It’s revealing that Rumi, a poet who wrote in the 13^thcentury, finds his works on today’s bestseller lists. There’s something mystical that he communicates through his divine experiences. “I am a painter, a maker of the seen and the

hidden, Every day I shape sublime forms. And then, when God comes to view them…they and I melt away in Him,” Rumi writes through the translation of Daniel Ladinsky.

One of my all-time favorites of Rumi is The Ascending Soul. It seems to elevate us through the stages even as the poet takes us on a journey upward to merging with God.

“I died as a mineral and became a plant, I died as a plant and rose to animal….

….I became a beautiful woman, I became a beautiful man.

What should I fear, darlings? When were we ever less by dying?”

The poet goes on to plead that he no longer be limited by any form or name and to once again merge back into God from whence he came.

Rumi has the power to move and inspire because he speaks to the soul and our deep yearning for the return home to our divine God-Self where we no longer struggle, no longer worry, and no longer need to be anything other that which we are – Divine. This is the essence of The Purity of Desire: 100 Poems of Rumi interpreted by Ladinsky with Nancy Owen Barton.

Bio: Debra Moffitt is the award winning author of Awake in the World: 108 Practices to Live a Divinely Inspired Life and “Garden of Bliss: Cultivating the Inner Landscape for Self-Discovery” (Llewellyn Worldwide, February 2013). A visionary, dreamer and teacher, she’s devoted to nurturing the spiritual in everyday life. She leads workshops on spiritual practices, writing and creativity in the U.S. and Europe. More at http://www.awakeintheworld.com and on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/DebraMoffittAwakeintheWorld