While assisting a couple colleagues in the graduate office, one Alexander Albert, also a colleague walked in and began a conversation with us. A piece of paper was pinned to the board, being curiously noted by all of us at once. On it was a quote from a poet named Rumi. The quote read as follows
“Why, when God's world is so big,
Did you fall asleep in a prison
Of all places?”
I asked Alexander, what he thought this quote meant. I have no prior knowledge to Rumi or his works, thus the first questions in my mind was: what came before and after this sentence?
His response was interesting and caught me off guard, but immediately sprung a response from my cognitive centers and the gears began to turn. He proclaimed that what Rumi meant by Prison was the ego. Why is it that when god creates a world so wonderful, we shut ourselves away from it and choose to be limited by ego. He also explained that the ego is what needs to be denied and is what needs to be fought against so that we can accept our role as worshippers and love God.
He proclaimed that to be free of ego would be the best state to be. Using the analogy of the prison, he described that a prison is a terrible place that offers no security or safety. It is a place to be tortured and have a horrible time. The devil keeps people in this prison and does not allow them to escape. Only by dedicated worship and love of God can one escape the devils prison of ego.
I agreed with this comment in part, but I felt that the statement that the ego is not safe is completely false. I decided to pick apart and describe the terms Rumi used to bring about a greater understanding of the ego as prison and answer the question: Why?
In short, a prison would be the BEST place to fall ASLEEP in God’s world. A prison is literally one of the most secure places in the world to be. It for the most part solitary. There is one door, and possibly a window. There are no complexities, everything is simple. There are no responsibilities because one has been removed from the outside world. One does not have to own anything. Only to sit and sleep and reinforce ones own daily patterns. To sleep in a prison is to know where and when any attacker or infringement upon ones ego is going to occur. It is even possible to time the torture sessions and meal times so that living in the prison becomes a habit. A prisoner knows every nook and cranny of his or her cell. The amount of time spent analyzing the space within the cell allows for an attachment and familiarity with it.
What is beyond the prison? One who has known the prison all his or her life would be frightened at the prospect of disturbing something so solid. Although the prison may be rooted in pain, torture, and self denial, it is still quite comfortable compared the fear of a vast and open expanse of land that is full of possibilities. If conditions in the prison are so awful, imagine what they would be outside of it? There can be no imagination beyond the experience the person has had. This would prevent one from even contemplating stepping out of the prison. The person willing fully decides to remain in the prison of their ego because of the fear of the unknown.
Even if the person were to begin to peek outside of the door, or realize that they could open it…there are guards. Guards stand by ready to make sure that anyone that attempts to escape their prison remains within. They wear a façade of authority and determination. Alexander’s description of what I call a guard would be accurate for the role of Devil. Most of the time, this guardian doesn’t even have to do more than look at us in order for us to run cowering to our cell. The guardian represents the whole of our own resistance to freedom and change. With freedom and change comes the responsibility for ones own life. One can’t move past the guardian without accepting the responsibility for their decisions, actions, feelings, and thoughts.
Why fall asleep in a prison? Because there is nothing else to do once there. A person who is awake begins to wonder and begins to walk out. Exploring the inner and outer environments of our being with an innocent and open heart is one way to show the guard the readiness to pass. A person who wants to stay asleep seeks security no matter the environment, and the guard lets them in and locks the cell behind them. They sleep within comfort and safety directed by fear.
So then, why wake up? Why leave the comfort of our own prison cell and all of its guardians? The reason is implicit: To wake up; to take responsibility for our role in the cycle of the world. Otherwise, we are nothing. Those guardians outside our cells are not really the devil, they are angels. Guardian Angels watch over our actions in our cell until we are ready to awaken into the world. They decide when we are ready to leave our own self-inflicted imprisonment and torture. They give us the experience of numbness and self-denial that is needed to come to the experience and understanding that the prison is NOT all that matters, nor all that exists in this world. These angels work through both our conscious and unconscious reality; essential forces within our lives that may appear to be daunting figures but when truly recognized, radiate innocence, purity, and love. They are the guardians to the path of enlightenment.
Rumi’s words are a deep query into the essence of human being. They are meant to begin a reflection such as shown above, into the inner workings of our own lives. After a short discussion with Chet Alexander on this subject he summed up the answer I was thinking about, yet couldn’t quite put into words beautifully: “Because God is the Warden”. I refer to the guardians as angels. God is that same essential being within us waiting for us to awaken and show our worth to ourselves and the world around us. Those who choose to go beyond their cells do the world a positive service with their mere presence. The influence of such individuals is vast and wholesome. The responsibility that they accept for their role in creation is paramount to the health of the planet, our societies, humanity and nature as a whole.
