In Book One, Section 122 of the Masnavi, Jalaluddin Rumi uses medieval cosmological theories regarding the suspension of the Earth in space to illustrate the spiritual concepts of attraction (jazb) and repulsion (daf'). He outlines two scientific explanations of his era: one suggesting that the Earth remains suspended in the center of the celestial sphere due to equal magnetic attraction from all six directions, and another proposing that the pure heavens repel the dense Earth from all sides, trapping it in the middle. Rumi then applies these physical models to spiritual psychology, explaining that the wretched are spiritually marooned ('losing both this world and the hereafter') because they are repelled by the spiritual influence of the perfect souls (ahl-e kamal) and find no place in either the material or spiritual worlds.