A Bi-Weekly Podcast with host Fatemeh Keshavarz
I set out to focus this program on the concept of fear. Much to my surprise, I found out that for Rumi the feeling that counters fear is not courage. It is love. And love is obtained by building a mirror-like inner space that…let me leave the rest of that to Rumi. He says it through a fascinating story.
In this program which is a continuation of Program 16, we discuss how Rumi uses the concept of “being in love” to denote being emotionally connected and involved with the world around you. It might seem strange to tell someone to try to be in love. Our natural reaction is that we are either in love or not. How could we be asked to feel something that we are not feeling? Well, you need to listen to Program 17 to find this out for yourself.
While the theme of love is going to come up time and again in these podcasts, this is the concluding episode focusing on it as its main theme. How do we speak of love with our limited and over-used human vocabulary? If we cannot describe this complex experience, what else can we do with it? If it is supposed to build us a new self, why does it feel overwhelming? Why is it so prevalent in our thoughts, words and other and other artistic creations? what do we give to Love? What do we gain from it?
Opening song: Arayesh e ghaliz, Homayun Shajarian
Producer: Sogand Seirafi
Graphic Designer: Amaal Yazdi
Editorial Consultant: Faezeh Lotfalian
Project Manager: Samar Ata
Audio editing: Tommy Hegarty
Technical assistance is provided by the Center for Innovation in Teaching at Learning, University of Maryland
This episode which was recorded soon after the general election, emphasizes the significance of love as a lasting theme that can help us through disagreements and social rifts that often divide human society. Furthermore for Rumi, this worldly love, love connected to erotic desire, is not separate from or antagonistic to spiritual love. More than anything else, for Rumi love is a tool for bringing about positive change. In that sense, it is not passive or melancholic but a source of energy, action, and agency. Love is a process of searching, discovery, creation, and ultimately liberation.
In this episode, recorded last October, we connect Rumi and Einstein separated by centuries. They are astonishingly similar in their aspiration to make us see how connected we are with the universe — neither separate from it, nor captive in it. They both see knowledge as healing and liberating. They both see that everything perishes except for love. And what we run after, often in circles, is much closer than we think. Dive deep within, Rumi says, strengthen your wings. Now fly out, for you no longer need a ladder.
Opening song: Arayesh e ghaliz, Homayun Shajarian
Producer: Sogand Seirafi
Graphic Designer: Amaal Yazdi
Editorial Consultant: Faezeh Lotfalian
Project Manager: Samar Ata
Audio editing: Tommy Hegarty
Technical assistance is provided by the Center for Innovation in Teaching at Learning, University of Maryland
How can one speak of love in a world plagued by disasters like forced migration, starvation, hatred and war? Well, that depends on how we understand the concept of love. If it is defined as the happy and optimistic emotion we normally associate with love, the answer is “We cannot.” In this program, I look at the ways in which Rumi understands love and what he wants us to do with it.
transcript of audio file
Opening song: Arayesh e ghaliz, Homayun Shajarian
Producer: Sogand Seirafi
Graphic Designer: Amaal Yazdi
Editorial Consultant: Faezeh Lotfalian
Project Manager: Samar Ata
Audio editing: Tommy Hegarty
Technical assistance is provided by the Center for Innovation in Teaching at Learning, University of Maryland
In Rumi’s view, the entire universe is a cosmic movement animated with the force of love which is the force of change. So is our individual life. A turning from one stage to another, a moving forward. Moments are not linear repetitive pieces of time. They are instances of becoming (in Persian “shodan.”)
We are alive in love, in knowing each other, in speaking and laughing together. It is in this openness to the world that transformation happens, continuous and ever-changing.
transcript of audio file
Opening song: Arayesh e ghaliz, Homayun Shajarian
Producer: Sogand Seirafi
Graphic Designer: Amaal Yazdi
Editorial Consultant: Faezeh Lotfalian
Project Manager: Samar Ata
Audio editing: Tommy Hegarty
Technical assistance is provided by the Center for Innovation in Teaching at Learning, University of Maryland
The program starts with the significance of Rumi’s poetry in Iranian culture and Fatemeh Keshavarz’s encounter with this poetry from early childhood. Rumi’s poetry and personality are described through anecdotes from his life and examples from his poetry.
Radio Rumi is hosted by Dr. Fatemeh Keshavarz at the University of Maryland. In this bi monthly series, Dr. Keshavarz explores Rumi’s words and invites the listener to enter his vibrant universe and see with fresh eyes.
Opening song: Arayesh e ghaliz, Homayun Shajarian
Producer: Sogand Seirafi
Graphic Designer: Amaal Yazdi
Editorial Consultant: Faezeh Lotfalian
Project Manager: Samar Ata
Audio editing: Tommy Hegarty
Technical assistance is provided by the Center for Innovation in Teaching at Learning, University of Maryland
Radio Rumi is a gift to those who wish to taste Rumi’s words.
The purpose is not to analyze, theorize, or prove anything. These are conversations meant to bring Rumi’s poetry to life.
Invitations to enter his vibrant universe and see with fresh eyes.
Welcome to this exploration.
Radio Rumi is hosted by Dr. Fatemeh Keshavarz, Director and Professor at the University of Maryland. Keshavarz is author of award-winning books including Reading Mystical Lyric: the Case of Jalal al-Din Rumi (USC Press,1998), Recite in the Name of the Red Rose (USC Press, 2006) and a book of literary analysis and social commentary titled Jasmine and Stars: Reading more than Lolita in Tehran (UNC Press, 2007). She has also published other books and numerous journal articles. Keshavarz is a published poet in Persian and English and an activist for peace and justice. Currently, she directs the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures as well as Roshan Institute for Persian Studies at UMD.
Opening song: Arayesh e ghaliz, Homayun Shajarian
Producer: Sogand Seirafi
Graphic Designer: Amaal Yazdi
Editorial Consultant: Faezeh Lotfalian
Project Manager: Samar Ata
Audio editing: Tommy Hegarty
Technical assistance is provided by the Center for Innovation in Teaching at Learning, University of Maryland