A beam of Your beauty
shone forth in pre-eternity;
then love revealed itself
and set the universe on fire.
Your face appeared;
the angel saw it but felt no love.
Impelled by jealousy,
he caught fire and struck
the heart of mankind.
From that flame, reason lit its lamp;
a bolt of jealousy flashed
and threw the world in disarray.
The conceited one sought
to witness the mystery unveiled;
the hand of the unseen
struck the undeserving heart.
Others won a favorable destiny
and a life of plenty;
for its part, my woeful heart
received the sorrow of love.
My exalted soul yearned
for a glimpse of Your chin;
my hand reached up
and stroked the curls of Your hair.
Hafiz wrote “The Book
of the Joy Found in Loving You”
on the day he cut all ties
that bring solace to the heart.
[my translation]
Monday, December 29, 2014
Sunday, December 28, 2014
From Fariduddin ‘Attar’s Book of Secrets
O friend, if you awaken from your sleep
you will savor the most marvelous joys;
though immersed in sorrow and pain,
this I surely know: we will find joy, at last.
As there are thorns, there are also flowers.
As there is illness, there is also a cure.
The cure has not yet become manifest;
when the time has come, it will be revealed.
And our tale goes even further than this:
though pain is our lot in this world,
that World – where we will find its cure –
no tale may describe, no lot may apportion.
Without any lingering doubt I know
that beyond this world we will find felicity.
For every affliction we have endured here,
for every moment of pain and sorrow,
in that World we will receive a joy in return.
Come! Let us not tarry on the way;
to know nothing of the World beyond
this earthly realm we live in is a tragedy.
Why, O dervish, is your heart heavy,
when such sublime joys lie ahead of you?
The delights conferred in that World
surpass all other joys in their exalted purity.
If today you found one atom of that joy,
you would burn with yearning for the next.
The Eternal World is a realm of felicity
of which this entire earthly realm is a sign.
There, is found the station of Prophets;
the heart and faith, the soul and beatitude
are found there; all spirits reside there;
and in that assembly, all houris are confidants.
If you aspire to that place I have described,
detach yourself from ‘I’, and there you are.
If in this world you die to your self,
you will touch the doorstep of that World.
[my translation]
you will savor the most marvelous joys;
though immersed in sorrow and pain,
this I surely know: we will find joy, at last.
As there are thorns, there are also flowers.
As there is illness, there is also a cure.
The cure has not yet become manifest;
when the time has come, it will be revealed.
And our tale goes even further than this:
though pain is our lot in this world,
that World – where we will find its cure –
no tale may describe, no lot may apportion.
Without any lingering doubt I know
that beyond this world we will find felicity.
For every affliction we have endured here,
for every moment of pain and sorrow,
in that World we will receive a joy in return.
Come! Let us not tarry on the way;
to know nothing of the World beyond
this earthly realm we live in is a tragedy.
Why, O dervish, is your heart heavy,
when such sublime joys lie ahead of you?
The delights conferred in that World
surpass all other joys in their exalted purity.
If today you found one atom of that joy,
you would burn with yearning for the next.
The Eternal World is a realm of felicity
of which this entire earthly realm is a sign.
There, is found the station of Prophets;
the heart and faith, the soul and beatitude
are found there; all spirits reside there;
and in that assembly, all houris are confidants.
If you aspire to that place I have described,
detach yourself from ‘I’, and there you are.
If in this world you die to your self,
you will touch the doorstep of that World.
[my translation]
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Homewardbound
We who seek the Treasure
that can’t be found,
have we not once known
its place of splendor?
We who yearn for the heart’s breath
and the eye’s spark,
blinking a myriad eternal Nows –
ceaselessly giving life
to a forever dying world –
have we not drunk
from the source of that creek,
yes, the one that flows
from that mountain of a Dream?
We who seek the Treasure
that can’t be lost,
who yearn for its undying Memory,
for its Day without setting,
how would we bear
(dwelling in this narrow human nest)
to find this Treasure’s place?
How would this Bird ever conceive
of stretching its wings
to fly homewards to itself?
For this Bird was created
(on the Morning
of Eternity’s First Day)
with the joy of outbound wings,
that it may seek in sorrow
the one Treasure
that lies beyond all seeking.
that can’t be found,
have we not once known
its place of splendor?
We who yearn for the heart’s breath
and the eye’s spark,
blinking a myriad eternal Nows –
ceaselessly giving life
to a forever dying world –
have we not drunk
from the source of that creek,
yes, the one that flows
from that mountain of a Dream?
We who seek the Treasure
that can’t be lost,
who yearn for its undying Memory,
for its Day without setting,
how would we bear
(dwelling in this narrow human nest)
to find this Treasure’s place?
How would this Bird ever conceive
of stretching its wings
to fly homewards to itself?
For this Bird was created
(on the Morning
of Eternity’s First Day)
with the joy of outbound wings,
that it may seek in sorrow
the one Treasure
that lies beyond all seeking.
Friday, July 11, 2014
Ḥāfiẓ, Ghazal 46, ll. 1-7
A rose on the breast, wine at hand,
a Beloved to my heart’s desire;
On a day such as this the Sultan
of the world is but a slave to me.
Bring no candle to tonight’s gathering,
for in this assembly of ours
the Beloved’s face is a full moon!
Though wine is licit in our creed,
it is illicit without Your face,
O Cypress whose arms are roses!
I am all ears for the reed’s song,
all ears for the harp’s melody.
I am all eyes for Your ruby lips,
all eyes for the passing of the cup!
Spread no perfume in our assembly
for each moment brings us
the scent of the Beloved’s curls.
Speak not of the flavor of candy
and sugar, for to me nothing
tastes sweeter than Your lips.
Since the treasure of Your sorrow
came to reside in my ruined heart,
I have always been found here,
sitting in this tavern’s dusty corner.
[my translation]
a Beloved to my heart’s desire;
On a day such as this the Sultan
of the world is but a slave to me.
Bring no candle to tonight’s gathering,
for in this assembly of ours
the Beloved’s face is a full moon!
Though wine is licit in our creed,
it is illicit without Your face,
O Cypress whose arms are roses!
I am all ears for the reed’s song,
all ears for the harp’s melody.
I am all eyes for Your ruby lips,
all eyes for the passing of the cup!
Spread no perfume in our assembly
for each moment brings us
the scent of the Beloved’s curls.
Speak not of the flavor of candy
and sugar, for to me nothing
tastes sweeter than Your lips.
Since the treasure of Your sorrow
came to reside in my ruined heart,
I have always been found here,
sitting in this tavern’s dusty corner.
[my translation]
Friday, July 4, 2014
Togetherness
In their closest intimacy
lies immeasurable distance.
This secret had remained
concealed in their embrace.
The Lover once believed
he yearned for the Beloved.
But this Love never was
for the sake of one another;
togetherness is the only
Love they had yearned for.
Ah! how far is ‘together’
now that two have another.
lies immeasurable distance.
This secret had remained
concealed in their embrace.
The Lover once believed
he yearned for the Beloved.
But this Love never was
for the sake of one another;
togetherness is the only
Love they had yearned for.
Ah! how far is ‘together’
now that two have another.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
I have loved Her
through many veils,
until one morning
She said to me:
“You will not know
the sweetest joy
of sorrow for Me
until the day you
can love Me as if
you cannot lose Me.
