Shams-i Tabrizi: What I want also wants me

April 3, 2026 Mike Zonta Leave a comment

Persian miniature of Shams Tabrizi by Hossein Behzad, dated 1963

“When I run after what I think I want, my days are a furnace of stress and anxiety; if I sit in my own place of patience, what I need flows to me, and without pain. From this I understand that what I want also wants me, is looking for me and attracting me. There is a great secret here for anyone who can grasp it.”

~ Shams-i Tabrizi

Shams Tabrīzī was a Persian dervish and poet, best known for his companionship with Rumi. He is referenced with great reverence and grief in Rumi’s poetic collection, in particular Divan-i Shams-i Tabrīzī. Wikipedia

Born 1185, Tabriz, Iran

Died 1248 (age 63 years), Khoy, Iran

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“A great man knows he is not God, and the greater he is the better he knows it.”
— G.K. Chesterton

“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only at night.”
— Edgar Allan Poe

“Give thanks to unknown blessings already on their way.”
— Native American proverb at cafe in San Francisco

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”
–e.e. cummings

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Bathtub Bulletin

Shams-i Tabrizi: What I want also wants me

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Consciousness, spirituality, biography, sexuality, androgyny, futurism, space, the arts, science, astrology, democracy, humor, books, movies and more