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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Shams asks Rumi who is greater, Muhammad the messenger of God, or ______ a mystic who claimed to be one with God.
(a) Balkh.
(b) Konya.
(c) Tabriz.
(d) Bestami.

2. Rumi relishes things like walking, meditation, and fasting as they help to bring a person into ____________.
(a) A new love.
(b) The moment.
(c) Themselves.
(d) The connection with God.

3. Rumi suggests "My _____ is from elsewhere. Whoever brought me here will have to take me home."
(a) Spirit.
(b) Body.
(c) Soul.
(d) Mind.

4. Whose table is spread with better food when a person fasts, according to Rumi?
(a) Jesus'.
(b) Jehovah's.
(c) Muhammad's.
(d) Allah's.

5. Rumi describes a ______ that wakes up one day to discover that he is "the entire vineyard, and the orchard too."
(a) Bird.
(b) Worm.
(c) Snake.
(d) Ferret.

Short Answer Questions

1. Rumi realizes that in all of his searching, he has actually been waiting to be _________ as opposed to brought inside.

2. Rumi sent his son _______ to bring back his exiled companion. He was found playing cards with the future St. Francis of Assisi.

3. Not doing the work God sent you for is the equivalent of "using a _____ bowl to cook turnips in.

4. Rumi suggests that human beings are like "some weird kind of ______ that wants to stay melted in the furnace."

5. Rumi was able to take all the usual existential issues that human beings face on a daily basis and change them to ______.

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Barks have to say about Rumi as being a True Human Being? What does Barks say this means?

2. How does breathing help to calm a person, according to Barks' thoughts at the beginning of the section?

3. What are some of the ways a person will be able to bring themselves into the present moment, according to Barks?

4. What will happen after the traveler's legs become tired during the journey?

5. What do Barks and Rumi have to say about the rhythms and the way that a person breathes in their life?

6. What happens after Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers, according to the writings of Rumi?

7. Where do human beings sit, according to the writings of Rumi, when they are in a prison?

8. What will happen to a person's present life when they are going on a spiritual journey, according to the writings of Rumi?

9. What is the question Shams asks Rumi, which leads Rumi to believe that Shams is a great person?

10. What happens to the reed when it is cut, according to the writings of Rumi?

(see the answer keys)

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