Believe me, love.
I can never be lost.”
“And yet, Love,
how many times
have I lost You
through the veils
I have so adored
instead of You.
I cannot ever lose
nor possess You.
And so in my love
for lovely veils
I have so often
lost trace of You.
Not because
You had left me,
but because
I had left You.”
through many veils,
until one morning
She said to me:
“You will not know
the sweetest joy
of sorrow for Me
until the day you
can love Me as if
you cannot lose Me.
Believe me, love.
I can never be lost.”
“And yet, Love,
how many times
have I lost You
through the veils
I have so adored
instead of You.
I cannot ever lose
nor possess You.
And so in my love
for lovely veils
I have so often
lost trace of You.
Not because
You had left me,
but because
I had left You.”
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Who but the foolish lover
Who but the foolish lover
has dared endure
this painful wonder:
the awareness
of being from You,
while living apart from You;
this bittersweet
torment of yearning
for togetherness,
serenely poised
midway between
impossible union
and inescapable separation.
has dared endure
this painful wonder:
the awareness
of being from You,
while living apart from You;
this bittersweet
torment of yearning
for togetherness,
serenely poised
midway between
impossible union
and inescapable separation.
Monday, June 2, 2014
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
You are the magic of sunrays
You are the magic
of sunrays
and I a speck
of dust
whirling for joy
I am dust
dull and gray
but when You smile
on me
I am a sun
of sunrays
and I a speck
of dust
whirling for joy
I am dust
dull and gray
but when You smile
on me
I am a sun
Sunday, May 18, 2014
The Love of Your Eloquence
by Jalāluddīn Maulānā Rūmī
[13th century]
Your resplendent face
has become my soul’s mirror;
Your Soul, and my soul:
the two have become one.
O completely full Moon,
the heart’s home is You!
Once, the intellect ruled
as distinguished master;
it is now Your servant,
and the guard at Your door.
Though water and clay
have made me forgetful of You,
since that day when You said:
“Am I not your Lord?”*
my soul has been drunk
on the beauty of Your face.
Now the water is clear;
the clay has settled
to the bottom of the pond.
I have ceased saying:
“This is mine, that is yours.”
Now, the Emperor of Rūm
has crushed the Ethiopians.**
May the triumphal reign
of Your felicity endure forever!
O You, whose cheek
is like the Moon! My lament
is renewed without end –
for I have become veiled
by the love of Your eloquence.
Ghazal no. 61, F-2243
[my translation]
[l. 11] Water and clay both belong to our body, which is the vehicle or instrument by which our eternal soul can exist on earth and experience life through the senses. At death, we leave both water and clay behind. In this sense, clay is our solid and opaque material body, and water our subtle and transparent energetic body. During existence on earth, our soul is perceiving existence through the body, both material and subtle together. When we become attached to material things, our subtle body becomes troubled and restless, mixed with the heaviness of materiality. Then in that state our soul cannot see clearly through its vehicle of embodiment. The soul becomes blinded by material existence, since the subtle body, which in itself is transparent, is made opaque by its mixture with materiality. But when one surrenders attachment to materiality (that is, when one stops clinging to things and thinking in terms of “This is mine, that is yours”), the material body (the clay) stops being agitated and settles to the bottom. Then the subtle body (the water) can flow more freely, and it recovers its natural transparency, and is then receptive to the divine light. By means of the transparency, fluidity and receptiveness of the subtle body, the soul can then behold God’s light through the frame of bodily existence on Earth, without being veiled by the opacity of the material body.
[l. 14] The Day of “Am I not?” (Alastu) refers to the Qur’anic story of God’s creation of humankind from Adam: “And [remember, O Prophet,] when your Lord brought forth from the loins of the children of Adam and made them bear witness about themselves, [asking them:] ‘Am I not your Lord?’ and they replied: ‘Yes, we do bear witness.’ [That covenant was taken] lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection, ‘We were not aware of this’” (Qur’an 7:172). Rūmī is saying: ever since You showed Your Face to me, my soul has been in love with You, although this world (i.e. water and clay) has distracted me from you.
[l. 22] The Emperor of Rūm (Qayṣar-i Rūmī) is a symbol of the realized human, whose soul is turned towards God and ruled by Him, while the Ethiopians symbolize the human still ruled by desires and preoccupied with the material world, hence dark-faced. Rūm (Byzantium) was the name of the region where Rūmī lived (hence his nickname), in present-day Turkey.
[ll. 27-30] The closing lines suggest that Rūmī’s painful longing (hence his lament) is never-ending because of his love for the Beloved’s eloquence, in other words, for the beautiful things that God creates. God’s creativeness is subtly compared to the eloquent words that come out of the mouth of the poet. Rūmī’s soul has been veiled by his love for God’s beautiful creation/words, and that is why love is endlessly painful. The Transcendent, formless God, is the real Beloved, but whenever the soul falls in love with His creations, because they carry a trace of Him and remind the soul of Him, the soul experiences a love mixed with sorrow. The veil is because the lover has mistaken his real object of love by falling in love with God’s trace in His creatures (His “eloquence”), instead of Him. Shams of Tabriz, for instance, personifies God’s eloquence for Rūmī. It is God that Rūmī loved in Shams, but because Shams is not God, Shams became a veil on Rūmī’s soul due to his attachment to Shams. When Shams disappeared without a trace, Rūmī was inconsolable due to his attachment to him, which caused him long-lasting sorrow. But God Himself, Rūmī’s real Beloved, never went away.
[13th century]
Your resplendent face
has become my soul’s mirror;
Your Soul, and my soul:
the two have become one.
O completely full Moon,
the heart’s home is You!
Once, the intellect ruled
as distinguished master;
it is now Your servant,
and the guard at Your door.
Though water and clay
have made me forgetful of You,
since that day when You said:
“Am I not your Lord?”*
my soul has been drunk
on the beauty of Your face.
Now the water is clear;
the clay has settled
to the bottom of the pond.
I have ceased saying:
“This is mine, that is yours.”
Now, the Emperor of Rūm
has crushed the Ethiopians.**
May the triumphal reign
of Your felicity endure forever!
O You, whose cheek
is like the Moon! My lament
is renewed without end –
for I have become veiled
by the love of Your eloquence.
Ghazal no. 61, F-2243
[my translation]
[l. 11] Water and clay both belong to our body, which is the vehicle or instrument by which our eternal soul can exist on earth and experience life through the senses. At death, we leave both water and clay behind. In this sense, clay is our solid and opaque material body, and water our subtle and transparent energetic body. During existence on earth, our soul is perceiving existence through the body, both material and subtle together. When we become attached to material things, our subtle body becomes troubled and restless, mixed with the heaviness of materiality. Then in that state our soul cannot see clearly through its vehicle of embodiment. The soul becomes blinded by material existence, since the subtle body, which in itself is transparent, is made opaque by its mixture with materiality. But when one surrenders attachment to materiality (that is, when one stops clinging to things and thinking in terms of “This is mine, that is yours”), the material body (the clay) stops being agitated and settles to the bottom. Then the subtle body (the water) can flow more freely, and it recovers its natural transparency, and is then receptive to the divine light. By means of the transparency, fluidity and receptiveness of the subtle body, the soul can then behold God’s light through the frame of bodily existence on Earth, without being veiled by the opacity of the material body.
