Ibn 'Arabi's Polished Mirror: Perspective Shift and Meaning Event

Maisonneuve & Larose
Ibn 'Arabi's Polished Mirror: Perspective Shift and Meaning Event Author(s): Michael Sells Source: Studia Islamica, No. 67 (1988), pp. 121-149 Published by: Maisonneuve & Larose Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1595976 . Accessed: 30/09/2013 04:05
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IBN 'ARABI'S POLISHED MIRROR: PERSPECTIVE SHIFT AND MEANINGEVENT
what the viewer sees is While lookingat a smudgedmirror is simultaneously the mirror the mirror. If in the act oflooking The is no longer a occurs. mirror shift polished, perspective in it. noticed at all, only the image of the viewer reflected Vision (the viewing by a subject of an outside object) has become self-vision. In the beginningof his Fusiis al-Hikam (Ring Settings of Wisdom),(1) Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-'Arabi as a symbol of employsthe above image to remarkableeffect in his the mysticalperspectiveshift. This shiftis reflected notion of the perfectman or completehuman being (al-insdn al-kamil).(2 ) The focusofthis essay is not so muchthe theory how ofthe completehumanbeing,i.e. what is said, (3) but rather
edition: (1) The following translation and discussion is based upon the Affifi edited with commentary by A. A. Affifi, 2 vols. Ibn 'Arabi, Fusis al-h.ikam, al-'Arabiyya, 1946). (Cairo: Dar Ihydi' al-Kutub (2) For a fine discussion of this doctrine see William Chittick, "The Perfect Man as the Prototype of the Self in the Sufism of Jami," Studia Islamica 49: 135-158. In this translation I have used the terms "complete human being" and "complete human" to translate al-insdn al-kdmil. Unlike the English term "man," the Arabic insdn does not contain both a gender specific and a gender non-specificmeaning. In addition, Ibn 'Arabi was quite emphatic and surprising in breaking with patriarchal notions of gender, as, for example, in his famous statement that Adam, the firstexemplar of the firsthuman, was in fact female al-Din's Another nonpatriarchal side to Mulhyi since he (she) gave birth to Eve. thought is its defense of nature, of change, of the necessity for receptivity,of all those elements that patriarchal thoughtassociates with the feminineand relegates to at best an inferior position. (3) For a comprehensivediscussion of Ibn 'Arabi's thoughtsee the firstvolume
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meaningis generatedwithinthe text. The perspectiveshift serves as the bridgebetweenwhat is said and how it is said. It formsnot only the subject of Ibn 'Arabi's discourse(the but of passingfrom dualityto non-duality) mysticalexperience I the will the of what reader the event also text, by experienced call the meaningevent. To ask how meaningis generatedin Muhyial-Din's writings of the question of genre,a question requiresa reconsideration the fact that Ibn 'Arabi, like many mystical complicatedby boundariesbetweenpoetryand conventional writers, challenges the the religious, and distinctions between philosophical, prose, the aesthetic. A look at the genreof the first chapterof Ring a reveals Wisdom bewilderingcomplexity. The Sellings of in and interior cadence(more is poetic imagery beginning highly so than much of Ibn 'Arabi's formal prosody). The text thenintoa philosophical intoa sermon, warning changeswithout and finally back intoan intensely discussion of divineattributes, that includes and elements. finale (4) mythic philosophical poetic A second look reveals furthercomplexities. Passages that narrative,or descriptive, mightnormallybe called expository, by an inner mysticallogic that metaphoricalare transformed subverts the dualisms (cause-effect, here-there, before-after, subject-object,etc.) on which such features subject-predicate, are based. At some pointsthe textis a web ofallusions:to the Qur'dn, philosophy, scholastic theology (kaldm), hermetic sciences, or to "secrets" within the text itself. Allusion is combined withpolyvalence:a giventermwill be used simultanewith several contextsin mind, a techniquethat creates ously
of Toshihiko Izutsu's A Comparative Study of the Key Philisophical Concepts in Sufism and Taoism, 2 vols. (Tokyo: Keio Institute, 1966). In a previous article ["Ibn 'Arabi's Garden among the Flames: a Reevaluation," History of Religions vol. 23, no, 4 (May, 1984): 287-314] I focus upon several doctrines in Ibn 'Arabi that this present discussion will drawn upon: binding (taqy1d), perpetual transformation (taqallub), mystic bewildermentas (hayra) as the highest knowledge, the eternal moment (waqt), and the station (maqdm) of no station. Because there is no room here to develop these doctrines in full, I will cite the "Garden among the Flames" article at appropriate points in this discussion. The two articles are meant to be complementary, the first focusing upon Ibn 'Arabi's doctrines (what is said), the second upon how his language operates (how it is said), though of course the two approaches can never be totally separated. text: Section 1 (4) The division correspondsto the followingpoints in the Affifi (p. 48--p. 50, line 11); Section 2 (50:11--51:12); Section 3 (51:12--53:11); Section 4 (53:11-56).
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a series of undertonesparallel to the main argument. The "main argument"itself continuallychanges and sub-themes become principlethemesonly to recede into undertones again. The radical Sufi hermeneuticof kashf (unveiling) invariably to avoid objectifying turnsagainstits ownformulations meaning. In this essay I suggestthat Ibn 'Arabi's language formsa discursivedynamicor genre,a mystical dialectic comprehensive shift ofthe in whichthe perspective symbolized by the polishing mirrorplays a critical role. The essay is divided into the followingsections: I. Translation of a sample passage and discussion of the problemsinvolved in translatinga text of mysticaldialectic. II. Presentationof the major principlesof Ibn 'Arabi's mysticaldialectic. III. More detailed commentary witha focuson the speciallexical and semantic on the textitself, of the featuresof mystical dialectic. IV. A reconsideration in Ibn of 'Arabi's nature controversial writings particular,and of the criticalcategories in in view mysticalwritings general, establishedearlierin the essay.
I.
TRANSLATION
studies have brought into question the Interdisciplinary commondivisionof texts into the literaryand the expository. The notion that in exposition metaphors are mere aids for (5) illustratingideas has been challenged on several fronts. and of any translation the difficulties Such a positionhighlights of simplyrecasting an argument in termsthat the impossibility if on a purely to Even the original. directly correspond discursive level such directequivalentscould be found, complicare ations would arise on the level of metaphor. Sufiwritings in transto texture loss of vulnerable the literary particularly a in Sufidiscoursecomes through lation. Muchof the meaning created refined use of divine names, an affective by intimacy and the antecedent, the distanceofthe pronounfrom stretching ofthe referent betweenthe human the deliberate blurring finally and the divine. In Ibn 'Arabi's case these standarddifficulties
(5) A good example of recent challenges to standard boundaries between the expository and the literary,the literal and the metaphorical, can be found in On Metaphor, ed. Sheldon Sacks (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978).
