Reminds us of the radiant depth inside us that is present in grief and in love, in being ecstatically here in the moment and in all the many regions of human- divine consciousness. What he celebrates has many names, the soul, buddha nature, the person of Christ, and Rumi praised them all at one table. There is no quarrel about names or scriptures in Rumi. His work does not divide; it includes, and that is a blessing in these sectarian days. Rumi represents a nourishing exchange for both the East and the West, much like the Silk Road was in his day. Along it the beauties of the great religions and the storytellers and poets and their musics flowed together and mixed into a new and vibrant fusion. Rumi opens the reader to that excitement.— Coleman Barks