"Water needs an intermediary, a vessel, between it and the fire, if it is to be heated correctly."

"Those who do not understand a thing," Rumi observes, "claim that it is useless. The hand and the instrument are as flint and steel. Strike flint with earth. Will a spark he made?" One of the reasons why the mystic does not preach publicly is that the conditioned religious man, or the materialist, will not understand him: