Arise and Unfurl the Skirt of Love

The question before this article is this: in a disenchanted modern world where science and religion have grown modest, seeking unassailable certainty appears exceedingly difficult; man considers himself far more autonomous and rights-bearing than in the past, and not only have the means and ends of this world been transformed for him, but he also has new conceptions and affirmations before his eyes; and on the other hand, with the transformation of human understanding of cosmology, space has become exceedingly cramped for the dense and complex Platonic metaphysics—how can a spiritual and mystical wayfaring be delineated and its components sought?

Arise and Unfurl the Skirt of Love

An Introduction to Spiritual and Mystical Wayfaring in the Modern World (1)

Ali Sanayei

University of Hamburg, Germany

Wherever your thought goes, it will then draw you there

Pass beyond thought, like destiny be the vanguard, be the vanguard^*

1. Statement of the Problem

The modern world differs from the old world not only in means and instruments, as well as in ends and goals, but also profoundly in concepts and presuppositions. In general, the principal characteristic of this transition and phase change can be sought in matters that appeared natural and normative in the past world, yet in the new world have become unnatural and exceptional. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which places its emphatic finger on the rights-bearing nature of modern man, is also among the prominent manifestations of the difference between the new and old worlds [1]. Likewise, contemporary man’s understanding of the empirical and human sciences as codified research programs that are put to the test, evolve, and are criticized, challenged, rejected, or accepted by the scientific community, along with the advent of critical rationality [2] and the constriction of space for naïve realism [3], has made the place exceedingly tight for unassailable certainty and the grasping of truth. Moreover, the evolution of modern physics and the emergence of Newtonian mechanical theory, followed by quantum mechanics, as well as the theories of special and general relativity and the concept of space-time curvature—which has led to a transformation in human understanding of the concept of gravity and cosmology—has greatly diminished modern man’s sympathy with the complex Platonic metaphysics [4] that is in harmony with Ptolemaic cosmology [5].

The question before this article is this: in a disenchanted modern world where science and religion have grown modest, seeking unassailable certainty appears exceedingly difficult; man considers himself far more autonomous and rights-bearing than in the past, and not only have the means and ends of this world been transformed for him, but he also has new conceptions and affirmations before his eyes; and on the other hand, with the transformation of human understanding of cosmology, space has become exceedingly cramped for the dense and complex Platonic metaphysics—how can a spiritual and mystical wayfaring be delineated and its components sought?

Among the contemporary religious thinkers and intellectuals who, with attention to the rupture between the old and new worlds, have delineated spiritual and mystical wayfaring and its obstacles and motivations, one can mention Muhammad Iqbal Lahori, Abdolkarim Soroush, and Soroush Dabbagh. Iqbal Lahori, who regarded human will and free choice as highly prominent and important, devoted himself to outlining a choice-centered mysticism and, by emphasizing the knowledge of the “self,” subjected Platonic thought and the weighty and dense concepts of Islamic mysticism (such as the concept of annihilation) — of which interpretations incompatible with human will and free choice have been presented in the history of Sufism — to critique and discussion; and instead of speaking of dissolution in God, he placed the accent on the deification of human existence and its qualification with the attributes of the Creator (and, in the first place, free choice) [6]. Abdolkarim Soroush’s project of religious intellectualism, which is called the revival and renewal of the Mu‘tazilite experience, seeks to reconcile eternity and change by distinguishing between religion and religious knowledge and critiquing and reviving it from the perspective and standpoint of the modern world and rationality [7]. In the same vein, Soroush Dabbagh, by looking at the weighty tradition of mystical wayfaring in the pre-modern era (classical mysticism) from the viewpoint of the new world and emphasizing its theoretical components and constituents, has devoted himself to outlining a schema of spiritual wayfaring in the new world, enumerating its ontological, epistemological, and anthropological aspects, and attending to the modern wayfarer’s understanding of ethics, politics, and the devotional rulings of jurisprudence. On this basis, he has tried to refine his reading of existential concepts [8] such as sorrow, death, supplication and prayer, and so forth [9].

In any case, in response to the question we posed earlier, in this article I intend to examine my own understanding of spiritual and mystical wayfaring in the modern world and to explore its limits and boundaries to the best of my ability. From the author’s perspective, the fundamental principle of spiritual and mystical wayfaring in the new world is “self-knowledge,” which I will address in this article according to my own understanding and conception. Subsequently, and based on this principle, I will present my reading of the weighty concept of love, its therapeutic role, as well as a novel reading of the weighty concepts of classical mysticism such as “poverty,” “annihilation,” and “submission.” Further on, departing from sympathy with Platonic and Neoplatonic ontological dualism [10] and adopting a minimalist metaphysics [11], I will examine the relationship between mystical wayfaring and religiosity. In this regard and in this article, I will examine the modern wayfarer’s understanding of the formless, the Prophet, and prophetic experiences, and I will leave the relationship of modern mysticism (as opposed to classical mysticism) with ethics and jurisprudence to independent articles. I will also try to clarify my sympathies with and criticisms of Soroush Dabbagh’s project, insofar as it relates to the subject of this article.

2. Self-Knowledge: The Fundamental Principle of Spiritual and Mystical Wayfaring

2-1. The discussion of self-knowledge, due to the dynamism and complexity of the human being, has always been a difficult and extensive one, and is generally intertwined with the examination and scrutiny of theories in psychology [12], anthropology [13], and neuroscience [14]. In this article, entering into any of the aforementioned theories is not intended; rather, the author wishes to emphasize the point that equipping oneself with theory and presupposition in order to step into the sea of practical self-knowledge is not only undesirable, but a blight upon knowing. This is because looking at oneself through the lens of any theory will, in truth, be looking at the author of that theory, which in practice will not lead to self-knowledge and may, at most, lead to knowledge of that theorist's views about the human being [15]. On the other hand, one must also be mindful of the point that stepping onto the path of self-knowledge at the outset, without the interference of thought and any mental image, presupposition, or theory, is in truth a superhuman or impossible task; for the breaking of the enclosure of mental images and presuppositions occurs continuously along the course of self-knowledge. I also note that our meaning of the blight of equipping oneself with presuppositions and theories pertains only to the domain of practical self-knowledge, and its extension to epistemology, the natural sciences, the humanities, and the social sciences—all of which are intertwined with experience [16] and mathematics—is not only undesirable but impossible. Therefore, although studying the human being and their psyche based on theories of psychology, anthropology, and neuroscience is a worthy, useful, and necessary endeavor, it is not our purpose in this article; rather, our purpose in this writing is practical self-knowledge, the possibility of which for any human being does not depend on the extent of their knowledge of those sciences.

2-2. Knowing oneself only takes place in relationship and interaction with other human beings, opinions, other creatures, and objects. This is because in relationship and interaction, a person manifests reactions, and careful attention to those reactions aids them in greater knowing. Interaction with other human beings, creatures, and objects is like beating a stick upon a dusty felt, by means of which the habits ingrained in the soul can be shaken out and observed:

The stick a man struck upon the felt,

He struck it not upon the felt, but upon the dust [17].

Observing the reactions that are either of the nature of thought, deed, or speech, and which manifest in interaction with others, is of great importance. This observation will be illuminating when it is free from any valuation, prejudice, image-making, and comparison, and also when the desire to reach any conclusion does not ripple within it.

On the other hand, in interaction with others and based on the reactions they manifest, a person usually begins to think, engages in image-making of those events, and thereafter substitutes those fabricated images for that human being, that idea and opinion, or that creature, and uses them as a presupposition for subsequent interactions. In other words, from a fluid, dynamic, and kinetic phenomenon, a person selects momentary, static, and fixed images. For example, when we look at water, we are in fact looking at it based on the images we have made of it and stored in the storehouse of the mind. A physicist or chemist sees water as a collection of hydrogen and oxygen molecules and has before their eyes each of its constituent atoms, how and based on the resultant of what forces they sit beside one another; a physician, in addition to its molecular structure, also pays special attention to its function in the body; a person who has little knowledge of those sciences merely looks at a liquid that is colorless and odorless and boils or freezes at a specific temperature; and of course, all of them, regardless of the extent of their knowledge, consider water to be a quencher of thirst. Thus, water has a specific meaning, concept, and image for each [18]. Now imagine a person stranded in a desert, with a stream of water flowing beside them and the possibility of quenching their thirst from it readily available, yet they are unable to see that clear, flowing water and therefore, impatiently and restlessly, they set out in search of water and relief from thirst. In this seeking and searching, they encounter many mirages that have no external existence in reality, and upon realizing the non-correspondence of a mirage (an image of water) with prior mental images and definitions of water, they become weary, distressed, and more restless than before, rushing off in pursuit of another mirage; in the words of Rumi:

You lie asleep on a riverbank, your lips parched,

You run toward a mirage in your quest.

You see the mirage from afar and run,

You fall in love with that vision of your own.

In your sleep, you boast to your companions,

That I am the one with a visionary heart, the unveiler of mysteries.

Look, I saw water over there, come, hurry,

So we may go there, though it be a mirage [19];

Rumi teaches us that the existence of the multiple images and various mirages hidden in the mind's waterskin, in truth, veils that clear, flowing water and causes us to direct all our energy toward chasing those mirages, leaving us thirstier, wearier, more restless, and more bewildered in our search for water. Even our resolve and quest to find water is itself a mirage and a new image piled upon those prior mental images, leading us astray and making us imagine the water that is but a step away to be leagues distant:

He goes where there is a scent of water,

By this thinking, he blocks the path upon himself.

The very essence of that resolve of yours has become a veil to this,

Which has joined you and arrived.

Many a person makes a resolve toward a place,

From a station where that object of desire was present.

The vision and boast of the sleeper are of no use,

It is nothing but fantasy, let go of it.

The sleeper's thought, whether twofold or threefold,

Is error upon error upon error.

The wave strikes him without respite,

The sleeper, running in the vast desert.

The sleeper sees intense thirsts,

While water is nearer to him than his jugular vein [20].

In our interactions with other humans and beings, we also engage in thinking and create images of them. Before interacting with them, we harbor expectations of certain behaviors, and we encounter people with those pre-fabricated images and enter into interaction; our reactions in relationships and interactions with other beings are, in truth, shaped based on the correspondence or lack thereof between their behavior and our initial images, are evaluated, and lead to the construction of new images and patterns that will participate in our subsequent interactions. In other words, we constantly pile up multiple static images to use them in understanding dynamic phenomena. The things that play a role in our interactions and relationships and confront one another are our thoughts and mental patterns; therefore, we are always traversing past memories and tend to build patterns from them to understand and evaluate the event that is currently unfolding. It is as if we are perpetually trapped in an unknown and endless cycle, and for this reason we become weary and seek to break that cycle and escape from it to attain liberation, unaware that with the desire and quest for liberation, we are, in truth, pouring water upon that cycle and increasing its speed.

2-3. Apart from examining the mechanism of thought, the human being is himself aware that his reflection and thought engage in image-making and pattern-building, turning a new and dynamic phenomenon into old and static images and patterns, and in his daily interactions with others, he constantly seeks aid from those images and patterns. In Rumi's interpretation, thought is like the "false dawn" by means of which the human being, from a new and fluid phenomenon called the "true dawn," extracts dead and static images and representations and preserves them in the mind's waterskin so that through them he might recognize the true dawn [21]; but he is unaware that those images and representations deprive him of the true dawn, which is but a step away from him, and thus he seizes the false dawn, which is merely a dead representation of the true dawn.

Now, by reflecting on the process of image-making and the role of thought within it, we can pose another question: why does thought create images and patterns in the first place, and why, in encountering others and other phenomena, does a person seek aid from prior mental images and presuppositions in order to attain knowledge through them? In answer to this question, one could draw upon various theories of psychology and neuroscience, or engage philosophically with the mind-body interaction [22]; however, since our aim in this section is to delve into practical self-knowledge, engaging with those theories will not be helpful, for proposing any answer (whether a psychological answer, one based on neuroscience, or a philosophical answer) itself requires the direct intervention of thought and thinking, and thus all are of the same kind as mental images and patterns. By reflecting on this, it is as if we have sat down to watch the stream of thought and the mind's image-making from a higher level, and if previously no distance was conceivable between the person and thought, and the person was considered identical with thinking, now observing the stream of thought has become possible.

One can deepen this awareness of the stream of thought and ask: who is it that observes the stream of thought, and what is their relationship to those constructed mental images and patterns? In other words, and based on the allegory we earlier borrowed from Rumi, we understood that the person sitting beside the stream does not perceive that flowing water, and so, out of extreme thirst and based on the images and presuppositions of water stored in the mind's pouch, sets out in search of it, encountering a mirage at every moment, and due to the non-correspondence of those images (mirages) with the desired mental image, becomes restless and weary and sets off after another mirage. Now, that thirsty person has realized that all those mental mirages are themselves the obstacle to perceiving and knowing water, and prevent them from finding the flowing stream. This realization compels them to break the chain of mental mirages in order to become capable of receiving and discovering the stream. Here, a subtle point can be discovered: a contradiction lies hidden between those mental images and patterns of water on the one hand, and the desire to shatter them all in order to empty the mind's pouch on the other. In truth, we are faced here with two series of contradictory mental images: one, the images (mirages) that the mind had previously constructed of water, and the other, the new image that itself nurtures the desire to erase those prior images. To better understand this contradiction, we return to the question posed a while ago: who is it that looks upon those mirages, what is their relationship to those mirages, and why, like a sleeper, are they unable to perceive the flowing water that is but a step away?

The sleeper sees intense thirsts,

While water is nearer to him than the jugular vein;

That spectator who sets about selecting mental mirages from the flowing water, sits in judgment and evaluation of them, and in their own opinion distinguishes the genuine from the spurious, suppresses some, makes changes in some, and then resolves that in order to find the flowing water and be quenched by it, they must shatter all those mirages and be rid of them—this spectator is, in truth, itself a reaction to all those mental images and is itself the agent provoking that hidden contradiction. In other words, all mental images and patterns for knowing phenomena are, in reality, the very thinking and thought of the person, whose origin is past memories. On the other hand, the evaluation of those images, distinguishing the genuine from the spurious, suppressing them, and even the desire to be free of them, is itself a new thought and thinking that not only does not lead to liberation, but helps to thicken the obstacles and veils. Moreover, that observer who watches thought and the stream of thinking, and intends to set aside some, take up others, and even resolves to be free of them all, is also of the nature of thought itself. From this perspective, this contest has only one player, and that is the very thought and thinking of the person; and in this state:

The glass was one, but to his eye appeared as two;

When he broke the glass, there was no other [23];

In such a state, the stream of thought turns toward stillness and the whisper of thought is transformed into silence, and it is as if the mind experiences a passive quality [24]; because, in Krishnamurti’s terms, the quality of choosing is no longer conceivable for it [25] and for this reason, no contradiction whatsoever lies hidden in that state, and therefore this quality will be accompanied by deep alertness and attention. In Rumi’s expression, such a quality is synonymous with casting off the garment of reflection and thought, becoming naked of them and exposing oneself to the sun of awareness:

Cast off the garment of reflection and thoughts,

For the sun shines only upon the naked [26];

2-4. When the dust of thought has settled and the battlefield of mental images has turned to stillness and silence and the sun of awareness shines more brightly, then that flowing stream which was but a step away is revealed and the thirsty person “understands” the water. Such a person, in Rumi’s expression, is “the son of the moment” [27], because he has set fire to the thicket of thoughts [28] and does not approach new and dynamic phenomena with dead and static patterns and images, and hence, the world is renewed for him with every breath [29], life for him “arrives ever anew” [30], and in Sepehri’s words, he dwells in the “pool of the now” [31].

To understand the “now” and to be present in the “present” and to deepen awareness, one must always abide in the quality of meditation [32]; meaning that one observes one’s reactions in interaction with other beings and objects as “what is” and accepts them [33]. In such an observation, there is no evaluation, valuation, desire, or seeking, and therefore it is free of any contradiction [34]. Such an observation of reactions and the stream of thought is like burnishing the soul, and one can become more present in the “present,” perceive the ever-new arrival of life, and grant greater depth to one’s awareness. For this reason, no end or beginning is conceivable for such a process, and it is always in flux:

This court is the Presence of the Infinite,

Leave the beginning; the beginning is your way [35].

At the end of this section, I wish to emphasize the point that meditation, in the sense described, takes place everywhere and at all times; from the breeze that caresses the face or the scent of a flower that perfumes the air to daily interactions and affairs at home and outside it, sitting on the metro and bus, attending class and exams, buying and selling, research and teaching, etc., in all of these one can be present in the quality of meditation and engage in understanding the stream of thought, deepening awareness, and self-knowledge. Therefore, meditation and self-knowledge require neither seclusion and forty-day retreats nor even the search for a spiritual guide, master, or sheikh whose existence, in Ghazali’s words, is rarer than the water of life [36]. In meditation and self-knowledge, the one who is one’s guide is oneself, who undertakes to watch one’s own reactions in interaction with other humans, nature, and objects, and engages in understanding the process of thought and presence in the “present.” For this reason, spiritual and mystical wayfaring in the modern world not only does not reject the material world and regard it as a prison, but rather the very channel of self-knowledge and wayfaring is this world and the environment surrounding the individual.

3. The Sober Lover

3-1. The concept of “love” is among the most frequent concepts used in literature, and mystics have spoken of it extensively. Farid ud-Din Attar of Nishapur considered all the atoms of the universe to be drunk with love:

All the atoms of the universe are drunk with love,

Bewildered between negation and affirmation [37];

Jalal ud-Din Muhammad Balkhi (Rumi) considered love to possess a healing role that purifies a person of every flaw:

Whoever’s garment is rent by a love,

He is wholly purified of greed and flaw [38];

Saadi considered the tale of love to be the only possible speech in this world and called anything else mere prattle:

Speak not of aught but love, Saadi,

Speech is love, and all else is prattle [39];

Hafez considered love to be the purpose of existence and therefore called upon everyone to love:

Become a lover, or else one day the work of the world will end,

The design of purpose unread from the workshop of being [40].

Hafez’s last statement raises an important question: what is meant by “become a lover,” and what is the quality of love? Another question that has always arisen is: who is the object of love? Is it the formless God, or the earthly human, or both? For this reason, there is always talk of mystical love, romantic love, Platonic love, existential love, and so on [41], so that they can be distinguished from one another depending on the object of love. The author of this article does not sympathize with these classifications, and therefore, in what follows, based on the concept of self-knowledge explained earlier, the concept of love will be addressed briefly.

3-2. As we have explained, based on their knowledge, presuppositions, and mental models—all of which are rooted in memories and the past—human beings set out to know dynamic phenomena, create static images and models from them, and analyze, evaluate, and assign value to them in order to benefit from them in subsequent encounters. All these mental images and models originate from human thought and thinking, and in this process, as was indicated, a contradiction lies hidden between previous images and recent images. Only by observing the process of one’s own thinking can a person realize that the sole player in this arena is thought. In this state, one casts off the garment of thought and thinking, that hidden contradiction is removed, the mind becomes calm, bestows greater depth upon awareness, becomes present in the “now,” understands it, and lives within it. Love is a quality experienced in such a space, and for this reason, it is neither possession, nor a kind of feeling, nor is it attained through desire and purpose; for in possession, feeling, and desire, thought is in motion, and therefore a contradiction always lies hidden between mental images and models. In love, there is no contradiction, and thus love is beyond thought:

When your love arrived, thought died before it;

Your love is the true dawn, thought the false dawn [42];

For this reason, no pleasure arising from feeling can be compared to it, and in Attar’s words, love is beyond pleasure:

What does one who does not know the pleasure of love know of it?

For the lover’s pleasure is beyond pleasures [43];

Such a quality, which arrives with the cessation of thought and the calming of the mind, suddenly, and immerses a person like a fish in the sea of awareness and attention, cannot be described by any words or definitions, because words arise from thought, but love is beyond thought, and for this reason, wordless love seems sweeter [44]. For this reason, no object can be conceived for love so that it could thereby be divided into various types (mystical love, Platonic love, romantic love, …).

To the extent that a person can, through self-knowledge, bestow greater depth upon awareness and attention, to that same extent they have cast fire into the thicket of thoughts and grown more distant from illusions and images. Such a quality, which is far from images and illusions, is in truth entirely light and fits into no word or thought:

Far from all illusions and images,

Light of light of light of light of light of light [45];

For this reason, love can also be considered synonymous with “poverty,” and the secret of why Rumi’s Masnavi is, on the one hand, called a book of self-knowledge [46] and, on the other hand, is characterized as the “shop of poverty” now becomes clear:

Every shop has a different trade,

The Masnavi is the shop of poverty, O son [47];

«دکّان فقر» از نظرگاه مولانا راهی است که دربردارنده همه زیبایی‌هاست [48] و بر خلاف راه‌های دیگر که آدمی به قصد مقصود و طلب مطلوبی پای در آن می‌نهد و به اقتضای برآورده نشدن آن و یا عدم تطابق محصول با تصویر ذهنیِ مفروض دچار بی‌قرای [49] و بی‌مُرادی [50] می‌گردد، «هیچ کس در این راه نرفت که شکایت کرد [51].» مفهوم فقر از بنیادی‌ترین مفاهیم عرفان کلاسیک است که در طول تاریخ، تفاسیر مخرّب و خانمان‌سوزی از آن به دست داده شده که با اراده و اختیار آدمی به شدت ناسازگار است. در حالی که می‌توان بر اساس اصل خود‌شناسی و درک و تماشای جریان اندیشه و حضور در «اکنون»، قرائت نوینی از فقر به دست داد که کیفیتی سراسر هوشیاری و توجّه قلمداد می‌گردد. در چنین کیفیتی، گرچه ذهن آدمی منفعل است، بدین معنی که از هرگونه وهم و تصویر و اندیشه فقیر گشته، لیکن چنین کیفیتی ملازم با هشیاری و آگاهی است و این نه تنها با اراده و اختیار آدمی ناسازگار نیست، بل اراده و اختیار آدمی مدخلیتی تام در آن دارد. به همین سبب و به تعبیر عطار، عاشق، هوشیار است [52]، و به تعبیر کریشنامورتی، عاشق در چنان توجّه عمیقی به سر می‌برد که همانند انسانی است که روی سَرپنجه ایستاده [53] و در حالت آماده‌باشِ کامل می‌باشد. به گمانم تعبیر «ایستادن روی سَرپنجه» را می‌توان با تعبیر «گربه در انبان بودنِ» عاشق نزد مولانا مترادف دانست:

گربه در انبانم اندر دستِ عشق

یک‌دَمی بالا و یک‌دَم پستِ عشق [54].

3-3. کیفیت بی‌چونی که با خودشناسی درمی‌رسد و آن را عشق یا فقر می‌خوانیم که سراسر آگاهی، هوشیاری و توجّه است، می‌تواند به «بی‌خودی» نیز تعبیر گردد. مراد ما از «خود» [55] در اینجا در واقع همان واکنش‌ها، اوهام، تصاویر، پیش‌فرض‌ها، الگوهای ذهنی و در یک کلام، همان اندیشه و تفکر آدمی است. مادامی که آدمی، به تعبیر اِکهارت تُله، با اندیشه خویش متحد گشته [56] و خود را عینِ اندیشه می‌داند، در بند تصاویر و تضادهای نهانی گرفتار خواهد بود، و لذا بی‌قرار و بی‌مُراد و همچو خزان افسرده خواهد نشست [57] و بویی از عشق و آگاهی به مشامش نخواهد رسید. اما هنگامی که آدمی توانست به روند اندیشه خویش بنگرد، آنچه را که هست بدون داوری بپذیرد [58]، از اوهام و تصاویر به‌درآید و اصطلاحاً «بی‌خود» گردد، در آن صورت، حقیقت و عشق به سوی او هجوم می‌آورد و وجود او سراسر آگاهی و توجّه می‌گردد.

سخن که به «خودی» و «بی‌خودی» رسید، جای دارد در باب مفهوم فنا که یکی از مفاهیم فربه و پربسامد عرفان کلاسیک می‌باشد، اندکی تأمل نماییم. این مفهوم نزد پاره‌ای از اهل تصوّف چنان فهم می‌گردد که گویی وجود آدمی هنگامی به دُرّی ثمین بدل می‌شود که هیچِ هیچ گردد، و بلندی و رفعت از آنِ کسی است که خود را در برابر هستی (وجود)‌، حقیر و پست ببیند. به عنوان نمونه، این ابیات مشهور سعدی، مستعدّ چنین فهمی از مفهوم فناست:

یکی قطره باران ز ابری چکید

خجل شد چو پهنای دریا بدید

که جایی که دریاست من کیستم؟

گر او هست حقّا که من نیستم

چو خود را به چشمِ حقارت بدید

صدف در کنارش به جان پرورید

سپهرش به جایی رسانید کار

که شد نامور لؤلؤ شاهوار

بلندی از آن یافت کو پست شد

دَرِ نیستی کوفت تا هست شد [59]؛

اقبال لاهوری، از نخستین احیاگران و روشنفکران دینی که بر عنصر اراده و اختیار آدمی انگشت تأکید می‌نهاد، چنین درکی را بسیار ناصواب و خانمان‌سوز می‌دانست و دلیرانه بر آن می‌شورید و لذا در پاسخ سعدی چنین می‌گفت:

مرا معنی تازه‌ای مدّعاست

اگر گفته را باز گویم رواست:

«یکی قطره باران ز ابری چکید

خجل شد چو پهنای دریا بدید

که جایی که دریاست من کیستم؟

گر او هست حقا که من نیستم»

و لیکن ز دریا برآمد خروش

Do not hide your face out of shame for your frailty,

You have beheld the spectacle of dusk and dawn,

You have seen the meadow, the plain, and the valley,

Upon a blade of grass on the shoulder of a cloud,

You have gleamed from the ray of the sun,

At times, a companion to the thirsty ones of the meadow,

At times, a confidant to the rent-chested ones of the garden,

At times, sleeping in the vine, melting your strength,

At times, sleeping in the dust, without fire or harmony,

You are born of the light-traveling wave,

Born of me, you have fallen into me,

Rest in the solitude of my breast,

Like a shining essence within my mirror,

Become a pearl, live in the embrace of the deep sea,

Live more luminous than the moon and the stars [60];

Iqbal holds that what elevates a person to sublimity and the luminous zenith is not abasement and lowliness before existence; rather, since the human being is themselves an intimate of existence, they possess dignity, will, and agency, and have no affinity with abasement and lowliness. For this reason, the path of nearness and union passes through the "self," not by considering human existence an obstacle to perceiving existence. Here, based on the principle of self-knowledge, we too may call the stepping out of the "self" (read: thought) and into "selflessness" (read: awareness and attention) fanā (annihilation). Such a reading of that weighty concept of classical mysticism is both compatible with human will and agency and in harmony with Iqbal's view [61].

3-4. With the explanation given of self-knowledge and love, it can now be understood why love is a healer, and, in Rumi's words, the remedy for pride and honor, and the physician of all ailments. For this purpose, I would like to begin with an example and, by looking at my own reactions in interaction with other humans and objects, reflect a little upon greed and covetousness:

When my concern and striving are devoted to acquiring wealth and riches, I ask myself whether it is merely money, wealth, and a large income that matter to me, or whether my attention is directed toward their effects and consequences. By observing my own thoughts and actions, I discover that the act of accumulating wealth is devoid of importance for me and may even appear tedious; what matters to me are its effects and consequences, such as power, fame, and, in my own estimation, comfort, freedom, and a kind of sense of security and inner satisfaction. Thus, I have embarked on the accumulation of wealth with certain presuppositions, and from money and riches I have derived multiple images—such as power, freedom, a sense of security, and satisfaction—and substituted them in their place. In the course of amassing wealth, and upon the non-correspondence of some of the prior images with the new images I derive from events, I sit in judgment over those images and constructed patterns, eliminating some, modifying others, or adding new images to that collection. Likewise, whenever I grow weary of this process and inner struggle and wish to “suppress” those feelings in order to be rid of them, I have, in truth, through this desire and wish, resorted to a new image and pattern that stands in contradiction to the previous images. Now I ask myself why I have resorted to fabricating all these illusions and images. Note that arriving at this question is itself a great and important step in understanding and should not be underestimated. By posing this question to myself, I have in fact realized that I have substituted static and frozen images in place of dynamic and fluid phenomena, and I have also realized that the agent producing these images is my own thought and thinking, and I have also become aware that the existence of these images has become an obstacle to understanding and encountering those phenomena. The next question I place before myself is this: why does thinking and thought set about constructing those images, and what is the factor that observes these images and sits in judgment among them? I discover that any answer to this question of why thought engages in image-making is, in truth, proposed by my own thought and thinking, and therefore my answer itself adds a new image to the old, prior images. I also discover that it is my thought and thinking that sits in judgment among the various images and undertakes the evaluation and separation of the genuine from the spurious. Hence, I discover that this contest has only one player, and that is my own thought and thinking. With a deep realization of this subtle point, the tumult of thought and thinking subsides into stillness, and one discovers that one is no longer identified with one’s thought, for one has become capable of observing it from a loftier perspective. Here, a profound awareness, attention, and alertness comes upon one; one becomes “free”; one steps from “selfhood” into “selflessness,” and, as was stated earlier, in such a formless space one is overcome by love and poverty. In such a space, nothing by the name of greed and avarice remains, for they were, in truth, nothing other than one’s thought and thinking, and when the waves of thinking turn toward the shore of stillness and one, in Eckhart Tolle’s phrase, listens to the inner whisper [62] and becomes present in the “Now,” greed and avarice also pack their bags. For this reason, love is the only remedy for greed and avarice and, in general, for all maladies. Here, contrary to those among the Sufis who emphasize the suppression of desires, I hold that through self-knowledge one can sit and watch “what is,” and when the stream of thinking turns toward the shore of stillness and one becomes a conscious lover, no rebellion remains that one would need to set about suppressing.

4. Self-Knowledge and Experiential-Mystical Religiosity

4-1. In general, the effort to categorize the types of religious practice and to distinguish its varieties from one another not only narrows the path for logical fallacies but also sheds light upon the rich concept of religiosity so that it may be viewed ever more clearly and from different perspectives. This matter appears necessary for religious intellectuals who both feel the pain of religion and are open to modern epistemic achievements, and who wish to understand the motives for and obstacles to religiosity in the present age and to demonstrate a cleansing of those obstacles.

In this regard, a mystic and religious reviver like Imam Muhammad al-Ghazali, who lived within the thick tradition of classical mysticism, essentially had three conceptions of religiosity before him: jurisprudence-based religiosity, ethics-based religiosity, and mystical religiosity, which sits above the other two. Such a classification extends to acts of worship in Ghazali's works as well; for example, regarding fasting, Ghazali posits three ranks [63]: the fast of the common people, whose aim is the preservation of the belly and the private parts, and whose conditions of validity and invalidity are set out in jurisprudence; the fast of the elect, in which, besides preserving the belly and private parts, all of a person's limbs are restrained from improper action; and since, from Ghazali's perspective, every movement issuing from a person's limbs creates a disposition within them that becomes their companion, and these dispositions are called ethics [64], the fast of the elect is therefore a fast based on ethical principles and sits above the first category; and finally, the third and highest rank, which is called the fast of the elect of the elect, whose aim is to guard the heart from any thought other than the divine; in this rank of fasting, it is as if the entire being of the fasting person is filled with God, and Ghazali holds that this last category is specific to the prophets and those who have become partakers of the tastes of prophetic experiences.

A relatively similar classification can also be found in the Masnavi; in the story of the people of Sheba in the third book of the Masnavi, Rumi enumerates three categories of principles, which are doctrinal principles, ethical principles, and finally the third category, which is the principles of self-knowledge, sitting above the other principles and considered the soul of all sciences:

The soul of all sciences is this, just this:

That you know who you are on the Day of Judgment.

You knew those principles of religion, but

Look to your own principle, if it is good.

Of your two principles, your own principle is better,

That you know your own principle, O great man [65];

Among contemporary philosophers and religious intellectuals, Abdolkarim Soroush has also offered another classification for religious practice, which, although similar to the classifications of Ghazali and Rumi, does not entirely correspond to them and contains novel points [66]. In this classification, a religiosity in which worldly or otherworldly ends, expediencies, and results are set before the eyes of the religious person is called expediency-oriented religiosity, which itself is divided into two branches: vulgar and scholarly (world-oriented and afterlife-oriented). In vulgar expediency-oriented religiosity, a person has chosen a religion for a cause (and not a reason), and since the measure and criterion therein is the quantity and volume of the religious person's deeds, law, jurisprudence, imitation, and emotion therefore sit at the forefront. In scholarly expediency-oriented religiosity, either concepts from jurisprudence and ethics are selected to order the world and politics (world-oriented), or jurisprudence and ethics are all thought to possess hidden expediencies and have unseen, mysterious ends, the secret of all of which is unveiled in the afterlife (afterlife-oriented). The second category is called knowledge-oriented religiosity, in which theoretical reason is central, and thus we encounter multiple and diverse understandings and interpretations of religion. For this reason, knowledge-oriented religiosity is both communal and pluralistic, as well as fluid and dynamic. The third category is called experience-oriented religiosity, in which God is not a problem but a majestic Beloved [67]; the Prophet therein is not merely the commander and forbidder of jurisprudential rulings, but the caravan leader and the exemplar of prophetic experiences, and following him is considered partaking in his experiences and expanding them (each according to their rank). Since in this type of religious practice, unveiling, witnessing, and taste are experiences possessing primary epistemology [68], the window of this religiosity is therefore wide open to the pluralism of salvation [69].

From comparing the types of religiosity in Ghazali and Soroush, it can be understood that both, drawing on classical mysticism, emphasize a type of religiosity whose essence is being filled with divine thought and partaking in and expanding prophetic experiences, and from comparing these two with Rumi's classification, we realize that what is meant by being filled with divine thought and becoming a partaker of the Prophet's tastes is, in truth, self-knowledge.

As explained, spiritual wayfaring in the modern world, in the author’s view, is based on the principle of self-knowledge, and this article has endeavored to present the author’s understanding of that principle. According to this reading, such wayfaring is not logically dependent on the acceptance of any particular religion, and human beings who, for whatever reason, have not given their hearts to any religion can still organize their spiritual wayfaring in the present age on the basis of the principle of self-knowledge. However, I wish to further examine the relationship between spiritual wayfaring and religiosity in the modern world. For this reason, and in order to avoid ambiguity, I shall call the “spiritual wayfaring” of a person who has given their heart to a religion “mystical wayfaring.” I wish to emphasize that I intend no semantic weight whatsoever by this designation, and it is solely for the sake of avoiding ambiguity in the explanations that follow. At any rate, the question before the author is this: given the principle of self-knowledge, which was explained in detail above, what relationship exists between mystical wayfaring and religiosity in the modern world, and what understanding will the modern wayfarer, who is not particularly enamored of Platonic metaphysics, have of God, the Prophet, prophetic experience and its mechanism, ethics, jurisprudence, and politics? In what follows, I shall attempt to examine the modern wayfarer’s understanding of God, the Prophet, and prophetic experience, and I will examine the discussion of the mechanism of religious experience, ethics, jurisprudence, and politics in separate, independent articles.

4-2. Mystical wayfaring (the spiritual wayfaring of the religious individual) in the present age has a close connection with knowledge-oriented and experience-oriented religiosity. The ontological aspect of such wayfaring is, in Soroush Dabbagh’s phrase, realistic [70]. In other words, mystical wayfaring unveils the formless existence and the transcendent, supra-categorical Truth [71] whose manifestations and determinations are independent of the wayfarer. In the author’s view, the encounter with the formless begins with self-knowledge, and the more a person deepens their self-knowledge and awareness (according to the explanation given above), the more they set fire to the thicket of thoughts, melting away more images and forms within it. Moreover, as previously explained, no beginning or end can be conceived for self-knowledge and meditation; the implication of this statement is that, firstly, the encounter with the formless, or religious and mystical experiences, are endless, and for this reason, no pure mystical or religious experience exists. Secondly, the encounter with the formless—which is preceded by a minimal and meager metaphysics [72] in which the wayfarer has given their heart to a particular religion—occurs at various levels. In other words, to the extent that mental images and illusions, which are the very waves of human thought, approach the shore of tranquility and the human being becomes present in the “now” and deepens their awareness, to that same extent religious and mystical experiences tend toward greater depth [73]. For this reason, for example, the wayfarer at one point engages in supplication and dialogue, at another point a deep silence envelops them and they speak “wordlessly” [74], at one point they descend into contraction, and at another point they rise into rapture and ecstasy.

I would also like to emphasize the point that talk of “the Transcendent,” “the supra-categorial Truth,” “God,” … are in fact all expressions tinged with human thought and thinking, upon which numerous mental images have been loaded, and man, in the words of the Torah, all too often takes the name of the Lord in vain [75]. For this reason, a modern wayfarer such as Eckhart Tolle substitutes the word “Being” [76], which also has a philosophical hue, for “God,” so as to be able to free himself, to some extent, from the many constraints and mental images that have been imposed upon it [77]. On the theoretical plane, there is no escape from such appellations and allusions, but one must pay attention to the fact that the encounter with the Transcendent and the supra-categorial Truth (or whatever other expression one may use for it) is entirely alien to the flow of human thought and mind. In other words, it is that Truth which turns toward the human being, and such a disclosure occurs in deep awareness and presence in the “Now,” when the streams of thinking and mental image-making have come to rest. Therefore, and based on the explanation previously given concerning love, the author holds that instead of the Formless, the transcendent and supra-categorial Truth, one may also avail oneself of the expression “Love”; a love that has neither an object nor a form, and the encounter with it—which passes through the path of self-knowledge—belongs to a space in which the wayfarer abides in deep awareness and attention. Such an encounter and truth, in Krishnamurti’s phrase, declares its existence moment by moment [78], and the more the wayfarer lives in the “present” and attains presence, the more depth he imparts to his encounter and experience. Hence, experientialist mystical religiosity in the contemporary world is like opening a window onto that ever-present Truth, which can be expressed as conscious loving:

The heart-ravisher is ever present at the door of the heart;

Turn your face toward the heart, be a conscious lover [79];

To put it another way, to the statement that the ontological dimension of mystical wayfaring in the modern world is realistic, another point must be added so that the boundaries of that minimal metaphysics which lies before the modern wayfarer become clearer. The conception of the relationship between the wayfarer and the Formless as two independent, distanced existents, one of which draws near to the other through wayfaring, is overly simplistic and misleading. Likewise, the conception that the wayfarer is imagined as so will-less and without agency before that formless Truth that his elevation and exaltation are made possible only through lowliness and abasement before the Formless is unacceptable. In truth, the wayfarer is not an independent existent outside the Formless who either reduces his distance from that transcendent Truth or perceives his own existence as low and abased and thereby becomes connected to Its boundless ocean. Rather, the wayfarer who has become trapped in the house of his own mind and thought, through self-knowledge and meditation, is constantly engaged in fitting windows into that house and turns his face ever more toward the sun of awareness. The wayfarer and the house of his mind are not an independent, separate existent outside that Truth, but it is merely that the smoke of thought and thinking has clouded the atmosphere, and when the foam-like streams of thinking come to rest and the wayfarer becomes immersed in the ocean of the “Now” and experiences awareness, he has in fact opened a window. In Rumi’s words:

From this smoke-filled house they opened a window;

The smoke departed and the sun of brightness entered.

What is that house? The breast, and what is that smoke? Thought;

From thinking, your joy has become broken-necked.

Wake up, be delivered from thought and from imagination;

O Lord, send our sleeping one a drum-beater [80];

And in the eloquent expression of Shaykh ʿAṭṭār, the Formless is present constantly and moment by moment, and one need only fit a window between the house of thought and the sun of awareness and turn one’s face toward the sun. The kernel of experientialist mystical religiosity in the modern world is nothing other than “making a window”:

That house which has no window is hell;

The root of religion, O servant, is making a window [81].

4-3. The modern, religious wayfarer of experiential thinking, who engages in self-knowledge and meditation and continually deepens awareness and presence in the “now,” has a particular understanding of the Prophet. He does not consider the Prophet’s primary role to be the legislator of juridical and legal rulings, for the Prophet, too, began his movement with self-knowledge and had a profound, immense, and certainty-enhancing encounter with the formless Divine. Hence, the modern wayfarer’s faith in the Prophet is not an imitative faith, but a faith preceded by loving experiences. In the wise words of Ghazālī, “It is impossible for a person to have faith in something of which he has no kindred experience; for that of which he has no exemplar, its form will not be conceivable to him [82]”; in other words, whenever there is a quality in the Prophet for which no sample exists for its attainment and understanding, a person will be unable to affirm the Prophet [83]. The implication of this statement is that self-knowledge takes precedence over knowledge of the Prophet, and the conscious affirmation of the Prophet is based on the experience of awareness and presence in the “present moment.” For this reason, the Prophet, in the view of the modern, religious wayfarer, is a reminder (mudhakkir) so that one may cast off the garment of cogitation and thought and turn one’s face toward the sun, for “if you can become naked before the sun, it is better; for that sun does not blacken, but rather whitens; and if not, at least lighten your garment so that you may taste the sun [84].” The Prophet’s mission, rooted in his immense and certainty-enhancing encounter with the formless Divine, is to remind one of the knowledge of the “self,” and the reminder of such continuous self-knowledge is, in truth, an invitation to become a co-taster with the Prophet and to turn one’s face toward the sun of awareness. Knowing the Prophet and expanding the prophetic experience are both movements that require stepping onto the path of self-knowledge, and therefore, in the present world, in the eloquent words of Shaykh al-Ishrāq, knowledge and gnosis will not remain the monopoly of any group, and the worst of times is an era in which one ceases independent effort and striving, halts the progress of knowledge, and considers the path and aperture of unveiling and witnessing to be closed [85].

4-4. At the end of this section, I deem it necessary to mention two points regarding spiritual and mystical experiences; firstly, as previously discussed, spiritual and mystical experiences have different levels and depths, and to the extent that the storm of cogitation and thought subsides and the wayfarer becomes present in the “now,” the depth of his awareness and attention increases, and the encounter with the formless Truth in mystical experiences becomes more formless and pure. Since such experiences have at least one foot in the space beyond thought and mind, they therefore require interpretation, hermeneutics, and a kind of cultural translation [86]. Also, since the formation or formalization of those experiences takes shape through the channel of the wayfarer’s mind, this matter does not require a private language [87] [88]. Secondly, I sympathize with Soroush Dabbagh that such experiences hold prima facie epistemological authority for the modern wayfarer [89]; in other words, spiritual and mystical experiences, which are attained for the wayfarer through intuitive and non-inferential perception, are placed in coherence and interaction with his other human knowledges, intuitions, and ethical principles, and through this channel, their degree of epistemological authority is increased or decreased. However, since spiritual and mystical experiences take at least one step beyond thought and mind, it seems that their interaction and coherence with the wayfarer’s other knowledges and ethical principles occur after their interpretation and hermeneutics. On the other hand, the process of interpretation and cultural translation of those experiences is itself obtained through the channel of interaction and coherence with the wayfarer’s other knowledges and principles. For this reason, there is a continuous coherence and interaction between the interpretation, hermeneutics, and cultural translation of spiritual and mystical experiences on the one hand, and the wayfarer’s other knowledges, principles, and ethical intuitions on the other; and it is in this ongoing dialogue and exchange that knowledge-oriented and experience-oriented religiosity also enter into a continuous and mutually supportive interaction.

5. Final Word

5-1. The effort of this essay was to examine, on the basis of the fundamental principle of self-knowledge, the limits and boundaries of spiritual and mystical wayfaring in a modern world where critical rationality prevails over naïve realism and Platonic ontological dualism has given way to a minimal metaphysics. According to the author’s understanding of this principle, one can look upon currents of thought and intellectual struggles and become aware that in the house of the human mind, the main actor is thinking and thought, which constantly turns novel and fluid phenomena into dead and static images and patterns, piles them up, and traps the human being in memories and images that are all rooted in the past. Looking at the stream of thought and accepting “what is” transforms that turbulence and conflict into a deep silence; the human being “understands” the “now” and becomes present in it. Stepping out of the “self” (mind) and into “selflessness” (awareness and attention) is that conscious love which, firstly, is closely tied to human will and choice, secondly, is free from any attachment, and thirdly, is the sole remedy for all ailments. Also, based on the principle of self-knowledge, novel readings of the rich concepts of classical mysticism, such as “poverty,” “surrender,” and “annihilation,” were presented that are neither rooted in the thick Platonic and Neoplatonic metaphysics nor negate human will and choice. The relationship between mystical wayfaring and experientialist religiosity was also addressed, and the modern wayfarer’s understanding of the formless Transcendent, the prophet and his role, mystical and religious experience, the denial of a private language for those experiences, their prima facie epistemological authority, and their coherence and interaction with other human knowledge and moral principles and intuitions were examined. Furthermore, according to the author’s reading of modern mysticism, although the formless Transcendent possesses a realist ontological dimension, the relationship between the wayfarer and the Transcendent, supra-categorical reality is neither like the relationship between a lowly being and a magnificent entity, nor a relationship between two independent existents where one draws closer to the other; in other words, the wayfarer is not an independent existent outside that Truth, and through self-knowledge, an opening can be made from the house of the mind to the sun of awareness and one can turn one’s face toward it. The very essence of experientialist mystical religiosity is, in truth, this “making an opening.”

5-2. It may cross the reader’s mind that the author’s reading of practical self-knowledge—which holds that one can look upon the house of one’s own mind and thought from a higher perspective so that the turbulent waves of thought turn toward the shore of calm and silence—is incompatible with life in the modern world. For example, how can a physicist, engineer, or physician who, in their daily life, deals with theories, presuppositions, experiments, and various interpretations of them and is constantly thinking and reflecting, engage in self-knowledge and spiritual or mystical wayfaring while maintaining their profession and scientific preoccupations? In response, it is necessary to emphasize the point that what was said in the preceding paragraph was solely about practical self-knowledge, and extending it to epistemology, the empirical sciences, and the human sciences is not only undesirable but impossible; for in the realm of epistemology and the empirical sciences, every observation is preceded and shaped by theories and presuppositions that are in coherence and interaction with other sciences, and the evolution of those sciences depends on established theories and research programs that are put to the test and, in this way, traverse their path of evolution and are subjected to criticism, modification, rejection, or acceptance by the scientific community. Moreover, the modern wayfarer who sits and watches the stream of thought and thinking and engages in meditation is aware that sitting in the house of the mind and using thought and thinking as an important and useful tool for knowledge in the domains of science, philosophy, and daily life is not only not blameworthy but is the very essence of rationality. The problem begins when the human being identifies themselves with the house of the mind and seeks help from it to know themselves. Spiritual and mystical wayfaring in the modern world holds that the human being is not identical with the mind and thought and can look upon all those streams from a higher perspective and experience a deep awareness and attention.

5-3. Looking into the house of the mind and thought, and the turning of the turbulence of thinking toward a deep silence, and grasping this subtle point that “the human being is not identical with thought,” besides being the essence of practical meditation and self-knowledge, can also shed light on the important, ancient, and philosophical mind-body question [90] and become a channel for a better and deeper understanding of it [91]. I hope to address this important matter in an independent article as well. Likewise, the relationship between mystical wayfaring in the modern world and ethics, jurisprudence, politics, and also the phenomenological examination of spiritual and mystical experiences are among the author’s other concerns, each of which demands separate articles.

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Notes:

*. Divan-e Shams, Ghazal no. 2131.

1) For an extensive exposition of the works of the new world, see, for example: Tradition and Secularism, pp. 1-66, The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science, and also Abdolkarim Soroush’s lectures entitled Religious Wayfaring in the Modern World, delivered at the Mawlana School.

2)   critical rationalism

3)   naïve realism

4)   It should not go unmentioned that some contemporary researchers have presented evidence from the Khosravani wisdom of ancient Iran, predating the era of Plato, which indicates a relatively similar understanding of Platonic ontological dualism. For example, see: With the Caravan of Thought and also Khosravani Wisdom.

5)   For an extensive exposition of the Ptolemaic model and the Copernican revolution, see, for example: The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science and also

T.S. Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution;

1. Koestler, The Sleepwalkers;
2. Hawking (ed.), On the Shoulders of Giants.

6) This is especially prominent in Iqbal’s poetry; for example, see: The Secrets of the Self, The Mysteries of Selflessness, Message from the East, Javid Nama, The New Garden of Mystery; see also The Lessons of Iqbal the Poet by Abdolkarim Soroush, delivered at the Mawlana School.

7)   For example, see: The Theoretical Contraction and Expansion of the Sharia, pp. 47-62.

8)   existential

9)   See: In Sepehri’s Sphere, Sepehri’s Azure Philosophy, and The Sanctuary of the Grasses of Intimacy.

1)   ontological dualism

11) minimal; throughout this article, I will endeavor to clarify my conception of such a metaphysics.

12) psychology

13) anthropology

14) neuroscience

15) Also see: Gaze in Silence, p. 23.

16) experiment

17) Masnavi, Book Three, verse 4011.

18) A philosophical and semiotic discussion is not intended here.

19) Masnavi, Book Four, verses 3227-3230.

20) Masnavi, Book Four, verses 3232-3234, 3238-3240, 3305.

21) Allusion to a verse from Ghazal 306 in Divan-e Shams: When your love entered, thought died before it / Your love is the true dawn, thought the false dawn.

22) mind-body interaction

23) Masnavi, Book One, verse 332.

24) passive

25) Gaze in Silence, p. 236.

26) Divan-e Shams, Ghazal 2073.

27) Allusion to verse 133 from Book One of the Masnavi: The Sufi is the son of the moment, O friend / Speaking of tomorrow is not a condition of the path.

28) Derived from a line in Ghazal 1 of the Divan-e Shams: O sudden resurrection, O boundless mercy / O fire kindled in the thicket of thoughts.

29) Allusion to line 1147 of the first book of the Masnavi: Every breath renews the world and we / Unaware of renewal within permanence.

30) Allusion to line 1148 of the first book of the Masnavi: Life, like a stream, arrives ever anew / Appearing continuous in the body.

31) Allusion to a passage by Sohrab Sepehri in The Sound of Water's Footsteps: Life is a dip in the pool of "now."

32) meditation

33) See also: A Gaze in Silence, p. 231, The Explanation of Life, pp. 11-18, The First and Last Liberation, pp. 265-272.

34) For this reason, engaging in life's interactions and challenges can deepen awareness. For detailed explanations on this, see:

1. Tolle, The Power of Now.

35) Masnavi, Book Three, line 1961.

36) Treatise Ayyuhal Walad, p. 44.

