OSHER 128 - Love Stories of Rumi

What is the nature of love? How is it related to the divine mysteries? In what manner can divine love be actualized? These are the types of life changing questions that Rumi explores in his mystical magnum opus, the Masnavi. In this course we will investigate Rumi's narrative conception of love and how he relates it to human experience, our understanding of reality, and our relationship with the divine. In our class discussions we will look at not only how Rumi describes and narrates love in four major love stories from the Masnavi, but the textual strategies he uses to encourage his readers to fall in love themselves as he attempts to provide them with a poetic experience of what it means to be a true lover of God. (This course will be taught over two related but independent terms.)