THE FOUNTAIN

There are two kinds of intelligence.

One is like that acquired by a child at school,

from books and teachers, new ideas and memorization.

Your intelligence may become superior to others,

but retaining all that knowledge is a heavy load.

You who are occupied in searching for knowledge

are a preserving tablet,

but the preserved tablet is the one who has gone beyond all this.

For the other kind of intelligence is the gift of God:

its fountain is in the midst of the soul.

When the water of God-given knowledge gushes from the breast,

it doesn't become fetid or impure.

And if its way to the outside is blocked, what harm is there?

For it gushes continually from the house of the heart.

The acquired intelligence is like the conduits

which run into the house from the streets:

If those pipes become blocked, the house is bereft of water.

Seek the fountain from within yourself.

Rumi