[l. 14] The Day of “Am I not?” (Alastu) refers to the Qur’anic story of God’s creation of humankind from Adam: “And [remember, O Prophet,] when your Lord brought forth from the loins of the children of Adam and made them bear witness about themselves, [asking them:] ‘Am I not your Lord?’ and they replied: ‘Yes, we do bear witness.’ [That covenant was taken] lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection, ‘We were not aware of this’” (Qur’an 7:172). Rūmī is saying: ever since You showed Your Face to me, my soul has been in love with You, although this world (i.e. water and clay) has distracted me from you.
[l. 22] The Emperor of Rūm (Qayṣar-i Rūmī) is a symbol of the realized human, whose soul is turned towards God and ruled by Him, while the Ethiopians symbolize the human still ruled by desires and preoccupied with the material world, hence dark-faced. Rūm (Byzantium) was the name of the region where Rūmī lived (hence his nickname), in present-day Turkey.
[ll. 27-30] The closing lines suggest that Rūmī’s painful longing (hence his lament) is never-ending because of his love for the Beloved’s eloquence, in other words, for the beautiful things that God creates. God’s creativeness is subtly compared to the eloquent words that come out of the mouth of the poet. Rūmī’s soul has been veiled by his love for God’s beautiful creation/words, and that is why love is endlessly painful. The Transcendent, formless God, is the real Beloved, but whenever the soul falls in love with His creations, because they carry a trace of Him and remind the soul of Him, the soul experiences a love mixed with sorrow. The veil is because the lover has mistaken his real object of love by falling in love with God’s trace in His creatures (His “eloquence”), instead of Him. Shams of Tabriz, for instance, personifies God’s eloquence for Rūmī. It is God that Rūmī loved in Shams, but because Shams is not God, Shams became a veil on Rūmī’s soul due to his attachment to Shams. When Shams disappeared without a trace, Rūmī was inconsolable due to his attachment to him, which caused him long-lasting sorrow. But God Himself, Rūmī’s real Beloved, never went away.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Prose and Poetry
Prose is the act of saying; to denote on the line what is said on the line.
Poetry is the act of saying without saying; to evoke what is said between the lines, leaving on the side what is said on the line.
And life, nature, reality, is prosaic to whoever reads what is said on the line, and a poem to whoever reads what is said between the lines.
Poetry is the act of saying without saying; to evoke what is said between the lines, leaving on the side what is said on the line.
And life, nature, reality, is prosaic to whoever reads what is said on the line, and a poem to whoever reads what is said between the lines.
Yearning and Detachment
You open Your arms,
beckoning me;
and I would embrace You,
ah, forever!
But You made it so
that as soon
as I open my aching arms
to hold You,
You vanish from me.
And so I hold
my peace, and stand within
my stillness.
You open Your arms,
beckoning me;
then You let me hold You
without arms.
beckoning me;
and I would embrace You,
ah, forever!
But You made it so
that as soon
as I open my aching arms
to hold You,
You vanish from me.
And so I hold
my peace, and stand within
my stillness.
You open Your arms,
beckoning me;
then You let me hold You
without arms.
Friday, May 9, 2014
This Realm of Discord
This realm of discord
will know of peace
only the absence of strife;
this realm of clamor
will know of silence
only the ending of speech:
but Your supreme peace
vanquishes all strife
and Your sublime silence
enriches all speech.
will know of peace
only the absence of strife;
this realm of clamor
will know of silence
only the ending of speech:
but Your supreme peace
vanquishes all strife
and Your sublime silence
enriches all speech.
Friday, May 2, 2014
The Absent One
My Idol
turned
her face away.
Her beauty stayed,
but her eyes
looked
away.
How could words describe
the bitter sweetness
that pierced
my heart
as I placed
my soul
on the
shrine
of the Absent One.
turned
her face away.
Her beauty stayed,
but her eyes
looked
away.
How could words describe
the bitter sweetness
that pierced
my heart
as I placed
my soul
on the
shrine
of the Absent One.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Returners
“...wa-innā ilayhi rāji‘ūn.”
Rāji‘ūn is not properly a verb (although it does function as a verb), but an active participle, which is also a noun. It is not a future tense of a verb, for something we will do only after our passing from this life, but a substantive, which also qualifies our present nature. We are not simply returning to God after death; we are returners by nature. Every moment of our existence, we are returning; because we are created to be so, and all our faculties, all our strengths and virtues, are attuned for this returning which is our life, apart from which there is neither light nor goodness in us; for we are His, and to Him we are returners.
Rāji‘ūn is not properly a verb (although it does function as a verb), but an active participle, which is also a noun. It is not a future tense of a verb, for something we will do only after our passing from this life, but a substantive, which also qualifies our present nature. We are not simply returning to God after death; we are returners by nature. Every moment of our existence, we are returning; because we are created to be so, and all our faculties, all our strengths and virtues, are attuned for this returning which is our life, apart from which there is neither light nor goodness in us; for we are His, and to Him we are returners.
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Your Absence
I returned to that garden
where once we sat together,
in the sunset of another life.
the place was so full of you,
the biting pain so tender,
that for a timeless moment
I almost found you there.
where once we sat together,
in the sunset of another life.
the place was so full of you,
the biting pain so tender,
that for a timeless moment
I almost found you there.
Friday, April 4, 2014
The Apple Tree
Grass grows to its fullness
in a matter of days,
but the apple tree
will not yield one sweet apple
before many years.
If grass-eaters scoff
at your bitter apples,
for Heaven’s sake
do not cut down your apple tree.
in a matter of days,
but the apple tree
will not yield one sweet apple
before many years.
If grass-eaters scoff
at your bitter apples,
for Heaven’s sake
do not cut down your apple tree.
Saturday, March 22, 2014
I will not ask to see or know You
I will not ask
to see or know You.
I will not seek
to hold or own You;
but my soul
will turn to Your face,
my heart heavy
with love’s sorrow.
I will not try
to escape from You.
I will bow down
in Your sunlight,
and at Your feet
I will melt like snow.
I will stay still,
I will be silent.
Then my heart
will well up,
as pain becomes in me
a raging storm.
I will let out
heaves of sighs,
as tears of joy
pearl from my eyes.
I will yearn to be Yours.
I will long to be light.
I will give You my life,
and I will die.
Then, in my nothingness,
You will appear;
Your wondrous presence
smiling brightly
in the clear mirror
You have made
to behold Yourself in me.
to see or know You.
I will not seek
to hold or own You;
but my soul
will turn to Your face,
my heart heavy
with love’s sorrow.
I will not try
to escape from You.
I will bow down
in Your sunlight,
and at Your feet
I will melt like snow.
I will stay still,
I will be silent.
Then my heart
will well up,
as pain becomes in me
a raging storm.
I will let out
heaves of sighs,
as tears of joy
pearl from my eyes.
I will yearn to be Yours.
I will long to be light.
I will give You my life,
and I will die.
Then, in my nothingness,
You will appear;
Your wondrous presence
smiling brightly
in the clear mirror
You have made
to behold Yourself in me.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
love’s warm light
desire is
a fire
that gives
no light –
intellect,
a light
that gives
no warmth;
and the
soul
that has
risen
above
mere
sensual
life
finds them
at one
in love’s
warm light.
a fire
that gives
no light –
intellect,
a light
that gives
no warmth;
and the
soul
that has
risen
above
mere
sensual
life
finds them
at one
in love’s
warm light.
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Lady Wisdom in the Old Testament
My retranslation of passages from the poetic books of the Old Testament where Wisdom (Grk: Sophia, Heb: Hokma) is personified as a feminine being.
“[Feminine wisdom] is no abstract, disinterested knowledge, but a wisdom of loving participation. [...] Thus the spiritual power of Sophia is living and saving; her overflowing heart is wisdom and food at once. The nourishing life that she communicates is a life of the spirit and of transformation, not one of earthbound materiality.”
– Erich Neumann
“Say to Wisdom, ‘You are my sister!’ and call Intelligence your intimate friend.”
– Proverbs 7:4
From The Book of the Wisdom of Solomon
6:13 Wisdom shines brightly, and fades not.
Easily is she discerned by those who love her,
“[Feminine wisdom] is no abstract, disinterested knowledge, but a wisdom of loving participation. [...] Thus the spiritual power of Sophia is living and saving; her overflowing heart is wisdom and food at once. The nourishing life that she communicates is a life of the spirit and of transformation, not one of earthbound materiality.”
– Erich Neumann
“Say to Wisdom, ‘You are my sister!’ and call Intelligence your intimate friend.”
– Proverbs 7:4
From The Book of the Wisdom of Solomon
6:13 Wisdom shines brightly, and fades not.
Easily is she discerned by those who love her,
and those who seek her find her.
14 She is quick to make herself known to those who desire her;
15 He who rises with the dawn for her sake will not grow weary,
for he will find her seated at his door.
16 Taking her to heart is the perfection of intelligence,
and being wakeful for her is the short path to peace of mind.
17 She herself ranges in search of those who are worthy of her,
and on their daily path she kindly appears to them,
and meets them in every thought.
18 Wisdom truly begins with the desire to learn,
which in fact is love for her.
19 Loving her means keeping her ways,
and keeping her ways means immortality,
20 and immortality brings one close to God;
21 thus the desire for Wisdom leads to a kingdom.
7:7 Therefore I prayed, and insight was given me.
I called for help, and the spirit of Wisdom came to me.
8 I valued her above sceptre and throne,
and held riches as nothing beside her.
9 I saw that no precious stone was her equal,
for all the gold in the world compared with her is but a sand pile,
and silver worth a pile of clay.
10 I loved her above health and beauty,
and preferred her even to the light of day,
for her radiance never sleeps.
11 So all good things came to me at once with her,
and in her hands was wealth past counting.
12 And all was mine to delight in, for all follows where Wisdom leads,
and I was ignorant before, that she is the mother of it all.
13 What I learned with pure aims I share without grudging,
and I do not hoard the wealth that comes from her.
14 She is an infinite treasure for mankind,
and those who receive her become God’s friends,
commended to Him by the gifts they receive from her teachings.
7:21 All such things as are hidden and not foreseen, I have learned.
For I have been taught by she who is the artist of all things,
Wisdom.
22 For in her is a holy and intelligent spirit,
unique yet manifold, subtle, free, lucid, pure,
clear, undefiled, lover of the good, eager,
23 independent, gentle and kind, steadfast,
unerring, free from care, all-powerful, all-seeing,
and all-permeating through intelligent, pure, and subtle spirits.
24 Wisdom moves more easily than motion itself,
pervading all things because she is pure.
25 Like a fine mist she rises from divine power,
a pure emanation of the Almighty’s glory,
and nothing impure can enter her, even stealthily.
26 For she is the refulgence of everlasting light,
the flawless mirror of the divine active power,
and the image of his goodness.
27 Because she is one, she can do everything;
abiding in herself, she renews all things.
Age after age she enters holy souls
and makes them friends of God and prophets,
28 for God loves none so much as those who live with Wisdom.
29 More radiant than the sun
and surpassing every constellation,
she excels the light of day;
30 for day turns into night,
but no evil can prevail against Wisdom.
8:1 She spans the world from end to end in power,
and orders all things well.
8:2 Wisdom have I loved; I sought her out in the days of my youth,
and longed for her to be my bride,
and I fell in love with her beauty.
3 She glorifies her noble birth because she lives with God,
and the Lord of all loves her.
4 With her are the mysteries of God’s knowledge,
and she inspires all his works.
5 If wealth is desirable in life,
who is wealthier than Wisdom, from whom all things arise?
6 If intelligence is revealed in action,
who of all beings is a greater artist than she?
8:17 Considering these things in myself,
and pondering them in my heart,
I realized that in kinship with Wisdom lies immortality,
18 and that in her friendship is pure delight.
8:21 But I saw there was no way to receive Wisdom
except by God’s gift—
and it was a sign of intelligence
to know from whom that gift must come—
so I asked the Lord, and prayed to Him,
and said with all my heart:
9:1 God of my ancestors, merciful Lord,
who made all things by your Word,
2 and in your Wisdom fashioned man,
to be the guardian of creation,
3 as steward of the world in holiness and justice,
and to rule fairly with sincerity of heart,
4 grant me Wisdom, who sits beside your throne,
and do not refuse me a place among your servants.
5 I am your slave, your handmaid’s son,
a man weak and short-lived,
too feeble to comprehend justice and law;
6 for let a man be perfect in the eyes of his fellow men,
if the Wisdom that comes from you is lacking,
he will be of no account.
9 With you is Wisdom, familiar with your works,
and present at the creation of the world by you.
She knows what is pleasing in your sight,
and what is right in your commandments.
10 Send her forth from the holy heavens,
and from your glorious throne bid her come down,
that she may be present at my side,
so that I may learn what pleases you;
11 for she knows and understands all things,
and she will guide me well in all I do,
and guard me in her glory;
12 so shall my life’s work be acceptable.
13 How can any man learn God’s plan?
How can one perceive the Lord’s will?
14 The reasoning of men is feeble,
and our plans are fallible;
15 for a perishable body weighs down the soul,
and its clay burdens the mind full of thoughts.
16 With difficulty we guess even at things on earth,
and struggle to find out what lies at our feet.
And who has traced out what is in heaven?
17 Who learned your purposes, unless you gave them Wisdom,
and sent down your Holy Spirit from heaven?
18 Thus it was that those on earth were set upon the right path,
and were taught what pleases you;
thus were they healed by Wisdom.
From The Book of Proverbs
8:22 The Lord brought me forth in the beginning of His ways,
before His works of old.
23 I was there from eternity, in the beginning, before the earth was.
24 When there were no oceans, I was brought forth.
When there were no springs abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills,
I was brought forth.
26 While as yet the earth and the fields were not made,
nor the first of the dust of the world.
27 When the Lord established the heavens, I was there.
28 When He marked out the vault over the face of the deep,
when He made firm the skies above,
29 When He fixed fast the foundations of the earth,
when He assigned to the sea its limit
so that the waters might not transgress His command,
30 Then I was with Him as His master artisan,
and I was daily His delight,
rejoicing always before Him,
31 rejoicing and playing on the surface of the earth,
and I found my delight in all humankind.
8:32 So now, my dear child, listen to me.
33 For happy are they who keep my ways.
34 Hear my teachings and be wise. Do not turn away from me.
35 Happy are they who listen to me,
watching every day at my gate, waiting beside my door.
36 For those who find me find life, and receive favour from the Lord.
But those who ignore me hurt themselves;
all those who hate me love death.
From The Book of Sirach
1:7 The Lord Himself created Wisdom.
He poured her out upon all His creation.
8 She dwells with all beings according to His gift,
and He has given her to those who love Him.
4:11 Wisdom breathes life into her children,
and cares for those who seek her.
12 Whoever loves her loves life,
and those who search for her will be filled with happiness.
13 Whoever holds her close will inherit honour,
and the Lord will bless the place she enters.
14 Those who serve her will be servants to the Holy One,
and God loves those who love her.
17 For though Wisdom takes them at first through winding ways,
bringing fear and faintness to them,
18 plaguing them with her discipline until she can trust them,
and testing them with her ordeals until their heart is fully with her,
19 in the end Wisdom will return to bring them happiness,
and reveal her secrets to them.
6:26 Come to Wisdom with all your heart,
and keep her ways with all your power.
27 Search for her, and she will reveal herself to you,
and when you have found her, do not let her go.
28 For in the latter end you will find rest in her,
and she will be your joy.
30 For in her is the beauty of life, and her bands are purple lace.
31 You will put her on as a robe of glory,
and set her upon you as a crown of joy.
14:20 Blessed are those who meditate on Wisdom
and reflect on holy things.
21 Those who ponder her ways in their heart
will also have understanding in her secrets.
15:1 He that is faithful and just will come to Wisdom.
2 Like a honourable mother she will come to meet him,
and like a virgin bride she will embrace him.
3 She will nourish him with the bread of meaning,
and offer him living water from her spring to drink.
6 She will heap upon him a treasure of joy and gladness,
and clothe him with a robe of glory.
24:1 Wisdom praises herself, and finds honour in God.
2 In the midst of her people she proclaims her glory.
3 In the assembly of the Most High she opens her mouth,
and glorifies herself in the sight of His power:
4 I came forth from the Most High, the firstborn before all creatures:
I made that in the heavens there should rise light that never fails,
and I covered the earth like a mist.
5 Alone I circled the vault of the sky
and walked on the bottom of the deeps.
6 Over the waves of the sea and over the whole earth
and over every people and every nation I have held sway.
9 From eternity, in the beginning, God created me,
and for eternity I shall remain.
24:18 I am the mother of fair love, and of awe,
and of knowledge, and of holy hope.
In me is all grace of the way and of the truth,
in me is all hope of life and virtue.
19 Come to me, you who desire me, and be filled with my fruits.
20 For my spirit is sweeter than honey,
and my inheritance more delightful than the sweetest honeycomb.
21 Those who eat of me will hunger for more,
and those who drink of me will thirst for more.
24:28 The first man did not know Wisdom fully,
nor will the last one fathom her.
29 For her thoughts are more abundant than the sea,
and her counsel deeper than the great abyss.
24:40 I, Wisdom, have poured out rivers.
41 I, like a brook out of a river of a mighty water.
42 I, like a channel of a river,
and like an aqueduct, came out of Paradise.
43 I said to myself: I will water my garden of plants,
and I will water abundantly the fruits of my meadow.
44 And behold, my brook became a great river,
and my river came near to a sea:
45 For I make Truth to shine forth like the dawn,
and I will send forth her light afar off.
46 I will penetrate to all the lower parts of the earth,
and will behold all that sleep,
and will awaken all that yearn in the Lord.
47 I will yet pour out teachings like prophecy,
and will instruct all those that search for knowledge,
and I will not cease to enlighten their offspring,
even to the holy age.
51:13 In my youth I desired Wisdom openly in my prayers.
14 She came to me in her beauty, and until the end I will cultivate her.
15 From the first blossom to the ripening grape,
my heart delighted in her.
My foot walked on the right path,
because from my youth I sought after her.
16 I became resolutely devoted to her,
and earnestly I followed that which is good.
17 I burned with desire for her, never turning back.
I became wholly immersed in her presence,
never weary of extolling her.
18 I stretched forth my hands to the heavens above,
and bewailed my ignorance of her.
I directed my soul to her, and in purity I attained to her.
19 She opened her gate, and revealed her secrets to me.
At first acquaintance with her
I gained knowledge such that I will never forsake her.
20 My whole being was stirred as I beheld her.
Thus she became my beloved companion.
14 She is quick to make herself known to those who desire her;
15 He who rises with the dawn for her sake will not grow weary,
for he will find her seated at his door.
16 Taking her to heart is the perfection of intelligence,
and being wakeful for her is the short path to peace of mind.
17 She herself ranges in search of those who are worthy of her,
and on their daily path she kindly appears to them,
and meets them in every thought.
18 Wisdom truly begins with the desire to learn,
which in fact is love for her.
19 Loving her means keeping her ways,
and keeping her ways means immortality,
20 and immortality brings one close to God;
21 thus the desire for Wisdom leads to a kingdom.
7:7 Therefore I prayed, and insight was given me.
I called for help, and the spirit of Wisdom came to me.
8 I valued her above sceptre and throne,
and held riches as nothing beside her.
9 I saw that no precious stone was her equal,
for all the gold in the world compared with her is but a sand pile,
and silver worth a pile of clay.
10 I loved her above health and beauty,
and preferred her even to the light of day,
for her radiance never sleeps.
11 So all good things came to me at once with her,
and in her hands was wealth past counting.
12 And all was mine to delight in, for all follows where Wisdom leads,
and I was ignorant before, that she is the mother of it all.
13 What I learned with pure aims I share without grudging,
and I do not hoard the wealth that comes from her.
14 She is an infinite treasure for mankind,
and those who receive her become God’s friends,
commended to Him by the gifts they receive from her teachings.
7:21 All such things as are hidden and not foreseen, I have learned.
For I have been taught by she who is the artist of all things,
Wisdom.
22 For in her is a holy and intelligent spirit,
unique yet manifold, subtle, free, lucid, pure,
clear, undefiled, lover of the good, eager,
23 independent, gentle and kind, steadfast,
unerring, free from care, all-powerful, all-seeing,
and all-permeating through intelligent, pure, and subtle spirits.
24 Wisdom moves more easily than motion itself,
pervading all things because she is pure.
25 Like a fine mist she rises from divine power,
a pure emanation of the Almighty’s glory,
and nothing impure can enter her, even stealthily.
26 For she is the refulgence of everlasting light,
the flawless mirror of the divine active power,
and the image of his goodness.
27 Because she is one, she can do everything;
abiding in herself, she renews all things.
Age after age she enters holy souls
and makes them friends of God and prophets,
28 for God loves none so much as those who live with Wisdom.
29 More radiant than the sun
and surpassing every constellation,
she excels the light of day;
30 for day turns into night,
but no evil can prevail against Wisdom.
8:1 She spans the world from end to end in power,
and orders all things well.
8:2 Wisdom have I loved; I sought her out in the days of my youth,
and longed for her to be my bride,
and I fell in love with her beauty.
3 She glorifies her noble birth because she lives with God,
and the Lord of all loves her.
4 With her are the mysteries of God’s knowledge,
and she inspires all his works.
5 If wealth is desirable in life,
who is wealthier than Wisdom, from whom all things arise?
6 If intelligence is revealed in action,
who of all beings is a greater artist than she?
8:17 Considering these things in myself,
and pondering them in my heart,
I realized that in kinship with Wisdom lies immortality,
18 and that in her friendship is pure delight.
8:21 But I saw there was no way to receive Wisdom
except by God’s gift—
and it was a sign of intelligence
to know from whom that gift must come—
so I asked the Lord, and prayed to Him,
and said with all my heart:
9:1 God of my ancestors, merciful Lord,
who made all things by your Word,
2 and in your Wisdom fashioned man,
to be the guardian of creation,
3 as steward of the world in holiness and justice,
and to rule fairly with sincerity of heart,
4 grant me Wisdom, who sits beside your throne,
and do not refuse me a place among your servants.
5 I am your slave, your handmaid’s son,
a man weak and short-lived,
too feeble to comprehend justice and law;
6 for let a man be perfect in the eyes of his fellow men,
if the Wisdom that comes from you is lacking,
he will be of no account.
9 With you is Wisdom, familiar with your works,
and present at the creation of the world by you.
She knows what is pleasing in your sight,
and what is right in your commandments.
10 Send her forth from the holy heavens,
and from your glorious throne bid her come down,
that she may be present at my side,
so that I may learn what pleases you;
11 for she knows and understands all things,
and she will guide me well in all I do,
and guard me in her glory;
12 so shall my life’s work be acceptable.
13 How can any man learn God’s plan?
How can one perceive the Lord’s will?
14 The reasoning of men is feeble,
and our plans are fallible;
15 for a perishable body weighs down the soul,
and its clay burdens the mind full of thoughts.
16 With difficulty we guess even at things on earth,
and struggle to find out what lies at our feet.
And who has traced out what is in heaven?
17 Who learned your purposes, unless you gave them Wisdom,
and sent down your Holy Spirit from heaven?
18 Thus it was that those on earth were set upon the right path,
and were taught what pleases you;
thus were they healed by Wisdom.
From The Book of Proverbs
8:22 The Lord brought me forth in the beginning of His ways,
before His works of old.
23 I was there from eternity, in the beginning, before the earth was.
24 When there were no oceans, I was brought forth.
When there were no springs abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills,
I was brought forth.
26 While as yet the earth and the fields were not made,
nor the first of the dust of the world.
27 When the Lord established the heavens, I was there.
28 When He marked out the vault over the face of the deep,
when He made firm the skies above,
29 When He fixed fast the foundations of the earth,
when He assigned to the sea its limit
so that the waters might not transgress His command,
30 Then I was with Him as His master artisan,
and I was daily His delight,
rejoicing always before Him,
31 rejoicing and playing on the surface of the earth,
and I found my delight in all humankind.
8:32 So now, my dear child, listen to me.
33 For happy are they who keep my ways.
34 Hear my teachings and be wise. Do not turn away from me.
35 Happy are they who listen to me,
watching every day at my gate, waiting beside my door.
36 For those who find me find life, and receive favour from the Lord.
But those who ignore me hurt themselves;
all those who hate me love death.
From The Book of Sirach
1:7 The Lord Himself created Wisdom.
He poured her out upon all His creation.
8 She dwells with all beings according to His gift,
and He has given her to those who love Him.
4:11 Wisdom breathes life into her children,
and cares for those who seek her.
12 Whoever loves her loves life,
and those who search for her will be filled with happiness.
13 Whoever holds her close will inherit honour,
and the Lord will bless the place she enters.
14 Those who serve her will be servants to the Holy One,
and God loves those who love her.
17 For though Wisdom takes them at first through winding ways,
bringing fear and faintness to them,
18 plaguing them with her discipline until she can trust them,
and testing them with her ordeals until their heart is fully with her,
19 in the end Wisdom will return to bring them happiness,
and reveal her secrets to them.
6:26 Come to Wisdom with all your heart,
and keep her ways with all your power.
27 Search for her, and she will reveal herself to you,
and when you have found her, do not let her go.
28 For in the latter end you will find rest in her,
and she will be your joy.
30 For in her is the beauty of life, and her bands are purple lace.
31 You will put her on as a robe of glory,
and set her upon you as a crown of joy.
14:20 Blessed are those who meditate on Wisdom
and reflect on holy things.
21 Those who ponder her ways in their heart
will also have understanding in her secrets.
15:1 He that is faithful and just will come to Wisdom.
2 Like a honourable mother she will come to meet him,
and like a virgin bride she will embrace him.
3 She will nourish him with the bread of meaning,
and offer him living water from her spring to drink.
6 She will heap upon him a treasure of joy and gladness,
and clothe him with a robe of glory.
24:1 Wisdom praises herself, and finds honour in God.
2 In the midst of her people she proclaims her glory.
3 In the assembly of the Most High she opens her mouth,
and glorifies herself in the sight of His power:
4 I came forth from the Most High, the firstborn before all creatures:
I made that in the heavens there should rise light that never fails,
and I covered the earth like a mist.
5 Alone I circled the vault of the sky
and walked on the bottom of the deeps.
6 Over the waves of the sea and over the whole earth
and over every people and every nation I have held sway.
9 From eternity, in the beginning, God created me,
and for eternity I shall remain.
24:18 I am the mother of fair love, and of awe,
and of knowledge, and of holy hope.
In me is all grace of the way and of the truth,
in me is all hope of life and virtue.
19 Come to me, you who desire me, and be filled with my fruits.
20 For my spirit is sweeter than honey,
and my inheritance more delightful than the sweetest honeycomb.
21 Those who eat of me will hunger for more,
and those who drink of me will thirst for more.
24:28 The first man did not know Wisdom fully,
nor will the last one fathom her.
29 For her thoughts are more abundant than the sea,
and her counsel deeper than the great abyss.
24:40 I, Wisdom, have poured out rivers.
41 I, like a brook out of a river of a mighty water.
42 I, like a channel of a river,
and like an aqueduct, came out of Paradise.
43 I said to myself: I will water my garden of plants,
and I will water abundantly the fruits of my meadow.
44 And behold, my brook became a great river,
and my river came near to a sea:
45 For I make Truth to shine forth like the dawn,
and I will send forth her light afar off.
46 I will penetrate to all the lower parts of the earth,
and will behold all that sleep,
and will awaken all that yearn in the Lord.
47 I will yet pour out teachings like prophecy,
and will instruct all those that search for knowledge,
and I will not cease to enlighten their offspring,
even to the holy age.
51:13 In my youth I desired Wisdom openly in my prayers.
14 She came to me in her beauty, and until the end I will cultivate her.
15 From the first blossom to the ripening grape,
my heart delighted in her.
My foot walked on the right path,
because from my youth I sought after her.
16 I became resolutely devoted to her,
and earnestly I followed that which is good.
17 I burned with desire for her, never turning back.
I became wholly immersed in her presence,
never weary of extolling her.
18 I stretched forth my hands to the heavens above,
and bewailed my ignorance of her.
I directed my soul to her, and in purity I attained to her.
19 She opened her gate, and revealed her secrets to me.
At first acquaintance with her
I gained knowledge such that I will never forsake her.
20 My whole being was stirred as I beheld her.
Thus she became my beloved companion.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
From Miskawayh’s “Treatise on the Deliverance from the Fear of Death”
Scholars have distinguished two kinds of life and death: a volitional (i.e. according to will) life and death, and a natural life and death. The volitional death is the mortification of mundane desires, whereas the volitional life is the satisfaction of all sensual desires. As for the natural life, it consists in focusing one’s attention towards preserving the eternal soul from ignorance with the help of knowledge, according to Plato’s saying: “Die volitionally, you will live naturally”. He who fears natural death fears all that he should love and hope for, since for rational living beings death is the end of earthly life and its fulfillment, after which the soul ascends to the highest heaven. Every living being must necessarily undergo the dissolution of the parts that compose it, and there is no worse ignorance than that which inspires in us the fear of perfecting our nature and which causes us to confuse the true life with annihilation, and progression with disintegration. Whoever has the weakness of fearing that which would perfect him ignores the nature of his own soul. As for the sage, he loves all that contributes to making him more perfect and to making him gradually rise in dignity, and so he turns away from everything that tends to reinforce the bonds that tie him to matter and that reinforces his composite nature. He believes that his spiritual substance, divested through death of the impurities inherent to the body, will ascend to the eternal heavens and rejoice in the beatitude of the celestial realm, intimate with the Lord, and surrounded by the elect souls that preceded him. But the ignorant fears abandoning his body, and he is thereby plunged into misery and torment, seeking rest in a place where rest is impossible. [...] Whoever fears death fears the wisdom and justice of God as well as His mercy, for death is not an evil to be feared; rather, fear of death is an evil to be avoided. Those who are troubled by fear ignore both the nature of death and the conditions of their own existence. At death the soul leaves the body, but the soul’s substance remains intact, possessing eternal existence. Since the soul is incorporeal, not occupying any location in space, it is not bound by the conditions that govern the body and the accidents that affect it. [...] Freed from the limitations of time, the soul no longer needs to yearn for eternal life. Rather, after having developed itself by means of the body’s senses and having attained its perfection once it has been separated from the body, the soul passes to the celestial realm, in the presence of the Lord, its Creator.
[my translation-paraphrase]
[my translation-paraphrase]
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
One and Two
“one’s not half two. It’s two are halves of one”
There is so much wisdom compressed into this opening verse to a sonnet by the American poet e. e. cummings. In this simple line, he suggests that unity is not achieved by cutting off one side and keeping the other; it is not achieved by eliminating the darkness and keeping only the light, nor by cutting off the irrational and keeping only the rational, nor by devaluing the feminine and exalting the masculine, nor again by avoiding winding ways and following only straight lines (and is the Straight Path—the sirāt al-mustaqīm—really, literally devoid of any curves? is it really possible at all, on this earthly plane, to ever follow only a rigid, straight line?); unity is not achieved by renouncing this world altogether and valuing only the Hereafter, nor by despising the profane and confining oneself solely to the sacred, nor by rejecting idleness for progress, folly for wisdom, laughter for severity, doubt for belief, spontaneity for ritualism, blasphemy for faith. This unity which is formed by the rejection of the other is only a seeming unity, and will never become entirely free from its opposite. When there are two, the silencing of one behind the voice of the other does not mean that only one is speaking. This unity is merely a surface appearance; eventually, the suppressed voice always breaks through.
“one’s not half two. It’s two are halves of one.”
True unity is not achieved by abstracting and elevating one side of a duality, and cutting off the other: rather, it is found through the conjunction of opposites, passing through contraries to that which exists beyond them both. Consider this quatrain of Awḥaduddīn Kirmānī (13th century):
Every heart that falls prey
to the pain of longing for You
leaves behind both
the idol-temple and the Ka‘ba.
In love’s way, blasphemy
and faith are alike;
this way passes by both
the idol-temple and the Ka‘ba.
That Higher Unity is not found by utterly renouncing the idol-temple and utterly dedicating oneself to the Ka‘ba. For the idol-temple and the Ka‘ba, when sought for themselves, both are an object of worship from which a gain is sought, apart from God, and that object is still an idol, before which one is still a mercenary who seeks gain from a source of power and bounty, in exchange for the performance of ritual acts of worship. But when God is sought, when the Beloved is sought for the Beloved’s sake alone, then both the idol-temple and the Ka‘ba are transcended. Even as one goes to them, one’s worship passes through them to the Beloved that exists beyond both the idol-temple and the Ka‘ba. Even the idol-worshipper, if his/her end is that Beloved, will reach God through the idol.
This does not mean that one has to reject both the forms of the idol-temple and the Ka‘ba altogether. It does, however, entail detachment from man-made forms (detachment, not rejection), so that they are no longer sought in and of themselves, but merely as different pathways to the Higher Unity which exists beyond them both. In this sense, the idol-temple and the Ka‘ba both are alike. Hence, another quatrain of Kirmānī:
By God, only in annihilation
do you truly exist;
by God, my sober friends,
how sweet is this drunkenness!
And if perchance one day
you worship an idol for God,
I swear that from the idol
you will attain to the One.
A typical response to the notion of “reconciliation of opposites” is that it is surely awkward and repulsive to imagine something like the conjunction of good and evil. But this Higher Unity beyond opposites does not signify that the duality is to be fused (or confused) into one, that light and dark, fire and water, mind and heart, day and night, man and woman, etc. should become uniform, behave in the same way and reach their end by the same means, in a truly depressing compromise where fire no longer burns and water is no longer fresh, where day and night are both a dim glow without any variation of light, where there is no summer and no winter, just an even climate that feels like nothing, where thoughts are muddled up with emotions, and feelings squared out by the principles of reason.
This is not what is meant by the conjunction of opposites, “it’s two are halves of one.” That is merely a confusion of opposites, occurring on the plane of duality; as for the Higher Unity, it exists on a higher plane than that of duality: the One is not the one that is opposed to two. It is One, and there is no other beside it. It is not that there is one true God while all other gods are false gods. That God is not the One opposed to the Many. It is the One beyond both one and two.
The idol-house and the Ka‘ba, as opposite creeds (symbols of plurality and unity respectively), will always remain opposites on this plane, and whoever lives according to the laws of the realm of duality will always go to either one or the other, never both (unless they are indeed confused). But the one whose heart has been seized with longing for that Higher Unity, for the God beyond forms, sees that both the idol-house and the Ka‘ba reach to the same end, whenever it is God, and nothing else, that is sought through them, and beyond them. As Aynulquḍāt Hamadānī wrote in the 12th century:
I will set this creed
and religion on fire,
and put Your love
in their place.
How long must I hide
Your love in my heart?
My goal is You,
not a creed or religion.
Evil and good constitute together the very symbol and archetype of duality. Evil and good can never be conjoined, only confused, on the plane of duality. But when one’s heart rises beyond duality, moved by existential love for that Transcendent Being who is Pure Unity beyond all opposites, then beyond these two extremes a reconciling Unity is discovered. A Unity which appeases the war that reigns between extremes in whoever and whatever exists according to the rules of this plane of duality, and to whom and which a radical choice between opposites is demanded.
