Book Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Love, Soul and Freedom
Dancing with Rumi on the Mystic Path
Christopher Largent, Denise Breton
Hazelden 07/98 Hardcover $21.95
ISBN: 1-56838-207-3

Denise Breton and Christopher Largent helped us reimagine the marketplace with The Soul of Economies and gave us a vision of a transformed society in The Paradigm Conspiracy. Their keen knowledge of religion, politics, and the power of imagination now flows through this wild and wonderful meditation on the mystic path of Rumi (1207-1273), the Persian Sufi sage and poet. Using the inimitable translations of Rumi by Coleman Barks, the authors offer a powerful antidote to the soul sickness of our time. The dose consists of love ("Love," says Rumi, "is the way messengers from the mystery tell us things."); soul ("You already have the precious mixture that will make you well. Use it."); and freedom ("Fish don't hold the sacred liquid in cups. They swim the huge fluid freedom.").

Rumi is our companion and teacher who points the way to a meaningful life. Breton and Largent ponder cultivating the invisible in oneself, learning the art of letting go, building communities in our inner lives, and becoming agents of change. I salute these authors for their visionary and politically daring use of Rumi's sacred poetry as a catalyst for personal and societal transformation. Take this terrific book to heart and you'll feel in your bones the delirious freedom that is the essence of the mystic path.

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by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat