Rumi has said
in these celebrated and often quoted verses concerning the real 'I'
I died as mineral and became a plant, I died as plant and rose to animal,
I died as animal and I was Man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Yet once more I shall die asMan, to soar With angels blest; but even from angelhood
Imust pass on: all except God doth perish. When I have sacrificed my angel-soul,
I shall become what no mind e'er conceived. Oh, letme not exist! forNon-existence
Proclaims in organ tones: "To him we shall return".