Opposites both participate in a common reality, as day and night balance together the diurnal cycle, as male and female participate together in human nature. Without the possibility for evil, what would be the meaning of good? How could we even apprehend it? But is the good which is the opposite of evil truly the good we are meant to pursue? Is the light which is the opposite of darkness the True Light? Is the belief which is the opposite of doubt true certitude (yaqīn)? Is there not a Higher Good that transcends the duality of both good and evil, and reconciles them on a higher plane, where evil is understood as as a means of learning what goodness is, and goodness as a means of learning what evil is?
The solution to this tension is neither to live in a never-ending quest for the liberation of good from the clutches of evil, for the elimination of all evil, crookedness, darkness, doubt, impurity, and so on; nor is it to embrace both equally in confused carelessness as to what is what. The solution is not to make this relative good, which is the opposite of evil, one’s aim and goal. For this relative good is never free from mixture with evil, and the battle between them will never end so long as we conceive them as enemies. The solution is not to seek one opposite and deny the other. Rather, looking beyond them both, having become a lover of that Pure Good that has no opposite, it is to live for that Pure Peace beyond both war and peace that reconciles all enmities, for that Pure Oneness which exists beyond both one and two.
There is so much wisdom compressed into this opening verse to a sonnet by the American poet e. e. cummings. In this simple line, he suggests that unity is not achieved by cutting off one side and keeping the other; it is not achieved by eliminating the darkness and keeping only the light, nor by cutting off the irrational and keeping only the rational, nor by devaluing the feminine and exalting the masculine, nor again by avoiding winding ways and following only straight lines (and is the Straight Path—the sirāt al-mustaqīm—really, literally devoid of any curves? is it really possible at all, on this earthly plane, to ever follow only a rigid, straight line?); unity is not achieved by renouncing this world altogether and valuing only the Hereafter, nor by despising the profane and confining oneself solely to the sacred, nor by rejecting idleness for progress, folly for wisdom, laughter for severity, doubt for belief, spontaneity for ritualism, blasphemy for faith. This unity which is formed by the rejection of the other is only a seeming unity, and will never become entirely free from its opposite. When there are two, the silencing of one behind the voice of the other does not mean that only one is speaking. This unity is merely a surface appearance; eventually, the suppressed voice always breaks through.
“one’s not half two. It’s two are halves of one.”
True unity is not achieved by abstracting and elevating one side of a duality, and cutting off the other: rather, it is found through the conjunction of opposites, passing through contraries to that which exists beyond them both. Consider this quatrain of Awḥaduddīn Kirmānī (13th century):
Every heart that falls prey
to the pain of longing for You
leaves behind both
the idol-temple and the Ka‘ba.
In love’s way, blasphemy
and faith are alike;
this way passes by both
the idol-temple and the Ka‘ba.
That Higher Unity is not found by utterly renouncing the idol-temple and utterly dedicating oneself to the Ka‘ba. For the idol-temple and the Ka‘ba, when sought for themselves, both are an object of worship from which a gain is sought, apart from God, and that object is still an idol, before which one is still a mercenary who seeks gain from a source of power and bounty, in exchange for the performance of ritual acts of worship. But when God is sought, when the Beloved is sought for the Beloved’s sake alone, then both the idol-temple and the Ka‘ba are transcended. Even as one goes to them, one’s worship passes through them to the Beloved that exists beyond both the idol-temple and the Ka‘ba. Even the idol-worshipper, if his/her end is that Beloved, will reach God through the idol.
This does not mean that one has to reject both the forms of the idol-temple and the Ka‘ba altogether. It does, however, entail detachment from man-made forms (detachment, not rejection), so that they are no longer sought in and of themselves, but merely as different pathways to the Higher Unity which exists beyond them both. In this sense, the idol-temple and the Ka‘ba both are alike. Hence, another quatrain of Kirmānī:
By God, only in annihilation
do you truly exist;
by God, my sober friends,
how sweet is this drunkenness!
And if perchance one day
you worship an idol for God,
I swear that from the idol
you will attain to the One.
A typical response to the notion of “reconciliation of opposites” is that it is surely awkward and repulsive to imagine something like the conjunction of good and evil. But this Higher Unity beyond opposites does not signify that the duality is to be fused (or confused) into one, that light and dark, fire and water, mind and heart, day and night, man and woman, etc. should become uniform, behave in the same way and reach their end by the same means, in a truly depressing compromise where fire no longer burns and water is no longer fresh, where day and night are both a dim glow without any variation of light, where there is no summer and no winter, just an even climate that feels like nothing, where thoughts are muddled up with emotions, and feelings squared out by the principles of reason.
This is not what is meant by the conjunction of opposites, “it’s two are halves of one.” That is merely a confusion of opposites, occurring on the plane of duality; as for the Higher Unity, it exists on a higher plane than that of duality: the One is not the one that is opposed to two. It is One, and there is no other beside it. It is not that there is one true God while all other gods are false gods. That God is not the One opposed to the Many. It is the One beyond both one and two.
The idol-house and the Ka‘ba, as opposite creeds (symbols of plurality and unity respectively), will always remain opposites on this plane, and whoever lives according to the laws of the realm of duality will always go to either one or the other, never both (unless they are indeed confused). But the one whose heart has been seized with longing for that Higher Unity, for the God beyond forms, sees that both the idol-house and the Ka‘ba reach to the same end, whenever it is God, and nothing else, that is sought through them, and beyond them. As Aynulquḍāt Hamadānī wrote in the 12th century:
I will set this creed
and religion on fire,
and put Your love
in their place.
How long must I hide
Your love in my heart?
My goal is You,
not a creed or religion.
Evil and good constitute together the very symbol and archetype of duality. Evil and good can never be conjoined, only confused, on the plane of duality. But when one’s heart rises beyond duality, moved by existential love for that Transcendent Being who is Pure Unity beyond all opposites, then beyond these two extremes a reconciling Unity is discovered. A Unity which appeases the war that reigns between extremes in whoever and whatever exists according to the rules of this plane of duality, and to whom and which a radical choice between opposites is demanded.
Opposites both participate in a common reality, as day and night balance together the diurnal cycle, as male and female participate together in human nature. Without the possibility for evil, what would be the meaning of good? How could we even apprehend it? But is the good which is the opposite of evil truly the good we are meant to pursue? Is the light which is the opposite of darkness the True Light? Is the belief which is the opposite of doubt true certitude (yaqīn)? Is there not a Higher Good that transcends the duality of both good and evil, and reconciles them on a higher plane, where evil is understood as as a means of learning what goodness is, and goodness as a means of learning what evil is?
The solution to this tension is neither to live in a never-ending quest for the liberation of good from the clutches of evil, for the elimination of all evil, crookedness, darkness, doubt, impurity, and so on; nor is it to embrace both equally in confused carelessness as to what is what. The solution is not to make this relative good, which is the opposite of evil, one’s aim and goal. For this relative good is never free from mixture with evil, and the battle between them will never end so long as we conceive them as enemies. The solution is not to seek one opposite and deny the other. Rather, looking beyond them both, having become a lover of that Pure Good that has no opposite, it is to live for that Pure Peace beyond both war and peace that reconciles all enmities, for that Pure Oneness which exists beyond both one and two.
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