For too long we have lived with a thorn in our hearts and vision pretending we know how to manage the life entrusted to us. For too long we have been ignoring the sorrows that are accumulating and we have become numb in our witnessing. We need experts who can teach us how to remove this thorn from our hearts and see who we have become.

Rumi’s introduction to life was not easy. As a teenager, he was forced to leave his home town, Balkh, behind forever. Balkh was a major city in the eastern part of greater Persia, close to the silk road. Rumi’s father, an Islamic jurist, was facing challenges because of his mystical views of Islam. Rumi had to say goodbye to his sister, his beloved teacher, Borhan, leaving his home town at thirteen, joining his parents in a caravan full of his father’s followers, moving into the unknown.