Discourse 70

Rumi said: Some people say that in the human
soul is an evil not found in animals and wild
beasts, but this does not mean that people are
worse than beasts. Rather, this evil character and
darkness of soul in the human being hides a secret
essential element. The more precious and noble
that element is, the greater the veil to hide it, and
such veils cannot be removed without great effort.
These struggles are of various kinds.
The greatest is to spend time with friends who have turned
their faces to God and turned their backs on this
world. There is no more difficult combat than
this, for the very sight of them dissolves our ego
and worldly desires. That is why they say that if a snake has seen no human for forty years it
becomes a dragon, since it has seen no one who could stop the growth of its own evil nature.
Wherever men or women put a big lock, that is a sign of something precious and valuable. Just like the snake that guards a treasure, do not
regard a person’s ugliness, but look instead at the
preciousness of their treasure.