When you check Wikipedia on Sufism, it reverts back with the following definition:
Sufism is a concept in Islam, defined by scholars as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam; others contend that it is a perennial philosophy of existence that pre-dates religion, the expression of which flowered within the Islamic religion.
Rumi is a great Sufi poet and his poems offer deep wisdom.
The following Sufi story (Source: Book " The Language of God: A Scientist presents Evidence for the Belief ” by Francis Collins) always puts me on modesty:
Once upon a time there was an old woman who used to meditate on the bank of the Ganges. One morning, finishing her meditation, she saw a scorpion floating helplessly in the strong current. As the scorpion was pulled closer, it got caught in roots that branched out far into the river. The scorpion struggled frantically to free itself but go more and more entangled. She immediately reached out to the drowning scorpion, which as soon as she touched it, stung her. The old woman withdrew her hand but, having regained her balance, once again tried to save the creature. Every time she tried, however, the scorpion's tail stung her so badly that her hands became bloody and her face distorted with pain. A passers-by who saw the old woman struggling with the scorpion shouted, 'what's wrong with you, fool! Do you want to kill yourself to save that ugly thing ?' Looking into the stranger's eyes, she answered, "Because it is the nature of scorpion to sting, why should I deny my own nature to save it?"
The old woman is right in every sense. Like a tree that can't withdraw its shade from the woodcutter, we should not lose our essential human nature!
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