Overview

In Book Three of the Masnavi, Rumi addresses the psychological and spiritual paradox of human anxiety. He uses the allegory of a lion dragging a man into a forest to illustrate how the 'lion of destiny' (shir-e qada) carries humans away while their minds remain preoccupied with worldly chores and professions.

The Illusion of Worldly Fear

Rumi highlights a key human irony:

1. Fear of Poverty: People fear poverty so much that they plunge themselves 'up to their throats in salty water' (symbolizing exhausting, bitter worldly struggles) to avoid it.
2. Misdirected Fear: By focusing their fear on the condition of poverty itself rather than on the 'Creator of Poverty' (faqr-afarin), they remain trapped.
3. The Paradox of Grief: Out of fear of future grief, they live in constant present grief, pursuing illusory existence (hasti) only to fall into non-existence (adam).

Spiritual Solution

Rumi asserts that if people feared the divine source of the...