Dr. Fariba Enteshari - Founder & Executive Director
Fariba Enteshari is an international educator. Born in Shiraz Iran, she grew up with the sufi poetry of Hafiz and and Saadi. In her teens, she emigrated from Iran to Germany, and later to the United States. She was educated in Germany and the United States and holds degrees in Biological Sciences, Physics, German literature and linguistics as well as a doctorate in educational leadership from Fielding University. She is the founder and director of the Rumi Educational Center in Santa Barbara.
Dr. Enteshari has devoted her life to the transformational teachings of Rumi through his poetry and epic masterpiece, Mathnawi, and its seven stages of enlightenment. Through her years of teaching Rumi to a wide variety of students, she has researched the beneficial and healing effects of Rumi’s poetry on their lives. Fluent in Rumi’s native language and culture, allowing her to share with students the original melody and cadences of his language. With her diverse background and linguistic proficiency, she helps participants draw from many cultural and religious traditions, while developing their own personal voice for growth and societal transformation.
For the past seventeen years, Dr. Enteshari has conducted numerous Rumi seminars and workshops at universities and institutes such as Esalen in Big Sur, California, and Omega in Rhinebeck, New York. She has taught Rumi’s wisdom studies to undergraduate and graduate students and the general public through lecture series at the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles, the Santa Barbara City College Adult Education Program, La Casa de Maria Center for Spiritual Renewal, and the Institute of World Culture in Santa Barbara. Series titles have included “Rumi’s Poetry and Storytelling: My Religion Is Love,” ‘Rumi’s Poetry: Inward Journey,” and “The Vision of Love.”
In response to an interviewer’s question, “How did you come to devote your life to Rumi’s work,” Fariba responded,
“The answer to this question is still unfolding within my inward journey. We are not forced to do anything. We are only chosen. To be chosen does not mean anything by itself, but the meaning of what you are chosen to do does. Once we make that choice, the Divine comes to meet us and gives us assistance that is beyond our capabilities. Rumi tells us to look inside and find ourselves. He is the healer of our time. I am dedicated to spreading his teaching which profoundly changes you from the inside out and provides a key to interfaith understanding, that ultimately unites us as humanity on a global scale.”
Dr. Fariba Enteshari is available for lecture presentations, workshops, and interviews. If you are interested in booking an engagement, please contact us.
Listen to Dr. Fariba Enteshari speak on DirecTalk Radio:
(Allow 10-15 seconds for audio to load.)
Joseph Miller of DirecTalk Radio speaks with Dr. Fariba Enteshari about Sufi Inspiration in Rumi's Poetry.