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in translatingSufi texts are compounded by a particularly complexuse of use of metaphor, myth,and differing genres.(6) The complexity of genrein Ring Settings of Wisdomputs into as that between mundanedivisions questioneven such seemingly sectionof chapter1, forexample, poetryand prose. The first would not normallybe classifiedas poetry,since it is written neitherin formalmeternor in full saj' (rhymedprose). Yet its flowing render syntax,assonance,and rhythmic development it unsuitablefortranslation intoproseparagraphs and sentences. I have foundthat a freeverse based upon cadence allows the translator to re-create morecloselythe innerrhythmic texture, and to show visually how digressions impingeupon and transformthe main argument. However, a later passage in the same chapter,the discussionof divine attributes, fitswell into in but sounds forced and ackward free verse. paragraphs Anotherpassage, a homilyon the errorof the angels,seems to lie somewherein between the verse and paragraph. In Ibn 'Arabi's mysticaldialectic,the centralfeature is not the idea in the senseofa fixedconcept,but rather theprocesssymbolized by the perspective a processthatwillbe seento implycontinushift, al change. It is not surprising, though no less shockingfor the translator, that Ibn 'Arabi is continually changinghis mode of discourse. A translation of the first sectionof the Adam chapterfollows, a sectionthatcontainsamplythe qualitiesthatearnedits author thetitleofal-shaykh al-akbar (the grandmaster)ofIslamicmystical thought. Here MuhyIal-Din presents the hiscreationmyth, Adam and then interprets mythof the "breathof the merciful," as the first exemplarof the completehuman,as the microcosm that reflects and brings and to actualityall the divineattributes all the essential formsof the cosmos. The text consists of and philosophy,all held myth,metaphor,allusion, digression, togetherby the central event of the perspectiveshift. The
(6) Among the translationsof Fusils are T. Burckhardt's translation of selected chapters, Sagesse des Prophetes (Paris: A. Michel, 1955), trans. Angela CulmeSeymour as The Wisdomof theProphets(Swyre Farm: Beshara Publications, 1975), and R. W. J. Austin's complete transtation,Bezels of Wisdom (New York: Paulist Press, 1980). An interesting solution to the translation problem was offered by Izutsu in his ComparativeStudy. Izutsu was able to render major sections of into well constructed paragraphs and sentences by continually using Fusis. and interpolationsto fillin logical and syntactical leaps. parentheses
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creation myth,the emanation metaphors,the allusion to the conflictwith the angels set an initial context. Within that contextthe hymnto the completehuman being as the pupil of as the khalffa the divine eye, as the polishingof the mirror, of form and orderupon the cosmos,follows (regent)or bestower with a steady, ineluctable buildup of dramatic and poetic withinby from tension. At the same the hymnis transformed to shift self the mysticallogic of the perspective vision). (vision
Whenthereal( ) willed
fromthe perspectiveof its most beautifulnames which are countless to see theirdeterminations
or you could say when it willed to see its own determination in a comprehensive being qualifiedwith existence that would contain its universalorder to reveal to it(self)throughit(self) its mystery forthe self-vision of a beingthrough itself is not like its self-vision outside throughsomething which acts as a mirror its selfappearingto it in a form in a plane of reflection a formwhich could not occur withoutthe existenceof such a plane in it and the self-manifestation into being and whenthe real ( ) had brought the universe a vague, molded shape withouta spirit it was like an unpolishedmirror fordivine providencenever shapes a place withoutthat place acceptingthe divine spirit which it called
the breathing into
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and that is but the activation of that image's potential to receivethe emanation,the eternalmanifestation that always was and always will be and outside of whichthereis onlythe vessel which itselfonly exists fromits most holy overflowing forthe universalorderis fromhim and end beginning "and to him returns the entireorder" as from him it began what was required of the mirror was the polishing that is the world and Adam was the essence of the polishing of that mirror and the spiritof that form
The angelswere certainpowersof that form whichthe folkcall by the term"greathuman" the angels were to it and perceptual likethe spiritual powersin thehumannature but each poweris veiled in itself that is betterthan it and sees nothing forthey (the angels) claim kinship to everyhigh stationand exalted rank beforeAllah to divine universality it pertainto the divineside whether
or to the side of the reality of realities
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or in the nature containingall these attributes to what is requiredby universalnature which encompassesthe vessels of the world all of them,high and low and this no mindknowsby speculation but only by that art of insight which originatedin divine unveiling whichrevealsthe originof the forms that constitute the world and receivethe spirits
this naturethat we have mentioned was named insdn(human being,pupil of the eye) and khalifa(regent) he is named insan because of the universality of his nature because he encompassesall realities he is to the real as the insan (pupil) of the eye is to the eye the mediumof perception so he is called insan because through him the real views its creation and extends them compassion and eternal he is insan, originated withoutend he is the livingbeing,withoutbeginning, and integrating he is the word, discriminating he is to the world of the ringis to the ring as the ringstone the plane of inscription the sign by whichthe kingseals his coffer he is called khalffa then himhis creation sincethe transcendent guardsthrough
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as long as the seal guardsthe treasurechest as long as it bears the seal of the king no one dares open it withouthis permission so he made him his khalifa of his property chargedwith the safeguarding and the world is preserved as long as the completehuman beingremainsin it don't you see that ifhe wereno more or werebrokenoff from the treasure chestthatis theworld the contents, whichthe real placed there,would spill out the partswould clingto one another (becoming undifferentiated) and the entireorderwould vanish into the afterworld wherehe would be the eternalseal on the treasurechest that is the afterworld
II.
INTERPRETATION
In Ibn 'Arabi's writings meaningis generatedbetweentwo ofwhichcan serveas an object ofdiscourse. The poles,neither are containedin nuce problemsposed by this bi-polarreference in the Andalusian master's use of the term al-haqq (the real), to translateit (in the broadersenseoftranslation) and the effort requiresa strategyin dealing with these two poles. The firstpole is the dhat (Self, essence),(7) the ultimate, absolute unitybeyondthe dualisticstructures of language and Ibn and all relation. For 'Arabi, as forother beyond thought, in the tradition of apophasis ("negativetheology") writers (8) to
(7) I have attempted to avoid capitalizations except in cases of proper names since capitals introducea distinctionnot made in the Arabic, and more importantly, since they tend to fix as denominations terms that Ibn 'Arabi means in a nondenominatorymanner (see below on the shiftfromreferenceto realization). In this case, however, I am forced to capitalize the term Self to make clear its distinction from the (ego) self or nafs, as well as from the reflexiveterm "self" which will be used frequentlyin the translation and analysis. (8) The apophatic aporia caused by the encounter of the delimitations of language with the notion of the unlimited is discussed in detail by Plotinus, Enneads 5.5. For a discussion of the aporia in several authors of mystical dialectic see M. Sells, "The Metaphor and Dialectic of Emanation in Plotinus, John the Scot, Meister Eckhart, and Ibn 'Arabi" (Chicago: Universityof Chicago,
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speak of ultimateor unlimited realityas if it were an object or is to entitythat could be named or given normalpredications delimitit. And anything or delimited defined willno longerbe infinite or unlimited. Language delimitation has a subtle but seriouseffect on consciousness and resultsin a grave error:we thinkwe are referring to the unlimited whenin factwe can only referto the delimitedentity that the act of naming posits. fallsinto an aporia, Language, based upon delimitedreference, an unfathomable when it attemptsto deal withthe perplexity, Self. To give it any name, even to denominate it by the term "Self" or "the unlimited," is to pose a delimitedentity. We cannot even call it 'it', since the pronounimplies a delimited entitymarkedofffromotherreferents. But even to say "we cannot call it 'it' " requiresus to call it 'it'. The writerfalls into an infinite regressof retractions. In addition to eluding delimited referenceor names, the unlimitedSelf eludes predication. To say "it thinks,"or "it wills," is also to delimit. The predicationimplies that the actor engages in an activityand is thus in some way separate fromthe activity. To say that "it transcends the world"is to a or from it is excluded which imply space, physical conceptual, (the world,the low). It is the act of predicationratherthan any particular predication which delimits: a predication of or majestyis just as much an act of delimitation transcendence as a predicationof smallness. One solutionto the delimitations and inherentin reference predicationlies in the coincidenceof opposites:it is both here and there,transcendent and immanent, first and last, the same and other. Another solution lies in violating the rule of excluded middle: it is neitherhere nor there,neithersame nor other. It is oftenmaintainedthat such paradoxes are only but the contradictionis real. It "seeming contradictions," cannot be explained away or paraphrased in a non-contradictory fashion. Nor is it merely a device for gaining the reader's attention. It results inexorablyfromthe aporia of to the to refer tryingto use language based upon delimitation unlimited. Though real, the contradictionis not illogical
Ph. D. diss., 1982). The aporia in Plotinus is discussed furtherin M. Sells, "Apophasis in Plotinus: A Critical Approach," Harvard Theological Review, 78:1 (1985): 47-65. 5
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because the logical rules of excluded middle and non-contradictionapply precisely to delimited reference. The paradox is both a means of shifting discoursefromthe realm of delimited towardthe unlimited, reference as well as the resultoflanguage's encounter with the unlimited. Like a poetic metaphorit can neverbe reducedto a purelydiscursive paraphrase. And just as a seeminglysimple metaphor can take on extraordinary resonancewhen used in a poetic context,so a simple paradox like thosecited above can becomea wellspring of meaningwhen such occuringin a mysticalcontext. In order to distinguish language fromthe commonnotion of paradox as a "seeming I use the termdialectic,and defineit as a real, contradiction," yet logical violation of normal logic. The dialectic formsa new logic based upon a transformation of syllogisticlogical rules at certain rigorouslydefined points. The mystical, apophatic dialectic shares with other formsof 'dialectic' its status as a rigorous and comprehensive but it shouldbe method, from the dialectic of the medieval distinguished syllogistic schools as well as fromHegelian and post-Hegeliandialectic from which,though ofteninvolvingsimilarparadoxes, differs in dialectic the mystical particular emphasis placed upon While the Self lies apophaticallybeyond normal language, there is anotheraspect of the real that can be invoked with language. This secondaspect is the realmofthe divinenames. Though in traditionalIslamic thoughtthere are said to be 99 divinenamesused in the Qur'dn,forIbn 'Arabi the divinenames the entirerange of references and predicationsthat represent can be applied to divinereality. The numberof divinenames is therefore infinite, thoughIbn 'Arabi usually has in mindthe standardattributes ofwill,knowledge, life,perception, compassion. Thus whenwe speak ofthe realwe refer to simultaneously two poles: the unmanifest, self of course apophatic (which resistsany intendedreference or predication), and continually the manifest aspect of the divinenames.
(9) Apophatic dialectic can be historical. Joannes Scotus Eriugena's Periphyseonintegrates an apophatic dialectic into Christiansacred history. But it is not historical in quite the same way as Hegelian dialectic, since the notion of beginning and end, before and after, though used, are challenged by the Eriugenan dialectic more continuously and integrally.
history. (9)
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Even so, we cannotspeak of an objectivereferent in the case of the divinenames any morethan in the case of the apophatic Self. The divinenames are neither nor subjects of predications but an This event is rather event. constitute predication, the human in which the names symbolizedby complete being are actualized, and is representedin Ibn 'Arabi's myth of creation and metaphorof the polished mirror:1) Before the creationof the universe, the real existedonly in its unmanifest and thus did know itselfthroughits names. The not stage, names were non-existent or unactual. 2) The names, nonexistentin themselves, can exist and be actual onlyin a cosmos in whichtheyinhere. In orderto actualize the names the real is said to have created a cosmos. 3) The cosmos is like an or a spiritless substance. In orderforthe unpolishedmirror, to shine and forthe divine names to achieve actuality, mirror the completehuman beingis needed. is a mythicversion The event of the polishingof the mirror of an event that earlier Sufis had discussed in terms of the of the doctrine offand',the passingaway of the egoexperience self in contemplationof the divine. At that moment the shift would occur:insteadofthe humancontemplatperspective ing the divine (a subject-object relation) the divine would reveal itselfto itselfwithinthe heart of the mystic. Earlier the discussionsoftendramatizedthis event throughthe divine in which a such shath., mystical utterances non-predicative would take place. In the shahiydgt of Bistfimi self-revelation gloryto me) and Hallfij(and al-haqq,I am reality)this (subhdnti, event was acted out in a dramaticsocial context. Ibn 'Arabi was criticalof the more provocativeelementswithinthe shaf.h and had given up its moreprovocativestance tradition:sufism had come to embraceall strata of Islamic society. However, of the contextof social drama did not entail the abandonment of the event expressedin the earlier an abandonment shaf.hiyadt. at all Ibn 'Arabi placed that event at the heartof his discourse levels, cosmological, philosophical, mythological, metaphorical, forthe creationofa comprehensiveusingit as a centraldynamis
ly apophatic, mystical language.
(10) (10) For a discussion of the question shathiydtsee Carl W. Ernst, Words of Ecstasy in Sufism (Albany: State Universityof New York Press, 1985). For an excellent discussion of earlier Sufismsee Peter Awn, Satan's Tragedyand Redemption: Iblis in Sufi Psychology(Leiden: Brill, 1983).
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shift is expressed in Fromthedivinestandpoint theperspective "I become the the famoushadfth which by qudst, (Allah) hearing he hears,the perception by whichhe sees, the hand withwhich he gropes, and the feet with which he walks." (11) From the human perspectivethe event is expressedas fand': when the of the divineoccurs ego-self passes away the self-manifestation in the heart of the mystic. The divinenames such as hearing and seeing are no longerpredications. But thoughthe apotheyare retrieved phatic critiqueexcludesthemas predication, as realizations. This is the event of perspectiveshift. "Who sees whom in whom" is a question that cannot be answeredwithouttransformingthe referentialstructure of language. From the the eternalmanifestation divineperspective always has occured and always is occuring. From the human perspectiveit is eternal but also a momentin time, an eternal momentthat cannot be held onto but must be continually re-enacted. It is at this momentof perspective shiftthat the Sufirealizes(both in the sense of "make real" and "understand") the divinename. shift marksthe transformation from The perspective a language of reference and predicationto a language of realizationand manifestation. Coincidence of opposites and the logic of of a manimysticaldialecticare generated. The relationship festation to that which it manifests is dialectical:it is what it manifests while on the otherhand what manifests itselftranscends its manifestations. In the above sample passage, the mythof creationforms the of discourse. The is in here explicitsubject myth presented but in ratherabbreviated fuller form form, reappears throughout of Ibn 'Arabl's writings. On one level it is a mysticalretelling the Biblical-Qur'Znic a the context genesis story, signaled by use of specificwords fromthe Qur'anic account: the act of moldingor kneading (sawwd) [the clay fromwhich Adam is and the breathing into (nafkh fThi)by whichthecreator formed], to the creature life. This creation is in continual brings (12) myth
(11) Bukhdri LXXXI: 38. For a specificpassage showingIbn'Arabi combining this hadith with the doctrine of fand', as they were combined in earlier Sufism, and then making it the basis for the perspective shift,see Ibn 'Arabi Fuiis 1: 121-122. (12) Allah is pictured as molding the clay from which Adam was formed in several Qur'anic passages (Q 85:38, 87:2, 18:38, 82:8, 32:9). It is the last mentioned
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a mythic-dialectic. The tension with the dialectic, forming dualisticstructures here-there, cause-effect, subject (before-after, object) upon whichthe mythnarrativedependsare fusedfrom within. The myth continues to generate meaning through narrative but the meaning is transformed by the underlying aporia and its dialectical logic. Withinthe creationmythare imbedded a set of metaphors. One of the most commonis the ringstone/ring-setting image. In the sample passage Ibn 'Arabi refers to the ringas the seal or regent ring,and to the completehuman being as the khalffa whose seal holds the cosmos together to by imparting it form. More commonly, the stone and settingimage symbolizesthe human beingwho, like a ringsetting, holds a particulardivine withinitself. Thus the twentyseven prophets manifestation discussedin Ring Settings or each receivea divinemanifestation wisdom (hikma), but in the perspective shift, that which receivesthe manifestation (al-mulajalla lahu) becomes (is) the same as that whichgives the manifestation (al-mutajallf),and thus the ringstoneand the ring-setting become (are) one. (13) The dualities (such as vessel-content) upon the metaphoris based are fused. Finally,the metaphorsand mythictermsoftenhave a metaphysical correspondence. Thus the shaping or kneading of Adam corresponds to the receptivecapacity of materiaprima into Adam represents while the breathing of form the infusion and lifeintothatreceptive materialsubstrate. Again,dualisms are subverted or fused forminga philosophical dialectic.(14) of dialectic forthe Though I have separated these threeforms
which is the immediate referencefor out text: thummasawwdhu wa nafakha flhi min rihihi (then the molded him and breathed into him of his spirit). This anthropomorphic image of the divine kneading with its hands as it were the primordialclay is picked up again by Ibn 'Arabi at the end of chapter 1 of FusPi where the two hands of Allah are given an extraordinaryseries of interpretations, each interpretationof which is transformedby the mystical dialectic. (13) Ibn 'Arabi, Fusas: 1:121. (14) The arbitrary nature of the division between the philosophical and the metaphorical is demonstrated by Paul de Man in an analysis of how texts that explicitlyclaim to dispense withmetaphorentirelyare in fact based upon metaphor, even in the statement of their claim to being rid of metaphor: Paul de Man, "The Epistemology of Metaphor," in On Metaphor (above, note 5), pp. 11-29. Whether a term like Ibn 'Arabi's "firstmatter" (al-hayialdal-uld) is metaphorical cannot be directlyanswered without an examination of the genre of the text as a whole.
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thannottheyoccursimultanemoreoften purposesofdiscussion, in a text. ously given Ibn 'Arabi's language is thus based upon three intertwined principles:(1) the apophatic aporia which makes it impossible to treat the unlimitedwith normal reference, predication,or shiftsymbolized of the logic; (2) a perspective by the polishing mirror,a shiftthroughwhich normal reference, predication, into logic, metaphor, and myth narration are transformed and (3) a dialecticallogic manifestation; languageof realization, that resultsfromthe event of the perspective shift. A closer look at the sample passage will show how the perspective shift, to that continually turnsfroma directreflection like a mirror an oblique flashof light,operateswithinthe text,transforming the normalfeaturesof language. III.
THE DYNAMIC OF DISCOURSE
At this pointwe can turnagain to the sample passage to see how these principles operate withinour text. This sectionis divided into a discussionof each of the three segmentsof the sample passage as it was divided above. Part 1. Perspective Shift and Split Reference "When the real ( ) willed / fromthe perspectiveof its most beautifulnames / which are countless/ to see their determinor you could say /whenitwilledto see its own deterations // in a comprehensive mination// withexistence / being/qualified to reveal to it(self) that would contain its universal order// through it(self) its mystery...." Who reveals to whomwhose mystery? On first glance,the wa bihi sirrahu would mean problematicphrase yuzhira ilayhi "it revealsthrough it its secretto it," an awkward,but literally
correct translation. (15) It is awkward in English because
(15) Alternately, the passage could be read: wa yazharu bihi sirruhu ilaghi (and its mysterywould appear to it through it). This translation reading has the advantage of avoiding putting the real into a subject-predicate relation. The ambiguity of the split referenceof the pronoun hu is compounded by the ambiguity between yazhara sirruhu and yuzhirusirrahu.
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English demands that we choose between reflexiveand nonreflexive pronouns. Ibn 'Arabi does not make such a distincand tion, and it is the deliberateambiguitybetween reflexive non-reflexive usage that characterizesthe perspectiveshift. It becomes impossibleto determine whetherthe antecedentof the pronounis the divineor the human. revealed? A) Throughwhomis the mystery 1. The mysteryis revealed through the complete human being who acts as the polishingof the mirror. 2. But insofaras the completehuman being is the polishing of the mirror, all that is left "in the picture"so to speak, all that exists,is the real. The polishing of the mirror as symbol offancd' is the disappearanceofeverything the (including mirror) but the real's self-manifestation.What remainsis the divine revealed in him(self), self-manifestation it(self). The referent of the pronounis both the divine and the human,both the self and other. The perspective in the image of the shiftinherent and polished mirrorbringsabout a splittingof the reference that in turn bringsinto operationthe dialecticallogic and the coincidenceof opposites. revealed? B) To whom is the mystery 1. The mysteryis revealed to the real, in the act of selfrevelation. 2. But the real as Self is beyondall dualityand thus beyond being an object (indirectobject of revelation,"to whom" the revelationoccurs), or a subject of predication(a entitysaid "to know"). To say either wouldbe to pose it within a dualistic, state. In anothersense it is delimited,and already manifest the completehuman being that is the realizationof the divine manifestation. The mysteryis revealed to Adam, to the complete human being. This reference"slide" can operate in two directions or dependingupon whichmeaningis primary most evident within a particularexpression. But whenever the experienceof fand' or the metaphorof the polishedmirror are involvedsuch a slide will occur.
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C) Who reveals the mystery? 1. The real reveals the mystery. as it can be givena predication 2. But insofar (it reveals)it is in its manifest no longerthe real in its aspect of Self,but rather the of which divine of the names, totality comprisethe aspect as of The real human subject predicationis being. complete actualized within the complete human being. The real as of such predicative recedesto its transcendence Self continually delimitation. in the translation in ordernot to lose I have used parentheses the perspectiveshiftby being forcedto choose between the "it reveals to it(self) through reflexiveor the non-reflexive: I have used both capital and its Elsewhere it(self) mystery." in how to show the mysticalmomentof fand' the non-capital the and humanreferents: between divine reference He/he splits in of gives him/Him Himself/himself accordancewiththe image in whichHe/heappears to Him/him." exampleof (16) Another is the Sufi's attemptto achieve this split or slidingreference in everymoment, so that in laqallub,perpetualtransformation Ibn 'Arabi states the shift moment occurs. every perspective that individuals have an eternal moment (waqt) of various lengths. The Sufi tries to make the moment as short as to alignhis breath possibleto achieveperpetualtransformation, withthe divine"breathof the merciful": "So that he and dhikr to moment make his breath." His/his attempts ("7) The problem involvedin the exampleC above can be seenmore clearly througha review of the principlestages of the myth: 1) The real is unrevealed beforethe creation of the cosmos. and createsa cosmosto be as a 2) The real willsto be manifest mirrorfor its self-revelation. 3) The completehuman being ts the polishing of that mirror. The aporia hereis that before ihe creationof the cosmos and the completehuman being,we cannot speak of the real as willingor creating. Such predications are part of its self-manifestation.But that selfis a result of its creationof the cosmos. Normal manifestation causalityis subvertedfrombeneath and fallsinto a circularor
(16) M. Sells, "Garden among the Flames," p. 299. (17) Ibid., p. 307.
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reciprocalcausality(A resultsfromB whichis the resultof A), an infinite regressthat underliesall attemptsto link causally or unlimitedto phenomenalrealitythrough the transcendent delimited reference. The regress also serves as the active into perplexities, all such predications what in turning principle the grandmastercalls hayraor mysticalbewilderment. This linguistic implosionis oftensignalledin Ibn 'Arabi by the terms la'dla, and 'azza wa jalla. These terms marksofpietyas is impliedby normaltranslatare not primarily subh.anahu, ions ("praisedbe [or is] he" or "exalted be he"). Rather,they evoke the entireapophatic dialectic,and mightbe translated the attribute as follows: being "May he (or it) be praisedthrough to him here,but also exalted beyondthis attribute." attributed In my translationI have used the sign ( ) to indicate these markers. (Though la'dla might be taken to extra-discursive representthe apophatic exaltation beyond all attributes,and the praise throughattributes,Muhyi al-Din somesubhdnahu to markthe apophatic timesseemsto use theminterchangeably dialectic). in the phrase"from the perspective The aporia is also inherent of" (min haythu):"When the real willed fromthe perspective names..." Once again a diagramshows a of its most beautiful deliberateambiguity. fromthe standa) The real wished to see its determination be revealed could never since its Self its divine of names, point the predicatein any way. The phrasemodifies or determined object relation. we are speaking b) Insofaras we can givethe real a predicate, divinenames. the ofits manifest the standpoint ofit from aspect, the subject-predicate relation. The phrase modifies A similar problematicoccurs in the phrase: "to see their termsin all determinations." 'Ayn is one of the moredifficult of Ibn 'Arabl's writings. An 'ayn is a determination, of the undetermined, unlimited, delimitation,or entification non-entified real. In Ibn 'Arabi's emanationscheme,thereare or forth into the a'ydnthdbita two phases. First,the real flows established determinations. These determinationsare the of all phenomenalreality. The emanation eternal archetypes the archetypesare formedis called the most throughwhich al-aqdas). The second phase of holy overflowing (al-fayd.
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or emanation, or second emanation,is the holy overflowing creation. In the secondphase the real, in its manifest aspectas creator, commands the archetypesto come into phenomenal existence.(18) This would be a relatively schemawereit not straightforward for the fact that it is also transformed fromwithin by the perspectiveshift. One firstsenses a hint of trouble in Ibn 'Arabi's use of the same term,a'yan, forboth the eternalarcheand the phenomenalexisttypes or establisheddeterminations ents. The reader must decide throughcontext whetherthe termrefers to the archetypes or phenomenal existents. (19) The tensionin the use of the terma'ydn can only be released theperspective shift. The archetypes are non existent. through in the mind of the real and exist only They are intelligibles insofaras they flowout into the phenomenal. Like the story of the divine names asking the real to let them exist,(20) the realmofrealities evokesan aporia. verynotionofa non-existent Just as the divinenames can only come into actualitythrough the creationof the cosmos and the completehuman being, a creationwhichis brought about by the divinenames (will,etc.), so the determinations of the real can onlyreallyexistinsofar as they flowinto phenomenalexistence. But phenomenalexistence, like the divine self-revelation, only receives form and determination throughthe complete human being. "To see their determinations" can be diagrammed as follows: of the real (in its manifest a) To see the archetypes aspect of divine names) in the mirror of the cosmos.
(18) For the two phases of emanation see Izutsu, p. 37. These two phases of emanation correspond remarkably well to Meister Eckhart's two emanations, bullilio (the "bubbling forth"within the divine realm) and ebullitio(the "bubbling over" into creation). The problem of the a'ydn can only be touched upon briefly here. It was a point of such difficulty that the grand master's successors felt it necessary to write a systematictreatmentof the problem. For an illuminating treatment of the question see William Chittick, "Sadr al-Din Qrinawi on the Oneness of Being," InternationalPhilosophical Quarterly,XXI (1981): 171-184. (19) E.g., Ibn 'Arabi, 1:51, lines 15-16, especially the phrase a'ydn al-mawjuddtal-'ayniyya. Fu~is. (20) See Ibn 'Arabi, Inshi' al-Daw5'ir [Constructionof the Circles], Kleinere des Ibn Al-'Arabi, ed. H. S. Nyberg (Leyden: Brill, 1919), 36-38 for this Schriften vivid and paradoxical account of the divine names coming before Allah in a delegation to ask to be given actuality and existence. Allah orders the name al-rahmdn to "breath" into existence a cosmos in which the names (including will be realized and existent. al-rahmdin)
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are seen,theyare seen through b) Insofaras thesearchetypes human human being in the real/complete the real/complete being. c) Insofaras they are seen they are not the archetypesbut rather the phenomenal existents. The archetypes remain perpetuallyhidden (bSain). d) The verb "see" then shiftsfromnormal dualistic vision exterior object) to creativevision, (the seeingof a pre-existent, of what is self/other. The the simultaneouscreation/seeing from "seeing"in the normalsense ofthe term,to meaningshifts "realizing," the simultaneous bringing into actuality and frompredicof the actuality. The transformation perception ation to realizationthat occursin Ibn 'Arabi's discourseon the or represented here on the level of linguisticlevel is mirrored or myth cosmology. is elucidated in a passage not much This transformation never shapes down in the poem: "fordivineprovidence further that place acceptingthe divinespirit/whichit a place /without and that is but the activation/ of into // called / the breathing that image's potential/ to receive the emanation,the eternal manifestation / that always was and always will be //and outwhichitselfexists/from side ofwhichthereis onlythe vessel // its most holy overflowing. Here the Qur'anic creation story is interpreted througha double emanation paradigm. The place or vessel (q~dbil) to a materiaprima, an intelligible matteror subcorresponds is said or substratum This matter stratum. prime archetypal the to be non-existent. It only comes into existencethrough into Adam (nafkhfihi). But the breathing second emanation, into"is both the actualizationofthe archetypes that "breathing existents and thepassingaway ofthe phenomenal as phenomenal existence through the polishing of the mirror! Insofar as comes to Adam, the insan kabir(great human,or macrocosm), into him,he becomesthe insdnkdmil the breathing lifethrough is polished,and the dualistic (completehumanbeing),the mirror divisionbetweenthe real and phenomenal realityis transcended in the perspectiveshift. Thus the two emanationsor phases shift to nonin a perspective of emanationare also transcended duality: vessel and contentare one: the vessel is the content, is the holy overflowing. the most holy overflowing
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and the double use ofa'ydnare a cosmoThe two emanations, of the perspectiveshift symbolizedby the logical reflection polishingof the mirror. In Ibn 'Arabi being is continually from transformed the "objective"to the dynamic. Ibn 'Arabi does not really give an account of "the world" since for him beingcannotbe objective. It can onlybe realizeddynamically thatoccurswhentheego-self the perspective shift passes through away in fand'. This shiftalso occurs when the reader of the from duality to nontext experiences the transformation the divinenames (such the reader no reads when duality, longer as seeing and willing),as predicationsbut experiencesthem, if not mysticallyat least aesthetically,as realizations. The first sectionofthe samplepassage endswiththe following him/beginning and end / verses:"forthe universalorderis from "and to him returns the entireorder"/ as fromhim it began // of the mirror what was required/was the polishing /that is the world// and Adam was the essence / of the polishing/ of that mirror// and the spiritof that form." The amr, which in Ibn 'Arabi means both orderin the sense of command,or, more a state or affair, is the divinewill or logos.(21) The generally, and last, beginning that that of is it is both first mystery logos and end, polaritiesthat are used in theirstrong,non-dualistic
terms in Ibn 'Arabi. At times he uses (21) Amr is one of the more difficult it as it is oftenused in the Qur'in to mean simply the a state of being, an "affair." At other times it refersto the divine creative command, the creative imperative kun as the logos (Fusgps 1: 116). This notion of amr is called amr takwini. Finally, amr can be distinguished frommashi'a as two kinds of divine will, the amr referring to the explicitlyformulateddivine will of the sharia, and the mashl'a referringto the absolute divine will. In our passage only the meaning of command or logos seems to be intended, though the first,general meaning of "affair"cannot be excluded. I have thus used the word "order,"with its meanings of command and arrangement to parallel the ambiguity between amr takwini (creative logos as divine will or command) and the more general meaning of affair. See Izutsu, p. 121. Muhyi al-Din's use of the logos doctrineand the termskalima and amr recall a similar doctrine in Isma'ili theory. That doctrine has been related by S. Pines to the long recensionof the Theology ofAristotle (an interpretive translation of the fourth,fifth,and sixth Enneads of Plotinus). More recently Pines has compared the Islamic logos doctrine to Porphyrian prototypes exposed in P. Hadot's remarkable study, Porphyre et Victorinus (Paris: 1968). See S. Pines, "La Longue Recension de la Th6ologie d'Aristote dans Ses Rapports avec la Doctrine Isma6lienne," Revue des tltudes Islamiques (1954), pp. 8-20, and "Les Textes Arabes Dits Plotiniens et le Courant 'Porphyrien' dans le NBoplatonisme Grec," Le Ndoplatonisme(Colloques Internationaux du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique: 1971), pp. 303-317.
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sense: the end is the beginning, the amrcan onlyproceedonce it has returned. The perspectiveshifthere is expressedin the classical Neoplatonic paradox of processionand return,that there can be no real processionuntil the return. In the first sectionof the samplepassage the perspective shift is representedsymbolicallyand metaphorically through the of the the mythically polishedmirror, through emanation image and creationmyth,and cosmologically the double use through of the terma'ydn, forming at once a metaphoric, mythic,and dialectic. The the mirrorthat references to philosophical evoke the perspectiveshiftare separated by philosophicaland that refract the metaphorical mythic"digressions" perspective shift into otherlanguages,even as theybuild poetic tensionby to the the actual reference delayingthe realizationof the shift, a reference that does not come until polishingof the mirror, the thirdsectionof the sample text. Part 2. The Angel's Claim At this pointthereoccursthe digression on the angels. The angelsare said to be certainpowersofthat nash' ('nature'in the sense of 'formation')that is the "great human" (al-insdn alkabTr). The great human representsthe entire amr (affair, command,cosmos) of which the completehuman being is the actualization. We mightthinkofit as Adam before the divine him to life. Angelsrepresent inbreathing brings powersof this cosmos,but each poweris limitedto itself, just as each human sense is limitedto its own sphere of activity. For example, the eye cannot hear. The angels, regardlessof the intensity of their powers, are not universal. Only human nature can or completeness. achieve universality ofhumannatureto angelicnatureis developed The superiority morefullyin the second sectionof the Adam chapter. There, al-Din uses the Qur'anic storyof the angels' prostration Mu1hyi to Adam as a basis fora homilyon the errorof laqyrd (binding), the beliefthat the form, in whichone name, or determination views the real is the onlyform in whichthe real manifests itself. The angels are said to have boasted that they praised Allah throughthe divine names (sabbahahu bihd) and exalted him above them (qaddasahu 'anhLd). However,since each angel is
veiled from the other and represents only one power, no angel
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a complete can perform of (praise) and laqdTs (affirmation and praises).(22) of all forms transcendence lasbh. The angelicboast is an example of the errorof laqyTd. To bind the real into a particularformis the fundamental error, and Ibn 'Arabi's critiqueof it forms the basis forhis critiqueof of dogmatism. Since the real has an infinite all forms number and those names and manifestof names and manifestation, ations are in constantflux,it transcendsall fixedforms. The is realized in the polished mirrorof divine self-manifestation human consciousness,and human consciousness is also in constantflux. Both the real and the completehuman being and an are in a state of laqallub (perpetual transformation), individualcan only realize unionwith the divineby realizinga state of complete,perpetualtransformation. (23) The critiqueof bindinghas been neglectedin discussionsof Ibn 'Arabi's supposed claim to be the completehuman being. a thing,an object. The completehuman beingis not an entity, of the mirror. In the It is an event or process,the polishing offand'the individualego-self shift passes away and perspective occurs. But no individualhuman the divineself-manifestation beingcan hold on to this event or even claim it qua individual. Thoughit is eternalin the sense that it is beyondtime,it must reenactedor reachievedby the individualhuman be continually being withintime. Any claim the Sufi grand master might the complete human being should be have made concerning within the of perspective tradition shiftwithinthe interpreted shath. on the angels three kinds of completeness In the digression that of the divineside, the side of the realityof are mentioned, realities (haqfqal al-haqd'iq), and that of the universalnature to the al-kulliyya). This is an eliptical reference (al-.abra not onlyhorizonthat humannatureis said to be universal fact all the divinenames,but also vertitallyin the senseofincluding in of all the strata of reality,in each the sense cally, including stratumof which it achieves universality. The divine aspect of the divinenames,the universality of pure is the universality consciousness. Universal nature is the universalityof the
(22) Ibn 'Arabi, Fusgis 1:50-51. and taqallub,see my "Garden among the Flames" (23) For a discussion of taqyfd 290-294, 306-315.
