Did Rumi suffer heartbreak after he lost Shams?
Heartbreaks are a metaphor for crushing grief or overwhelming emotional suffering when we lose someone we loved or wanted very much, like a romantic relationship or a friendship, a family member, or a pet.
But can a Heartbreak cause damage to the heart?
Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy is the medical name for a syndrome that can be caused by heartbreak, or more accurately, the stress of a heartbreaking situation.
Acute emotional stress, positive or negative, can cause the left ventricle of the heart to be paralyzed, causing heart attack-like symptoms including strong chest, arm, or shoulder pains, shortness of breath, dizziness, loss of consciousness, nausea, and vomiting.
Heartbreak also can cause severe spasms of the muscle in the artery walls and blocks the circulation to the heart muscle that leads to a heart attack.
We heard stories that someone had a heart attack after overwhelming emotional suffering like hearing the news of a loved one died.
But heartbreaks can also make us search inside to find true self or divinity within. This was the case with Rumi.
“To find the beloved,
You must become the beloved.”
He lost himself when he was with Shams. He found himself in the dept of his Heart’s ocean after he suffered heartbreak from Shams’s disappearance.
He produced the most epic enchanting mystic poetry after his heart was broken when he lost Shams.
“Sorrow prepares you for joy.
It violently sweeps everything out of your house,
so that new joy can find space to enter.
It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart,
so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place.
It pulls up the rotten roots
so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow.
Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart,
far better things will take their place