Pierce Arnold - The Value of The Soul & Rumi 4/26/2026

 In Rumi’s poem In Baghdad, Dreaming of Cairo; In Cairo, Dreaming of Bagdad, there are two main portions that he jumps between throughout the poem, the narrative portion and the wisdom portion. The narrative portion has a fairly straightforward message to teach, whereas some of the wisdom sections are more difficult to understand, so naturally those are the parts that gain my attention. I just want to take a moment to appreciate how excellent the metaphor is that Rumi presents between a rich man squandering his inheritance and a person who squanders their soul. Reading this section of the poem made me realize just how easy such a mistake of valuation can be, to an extent than I had not previously understood, despite it only taking a few lines of the poem to say. He says “We don’t know the value of our souls, which were given to us for nothing” and to me that resonates so profoundly because I feel like in my day to day life I am not usually afforded the opportunity to truly appreciate and care for my soul. It can be easy to forget that there is but one life to live and one opportunity at the present moment, yet this small and simple section of the poem brings that deep idea to the forefront of my mind with ease. This, I find, is merely further evidence that Rumi’s popularity as a poet is well deserved.

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