Soul Wisdom and The Body

"Solomon and Sheba are types for the courtship story going on in all of Rumi's poetry. King Solomon (luminous divine wisdom) sends messengers to coax the Queen of Sheba (bodily soul) to leave her kingdom and come live with him. She coyly sends envoys back with foolishly inappropriate gifts, and when she herself finally arrives, she does so with one thing she can not bear to leave, her filigreed throne (the body)...The relationship of soul wisdom and the body, Solomon and Sheba, is a dynamic dance..."

- Coleman Barks (The Essential Rumi) 

The following are excerpts from a few of Rumi's poems* to tell a little story about Solomon and Sheba...

Queen Sheba loads forty mules with gold bricks

as gifts for Solomon. When her envoy and his party

reach the wide plain leading to Solomon's palace,

they see that the top layer of the entire plain

is pure gold. They travel on gold 

for forty days!

What foolishness to take gold

to Solomon, when the dirt of his land

is gold. You who think to offer

your intelligence, reconsider. The mind 

is less than road dust.

The embarrassing commonness they bring only 

slows them down. They argue. They discuss

turning back, but they continue,

caring out the orders of their queen.

Solomon laughs when he sees them unloading the gold bars. 

"When have I asked you for a sop for my soup? I don't want gifts from you.

I want you to be ready for the gifts I give.

You worship a planet that creates gold.

Worship instead the one who creates the universe.

You worship the sun. The sun is only a cook.

Think of a solar eclipse. What if you get attacked

at midnight? Who will help you then?"

These astronomical matters fade.

Another intimacy happens,

a sun at midnight,

with no east, no day or night.

The clearest intelligences faint,

seeing the solar system flickering,

so tiny in that immense lightness.

Drops fall into vapor, and the vapor explodes 

into a galaxy. Half a ray strikes a patch of darkness.

A new sun appears.

One slight, alchemical gesture, 

and saturine qualities form inside

the planet Saturn.

The sensuous eye needs sunlight to see.

Use another eye.

Vision is luminous.

Sight is igneous, and sun-fire light very dark. 

Solomon says to the messengers from Sheba,

"I send you back as messengers to her.

Tell her this refusal of her gift

of gold is better than acceptance,

because with it she can learn what we value.

She loves her throne, but actually it keeps

her from passing through the doorway

that leads to a true majesty.

Tell her, one surrendering bow is 

sweeter than a hundred empires, is itself a kingdom.

Be dizzy and wandering like Ibrahim,

who suddenly left everything....

The alchemy of a changing life is the only truth"

Sometimes a door opens,

and a human being becomes a way for grace to come through...

Imagine that you are Sheba trying to decide whether to go to Solomon!

You're haggling about how much to pay 

for shoeing a donkey, when you could be seated

with one who is always in union...
who carries a beautiful garden inside himself.

You could be moving in a circuit without wing,

nourished without eating, sovereign without a throne.

No longer subject to fortune, you could be luck itself,

if you would rise from sleep

...and learn that essence is your wealth. 

When the Queen of Sheba came to Solomon,

she left behind her kingdom and her wealth

the same way lovers leave their reputations.

Her servants meant nothing to her,

less than a rotten onion.

Her palaces and orchards,

so many piles of dung...

She came to Solomon with nothing except her throne!

Solomon saw that her heart was open to him 

and that this throne would soon be repulsive 

to her. "Let her bring it," he said. "It will

become a lesson to her...

...she can look at that throne and see how far she's come."

In the same way, God keeps the process 

of generation constantly before us:

...When you see a pearl on the bottom,

you reach through the foam and broken sticks

on the surface. When the sun comes up, you forget

about locating the constellation of scorpio.

When you see the splendor of union, 

the attractions of duality seem poignant

and lovely, but much less interesting. 

**"Sheba's Gift to Solomon", "Solomon to Sheba", "Sheba's Hesitation", "Sheba's Throne"