Since the childhood, and like everyone else, I have had experiences domestic, dreams, dreams, visions, spiritual emotions, aesthetic wonders, tears of joy etc, which I was perhaps more sensitive and attentive than other children. Teenager, I extended my artistic practice in drawing and painting as by that of a phenomenological look spontaneous, that is poetic and naive in its original sense, special attention to works of art and natural phenomena that I lived as so many wonderful and inexplicable appearances. These spiritual experiences and mystical troubled me deeply and led my life to an inside job. Finding no one around me who trust me, or who could enlighten me as to their nature, their cause and their purpose, I entered alone and ignoring a lengthy quest to understand and share with others - mystics, scholars, poets and artists - what was going to happen and what steps marked my creations and deadlocks. A path followed by my research was the assiduous reading: Arthur Rimbaud, Wassily Kandinsky, Gaston Bachelard, Gilbert Durand, Carl Gustav Jung, Peter Solie etc., and later, around eighty seven years, Henry Corbin. Although deeply Christian, I enjoyed time in the spiritual company mystics-Theosophists-poets of Islam, Avicenna, Sohrawardi, Ibn Arabi, Rûsbehân, Rumi, Hallaj and other lovers of God speaks of Henry Corbin, in which I am grateful for the teachers, guides and older brothers, who walked, as I sought to do in the friendship of God on the direct path of the soul and invisible, love of beauty. Gradually, I realized that the incurable romantic nostalgia of these mystics of Islam was that they had deprived themselves and cut, out of loyalty to the Quran, the Don's absolute love of God manifested in his incarnation as Man in His Son Jesus Christ and the rejection of his Death and Resurrection. A resurrected son that everyone can become yet following Jesus Christ on the Way of Life, Truth and Love that He is Himself. This Way this blog never ceases to tell those who seek here. However, my spiritual journey led me to this certainty: all roads lead to God seeking men to God as long as they pass by Love, which is the only true path of knowledge which all come together and know by heart, a heart and married illuminated by Glory of the Father's love. A Heart in which we transcend, we are born, we reach and we will all beyond, beyond this world, beyond his words and his images, beyond his ideas, his beliefs and his religions closer to us, however: in the Heart of God, where are gathered Avicenna and all children love Life.
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| Portrait of Avicenna |
Oriental Theosophy (Hikmat al-al-mashriqiyya) Avicenna:
From metaphysics to mysticism
An article published in this journal Tehran
From metaphysics to mysticism
An article published in this journal Tehran
With Amelie Nieuwkerke
" Who chooses the mystical science for herself professed dualism . But he who has found the mystical science as if it had not found, finding instead the object of knowledge, it has sunk into the abyss of arrival. "Avicenna (1)
Avicenna the philosopher and author of major philosophical treatises as speculative metaphysics of Shifa is well known in the West since the thirteenth century. That said, another aspect of his thought was largely ignored by medieval scholasticism to actually being addressed the twentieth century, through various works and translations made by Marie-Amelie Goichon Henry Corbin (2) or Shlomo Pines (3). Thus, in addition to his many scientific and philosophical works, Avicenna is also the author of short stories of a mystical symbolic richness exceptional, in which he revealed the ultimate goal of his philosophy. (4) The concepts transmute it into a symbol and speculative knowledge becomes a presence, that of a personal guide about inviting her to discover the secrets of his own soul, mingling with that of Being and the mystery of Creation. In a series of three stories entitled The Story of Hayy ibn Yaqzan (5), the Narrative Bird and the Story of Salaman and Absal, we discover Avicenna in search of spiritual and self-knowledge and far purely speculative concerns of his classic philosophical treatises. (6) In other words, the philosophy Avicenna extends a mystique which it is the ultimate outcome. It is no longer here to explain the world through concepts, but to reveal the meaning of his existence and the spiritual destiny of man. The thought of Avicenna done here involves a melee at a angelology cosmology, anthropology and a theory of knowledge extremely rich, which will be partially resumed and deepened in Eastern philosophy (Hikmat al-ishraq) of Sohrawardi. (7) This aspect of the thought of Avicenna also leads to qualify the opposition often trench between the Aristotelian philosophers of inspiration (mashâ'ûn) and Theosophists "Oriental" (ishrâqîyûn). For Avicenna, the first tendency would be in reality a qualifying preparing the soul to receive the highest truths, what we might call "knowledge of salvation."
The three mystical stories: the same "cycle visionary
If these three stories written in Persian has long been studied separately, they nonetheless appear to be a while evoking each step the same term mystical. (8) The Story of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan, which means "son of the Living watchman" (9) first described the meeting with a mystical sage from the heavenly Jerusalem. He teaches various sciences, while inviting him to part with his two companions, convoiteur and angry, which typify the passions of the soul. This meeting coincides with the awakening of the soul to itself and the discovery of his "alter ego" which is simply heavenly character of the Wise. Through the initiation of the latter, it has gradually that reality is not what is perceived by the senses, and must be sought beyond the world of appearances matter. The Sage then invites a return to an "Oriental" cosmic world of forms archangel of light that comes from the soul, through a mystical journey along that the soul can not however do that by issuing two "companions" mentioned above.
If these three stories written in Persian has long been studied separately, they nonetheless appear to be a while evoking each step the same term mystical. (8) The Story of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan, which means "son of the Living watchman" (9) first described the meeting with a mystical sage from the heavenly Jerusalem. He teaches various sciences, while inviting him to part with his two companions, convoiteur and angry, which typify the passions of the soul. This meeting coincides with the awakening of the soul to itself and the discovery of his "alter ego" which is simply heavenly character of the Wise. Through the initiation of the latter, it has gradually that reality is not what is perceived by the senses, and must be sought beyond the world of appearances matter. The Sage then invites a return to an "Oriental" cosmic world of forms archangel of light that comes from the soul, through a mystical journey along that the soul can not however do that by issuing two "companions" mentioned above.
In the Story of the Bird (Risalat al-Tair), the soul of the mystic began the long journey and the ascent to heaven inside the East of its origin. Accompanied by the Angel, the bird-soul must pass through many stages to the mountain of Kaf, while avoiding the pitfalls and temptations of the road. She finally comes to its King, who tells him that his mystical journey is not done: "No one can undo the bond that impedes your feet apart even those who are knotted. So here I send a messenger to them that the task requires them to satisfy you and remove you from the shackles. Go then, happy and satisfied. "(10) The soul is not completely free from the shackles of the body and" back "then this world. Sometimes it amounts to his heavenly dimension, sometimes she joins her "companions." However, it is not only because at his side start the "Messenger of the King".
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| heavenly ascension of the Prophet Mohammad (Mi'raj) Mohammad, Abraham and the angel Gabriel, miniature Turkish thirteenth century |
In the third story, and Salaman Absal recall the profound vocation of the human soul called to make a return to "his" world . The story depicts Salaman, master of a great kingdom, and Absal, his brother, young and intelligent man of great beauty. Salaman's wife falls madly in love with him, who stubbornly refuses to yield to his advances, sometimes at the cost of his life. The latter eventually poisoned. Racked with grief, Salaman renounces his wealth, and one day discovers the truth during an interview with mystical God. He decides to avenge his brother's death by drinking to his wife and his two accomplices to the same poison that killed his brother.
As Avicenna says in the Book of Directives and Remarks, "Know that Salaman is an allegory that represents you yourself, and qu'Absâl allegorically represents your degree in Irfan, the secret science, if you're among those who embrace it." (11) and Salaman Absal typify two dimensions of the intellect: its contemplative dimension and its aspiration to join "his" celestial world is symbolized by Absal, while its practical wishing to dominate the world of matter is embodied by Salaman. The death of Absal here is a mystical death, while the revenge of his brother symbolizes the subjugation of evil powers of the soul and the triumph of man over his fate, resulting in a "mystical death" in the material world (12).
This "trilogy" is an invitation to know its true me and the Journey to the East of origin, which must specify the details here and the implications philosophical, epistemological and spiritual.
A mystic is rooted in a cosmology angelic
Avicenna's thought is based on any cosmology and explanation of the genesis of the world that Being was established in several steps involving the generation of multiple levels of intelligence (or Archangels), Ames and celestial skies, ending with the creation of the material world. The process is as follows: the first being created by a triple intellection of its Principle (God), his own being as required by others (through the existence of God) and then as unnecessary in itself (that is to say, by understanding the limits of his own being that exists only by God), in turn gives respectively Archangel birth to a second (or intellect, 'aql), a first-Angel's soul moving heaven and heaven, as each of its three hypostasis acts of intellection.
Avicenna's thought is based on any cosmology and explanation of the genesis of the world that Being was established in several steps involving the generation of multiple levels of intelligence (or Archangels), Ames and celestial skies, ending with the creation of the material world. The process is as follows: the first being created by a triple intellection of its Principle (God), his own being as required by others (through the existence of God) and then as unnecessary in itself (that is to say, by understanding the limits of his own being that exists only by God), in turn gives respectively Archangel birth to a second (or intellect, 'aql), a first-Angel's soul moving heaven and heaven, as each of its three hypostasis acts of intellection.
This ternary diagram reproduces, giving rise to different degrees of being, until the Tenth Archangel - or intelligence officer, 'aql-e fa'ala - which no longer has the energy to create its turn an archangel, a soul and a unique sky. (13) His act of understanding will then lead to the creation of the multitude of human souls and original material. Cosmology identified here with a angelology: the outpouring of Being in return leads the desire of the mind to join her heavenly Archangel - the principle of perfection from which it emanates - nostalgia that explains the setting in motion its own heaven (14). Avicenna's cosmology is therefore a mystical tone, movements of the spheres is not directly based on the divine will nor implacable necessity, but on nostalgia and love of beings to Being perfect which they proceed.
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| The mystic awakening to itself, Persian miniature, detail. |
In this context, thanks to the awakening led by the angel, the soul becomes aware of his current condition foreign to the world calling for a return and turn to climb the "ladder of being," to the beings of light which it is derived. (15) This implies the awakening realization that the soul is in reality only the terrestrial counterpart of another "me heavenly" spiritual guide of his earthly being inseparable. (16)
Angel or Guide mentioned herein may be identified with the Archangel Gabriel, the Holy Spirit of the prophets or Intelligence Officer. In particular, he echoed the heavenly ascent (Mi'raj) of the Prophet Mohammad, led by the Archangel Gabriel. Like the Prophet, and every mystic is invited to mentally reproduce the same spiritual ascension.
Cosmology Avicenna should not be considered an abstract schema, independent of man, but a genuine mystical path. Far from being a metaphor or symbolism pure speculation, the encounter with the Angel is a concrete invitation to the exodus, and evokes the Angel at the end of the story of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan: "If you want, follow me. "
A new approach to knowledge
While some knowledge can be transmitted through the concepts and reasoning, the" awakening of the soul "is realized in the form of a spiritual experience in the form of an encounter with a higher spiritual reality - the Angel. It is above all individual knowledge independent of any external perception, in the sense that it manifests first place in the consciousness of a person through a picture or a spiritualized form. The story form chosen here by Avicenna and the use of symbols (17), whose meaning is inexhaustible, seem more able to express the existential and spiritual horizon of the mystical adventure - which may not be truly understood only itself being lived.
While some knowledge can be transmitted through the concepts and reasoning, the" awakening of the soul "is realized in the form of a spiritual experience in the form of an encounter with a higher spiritual reality - the Angel. It is above all individual knowledge independent of any external perception, in the sense that it manifests first place in the consciousness of a person through a picture or a spiritualized form. The story form chosen here by Avicenna and the use of symbols (17), whose meaning is inexhaustible, seem more able to express the existential and spiritual horizon of the mystical adventure - which may not be truly understood only itself being lived.
An entirely different conception of knowledge is emerging here, where the object is not a mere intellectual abstraction or a "thing" is placed outside and separated from the soul, but springs from the very desire of the latter . Its object will be what the soul, according to his desire and his will, will able to know. Knowledge becomes both gnosis and illumination (ishraq), in that it comes from a spiritual teaching given by an angel who plans on human souls ideas forms of knowledge-based capabilities each of them. Knowledge in the true sense becomes inseparable from the notion of presence, but also that of responsibility: external data not needed here anymore to a passive and receptive as the world of material bodies, on the contrary topic that is causing the shedding of one form or another, according to its own mode of being and understanding.
