In Book Three, Section 170 of the Masnavi, Rumi employs the metaphors of a hot bath (گرمابه) and a tight shoe (کفش تنگ) to illustrate the spiritual constriction of the material world and the physical body, contrasted with the spiritual liberation of sleep.

The Metaphor of the Hot Bath

Although a bathhouse may be physically large and spacious, if it is excessively heated and suffocating, the person inside feels oppressed and constricted. This shows that physical expansiveness is meaningless if the internal atmosphere is spiritually suffocating.

The Metaphor of the Tight Shoe

If a person walks through a vast, open desert wearing extremely tight shoes, the entire desert feels like a cramped prison. The outward vastness cannot alleviate the immediate confinement and pain caused by the tight footwear.

Sleep as Deliverance

Rumi explains that sleep (خواب) represents the temporary removal of these tight shoes. During sleep, the soul is temporarily liberated from the physical ...