Allusions to the practice of gazing at the beloved — and even explicity instructions and descriptions of it — are everywhere/The practice of gazing at the beloved truly signals a great homecoming for the participants who are fortunate enough to have found one another. [This is exactly] what Rumi and Shems were actually doing behind the closed doors of their retreat room. From all accounts, what the two were doing together was nothing less than dying into love, and such an experience is rightly spoken of as a mystery.
— Will Johnson, Rumi's Four Essential Practices