Interpretation of the Second Rule of Love

Rule Number 2 — The path to the Truth is a labour of the heart, not of the head. Make your heart your primary guide, not your mind. Meet, challenge, and ultimately prevail over your nafs with your heart. Knowing your ego will lead you to the knowledge of God.

– Shams, to himself

Context — This rule appears when Shams reflects on his journey as a wandering dervish and remembers how he gathered these Forty Rules of Love through his life experiences.

It is at this point that Shams shares this Second Rule of Love.

Interpretation in the context of the story — Before presenting this rule, Shams speaks about his life as a wandering dervish and about his family. He explains how his family and the people in his village opposed his spiritual inclination and wanted him to live a normal, worldly life. Yet he followed his spiritual calling and became a wandering dervish in search of God.

When we understand Shams’ life journey, this rule becomes much clearer.

Now let us explore some deeper interpretations beyond the storyline by examining each sentence carefully.

“The path to the Truth is a labour of the heart, not of the head. Make your heart your primary guide, not your mind.”

Here, the “Path to the Truth” refers to the path to God.

“Labour of the heart” means following the direction given by the heart.

“Head” refers to the mind.

The mind constantly seeks comfort and convenience. It prefers to operate within known limitations. It feels anxious when faced with something beyond its boundaries, especially the unknown. The mind is afraid of the unknown.

And God is the greatest unknown for most of us. We speak about God, but only a rare few individuals, whose names can be counted on our fingers, have truly experienced God directly.

The heart, however, is adventurous. That is why love is associated with the heart. Wherever in the world someone falls in love, they instinctively connect that feeling to the heart, not the head. No one places a hand on the head while speaking of love.

Love, by its very nature, is adventurous. When someone is in love, they do not think about boundaries, limitations, or social conventions. This is why Jesus said that Love is God. When we are in love, we begin to express divine qualities.

God created existence out of love. Nature continues to give unconditionally, despite how much we harm it. It still offers light, water, food, flowers, and fruits. What could be a better example of unconditional love?

Therefore, the heart, love, and God are deeply interconnected.

Anyone who seeks a direct experience of God must move beyond the mind and its comfort zone, and follow the guidance of the heart. One must not surrender to the fears created by the mind, just as Shams did not surrender in his own life.

“Meet, challenge, and ultimately prevail over your nafs with your heart.”

Here, “nafs” at an individual level refers to the ego or the egoistic self.

Social conditioning shapes the mind. It builds its limitations and defines ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, moral and immoral. This conditioned mind forms our personality, which becomes our ego.

Shams suggests that we must confront this ego, created by the mind, with a fearless and expansive heart. We should strive to break free from societal conditioning and mental limitations. We must be willing to see life from limitless perspectives and embrace all aspects of existence.

This can also be understood as transcending personality in order to discover individuality.

“Knowing your ego will lead you to the knowledge of God.”

To me, this is the most significant part of the rule.

How does knowing your ego lead to knowing God?

Whatever I am able to observe is separate from me. If I can observe my ego, then the ego cannot be my true self.

Then who am I?

I am the one who is aware of the ego. That awareness is my true nature.

When you become conscious of your ego, reflect on who is witnessing it. That witnessing awareness is you. And at the universal level, that same awareness is God.

Thus, knowing your ego leads you to the knowledge of God.

Gratitude.