unrequited love and I was angry at Shams for even accepting it. The novel consists of two parallel narratives. The contemporary one is about an unhappily married Jewish housewife named Ella living in Northampton, Massachusetts.
The Forty Rules of Love
Ella works for a literary agency and currently she is given a book named "Sweet Blasphemy" by Aziz Zahara. The sweet blasphemy is the second narrative of this novel. Sweet blasphemy is actually about a wandering dervish Shams of Tabriz, who is a mystic Sufi and he sees the vision of his death and he know that he should find a companion to whom he can deliver his knowledge to. For that Shams travels from Samarkand to Baghdad where he gets to know about Jalaluddin Rumi, a famous scholar of that time by a Sufi. Shams travels to Konya where Rumi lives and the story unwraps itself as to how they become friends, how drastically Rumi starts to change and how people start to hate Shams including Rumi's family.