Thank you so much for this amazing interview. What a humble, poetic genius through whom Divine Intelligence has gifted these sacred works to all of us. Dr. Barks...what was said to the rose...much love and appreciation.
God Bless you Coleman! Your Rumi translations/poetry got me through to the other side of some really dark times.... you are truly loved! Thank you for all that you do.
all I can say is thank you so so much for what youve brought to my own little life....who would have thought your beautiful southern accent would be how i heard Rumi again , .. My divine beauty be with you always Coleman Barks. love light x
God bless you Coleman for your work. In our humble opinion you have helped bring the light of Islam to America and the world and probably never even knew it. For if you were to distill the work of Rumi and Shams down to one universal symbolic essence and encapsulate it Islam, Iman, Ihsan. Surrender, Faith, Perfection. This is true Islam. And it is all about love but this in no ways changes the equation of all sacred traditions that have brought man to his Maker. Islam is One! Tawhid is love's total law. Thank you for your contribution.
Mr Coleman Barks ! You are Joy itself, what was said to the rose was said to you too :) May the Lord grant you 100 more years with health and happiness, Inshallah :) You and i should meet up even for a short moment, i love you brother, i hope your new book will be red by millions upon millions. I will do my best to promote it and make it be seen :)
Dear, I have been reading your mission for over 30-years. As the world goes nuts, your efforts are so needed now. Posting far and wide after seeing this. What you said about Shams and friendship reminded me of the end of the movie 'Contact with Jodie foster; set in another dimension of reality. She looks up at millions of orbs of light moving like a pool of fishes through the night sky, and turns to a being in the garb her physical father, and asks, 'Why are there so many of us?' He replies, 'I don't know. I only know that in this vast emptiness of space, all we have is each other.'
COLEMAN BARKS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PERSON I HAVE EVER FOUND OUT ABOUT!!! MY DISCOVERY OF MY LOVE FOR SUFISM, AND HOW HE TOOK IN THE TRANSLATION OF POETRY, IS SIMILAR TO MY OWN JOURNEY OF SUFISM!!
12:28 'he's just densely musical' ❤ 15:35 'it's a tandem creativity' ❤ 17:18 'what is truly sacred: how to huma beings recognise the soul in one another... you are just left with friendship- that is the most sacred thing' ❤
This guy has the great merit of making Rumi readable to ordinary readers, but I much prefer Arberry's scholarly renditions with their broader registers.
"This we are now created the body, cell by cell" Rumi lived in the thirteenth century. And "cells" were discovered only in the seventeenth century. How it's possible? It's not Rumi.
S A RUMI was an Islamic scholar. He was gifted to have studied the Holy Quran. The Holy Quran exposes much of what we call science today. These beautiful souls were on a spiritual path that we are lucky to have view into. May RUMI poetry continue to enlighten you. Many times the same poem will fly me into a different frequency.
12:30 No wonder I've noticed a distortion in its translations. From this book : "The essentials Rumi" I have a different translation from 1983. It was different. Factual differences. I wouldn't say that it is a "translation" then.