There are many publications dealing with the political career of Ruhollah Khomeini (1902–1989), who transformed the political landscape of Iran and the Middle East after the Islamic Revolution of ...1979. Most of the research conducted in the West is on Khomeini’s political strategies, while the influential role of mysticism in all facets of his life is ignored. This book is the first study examining Khomeini’s poetry, mysticism and the reception of his poetry both in Iran and the West. It investigates how Khomeini integrated various doctrines and ideas of Islamic mysticism and Shiiism such as the Perfect Man into his poetry.
•The paper is a clinical-phenomenological investigation of schizophrenic psychosis.•Mystical states, especially mystical union, are used for analogical exploration.•Structural similarities between ...schizophrenic and mystical experience are described.•Similarities comprise world-detachment, self-effacement, and revelation.•In schizophrenia, these experiences are facilitated by self-disorders.
Mysticism and schizophrenia are different categories of human existence and experience. Nonetheless, they exhibit important phenomenological affinities, which, however, remain largely unaddressed. In this study, we explore structural analogies between key features of mysticism and major clinical-phenomenological aspects of the schizophrenia spectrum disorders—i.e. attitudes, the nature of experience, and the ‘other’, mystical or psychotic reality. Not only do these features gravitate around the issue of the basic dimensions of consciousness, they crucially seem to implicate and presuppose a specific alteration of the very structure of consciousness. This finding has bearings for the understanding of consciousness and its psychopathological distortions.
Sufism Knysh, Alexander
2017, 2017., 20171031, 2017-10-31
eBook
A pathbreaking history of Sufism, from the earliest centuries of Islam to the present. After centuries as the most important ascetic-mystical strand of Islam, Sufism saw a sharp decline in the ...twentieth century, only to experience a stunning revival in recent decades. In this comprehensive new history of Sufism from the earliest centuries of Islam to today, Alexander Knysh, a leading expert on the subject, reveals the tradition in all its richness. Knysh explores how Sufism has been viewed by both insiders and outsiders since its inception. He examines the key aspects of Sufism, from definitions and discourses to leadership, institutions, and practices. He devotes special attention to Sufi approaches to the Qur'an, drawing parallels with similar uses of scripture in Judaism and Christianity. He traces how Sufism grew from a set of simple moral-ethical precepts into a sophisticated tradition with professional Sufi masters (shaykhs) who became powerful players in Muslim public life but whose authority was challenged by those advocating the equality of all Muslims before God. Knysh also examines the roots of the ongoing conflict between the Sufis and their fundamentalist critics, the Salafis--a major fact of Muslim life today. Based on a wealth of primary and secondary sources, Sufism is an indispensable account of a vital aspect of Islam --
...despite the amount of scholarship on her writing, the influence that the Devil exercises on St. Teresa in her autobiographical account of her journey toward self-knowledge has scarcely been ...explored. In her difficult battles with him, she manages to face, control and overcome the Devil before surrendering her soul to mystical union with God. Y, por último, nos centraremos en analizar la dura lucha que esta mujer mantiene con el diablo, cómo se le manifiesta, de qué formas intenta tentarla, cómo la atormenta, las dudas que genera en su alma y finalmente cómo logra vencerlo y qué repercusión tiene esto en su vida espiritual y literaria. A principios del XVI la escolástica se diferencia casi de manera definitiva de la mística, ya que la segunda se ofrece como una posibilidad abierta a todos los fieles, sin distinción de sexo o de nivel cultural o estamento social: "La teología mística aunque sea suprema y perfectísima noticia, puede, empero, ser habida de cualquier fiel, aunque sea una mujercilla e idiota" (Osuna, 1980: 354).
This sweeping survey of the history of Kabbalah in Italy represents a major contribution from one of the world's foremost Kabbalah scholars. The first to focus attention on a specific center of ...Kabbalah, Moshe Idel charts the ways that Kabbalistic thought and literature developed in Italy and how its unique geographical situation facilitated the arrival of both Spanish and Byzantine Kabbalah.
Idel analyzes the work of three major Kabbalists-Abraham Abulafia, Menahem Recanati, and Yohanan Alemanno-who represent diverse schools of thought: the ecstatic, the theosophical-theurgical, and the astromagical. Directing special attention to the interactions and tensions among these forms of Jewish Kabbalah and the nascent Christian Kabbalah, Idel brings to light the rich history of Kabbalah in Italy and the powerful influence of this important center on the emergence of Christian Kabbalah and European occultism in general.
Sense perception in the Zhuangzi 莊子 Lacertosa, Massimiliano
Philosophy compass,
January 2022, 2022-01-00, 20220101, Letnik:
17, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
In this essay I explore the controversial issue of sense perception in the Zhuangzi 莊子. Although scholars have not explicitly addressed this aspect of the Chinese text, a common assumption is that ...the Zhuangzi proposes a mysticism that undermines sense perception in favour of a transcendent self. After an overview of this interpretation, and after analysing some key passages of the text that deal with heart fasting (xinzhai 心齋), sitting and forgetting (zuowang 坐忘) and skill mastery, I demonstrate that some interpreters of the Zhuangzi read the text as if it has a metaphysical bent, recommending that sense perception be transcended as a prerequisite to perfection. In contrast, my thesis is that the text does not propose a withdrawal from the senses and from the world, but rather warns about the danger of abiding to doctrinal knowledge, which has the consequence of a person losing their responsive awareness. Indeed, in the Zhuangzi, sense perception is not an impediment on the way to a supersensible reality, but an integral part of one's own being in the world. Through my analysis, I object to the idea that the Zhuangzi proposes a mystical union with something not immediately available, which moreover needs to be achieved by transcending the lived world that is encountered through sense perception. My view is that such a move not only postulates union with a transcendent entity, it also forces a dualism between a person's capacities. This is problematic because the Zhuangzi does not point to another world–in a two worlds theory–where one must ideally attain the condition of a transcendent self. On the contrary, in rejecting a univocal ethos, the text suggests one should keep responding to changing circumstances without turning one's perceptual awareness into entrenched habits. Thus, the Zhuangzi shows how sense perception should be seen, not as a “problem” but as an ethical possibility through which the univocity of doctrinal knowledge can be undermined.
Mysticism as an approach tries to see Islam from the side of the spiritual experience of a salik. The spiritual experience is in the form of encounters and revelations experienced by a creature ...towards the Creator. To reach this station, a seeker must first neglect several stages of purification of the soul (tazkiyatun nafs). These stages have been formulated by influential figures in the development of Sufism. The method used is qualitative with a library research approach, examining related references. As a result, the history of the development of mysticism can be divided into several periods, namely: the period in the first and second centuries, the third and fourth centuries, the fifth century, the sixth century, the seventh century, the eighth century, and the ninth century. and X and thereafter. Second, maqamat in Sufism include: al-taubah, al-zuhud, al-shabr, al-faraq, al-tawadlu, al-taqwa, al-tawakkal, al-ridla, al-ma-habbah, and al-marif, mahabbah, ma'rifat, fana' and baqa', ittihad. And unity (ittihad) can take the form of al-hulul or wahdat al-Manifestation. The three influential figures in the development of Sufism include Hasan Al-Bashri, Junaid Al-Baghdadi, Rabiatul Adawiyah, Al-Ghazali, Muhyidin Ibn Arabi, Husain bin Mansur Al-Hallaj, and so on.
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