This knowledge requires an organ above sensory perception of its own and a particular place where it occurs: this place will be the imaginal world, intermediate between the world of intellects pure and the world of matter, whose cosmology triadic Avicenna provides the ontological foundation. Knowledge is therefore both objective and intensely personal, and rooted in a conception of individuality that will guide a particular type of anthropology and spirituality.
The importance of the concept of individuality
These mystical stories also reveal the centrality of the concept of individuality in theosophy Avicenna, even if this mystical encounter between two people. The experience of Meeting varies from one person to another, depending on the horizon of his own spiritual consciousness partly determining the form taken by the angel, according to the maxim "I saw him as I had been able to see ". The mode of being (modus essendi) will then determine a way of understanding (modus IntelliGender) individual: "The Angel individuates itself in the guise of a specific person, including the Annunciation is the degree of experience the soul to which he promises: that by integrating all its powers that opens the soul to transconsciousness, and anticipates his own totality. "(18) Corbin summarized the issue in these terms:" Each of us carries within himself the image of his own world, his Imago Mundi, and throws in a more or less coherent, which becomes the stage on which his destiny. "(19) Far from a mere imaginary tale, the narrative invites Avicennian to find the true meaning and full of himself and to shape its own destiny through a heavenly "angelic pedagogy." (20)
These mystical stories also reveal the centrality of the concept of individuality in theosophy Avicenna, even if this mystical encounter between two people. The experience of Meeting varies from one person to another, depending on the horizon of his own spiritual consciousness partly determining the form taken by the angel, according to the maxim "I saw him as I had been able to see ". The mode of being (modus essendi) will then determine a way of understanding (modus IntelliGender) individual: "The Angel individuates itself in the guise of a specific person, including the Annunciation is the degree of experience the soul to which he promises: that by integrating all its powers that opens the soul to transconsciousness, and anticipates his own totality. "(18) Corbin summarized the issue in these terms:" Each of us carries within himself the image of his own world, his Imago Mundi, and throws in a more or less coherent, which becomes the stage on which his destiny. "(19) Far from a mere imaginary tale, the narrative invites Avicennian to find the true meaning and full of himself and to shape its own destiny through a heavenly "angelic pedagogy." (20)
The revelation of the deity is carried therefore mediated by the Angel as a single process for each person, look fundamentally at odds with the "common consciousness" land involving a general leveling of spiritual possibilities.
unit of knowledge and prophecy
For Avicenna, the soul is the organ that receives the prophecy revealed by an Angel, Holy Spirit, the same angel guiding spirit of the prophet and that of the mystic philosopher. (21) Knowledge of the philosopher and the prophet are therefore intended to meet, allowing a unified epistemological and ontological Knowledge and Prophecy, the only difference remaining the obligation to Prophet sent (nabi Morsal) communicating to men what has been revealed. Any notion of "double truth" loses its meaning here, as well as the opposition between religion 'external' and personal mystical experience. The differences between them express any at most levels of the same reality. The very question of separation between faith and knowledge, as it has arisen in the West, disappears.
Avicennism oriental theosophy lights Sohrawardi
Theosophy Avicenna has sometimes been regarded as "Oriental" not in the geographical sense as referring to any geographical location, but as an invitation to return to the East of his being, where all light originates. We find the same pattern in the theosophy of Sohrawardi, considered the real founder of theosophy illuminative. While confirming the validity of the project, however, to Avicenna Sohrawardi reproached for not having been able to distinguish the true source Eastern (22), it related to the ancient sages Zoroastrians of ancient Persia. In this sense he introduced his company as unique. Despite these criticisms, Sohrawardi, who read and meditated on the story of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan, acknowledges his debt to its author. (23) Moreover, certain motifs Avicennans stories like the "Me Heaven" manifested to consciousness in the form of a winged being, or the bird-soul in search of their king, are in a tradition of Persian mystic whose Mantiq al-Tair (The Language of Birds), epic mystical 'Attar .
Avicennism Latin and Eastern
Theosophy Avicenna was the object of special attention early enough in Iran and led to the writing of several books and reviews. Among the best known, we can cite in particular the Miftah al-Shifa '(Key of the Shifa') Sayyed Ahmad 'Alawi, referring to the "Eastern philosophy" mentioned earlier in this book. If Avicenna also referred to his "Oriental philosophy" in his Notes on the Theology of Aristotle (24), this aspect of his thought especially was developed in his monumental Kitab al-Insaf (Book of the arbitration hearing), the vast majority has been lost in the sacking of the library in Isfahan in 1034. (25) This lack leaves therefore remain inevitable shadows on the exact scope of this project.
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| Meeting of the soul with the Angel, Persian miniature |
Conversely, and as we 'talked, this aspect of the thought of Avicenna remained except a few rare exceptions, ignored in the Latin West (26), and was somehow replaced by the cosmology of Averroes. (27) At the "angelic pedagogy" d Avicenna, Averroes thought removes the mediation of the angel guardian of individualization, to design the process of intellection as a particularization of the Intelligence Officer in the soul.
More than a real ignorance, we should probably talk more about more or less conscious rejection of Avicenna's cosmology in the Latin West, resulting from an incompatibility with certain aspects of Christian theology to which vision of the human soul generated by an angel could appear in contradiction with the idea of monotheism. The major role granted to the Intelligence Officer in the knowledge and the emphasis on the individual dimension also seems difficult to agree with the idea of an ecclesiastical magisterium. So we could emphasize with Henry Corbin that the different fate of Avicenna in the East and West symbolizes the different paths of two traditions. It reflects on one side the importance of a spiritual experience based on a personal relationship that goes outside intermediary, unlike the medieval tradition where the Church is the body mediator par excellence.
looming here an essential difference in the way of conceiving the "meaning" of man and his spiritual guidance. In Avicenna, salvation is not thought to bring about the incarnation as a man-God redeemer of men, but as the result of an epiphany inside; the birth of the Holy Spirit to Ange-consciousness to guide the soul towards its ultimate destination. This concept involves a relationship with the Divine based on the individuality of every being who will determine the terms of a personal salvation in a mystical journey unveiled by his angel. We should also remember that angels have a very important role in Islam, the recognition of their existence as part of the imperatives of every believer. (28) Moreover, this situation of "face to face" response to a mystical love and nostalgia mentioned above, that in his report to the Ange-Aimé, the soul-loving not satisfied that an personal relationship and individual, not collective. It calls for a living spirituality, beyond any confinement in frozen concepts and expressible only through a phenomenology of religious consciousness. It also rests on a conception of the divine in contradiction with the idea of incarnation and socialization.
Avicenna and Imamism
Extended and extensively commented upon by many Iranian Shiite thinkers, Avicenna's thought is often interpreted as an imam. According to Shi'ism, in addition to its historical dimension (or Tarikhi zahir), the Imam also coincides with the "perfect man" (al-Insan al-Kamil) that matches the inner dimension (batin) of human faces its own perfection. The Angel of mystical tales Avicennans would in this sense that the expression of the believer's relationship with "the Imam of his being" while the search for the "invisible king" mentioned in the Story Bird is confused with that of the hidden Imam. This leads us to ask ourselves whether or not Avicenna was Shiite. The father and brother Ismailis were Avicenna, Avicenna and cosmology is not unrelated to certain elements of the procession of being in the Ismailis. However, if Avicenna did not join the da'wat Ismaili, elements of his work (including the Shifa ') and even his life - including the support it had provided Shiite rulers of Isfahan and Hamadan - show to assume that he was a Twelver Shia acquired the discipline of the arcane. However, most do not lie in the historical dimension of the issue. The place of narratives of Avicenna and their scope is different. The real issue here is to detect design Avicenna rights and the scope of his destiny, which may be regarded as a true "imam" in the philosophical sense of an invitation to make itself the model of the Imam of the perfect man, led by a guide whose characteristics also join that of the figure of the Imam. The words do not matter here, only the deeper meaning of experience is taken into account. The issue of conversion is not so much external and internal; conversion to oneself and the reality of his being.
Extended and extensively commented upon by many Iranian Shiite thinkers, Avicenna's thought is often interpreted as an imam. According to Shi'ism, in addition to its historical dimension (or Tarikhi zahir), the Imam also coincides with the "perfect man" (al-Insan al-Kamil) that matches the inner dimension (batin) of human faces its own perfection. The Angel of mystical tales Avicennans would in this sense that the expression of the believer's relationship with "the Imam of his being" while the search for the "invisible king" mentioned in the Story Bird is confused with that of the hidden Imam. This leads us to ask ourselves whether or not Avicenna was Shiite. The father and brother Ismailis were Avicenna, Avicenna and cosmology is not unrelated to certain elements of the procession of being in the Ismailis. However, if Avicenna did not join the da'wat Ismaili, elements of his work (including the Shifa ') and even his life - including the support it had provided Shiite rulers of Isfahan and Hamadan - show to assume that he was a Twelver Shia acquired the discipline of the arcane. However, most do not lie in the historical dimension of the issue. The place of narratives of Avicenna and their scope is different. The real issue here is to detect design Avicenna rights and the scope of his destiny, which may be regarded as a true "imam" in the philosophical sense of an invitation to make itself the model of the Imam of the perfect man, led by a guide whose characteristics also join that of the figure of the Imam. The words do not matter here, only the deeper meaning of experience is taken into account. The issue of conversion is not so much external and internal; conversion to oneself and the reality of his being.
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| Prophet Mohammad brought by the angel Gabriel, library of Topkapi Palace, Istanbul |
Theosophy Avicenna gives a deep richness to the whole of his mind while giving a news unique in that it makes the invitation is not restricted to a historical era or a particular place. Away from fixed conceptual systems, it offers symbols whose meanings are still to be deciphered. As emphasized so Henry Corbin, "we must not yield to the illusion that the decision is imposed by things. The decision of the future is for the soul, depends on how it understands itself, its refusal or acceptance of a new birth. "(29) His thinking is not "passed" or "exceeded", but is perpetually to be done, for as little consciousness opens itself and becomes capable of perceiving multiple meanings.
Mysticism and spiritual steps in Avicenna:
Some passages from the Book of Directives and Remarks (30)
Some passages from the Book of Directives and Remarks (30)
The three stories of mystical Avicenna echo the various stages of mysticism presented in the Book of Directives and Remarks. The first degree of mysticism is reflected in the will as a principle of movement and desire for perfection, and the second by the practice of asceticism and spiritual exercises intended to submit the passions of the soul so that it only wants the truth. This asceticism cause fugitive moments of ecstasy that will continue gradually allowing the mystic not see anything that even Truth: "The clarity of the lightning flame becomes a brilliant intimate knowledge is made for him, stable as a constant companion. "(31) This state is characterized by a simultaneous presence and absence in the world:" When he enters this knowledge, the event [external] decreases, it is present all being absent, and on the spot while traveling. "(32) Here are some excerpts:
" Science begins with a mystical separation, detachment, abandonment, neglect, focusing on a whole, which is the set of attributes Truth, [in order to acquire the similarity] to the person of the murid by faithfulness and leading to the One. "
" Who chooses the mystical science for herself professed dualism. But he who has found the mystical science as if it had not found, finding instead the object of knowledge, it has sunk into the abyss of arrival. "
" And he who turns his thoughts to the sanctity of divine omnipotence in continual expectation sunrise light of truth in the depths of his own, we give the name of 'Arif (33), who knows the ecstasy. "
" asceticism, in other that 'Arif, is a kind of business transaction, as if they bought with worldly goods of another life. In the 'Arif is failure to which distract from the intimate truth of his being, and a contempt for everything that is not true. "
" If the exercise and this man will reach a certain limit at him open vistas where the light of truth gets up on him as pleasant light flashes that light up, then turn off. It's called home "moments" (34), each moment is framed by two ecstasies, one that leads to it, the other envelope. "
[When state to "join or" meeting "(ittisâl) becomes habitual]
" He will dip into it [quickly], to be submerged no longer operate. So whenever he casts a glance at something [this world] he turns away to get closer to holiness, since it evoked another memory and is overwhelmed. He sees so to speak the truth in all things. "
" When the ascetic has reached its fullness, the "moment" turns into quietude. One who is accustomed in a trance, and clarity of the lightning flame becomes a brilliant intimate knowledge is made for him, stable as a constant companion, and she enjoys it in his joy. Also, if turns away [temporarily], it is with sadness and confusion. "
" If it passes the gift asceticism and reached the depths of his being becomes a mirror polished This is opposite to the side of truth and delights him on high flow in abundance, and he welcomes the trace of truth that he bears in his soul. He has an eye to the truth and a glimpse into his soul, as soon then as a back-and-forth. "
" Then he walks away from oneself, it looks that the majesty of holiness, although it does not lose sight of its soul, but as she looks the same, not as it is embellished. There is really arriving.
Biography
Avicenna, Book of Directives and Remarks - Kitab al-wa-l-Isharat Tanbihât, translation, introduction and notes by Marie-Amelie Goichon Unesco-Vrin, 1951.
Corbin, Henry, Avicenna and the story visionary, Verdier, spiritual Islam, 1999.
Corbin, Henry, In Islam Iranian spiritual and philosophical aspects, T. 1, 3 and 4, Gallimard, 1971.
Goichon Amélie-Marie, The Philosophy of Avicenna and his influence in medieval Europe, Maisonneuve, Reed. Bookstore of America and the Orient, 1971.
Shayegan, Daryush, Henry Corbin, Spiritual Topography of Iranian Islam, Editions de la difference, 1990.
Sohrawardi, ShihâboddînYahyâ, The archangel crimson, Fifteen treated and mystical tales, translated from Persian and Arabic, presented and annotated by Henry Corbin, Fayard, 1976.
Corbin, Henry, Avicenna and the story visionary, Verdier, spiritual Islam, 1999.
Corbin, Henry, In Islam Iranian spiritual and philosophical aspects, T. 1, 3 and 4, Gallimard, 1971.
Goichon Amélie-Marie, The Philosophy of Avicenna and his influence in medieval Europe, Maisonneuve, Reed. Bookstore of America and the Orient, 1971.
Shayegan, Daryush, Henry Corbin, Spiritual Topography of Iranian Islam, Editions de la difference, 1990.
Sohrawardi, ShihâboddînYahyâ, The archangel crimson, Fifteen treated and mystical tales, translated from Persian and Arabic, presented and annotated by Henry Corbin, Fayard, 1976.
Notes
[ 1] Avicenna, Book of Directives and Remarks - Kitab al-wa-l-Isharat Tanbihât, translation, introduction and notes by Marie-Amelie Goichon, Unesco-Vrin, 1951 Ninth group, "The steps of those who really know," p. 498.
[ 3] Pines, Shlomo, "The" Eastern philosophy "of Avicenna and his polemic against Baghdad's", in Archives of doctrinal history and literature of the Middle Ages, Vrin, 1952.
[ 4] Avicenna himself made reference to "Oriental philosophy" as the goal of philosophy in the prologue of the Shifa '. The ninth group (Namat) of al-Kitab wa al-Isharat Tanbihât also refers to the characters of Salaman and Absal.
[ 5] Not to be confused with the story of the same name written by Ibn Tufayl, which draws heavily from the first but in a different spirit.
[ 6] The roots of this vision are also still in its speculative philosophy: while essentially based on Aristotle's Metaphysics that she does not hesitate to stand out and criticize the thought of Avicenna also remains marked by multiple influences Platonic and Neoplatonic.
[ 7] See the work of Henry Corbin on the subject in particular Avicenna and the visionary narrative, Verdier, spiritual Islam, 1999, and Sohrawardi, ShihâboddînYahyâ, The archangel crimson, and treated Fifteen stories mystic, translated from Persian and Arabic, presented and annotated by Henry Corbin, Fayard, 1976.
[ 8] In this sense, Corbin has spoken of "Cycle of visionary narratives. Corbin, Henry, Avicenna and the visionary narrative, Verdier, spiritual Islam, 1999 12.
[9 ] Or son of alert, especially in the translation adopted by Corbin. The root YQZ (ی ق ظ) refers in particular to the idea of being awake or alert, while the name yaqza (يقظة) could be translated as awakening, sleep or alertness.
[ 10] Avicenna, The Story of the Birds, translated by Henry Corbin in Corbin, Henry, Avicenna and the visionary narrative, Verdier, spiritual Islam, 1999 208.
[ 11] Avicenna, Kitab al-wa-l-Isharat tanbihât (Book of Directives and Remarks), French translation of Marie-Amélie Goichon, UNESCO Publishing-Vrin, 1951, p. 484-485.
[ 12] Avicenna, The Story of the Birds, translated by Henry Corbin in Corbin, Henry, Avicenna and the visionary narrative, Verdier, spiritual Islam, 1999 253.
[ 13] The cosmology as the procession of ten intelligences has previously been made by Farabi and also appears in the work of Hamid Kermani. Dimension truly "angelic" and all its ontological implications and anthropological does assert, however, with Avicenna.
[ 14] Avicenna also called "Angels sacrosanct" (al-Quds malâ'ikat) the intellect, and "Angels of glory" (al-'Izz malâ'ikat) heavenly souls . All souls from the heavenly procession are being deprived of sensory perception but the imaginative faculty in a pure state. They therefore show a degree of reality to be so pure between the intelligible and the sensible world "imaginal" where the realities are manifested in forms spiritualized. This world is imaginal, for a whole tradition of Eastern philosophy, the venue of the stories prophetic visions of the mystics, or any eschatology.
[ 15] This "return" is experienced as an inner spiritual exegesis (ta'wil) of the soul towards its own truth. The Arabic word "ta'wil" comes from the root "Awal" involving the idea of bringing back something to its principle, its origins. It is often used in the exegesis of sacred texts and implies the presence of several levels of meaning. Here an existential ta'wil the mystic is invited, renewing his soul to its own origin.
[ 16] The awakening to oneself also implies the discovery of his true identity and his entire being. This notion of "heavenly me" or "celestial counterpart" manifested in the form of an angel is found in many traditions such as Zoroastrianism (in the form of the female angel Daena), Manichaeism (Manvahmed), or still in Sohrawardi with the Angel in purple and the Cathars with the notion of spiritus rector.
[ 17] Corbin has repeatedly stressed the importance not to confuse the symbol with a simple allegory: "The symbol is a sign not artificially constructed, it hatches spontaneously in the soul to announce something that can not be expressed otherwise, it is symbolized as a single expression of a reality that becomes clear to the soul, but that in itself transcends all description. The allegory is a figure more or less artificial generalities or abstractions that are perfectly knowable or expressible in other ways. Penetrate the meaning of a symbol does not amount to make it superfluous or to abolish it because it remains the only expression of the signified with which it symbolizes. You can never claim to have exceeded once for all, unless specifically degrade in allegory, to provide a rational equivalence, general and abstract. "Corbin, Henry, Avicenna and the visionary narrative, Verdier, spiritual Islam , 1999, p. 43-44.
[ 21] In this sense, the Intelligence Officer was often identified with the Angel Gabriel, or the Angel of Revelation.
[ 23] The same reasons find themselves in the stories and Avicennans sohrawardiens. In this sense, the Western narrative of exile echoed the story of Hayy ibn Yaqzan presenting the awakening of the soul to itself through the "encounter with the angel." We also find thinkers in both the same concept of the East (Mashriq) as angelic world of forms, while the West (Maghrib) is the world of matter and darkness which the soul must free itself. On this subject, see the prologue of the story of exile Western Sohrawardi where he talks about his own vision stories Avicennans.
[ 24] As it was proved later, the author of this book is not Aristotle, and contains a kind of reformulation of the ideas mentioned by Plotinus in his Enneads past.
[ 26] As we mentioned in the introduction, initial research has been conducted including Mary and Amelia Nallino Goichon during the first half of the twentieth century, and thereafter, the wealthy Henry Corbin studies or by Shlomo Pines contributed to reassess the scope of any dimension "Eastern" from the thought of Avicenna.
[ 28] As an example we can cite the verse 135 of Sura Al-Nisa ': "Whoever does not believe in God, His angels, His Books, His Messengers and the Last Day, wanders, far astray. " Henry Corbin has particularly emphasized the importance of monotheism to save angelology double trap and tashbih ta'til. Refer in particular to his book The Paradox of Monotheism.
[ 30] Avicenna, Book of Directives and Remarks - Kitab al-wa-l-Isharat Tanbihât, translation, introduction and notes by Marie-Amelie Goichon, Unesco-Vrin, 1951 Ninth group "Steps those who really know, "pp. 483-501.
[31 ] Avicenna, Kitab al-wa-l-Isharat Tanbihât (Book of Directives and Remarks), French translation of Marie-Amélie Goichon, UNESCO Publishing-Vrin, 1951 Ninth group, "The steps of those who really know," p. 494.
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