When an ordinary person, or an illiterate person, meets a poet, perhaps a great poet, he sees the man part and not the poet part. But if he is told the person is a poet, he may see the poet part when he meets him. He now sees the poet in his actions, in his words -- in everything about him he sees the poet! But an ordinary person would not see the poet. On the other hand, a great poet may go among a crowd, and the people only see the man in him, they do not see the poet in him; they do not know how profound his thoughts are. So, once you begin to recognize God in man, you do not see man anymore, but God. The man is the surface, while the God is deep in him. Such recognition brings you in touch with everyone's inmost being, and you know more about them than they know themselves. You know his sorrow, his joys, his secrets. Such a person is called a "seer."

The seer sees God with his own eyes, and also recognizes his divine Beloved in every form, in every name. He reaches Him and touches the God part in every being, however limited that individual appears to be on the surface. From now on there comes a softness in his nature, a magnetism, a charm, a beauty in him rarely to be found. Those people who have attained to this stage are able to meet people with awakened minds, and meeting such wish to be with them forever.

A very well-known seer went to see Jelal-ud-Din Rumi when he was a chief judge in the city Kazi. It was Shams-i-Tabriz. He came before the judge in the appearance of a savage. The first thing he did in coming before him was to throw his manuscripts into the pond.

Rumi looked at him, wondering about his action and why he should throw away all that knowledge, and asked him the reason for his action. The seeming vagrant said, "Because you have been reading all your life, and now you should do something more. You ought to understand what you are, and where you are. Everything before you is made of letters. If you could read them, then you could read life, and it would be greater than any scripture, better than any tradition that you can hear. It would disclose the secret of all being."

Rumi, after having looked at this person and his expression, and having heard all he said, was so won by him that he wrote down in his diary, "The God whom I have been worshipping all my life has today appeared to me in the form of a man."

It is said, "By the vision of God, their self becomes God." and again, "Their self will become God." That happens when we come to see God in everybody. We develop goodness in our actions. Our words become God's words, because we are impressed with all around us, with the mirror all around us. It reflects only goodness. Then we become a museum or picture of goodness. We reflect it all from morning to evening. We reflect forgiveness; we reflect tolerance; we reflect all these lovely qualities, because "If my Beloved is in every kind of man, how thoughtful I ought to be to all. " The lover is always very careful when he is with his Beloved. He becomes thoughtful and tender. Now there remain only two more steps: