Why was Rumi “westernised”?
The conclusion has been drawn long since critique’s of the translation came up. Rumi’s teachings were given a more “universal” touch to them and the Islamic aspects were thrown out of the window. However, whether it was an act of malice against a particular religion is entirely dependent on perspective.
None of that is what we’re interested in this text. The question that’s intriguing to me is why exactly do we find the desire to make spiritual texts more “inclusive” disregarding the actual beliefs of that time or author themselves.
Spirituality has not only become a refuge but also a coping mechanism. An example from the Pop Culture is Chris Martin who after his divorce with Gwyneth Paltrow, found refuge in studying Rumi’s poetry. This book would have never come into his hands, were the religious undertones not taken away from them. The popularised version was the vague, symbolic, comforting and mystical one that came into the hands of such individuals.
The same is the case with New Age Spirituality. Simplistic conclusions from complex Zen Buddhist teachings are drawn. Many of the concepts can often be blown out of proportion just for their popularity among young individuals. They try to tie in these concepts within the new norms and culture. Sometimes completely missing the point.
So is it completely absurd to be chanting “out beyond the fields of wrong doings and right doings, there’s a field. I’ll meet you there” for your ex boyfriend. Clearly Rumi wasn’t even talking about any of that.
The sentiment of universality in these “westernized versions” of the poem or more like the “stripped away of Islam” versions of the poem share one thing that make them more prevalent than the actual poems themselves. The universality of human experience. While religion’s have often the effect of binding people together in one force against the other one. The spiritual element of his works does quite the opposite.
A heartbroken Chris Martin from United Kingdom found comfort from old texts of an Islamic scholar from Balkh. That is both fascinating and ludicrous. But it does show the appeal to transcendence from human suffering that is shared and it travels from time to lands regardless of what one chooses to believe in.
Is that field going to be heaven or hell, a higher state of consciousness or nothing at all? It appears as much as mankind is concerned with these questions, they are also rather oblivious of it all. They want what helps at the moment, to survive, to get through, every tiny shred of hope to cope.
