The Essential Rumi, New Expanded Edition

As one involved in meditation as a path to enlightenment and quite well read in the subject I greatly enjoyed thisvolume of Rumi's poetry. As poetry on its own it stands head and shoulders above most poetry written in the English language. That is saying a lot as English has produced some magnificent works both historically andcontemporarily. Rumi can easily be compared to Shakespeare in quality although their subject matter was quite different. Shakespeare of course dealt with egoic human nature while Rumi is more concerned with the mystical Spirit of all things. For the uninitiated some of the symbolism may take a while to understand but I think anyone who is considering this volume would be acquainted with such symbols as a door or a window or even the capital "K" King, or Friend as compared to friend. Although Rumi is 13th century Muslim many of his references are to the transcendent figures of Christianity. Many Christians may never have thought of the symbolic relationship of Jesus and his donkey but Rumi explains it very succinctly. Christianity of course has its own areas of mystical thought but for the most part have been banned by the Church as heretical simply because they erase the necessity of intermediaries between man and God, ie. the power structure of the priesthood. Look to the Gnostic Writings of the early church to see how similar they are to mystical thinking universally. Some of the words uttered by Jesusin the Gnostic Gospels might seem quite incomprehensible to our modern, indoctrinated minds. Of course in mystical thought, of which Rumi is a paramount figure, man's approach to God is direct. "The Kingdom of Heaven is Within" and " To know one's Self is to know God " are but two basic examples.Over and above the mystical thinking exemplified in this volume, it is highly erotic and at times, perhaps mainly to the Western mind, down right hilarious. Imagine a cook's responses to the objections of the chickpea in being boiled in water. The cook's responses turn out to be quite reasonable in themselves, not to mention the spiritual understanding involved.It is no wonder that Rumi is the most read poet in America today (by children of the '60's?) and it is said that Coleman Bark's translations are much of the reason. I can not comment on that as I have only begun to read the work of other translators and am yet unable to intelligently compare and contrast but I will say that the translations of Coleman Bark have enabled a deep chord to be struck within me by this writer and poet in 13th century Farsi.I would highly recommend this volume to anyone exploring the Spiritual, as I would also recommend this volume to anyone who either loves poetry itself or thinks of poetry only as something to be taken or left. If you are one of the latter it may introduce you to a whole new view of literary expression. As with most all poetry it does demand time of contemplation to fully grasp its beauty and meaning. Rumi will always occupy of place of importance in my library, non-fiction of course.

One of the best books I have ever read. Although I read it in the original language, Persian, this translation is good too. The quality of the book was fine. The only complaint I have is about the packaging. I bought two books that were stuck together, and when I separated them, the cover of the book got torn.

Some people meditate. Some people read biblical devotionals. Some people attend services from wise leaders of whatever faith, spirituality, or life's approach they hold. I read Rumi. Raised conservative Christian, later much more liberal Christian, considered both atheism and agnosticism, rejector of touchy-feely "spirituality" that teaches me no more than a good bumper sticker or a good episode of Oprah, ravenous reader about other traditions--Rumi fills my needs without compromising anything I hold dear or forcing anything I find empty. Reading Rumi brings me peace, understanding, clarity, goals both concrete and ideal, causes me to think deeply about the nature of wisdom, the spirit, the relationship of the human to the divine and humans to one another.Add to this fondness of Rumi the fact that this edition is translated and curated by Coleman Barks, one of the pre-eminent Rumi translators and scholars and one of the only whose background is related to poetry and textural analysis along with languages and historical contextualizing (full disclosure: I know Barks professionally and have admired his work in other areas as well as this one, but I do not know him well enough to make me predisposed to this text over another, at least not that I am consciously aware of). I am neither a language expert nor a Rumi expert, but from other translations I have read, this edition of Barks reflects that scholarly excellent but adds also the ability to retain the poetry and subjective wisdom of Rumi without a slavish adherence to word-for-word translation. I often open this text as I eat breakfast, a pencil in one hand and a cup of coffee or bagel in the other.