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materiaprima,of prime matteras the pure receptoror vessel (qdbil). Before pure consciousness can be realized, pure must be realized. Ibn 'Arabi even goes so far as receptivity to say that the completehuman being is more completethan the divine,since only the completehuman being encompasses or pure elementboth the divinenames and the purereceptivity This of of matter. defense nature, (24) ality prime elementality, and constant flux is reminiscent of much of the receptivity, modernfeminist critiqueof "disembodied," patriarchal thought. in Ibn 'Arabi The notion of the primematterand receptivity also has some close parallels to the notion of collective unconsciousin Jungianthought, thoughMuhyIal-Din unlikethe alchemistsstudied by Jung,does not project the unconscious out onto matter,but sees it as an intimatecomponentof the humanpersonality. His defense of the materialand elemental of the humanin faceof the angelicclaims realmand his defense of "completion" marksa movement as parallelto Jung'sdefense opposed to "perfection." The originalityof Ibn 'Arabi's notionof insan kdmillies in his shifting the meaningofkdmilto "complete," encompassingall realms includingthe corporeal thanperfect. and mortal, rather The final realmmentioned, (25) of the realityof realities,is a reference to the the universality or intermediary between completehuman being as the barzakh and elementality, the eternaland the divinity spiritand matter, temporal.(26) that such mysteries The digression closes with the statement cannot be knownby rational speculation (nazar) but only by divineunveiling(al-kashfal-ildhT). Once again the perspect(24) This doctrine is developped in Ibn 'Arabi, Inshd' (cited above, note 17). (25) C. G. Jung, Psychologyand Alchemy,trans. R. F. C. Hull (Princeton, N.J.: Bollingen), 1953, 1968, and Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self (Princeton, NJ.: Bollingen, 1959). Jung's critique of the striving for ratherthan completionis a major theme of Aion. Ibn 'Arabi develops perfection his notion of completion in his treatmentof the prophets Idris (Enoch) and Ilyis Idris rises through the spheres, through successive (perhaps Elijah) in Fusis. realms of purification and spirituality. Ilyfis descends into animal, vegetal, and mineral reality, and finally into pure elementality. The complete human being consists of movementin both directionsas opposed to other systemswhich stress only the upward movement and focus upon perfection. (26) For a rich discussion of the "reality of realities" see Masataka Takeshita, "An Analysis of Ibn 'Arabi's Inshd' al-Dawd'ir with Particular Reference to the Doctrine of the 'Third Entity'," Journal of Near Eastern Studies 41, no. 4 (1982): 243-260.
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ive shiftis alluded to. The unveilingof kashfby which an individual receives a manifestation of the divine, is a polar complement to tajallF, the active divine self-manifestation the completehuman being. In the perspective shift, through the act of tajall and the act of kashf are one act. Part 3. Insin and Khalifa In the third section of the sample passage, a hymnto the to and completes humanbeing, theauthorfinally returns complete ofthe mirror. The completehuman the imageofthe polishing two roles:that of khalfa (regent), the beingis seen as fulfilling and controlling informing agentofthe cosmos,and as insan,the of the divine, its medium of self-perception. The reflection passage consists of series of dialectical statements(that the complete human is both eternal and originated),a dialectic fromthe perspective shiftsand split references directly flowing that preceded,and explainedmorefullyin the thirdsectionof such as knowing or living the Adam chapter. There,attributes and temporal the divineperspective are said to be eternalfrom or originatedfromthe human perspective. But in the perthe act of knowingis the one act, an act that spectiveshift, occurs in the eternal moment. Insofar as the human really knows,that is the divine self-knowing. Insofaras the divine the knower)is actualized knows, that divine name (knowing, of the the through knowing completehuman. The complete human is the word (kalima) which is both and integrating. For Ibn 'Arabi it is discursive discriminating intellect('aql) that differentiates the real into various forms. of binding (laqyTd) which was alluded to in the His criticism of mistakenuse of 'aql, of discussionof angels, is a criticism intellectual analysis. This leads to a world of conflicting beliefs,each of whichsees the real in its own formand denies the formappearingin otherbeliefs. What is necessaryis the or reintegratdialectically activityof synthesis complementary ion that Muhyial-Din associateswiththe heart (qalb) and with mysticalintuition(ma'rifa). It is throughma'rifa that the knower overcomes binding. Through the perspective shift the real but as a manione sees a formnot as encompassing festationof it and is therebyfreedfrombinding. The shift occurs in threemodes: (1) union of subject, object, and act of
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knowing;(2) union of human subject and divine subject; (3) union of the various divine attributes (life, knowledge, the one event of seeing,etc.). And all threeunionsconstitute perspectiveshift. This event might be summarizedby Ibn the one who 'Arabi's doctrinethat in the act of manifestation, is to the identical receivesthe manifestation (al-mulajalldlahu) one being manifested(al-mutajallf).
MEANING EVENT
Such is the manner[a series of metaphors] in which Ibnul'Arabi explainsthisvital pointofhisPhilosophy, but no metaphorwhatevercan be adequate to serve a philosophical as a mediumforexpressing theory. (27) A. A. Affifi filledout the above cited general criticismof in Ibn metaphor 'Arabi with specificexamples of misleading "'mirrors' the One Light,or lightsemanatmetaphors: reflecting from or one circles source, developingfromone center." ing (28) These criticisms are much less in evidencein his Arabic edition and commentary whichhas done so much to open up study of Wisdom. The shiftin attitudetoward metaSettings Ring of Affifi from those felt compelledto adopt in phoricallanguage Cambridgein 1939 has allowed Ibn 'Arabi a moresympathetic Several studies of the audience in succeeding years.(29) Andalusianmasterhave appeared since that time.(30) In this
(27) A. A. Affifl, The Mystical Philosophy of Muhyid Din-Ibnul 'Arabi (Cambridge: University Press, 1939), p. 18. (28) Ibid., p. 62, note 1. (29) The prevailing attitude toward both metaphor and mysticism at this period in British scholarship is also illustrated by A. H. Armstrong,"Emanation in Plotinus," Mind 46 (1937): 61: "The difficulty is to see what the precise philosophical meaning of this conceptions [emanation] is, or rather, as it is fairlyclear that it has not got any precise philosophical meaning, to explain how a great and subtle thinkerlike Plotinus came, at a most critical point in his system, to conceal a confusion of thought under a cloud of metaphor." It is important and Armstronghad taken considerable risk in venturing to note that both Affifi to study authors like Plotinus and Affifi. Both went on the make major contributions and to present a far more appreciative view of the authors they helped introduce to modernscholarship. The harshness of theiroriginalcriticism reveals the attitudes of their audience and times. (30) In addition to Izutsu (cited above, note 3), see Titus Burckhardt, An to Sufi Doctrine,trans. D. M. Matheson (Lahore: Muhammad Ashraf, Introduction
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of the mirror is a centraland essay I suggestthat the metaphor within feature the Andalusian master's integral writing,one that leads the reader into a reenactmentof the perspective shift. Another common criticismof Ibn 'Arabi is represented in AnnemarieSchimmel'scommentupon his expression: "He sent HimselfwithHimself to Himself." Professor Schimmel argues that Ibn 'Arabi has lost the element of transcendence, saying of the above expression:"This does not sound like a God." (31) The statement transcendent "He sent Himselfwith Himselfto Himself"is an exact parallelto "it revealsto it(self) its mystery," thatwas seenabove to be controlled through it(self) by split referenceand perspectiveshift. In fact, mystical dialectic is led to such a split reference througha critique of normal affirmations of transcendence and througha committment to a more genuineaffirmation. For an apophatic thinker like MuhyIal-Din, to say that the real is beyondthe world,or transcendent to it, is a delimitation. There is a space, the world, fromwhich the real is excluded. And the terms "beyond" and "transcend" imply a spatial relation(even if we are speaking of a conceptual space) that lead inevitablyto a reification of the real. Recent emphasis in the of what the upon primacy metaphor language highlights also held: terms like apophatic mystics "beyond space" or are since "transcending space" "beyond" and misleading "transcend"reflectthe inherently of their structures spatial can never out be taken primarymeanings. They completely of its spatial context, dualism, and delimitation. The (32) is statement that the real is transcendent simple,non-dialectical it because to seems be transcenddoubly dangerous affirming realis beingobjectified, ence,whenin factthe unlimited entified, and delimited. It leads to the errorof binding. Ibn 'Arabi uses the perspective shift to retrieve of affirmation
1959); Seyyed Husein Nasr, Three Muslim Sages: Avicenna, Suhrawardi, and Ibn 'Arabi (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1964), and Henry Corbin, CreativeImagination in theSifism ofIbn 'Arabi, trans. Ralph Mannheim(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1969). (31) AnnemarieSchimmel,MysticalDimensionsofIslam (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1975), p. 268. (32) George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By (Chicago: Universityof Chicago Press, 1980).
