The Rumi Advantage

Jalal ad-Din Rumi, the 13th-century Sufi poet, is often cited as one of the best-selling poets in America today — about 750 years after his death. His central theme: divine love is the force that moves all things, and romantic love is a doorway into experiencing the infinite.

Rumi's transformation began when he met the wandering mystic Shams of Tabriz. Their friendship was so intense that it shattered Rumi's scholarly reserve and turned him into an ecstatic poet. Loss became the doorway to the divine.