Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi lived to the age of 66 during a time in history that was fairly dangerous. The value of life during the 13th century was far less than it is today. Rumi has been worshiped by many people of many different faiths his compassion and understanding of love. His teachings were “essentially about the concept of Tawheed (unity) and union with his beloved (the primal root) from which/whom he has been cut and fallen aloof, and his longing and desire for reunity”(Wikipedia).

At first Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi’s poetry was difficult for me to understand. The idea of writing poetry about love is fairly cliché. His voice seemed so simple and strait forward that there had to be a deeper meaning that I was missing. I read poems like ‘You and I’ and ‘Love is Reckless’, these poems make me think of Rumi as a man scorn. A lonely man who’s loved and lost, but there must be something more. I considered the title of the book for a moment. “Love is a Stranger”. Should I be taking the title so metaphorically? Maybe I should take the title literally. What if you could find love in a stranger? Not romantic love, but friendship. I went on to read other poems like ‘What a Man Can say’ and ‘Didn’t I Say’, poems that offered a new perspective on ‘love’. Love can be so much more than an intimate bond between lovers. Love is family and friendship. Love can be so many things. I think that is why Rumi wrote so many poems about love, because love has so many different facets.

Balance seems to be the greatest emphasis of Rumi’s poems. Balance between humans, nature, and religion; pretty much everything. Rumi speaks of sacrifice and devotion in his poetry, but he also speaks of rewards. It’s all about the balance in Rumi’s Poetry. I think understanding the multiple aspects of love and realizing the differences, as well as the similarities, is essential to evolving as a person. Reading Rumi helped me to better acknowledge all forms of ‘love’.