Ripe Pomegranate / "The Fruit Of The Dead"?
The pomegranate is believed to have originated in Iran. In most cultures, including in Iran, it symbolizes, prosperity, ambition, abundance and fertility, but in Ancient Greek mythology it was known as the "fruit of the dead", associated with spending eternity in the underworld.
The great Persian poet, Rumi wrote:
- When you go to buy a pomegranate,
- pick the one that's laughing,
- that has its rind cleft,
- so that through its broken-open-ness
- you get some information about the seeds.
- Listen for the laughter that shows the inside,
- that cracks the casket-shell and lets you see the pearl.
- There's another kind, an unhappy laughing
- like the red anemone's that shows its inner blackness.
- But pomegranate-laughter is blessed,
- like the companionship of good people.
- Even if you're a common rock, when you join them,
- you'll become a precious stone.
- Keep the love of holy laughing in you.
- Don't visit sad neighborhoods.
- Let laughter lead you to the right people.
- Your body-wantings will take you out of the sunlight
- into dark and dank places.
- Feed on the conversation of a lover.
- Look for spiritual growth from one
- who is farther along than you.
- -- Rumi; Excerpt from Feeling the Shoulder of the Lion
