There is so much talk about wine in Sufi poetry—
but what is wine, really?
Not the liquid. Not the cup.
Wine is the awareness that rises when the lover remembers the Beloved. Not a symbol of escape— but of recognition.
The Beloved is recalled, and the heart awakens. First as presence, then as intoxication— the falling away of the boundary. Not the collapse of distance, but the collapse of the illusion that there was ever a center called “I.”
This awareness results in the lover’s intoxication— and ultimately in a love that includes all beings, not as an idea, but as a state of consciousness.
Hafez says: “Build up the heart with wine, for this wasted world is intent on fashioning bricks from our dust.”
به می عمارتِ جان کن که این جهانِ خراب
بر آن سر است که از خاکِ ما بسازد خشت
There is so much talk about wine in Sufi poetry—
but what is wine, really?
Not the liquid. Not the cup.
Wine is the awareness that rises when the lover remembers the Beloved. Not a symbol of escape— but of recognition.
The Beloved is recalled, and the heart awakens. First as presence, then as intoxication— the falling away of the boundary. Not the collapse of distance, but the collapse of the illusion that there was ever a center called “I.”
This awareness results in the lover’s intoxication— and ultimately in a love that includes all beings, not as an idea, but as a state of consciousness.
Hafez says: “Build up the heart with wine, for this wasted world is intent on fashioning bricks from our dust.”
به می عمارتِ جان کن که این جهانِ خراب
بر آن سر است که از خاکِ ما بسازد خشت
