Program 26: Wondrous Birds Grow from the Palm of my Hands!
categories: Uncategorized
Program 25: You are the Sea, I am the Fish!
categories: program25
With this episode, I start a discussion of Rumi and the environment. Citing his lyrics, I point to his reverence for nature as a site of the presence of the Divine. Seeking the Koranic description of God in a green tree, Rumi views our natural habitat as beautiful, lively, and closely connected with us. What we need to do is to discover it as a source of inspiration, and to preserve it for the generations who will follow.
Program 24: “If wheat that grows around my grave… “
categories: Uncategorized
This program focuses on what Rumi says about the concepts of death and dying. I start with his definition of life itself and move on to the end of life as we see and experience. I make an effort to minimize philosophical debate and stay focused on his attention to the human experience.
Program 23: Homeless like a Fly
categories: program23
In this program, I elaborate on the significance of the notion of change in Rumi’s lyric poetry. If things stay the same, life can turn into a kind sleep with little to explore. New encounters, even if challenging, are opportunities for learning and growth. That is why love says to human beings: “If you make a hundred houses like the bees, I’ll make you homeless like a fly.” Traveling in search of a home could be a destination.
Program 22: We are the dawn that connects the day and night
categories: program 22
For Rumi, everything in the world is a sign pointing to the presence of the sacred. If we miss one sign, another will come our way. As, in the past week, many people celebrated the beginning of the spring as their new year, Nowruz, we in this program look at the way, in Rumi’s poetry, spring breeze brings life after the cold winter.
Program 21: How the Earth Turns into a Meadow
categories: program21
Rumi speaks of Jesus often. In this program, I discuss the dynamism of this image, and its celestial power. The breadth of Jesus is life-giving in the Qur’anic tradition and in Persian poetry as a whole. I, then, turn to the way Rumi expands the poetic power of this image by bringing it into the environment around us and into our day-to-day living. Once more, we are in the picture as this divine force turns the earth into a meadow.
Program 20: The World is Recreated every Instant!
categories: program20
The idea that we are constantly recreated is not a new idea. The Greeks spoke it, as did the Sufis. Rumi loves the concept because it means we can break and rebuild ourselves. We can end and begin the way the seasons do. In this episode, you will hear many more lively and musical verses from the Divan, Rumi’s collection of lively lyrics. Through them, he shocks, and enchants his readers as he pushes them to ignore every limit – even time and space – to be a part of the world’s constant recreation.
Program 19: Your World is New Energy
categories: program19
This program brings you many poems so you hear Rumi’s own voice as opposed to interpretations of it. These poems generate a dynamic energy that help Rumi break out of his old habits. He describes them as birds that break open the cage of his body to fly free. Once they are out, they are ours too. They make sadness leave, and tears go away . In his words, they help us wash our body and soul in ways of wisdom. We see/discover a new world being created around us every instant, a new world of our own.
Program 18: All Existence is a Moment
categories: program18
Rumi discussed abstract ideas as well as practical ways of life including religious practice. Was he a practicing Muslim? Or, did he rebel against religion as well. What is Zikr? Is there a connection between Zikr and reflection? I will explore these as well as some of Rumi’s ideas, which could seem out of place in our competitive world such as “belonging to the sea,” and being “co-travelers,” whose souls are one.
Program 17: Try to Be in Love!
categories: program17
In this program which is a continuation of Program 16, we discuss how Rumi uses the concept of “being in love” to denote being emotionally connected and involved with the world around you. It might seem strange to tell someone to try to be in love. Our natural reaction is that we are either in love or not. How could we be asked to feel something that we are not feeling? Well, you need to listen to Program 17 to find this out for yourself.