On the one hand, he or she is a person of enthusiastic love; in fact, more a pole of attraction. Or beyond that, with his or her rapture like a Pascal, a Bergson, a Muhyiddin ibn al-'Arabi, and Mawlana Rumi, a whirlpool whose depth we can't fathom. On the other hand, when such people are open to others, they are like people striving after a purpose.

Using Mawlana's expression, such a person is like a compass with one foot well-established in the center of belief and Islam and the other foot with people of many nations. If this apparently dualistic state can be caught by a person who believes in God, it's most desirable. So deep in his or her own inner world, so full of love... so much in touch with God; but at the same time an active member of society. July 20-29, 1997