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the transcendent. A look at the use of the termsirr(mystery) in the statement "To revealto it(self) its mystery" through it(self) will show how that retrievalfunctions. What is the mystery that is revealed? On one level, it is the unmanifest Self that divine and the names the revealsitself through completehuman insofar as it it is delimited reveals itself However, being. withina particularmanifestation. Thus the true mystery can never be revealed, even to itself. Or we could say that the very question, "what is the mystery?"is misleading. The mysteryis a mysterybecause it is beyond "whatness" or quiddity. Though revealing itself in a continuingflow of it is confined to none. images and manifestations, of transcendence cannot be affirmed This mystery or experiencedunless the normal bounds of delimitedreferenceare can be transcended. Nothing"bound" within a delimitation and unlimited. The revelation ofthe mystery the transcendent shift. At thismoment thenis the act ofperspective as mystery of language and syllogistic delimitations logic are temporarily and a or non-delimiting genuinenotionoftranscendsuspended, ence is affirmed. "He sent him(self) through him(self) to oftranscendence can onlyoccur him(self)." A trueaffirmation In a the real a radical immanence. such formulation, through itselfin a formbut it is no longerbound (muqayyad) manifests into eithera "here" or a "there,"a self or an other,a subject of transcendence thenis an or an object. The true affirmation of the mystery all encounters (sirr) that underlies experiencing with the unlimitedor the notion of the unlimited. It is the realizationof the unfathomable aporia just beneaththe surface of delimitedlanguage and logic. In fand', when the human of human becomes the polished mirrorand the delimitations consciousness pass away, it reveals it(self) to it(self). A quiddity or "what" is posed but that quiddityis transformed as "something" fromentityor object to event. The mystery as event. to the mystery is transformed If the mystery cannotbe knownas an object, but only experiencedas an event,does one thenhave to be a mysticto understand a text of mysticaldialectic? It is this question which with relationship puts mysticaldialecticin such a problematic culture. In this essay I have attemptedto address such a of the question of genre. question througha reconsideration The audience of a tragedymust in some sense experiencethe
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tragedyin order to understandit. Without that experience of catharsis one cannot really understandthe play. Yet one doesn'tnecessarily have to be a tragicheroin orderto have such an experience. Similarly, the reader of mysticaldialecticwill need to experience the perspective shift in someway in orderto understandthe text. The perspectiveshiftis just beneath the surfaceof the text, and withinthe dualisticnarrativeand expositoryframework. It is a secret or mysterythat the reader continuallyuncoversin the act of readingand in each uncoveringor unveilingthe reader experienceswhat I have called the meaningevent. The meaning event can be interpretedmimeticallyas an or recreation ofthe mystical imitation shift. What perspective in the mystic the reader aestheticexperiences fand', experiences and when the shift the ally noetically perspective underlying text forcesa breakthrough normal delimited reference beyond and predication. This breakthrough or meaning event is constantly being it is Since an event it cannot be held onto. It repeated. form of a meditation on the divine names. The governs continualshiftfrompredicationto realizationkeeps the mind in constantactivity,never allowingit to fixateon an "object," and the infinite builtintothe narrative lead the reader regresses deeper into the aporeticmeditation. By seeing the perspectiveshiftand meaningevent not only as the experienceof the mystic,but also as the centralfeature of mysticaldialecticas a genrewe can reinterpret the changein Sufismrepresented withinIbn 'Arabi's writings. The text is open to all sensitivereaders,includingthe vast majoritywho probably do not considerthemselves to be mystics. This participationin the mysteryof perspectiveshift,in hayra or is the primaryaesthetic and existential mysticbewilderment, effect of mysticaldialectic. The meaningof narrative,philoand poetic discourse is not negated, sophical, mythological, but "what"(33) is meant becomes one with the event of the
(33) Paul Ricceur distinguished between the event (the act of predication) and the meaning (as sense and reference,the "what" and the "what about"): Paul Ricceur, Interpretation Theory: Discourse and the Surplus of Meaning (Fort Worth: Texas ChristianUniversityPress, 1976). I use the term"meaning event" without such distinction because in mystical dialectic the event of predication is transformedinto the event of realization, just as the notion of "reference"is
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perspectiveshift. In the meaning event, meaning overflows any particularimage or particularparaphrase. In the Hermetictext Poimandresthe completehuman being looks bearingthe form(eik3n) of his divinefather, (anthropos), in it as in down upon nature and sees his divine formreflected withit he fallsintothe embrace a mirror. Becominginfatuated serves as a metaphor of nature.(34) In this myththe mirror forseparationand alienation, and the love ofthe image reflected is interpreted withinthe mirror along the lines of the Narcissus In Ibn mirror functions in a reversefashion. the 'Arabi, myth. occurs only when the narcissismof the ego-self The reflection passes away. At this momentthe mysticalreunionand selfrevelation occurs. Ibn 'Arabi would probably see both as complementary in the same way he relates elsemovements wherethat the completehumanbeingrisesthrough the spheres to pure spirituality and plungesthrough the animal and vegetal natureto pure elementality. The imageofthe mirror functions as a symbolfor both the processionout into the phenomenal worldand forthe return to unity,echoingthe Heracliteanview that the way up is the way down, and the Plotinian paradox that the procession is the return. (35)
Michael SELLS
(Haverford,U.S.A.)
altered by the aporia that any referenceto the unlimited delimits it. In the transformation of both predication and referenceinto realization, the distinction between meaning and event is superceded. In mystical dialectic there is no meaning without event, just as the divine names are non-existent without the polishing of the mirror. ed. and translated by Walter Scott (Oxford: Clarendon (34) Corpus Hermeticum, Press, 1924), Libellus I, p. 122. (35) This article was originally presented at the 1983 Middle East Studies Association, Classical Islamic Literature Panel, Chicago, Illinois, under the title: "Ibn 'Arabi: Translation, Interpretation,and the Texture of Discourse." Among the many who have contributed to this study I owe special thanks to Fazlur Rahman, Bernard McGinn, Jaroslav Stetkevych,and Larry Berman.

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