‘Rumi’ cotton bag

‘Beyond right and wrong there is a field. There we will meet.’ For many people in Nonviolent Communication, this line by Rumi has become a kind of guiding phrase. It is precisely the line we had printed on our ‘Rumi’ cotton bag, a sentence you can let pass through your mind again and again while shopping, on the way to work or at a seminar.

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207 to 1273) is considered one of the most important Persian-language poets of the Middle Ages and a co-founder of Islamic mysticism. He was born in Balkh, in present-day Afghanistan, and lived and worked until his death in Konya, in present-day Turkey. In his time, Anatolia was known in the Islamic world as Rum, meaning ‘Rome’, to distinguish it from the Byzantine Empire. This is the origin of his epithet Rumi, ‘the Roman’. The Mevlevi order of dervishes traces its origins to him, and his followers called and still call him Mevlana, meaning lord or master.

The bag itself measures 38 x 42 cm and has long, 70 cm handles, so you can carry it over your shoulder as well as in your hand. It can be washed at up to 40 degrees, making stains easy to remove.