Part 3: The Reversal

Part 3 of The Republic of Rumi, offered in the next fifteen posts, comprises of Chapters 31 to 45. Here, the reader will become aware of their own role as the protagonist. The German poet-thinker Goethe (Chapter 31) will become a guide to a biography of the Poet's mind that ends on recognizing the English playwright William Shakespeare as Western counterpart of Mawlana Rumi (Chapter 45).

31. Goethe: In the second enclave, A Message from the East (1923), with reference to the German “Thinker of Life” Goethe, the reader is informed about the impending rise of the “New Adam” which is the reader themselves.
32. The King of Afghanistan: Since the New Adam is likely to be perceived in Asia long before being understood in the West, the enclave is dedicated to the King of Afghanistan.
33. The Flowers of Sinai: 163 quatrains on the subject of love are spread out like tulips from the Mount Sinai where Moses saw the Divine illumination.
34. Creation Stories: Here the reader is offered a few insights about the New Adam.
35. The Song of Muhammad: Free translation of Goethe’s poem in praise of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) offering the German poet’s perception of the ideal of Islam.
36. Hafiz of Shiraz: The reader visits a tavern where wine extracted from the verses of Hafiz is served with a rather unusual reference to Joseph.
37. The Mind of Europe: This is the Poet’s message to the intellectuals of the West.
38. Joseph of the West: Here are a few reflections on brave new world that might come into being for the New Adam: Goethe meets Rumi and visionaries from the East and the West discuss issues of common interest.
39. ‘Glory’: The reader enters the third enclave, The Call of the Marching Bell (1924), which is a biography of the Poet’s mind.
40. The Inner Child: The reader learns that Joseph is the calling of the inner child of everyone regardless of race, country or religion.
41. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan: The reader gets to see that Joseph was an ideal that was being created in the collective ego of the Poet’s society.
42. Brotherhood of the Tavern: By March 1907, the Poet was ready to say everything but the secret he wanted to share had no name in any language of the world.
43. The Prophecies of Nezami: The twelfth century Persian poet Nezami Ganjavi had a vision about the future of humanity, which now becomes incorporated into the work of the Poet.
44. Mother: The tomb of the Poet’s mother marks the point where the extended track of his personal discoveries leads back into the Garden of Poetry.
45. Shakespeare: The English playwright is recognized as the equivalent of Mawlana Rumi in the Garden of Poetry.