23 May A Rumi Poem

Sharing this Rumi poem seems like a perfect follow-on to an article I shared earlier in the week titled “Becoming Rumi.” I was struck by the synchronicity of discovering that I had included this poem in the introduction to my 2011 doctoral dissertation, The Leader’s Muse. Looking back, I can now see how it shaped both my inner and outer journey over the past 14 years, blending seamlessly with our Deep Coaching, WLC, and other organizational consulting work. It also reflects the journey I embarked on even before then—leaving investment banking to embrace the human side of business and welcoming a deeper, more ecumenical and mystical strand into my spiritual orientation.

Rumi speaks of two kinds of intelligence: one that is gathered and stored, like scribbles on the surface of a tablet, and another that is deeper and flows from within—a fountainhead of knowing that does not age or grow stale. This second intelligence is like “a freshness in the center of the chest,” a spring that wells up from the depths of one’s own being. In hindsight, I can see that my path has been a slow turning toward that inner wellspring, leaving behind the surface accumulation of knowledge for something deeper, more fluid, and eternally renewing. It is this intelligence that whispered to me in 1994, in those early days of my career transition, drawing me out of the rigid lines of finance and into the living, breathing work of transformation. It is the same fountainhead that continues to inspire our work at WLC, DCI, and The Leader’s Muse Institute, reminding us that true wisdom flows not from the mind’s collection, but from the heart’s release.

Two Kinds of Intelligence

There are two kinds of intelligence: One acquired,

s a child in school memorizes facts and concepts

From books and from what the teacher says,

Collecting information from the traditional sciences

As well as from the new sciences.

With such intelligence you rise in the world

You get ranked to your competence in retaining

Information. You stroll with this intelligence

In and out of fields of knowledge, getting always more

Marks on your preserving tablets.

There is another kind of tablet, one

Already completed and preserved inside you.

A spring overflowing in its springbox. A freshness

In the center of the chest. This other intelligence

Does not turn yellow or stagnate. It’s fluid,

And it doesn’t move from outside to inside

Through the conduits of plumbing – learned.

This second knowing is a fountainhead

From within you, moving out.

~ Rumi