In this episode 6 chapters
- Longing Is the Answer
With cellist David Darling, Coleman Barks opens with Rumi's quatrains, the Love Dogs, and a funny story about Shirley MacLaine's advice on performing.
- Three Dreams, One Halvah
Barks reads Robert Penn Warren on why we need stories.
- Ecstatics, Mystics, and Drunks
Barks separates the ecstatic's joy in simply being in a body from the mystic's longing, and reads his reworkings of Tagore.
- The Doting Grandfather
Barks reads his own poems about his granddaughter Briony: losing a soccer game happily and a writing game where they swap roles.
- Burnt to a Crisp, Laughing
Back to Rumi: Barks reads about being raw, cooked and burnt all at once, and about death as a particle going home.
- The Presence That Stays
Barks reads Rumi's dawn poem about an awareness that stays while grief and joy come and go, singing lines with Darling.
Pay what you want for the full 1-hour performance.
You can pay what you want for the full performance. Includes audio and video versions. Available to all logged-in Integral Life members for free.
PAY WHAT YOU WANTThere are few experiences in life as satisfying as the poetry of Jalal ad-Din Rumi, which for many is the spiritual equivalent of enjoying a piece of rich delicious chocolate, listening to Bach, or perhaps sipping a glass of fine red wine.
There is a deeply sacred sensuality that runs through Rumi’s work, warming our hearts, arousing our spirits, and igniting our passion for awakening. One of history’s most cherished mystics, Rumi’s poetry truly knows no equal. The depth and beauty of Rumi’s ecstatic verses continue to reach to us through the centuries—timeless songs for the infinite Lover.
In this extraordinary performance you will hear Rumi as you never have before — through the resonant, whiskey-and-syrup voice of Coleman Barks, a preeminent poet, scholar, and interpreter of Rumi’s work. Coleman’s recitation is gracefully accompanied by the music of David Darling, a Grammy-winning artist who recorded 2009’s Prayers of Compassion—connecting the earthy incense of Rumi’s words with the celestial strings of the cello, uniting Heaven and Earth in one of the most beautiful productions of music and poetry that we’ve ever seen.
As the Buddha finds his enlightenment by sitting in immaculate Emptiness, Rumi finds his by dancing in radical Fullness. Here’s you opportunity to join him in that eternal ecstatic dance.
About Coleman Barks
Coleman Barks is a renowned poet and the author of nearly twenty books of translations of the Persian mystical poet Rumi and other Near Eastern poets.
About David Darling
“Maverick cellist” is the phrase most often assigned to Grammy winning artist, David Darling, but it hardly captures the richness, diversity, breadth and sense of humor of a man who literally redefines the way the cello is played and the way music is taught.
