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Coleman Barks

Coleman Barks Quotes

Poet

Coleman Barks is an American poet renowned for his translations of Rumi's poetry. Born on April 23, 1937, Barks has introduced the essence of Rumi's work to a modern English-speaking audience, capturing the spiritual and philosophical depth of the original Persian texts.

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All Ifs Thinking World Core Happens Heart Humans Important Joy Needs

Famous Coleman Barks Quotes

“In each human being there is a meeting with the divine. That intersection is the heart.”

Book:[(Rumi-the Book of Love)] [Author: Coleman Barks] published on

Source: [(Rumi-the Book of Love)] [Author: Coleman Barks] published on

“I've got some broken ducks. I need to get them in a row.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Poem Mourning

Author:Coleman Barks

“…the work of the (Muslim Sufi) dervish community was to open the heart, explore the mystery of union, to fiercely search for and try to say the truth, and to celebrate the glory and difficulty in being in human incarnation.”

Spirituality Rumi Glory Of Life

Book:The Essential Rumi

Source: The Essential Rumi

“When you meet a new friend, the world has more light in it, doesn't it? Things become more spontaneous, and more full of laughing and freedom and novelty.”

World Light Laughing Spontaneous Novelty New Friends

Author:Coleman Barks

“The religions of the world are luminous in their individuality, and they have valuable social and soulmaking functions. Surely someday we will quit killing each other over their different strategies.”

World Different Religion Social Religious Function Strategy Killing Individuality Valuable Quitting Someday Luminous Killing Each Other

Book:The Essential Rumi - reissue: New Expanded Edition

Source: The Essential Rumi - reissue: New Expanded Edition

“Longing becomes more poignant if in the distance you can't tell whether your friend is going away or coming back. The pushing away pulls you in.”

Ifs Longing Distance Pushing Going Away Coming Back Poignant Pushing Away

Author:Coleman Barks

“I think we all have a core that's ecstatic, that knows and that looks up in wonder. We all know that there are marvelous moments of eternity that just happen. We know them.”

Thinking Knows Looks Moments Happens Wonder Eternity Core Look Up Marvelous Ecstatic

Author:Coleman Barks

“If you teach three university courses a day, you need something to turn your mind off.”

Ifs Needs Mind Turns Three Courses Teach University

Author:Coleman Barks

“Just being sentient and in a body with the sun coming up is a state of rapture.”

States Body Sun Just Being Rapture

Author:Coleman Barks

“I had been a kind of natural mystic my whole life, growing up there in Tennessee next to the river. Somehow, that was important for my consciousness. I still don't study [mysticism]. I just wait for experiences.”

Kind Stills Important Whole Next Waiting Natural Consciousness Growing Up Study Growing Rivers Whole Life Mysticism Mystic Tennessee

Author:Coleman Barks

“The mystics always say that the experience they're talking about is ineffable, that you can't say it. Rumi was asked one time why he talked so much about silence. He said, "The radiant one inside me has never said a word."”

Said Silence Talking One Time Radiant Ineffable

Author:Coleman Barks

“I like to walk around my neighborhood, late in the afternoon. I sometimes wind up at the wonderful, old Shell station that's been changed into a coffee shop. Right where Johnny used to change my oil, I have a latte and take out my little book bag. It doesn't sound very austere.”

Littles Book Sometimes Used Sound Walks Wonderful Changed Wind Late Oil Coffee Shops Bags Neighborhood Stations Afternoon Shells Coffee Shop Lattes

Author:Coleman Barks

“I think my life is tremendously interesting, and surely, other people do too.”

People Thinking Life Is Interesting

Author:Coleman Barks

“There's some sort of exchange that goes on between human beings that is one of the highest things we do.”

Humans Human Beings Goes On Highest

Author:Coleman Barks

“It's such a foolish thing to argue about names, when what we're doing is all one thing.”

Names One Thing Arguing Foolish

Author:Coleman Barks

“It's a beautiful lucid dream that has language that I can fiddle with.”

I Can Dream Beautiful Language Fiddle Lucid Dreaming

Author:Coleman Barks

“If you think there's an important difference between being a Christian or a Jew or a Hindu or a Muslim or a Buddhist, then you're making a division between your heart, what you love with, and the way you act in the world.”

Ifs Thinking World Way Heart Important Christian Differences Jew Buddhist Division What You Love

Author:Coleman Barks

“Anything you grab hold of on the bank breaks with the river's pressure. When you do things from your soul, the river itself moves through you. Freshness and a deep joy are signs of the current.”

Inspirational Soul Moving Joy Break Rivers Pressure Currents Your Soul Freshness

Author:Coleman Barks

“I had never heard of Rumi until Robert Bly handed me this book and he said, ah, “These poems need to be released from their cages.””

Author:Coleman Barks

“[Rumi] is trying to get us to feel the vastness of our true identity... like the sense you might get walking into a cathedral.”

Feels Trying Might Identity Walking Cathedrals Vastness True Identity

Author:Coleman Barks

“Ramana Maharshi and Rumi would agree: the joy of being human is in uncovering the core we already are, the treasure buried in the ruin.”

Humans Joy Agree Core Treasure Ruins Buried Being Human Uncovering

Book:The Soul of Rumi: A New Collection of Ecstatic Poems

Source: The Soul of Rumi: A New Collection of Ecstatic Poems

“What I deeply want... is for Rumi to become vitally present for readers, part of what John Keats called our soul-making, that process that is both collective and uniquely individual, that happens outside time and space and inside, that is the ocean we all inhabit and each singular droplet-self.”

Want Soul Self Happens Individual Process Space Reader Ocean Collectives Time And Space Droplets

Book:The Soul of Rumi: A New Collection of Ecstatic Poems

Source: The Soul of Rumi: A New Collection of Ecstatic Poems

About the Author

Born: April 23, 1937
Known for: Poet
Quotes: 22

Related Topics

Ifs Thinking World Core Happens Heart Humans Important Joy Needs

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

The Soul of Rumi: A New Collection of Ecstatic PoemsRelated source material

The Essential RumiRelated source material

The Essential Rumi - reissue: New Expanded EditionRelated source material

[(Rumi-the Book of Love)] [Author: Coleman Barks] published onRelated source material

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