Syed Princy's Key Ideas from The Forty Rules of Love
by Elif Shafak

It’s easy to love a perfect God, unblemished and infallible that He is. What is far more difficult is to 'love fellow human beings with all their imperfections and defects'. Remember, one can only know what one is capable of loving. There is no wisdom without love. Unless we learn to love God’s creation, we can neither truly love nor truly know God.

Try not to 'resist the changes', which come your way. Instead 'let life live through you'. And do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?

God is busy with the completion of your work, both outwardly and inwardly. He is fully occupied with you. Every human being is a work in progress that is slowly but inexorably moving toward perfection.

"We are each an unfinished work of art both waiting and striving to be completed."

God deals with each of us separately because humanity is fine art of skilled penmanship where every single dot is equally important for the entire picture.

The path to the Truth is a labour of the heart, not of the head. Make your heart your primary guide! Not your mind. Meet, challenge and ultimately prevail over your nafs (self, psyche, soul) with your heart. Knowing your ego will lead you to the knowledge of God.

You can study God through everything and everyone in the universe, because God is not confined in a mosque, synagogue or church. But if you are still in need of knowing where exactly His abode is, there is only one place to look for him: in the heart of a true lover

Patience does not mean to passively endure. It means to "look at the end of a process." What does patience mean? It means to look at the thorn and see the rose, to look at the night and see the dawn. Impatience means to be 'shortsighted' as to 'not be able to see the outcome.' The lovers of God never run out of patience, for they know that time is needed for the crescent moon to become full.

Intellect and love are made of different materials. Intellect ties people in knots and risks nothing, but love dissolves all tangles and risks everything. Intellect is always cautious and advises, ‘Beware too much ecstasy’, whereas love says, ‘Oh, never mind! Take the plunge!’ Intellect does not easily break down, whereas love can effortlessly reduce itself to rubble.

"But treasures are hidden among ruins."

"A broken heart hides treasures."