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. — Coleman Barks Copy Share Image
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. — Coleman Barks Copy Share Image
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… — Coleman Barks Copy Share Image
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… — Coleman Barks Copy Share Image
[Rumi] is trying to get us to feel the vastness of our true identity... like the sense you might get walking into a cathedral... — Coleman Barks Copy Share Image
“ In the front yard lives the oldest thing around, a white oak That I used to say is my love for the world,… — Coleman Barks Copy Share Image
“…the work of the (Muslim Sufi) dervish community was to open the heart, explore the mystery of union, to fiercely search for and try… — Coleman Barks Copy Share Image
Just being sentient and in a body with the sun coming up is a state of rapture. — Coleman Barks Copy Share Image
It's such a foolish thing to argue about names, when what we're doing is all one thing. — Coleman Barks Copy Share Image
I had been a kind of natural mystic my whole life, growing up there in Tennessee next to the river. Somehow, that was important… — Coleman Barks Copy Share Image
If you teach three university courses a day, you need something to turn your mind off. — Coleman Barks Copy Share Image
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… — Coleman Barks Copy Share Image
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… — Coleman Barks Copy Share Image
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… — Coleman Barks Copy Share Image
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![“[Rumi] is trying to get us to feel the vastness of our true identity... like the sense you might get walking into a cathedral...” quote by Coleman Barks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a59/coleman-barks-24371_cathedrals_rumi-is-trying-to-get-us-to-feel-the-vas_113313.jpg)
