In the social media age, spiritual wisdom in the form of new-agey Facebook posts has become something of a phenomenon.

Rumi, the 13th century Persian poet, whose works have been famously translated by retired University of Georgia professor Coleman Barks, has certainly been swept up in the trend — a Google search for “Rumi Facebook Quotes” returns more than 2 million results. There are enough ready-made spiritual platitudes to cover a year’s worth of posi-posts.

But Chris Jansen, the most recent Athenian to tackle a translation of Rumi, the newly published “Illumination” (Kinchafoonee Creek Press), doesn’t think the poet’s prevalence on such a vapid medium is bad thing.

“It’s been some good medicine for people,” Jansen said. “Rumi is cunning and wise. It’s poured a little bit of mischief into the culture.”

Rumi’s poetry comes from a part of the world — Iran, Tajikstan, Afghanistan — that’s been a central conflict point for the U.S. Having an East-meets-West dialogue over Rumi’s conversational poems can be a way of making “peace through poetry,” Jansen said. More.

See: OnlineAthens.com

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