37) Ghazals of Attar.

38) Masnavi, Book One, line 22.

39) Ghazals of Sa'di, Ghazal 80.

40) Ghazals of Hafez.

41) For example, see: The Sanctuary of the Grasses of Kinship, pp. 198-205.

42) Divan-e Shams, Ghazal 306.

43) Ghazals of Attar, Ghazal 43.

44) Allusion to line 113 of the first book of the Masnavi: Though the commentary of the tongue is illuminating / Yet tongueless love is more luminous. See also: The Explanation of Life, pp. 212-222.

45) Masnavi, Book Six, line 2146.

46) As an example, see the prose preface Rumi wrote for the first book of the Masnavi: "This is the book of the Masnavi, and it is the roots of the roots of the roots of religion," by which he meant, in truth, the principles of self-knowledge.

47) Masnavi, Book Six, line 1525.

48) Fihi Ma Fihi, p. 173.

49) Allusion to a line from Ghazal 323 in the Divan-e Shams: All your restlessness comes from seeking rest / Become a restless seeker, so that rest may come to you.

50) Allusion to a line from Ghazal 323 in the Divan-e Shams: All your dissatisfaction comes from seeking desire / Otherwise, all desires would come to you like scattered coins.

51) Fihi Ma Fihi, p. 183.

52) Allusion to a hemistich from Ghazal 418 in the Ghazals of Attar: Turn open the door of the heart, be a sober lover.

53) to be on the toes; see: A Gaze in Silence, p. 192.

54) Masnavi, Book Six, line 908.

55) ego

56) See:

1. Tolle, The Power of Now.

57) Allusion to a hemistich from Ghazal 323 in the Divan-e Shams: That breath when you are with yourself, you are withered like autumn.

58) From the author's perspective, a new reading can also be derived from the rich concept of "submission" (taslim) in classical mysticism, which is "accepting what is, without the judgment of thought." Here I must reiterate that such a reading has been undertaken within the domain of practical self-knowledge; therefore, extending it to other domains (including politics) is a colossal and ruinous fallacy. I will discuss the relationship between spiritual and mystical wayfaring in the modern world and politics in a separate article.

59) Bustan of Sa'di, Chapter Four.

60) Iqbal Lahori, Payam-e Mashriq, The Drop of Water.

61) To avoid ambiguity, I would like to briefly point out that at least two interpretations can be derived from the “self”; one is the “self” as human thought and reflection, and the other is the “self” as a quality in which the streams of thought have been transformed into stillness; in truth, the “self” in the latter sense is the very meaning of “selflessness” that is discussed in this article.

62) See:

1. Tolle, The Power of Now.

63) The Alchemy of Happiness, The Book of the Pillars of Islam, First Pillar, Sixth Principle.

64) The Alchemy of Happiness, First Title (On Knowing One’s Own Self), Chapter Eight.

65) Masnavi, Book Three, verses 2654–2656.

66) The Ethics of the Gods, pp. 143–155 and Tradition and Secularism, pp. 129–209.

67) This interpretation is from Abdolkarim Soroush; see: The Tale of Servitude and Enchantment, p. 155.

68) prima facie justification

69) For a detailed exposition of “soteriological pluralism,” for example, see: Straight Paths.

70) In Sepehri’s Sphere, p. 100.

71) transcategorial reality

72) minimal

73) By the same analogy, spiritual wayfaring, which is not necessarily preceded by metaphysics and whose wayfarer’s heart is not bound to any one religion, also possesses inner depths and comprises various levels.

74) An allusion to verse 3097 of the first book of the Masnavi: O God, show the soul that station / where speech grows without words.

75) In the fine phrasing of one of the Ten Commandments of the Torah, do not take the name of the Lord in vain:

“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”

76) Being

77) See:

1. Tolle, The Power of Now.

78) The First and Last Liberation, p. 255.

79) Attar’s Ghazals, Ghazal 418.

80) Divan-e Shams, Tarji‘at, number 3497.

81) Masnavi, Book Three, verse 2404.

82) The Alchemy of Happiness, First Title, Chapter Fourteen.

83) For if it is a special property of the Prophet, of which you have no sample, then you will not understand it at all; how then can you believe in it? Deliverance from Error, The Truth of Prophethood and the Necessity of All Creation for It.

84) Fihi Ma Fihi, p. 188.

85) The Philosophy of Illumination, Introduction.

86) For a detailed exposition of “cultural translation,” see: The Expansion of the Prophetic Experience, pp. 29–82.

87) private language

88) For a detailed exposition of “private language,” for example, see:

1. Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations;
2. Mulhall, Wittgenstein’s Private Language.

89) In Sepehri’s Sphere, p. 81. Also see:

1. Audi, Epistemology: A Contemporary Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge.

90) mind-body problem

91) For a very brief introduction and explanation of the mind-body problem in philosophy, for example, see:

37. Nagel, What Does it All Mean?, pp. 27-37.

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References:

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2_ Ghazaliyat-e Shams-e Tabrizi, Mawlana Jalal al-Din Mohammad Balkhi, edited by Badi' al-Zaman Foruzanfar, Mo'asseseh-ye Entesharat-e Amir Kabir, 14th edition, 1376.

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11_ Resaleh Ayyuha al-Walad (Thus Spoke Ghazali), Imam Mohammad Ghazali, translated by Zahed Veysi, Nashr-e Negah-e Mo'aser, 1st edition, 1388.

12_ Hikmat al-Ishraq, Sheikh Shahab al-Din Yahya Suhrawardi, translated and commented by Dr. Seyyed Yahya Yathrebi, Bustan-e Ketab, 7th edition, 1392.

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17_ Sharh-e Zendegi, Jiddu Krishnamurti, translated by Mohammad Ja'far Mosaffa, Nashr-e Qatreh, 1st edition, 1384.

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20_ Sonnat va Secularism, Abdolkarim Soroush, Mo'asseseh-ye Farhangi-ye Serat, 2nd edition, 1382.

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22_ Akhlaq-e Khodayan, Abdolkarim Soroush, Entesharat-e Tarh-e Now, 8th edition, 1389.

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25_ Mabani-ye Ma Ba'd al-Tabi'i-ye Olum-e Novin, Edwin Arthur Burtt, translated by Abdolkarim Soroush, Sherkat-e Entesharat-e Elmi va Farhangi, 1st edition, 1369.

26_ Dar Sepihr-e Sepehri, Soroush Dabbagh, Nashr-e Negah-e Mo'aser, 2nd edition, 1394.

27_ Falsafeh-ye Lajevardi-ye Sepehri, Soroush Dabbagh, Entesharat-e Serat, 1st edition, 1394.

28_ Harim-e Alaf-ha-ye Qorbat: Soluk-e Ma'navi dar Ruzegar-e Konuni, Soroush Dabbagh, Entesharat-e H&S, 1st edition, 1396.

29_ L. Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009).

30_ S. Mulhall, Wittgenstein’s Private Language (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2007).

31_ R. Audi, Epistemology: A Contemporary Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge (Routledge, 2011).

32_ T. Nagel, What Does it All Mean? (Oxford University Press, 1987).

33_ T.S. Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution (Harvard University Press, Cambridge,1995).

34_ A. Koestler, The Sleepwalkers (Penguin Books, 1986).

35_ S. Hawking (ed.), On the Shoulders of Giants (Running Press, 2002).

36_ E. Tolle, The Power of Now (Namaste Publishing, 2004).

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