Sophia - Journal of Traditional Studies - winter 2007 issue

SOPHIA Volume 13, Number 2

Winter 2007-2008

Table of Contents The Foundation for Traditional Studies Board of Directors President Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Vice-President Huston Smith

Health and Harmony: Earth as Sacred Presence . . ....... . . . .. 5 by HRH The Prince of Wales The Contemporary Islamic World and the Environmental Crisis ... ... . .. . . . . .. . .. . . . ....... 13 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Secretary James Cutsinger

An Interview with Huston Smith .. .. . . ... . . .. . .. ... . .. .. . 37

Sachiko Murata Osman Bakar

The Wisdom of Christian Kabbalah . .. .. .. . . .. . ...... . . .. . 41 by Wolfgang Smith

Executive Director Katherine O'Brien SOPHIA is published bi-annually by The Foundation for Traditional Studies, a not-for-profit organization. Contributions are tax deductible to the extent of the law.

The Question of Sufi Influence on the Early Kabbalah .. . .. . ...... . .... ... ... .. . .... 69 by Tom Block

Subscription inquiries, changes of address, and all correspondence regarding editorial matters should be sent to:

Muslim Intellectuals and the Perennial Philosophy ...... .. .. 87 in the Twentieth Century by Zachary Markwith

The Foundation for Traditional Studies P. O. Box 370 Oakton. VA22 124, USA

Ananda Coomaraswamy Invites Shiva to Dance .. ..... _ . . .. 141 by Dan Rudmann

Phone: 703476-8837 I Fax: 703476-5218 E-mail: [email protected] Web: \vww.tradi tional-studies.org I www.sophiajoumal.com

Reviews

For Subscription Information see page 180.

Notes on Contributors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 172

4) 2007

by The Foundation for Traditional Studies ISB. ' 978-0-9798429-1-7 I ISSN 1531 123

0 ....,.., Jerusalem, from a 15th century manuscript. (Courtesy ofthe BibliotMque Nationale. Paris)

In Print

.. ... .... ...... .. .... ......... ... ..... ... . 160 .. .. ...... ... .. ..... ........ ....... .. .... . 168

Health and Harmony: Earth as Sacred Presence by HRH The Prince of Wales The following is a speech given by HRH The Prince of Wales on receiving the 10th Global Environmental Citizen Award from Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard Club, New York City, in January 2007.

am flattered and honoured to be receiving this award from Mr. Gore on behalf of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School. I have known Al for many years and greatly admire his commitment to environmental issues. That commitment has been maintained, I may say, through times when-as I know all too well myself-such issues were far from fashionable and merely daring to talk about them was a positive handicap for anyone in public life. I suspect that many of you will have seen AI's remarkable film ' An Inconvenient Truth' . Interestingly, or worryingly, we both produced personal statements on the environment as long ago as 1990, with remarkably similar titles. Al very kindly took the risk of being associated with my film for the BBC, called 'Earth in Balance' . And he was equally articulate and thoughtful in his own book, Earth in the Balance, which appeared just a little later. Great minds think alike! I made that film because of my personal and profound sense of unease, which even then dated back almost 20 years, about the way that we, as mankind, were treating the environment on which we all ultimately depend. Since then, of course, every passing year has seen further evidence emerge of the damage we are doing to this poor old planet-the only one we've got that sustains life in such a miraculous and well- ordered way. A hundred years ago, few people thought that we might be damaging our life support system, and those who did were unable

l

5

HRH The Prince of Wales

Health and Harmony: Earth as Sacred Presence

to substantiate their concerns in any meaningful way. But over the ensuing years the evidence has emerged, bit by awful bit, to the point where no-one can surely be in any doubt whatsoever about the nature and scale of the damage we are causing. That doesn' t, of course, make the message any more palatable, which is perhaps why Al has called his film' An Inconvenient Truth' . But if the facts are now so clear-and no-one who has seen the film can be in any doubt about that-it is surely the duty of each and every one of us to find out what we can do to make the situation better. However, if we are to do this, I think we need first to stop and ask how we could have allowed ourselves to reach this point in the first place? In my own attempts to draw attention to environmental issues I have always tried to ask what it is about our society and its value; that has led us to act with such thoughtless destructiveness. With all our knowledge, our resources and our capacity for sophisticated analysis of any and every problem known to man, how on earth did we arrive at this point? Ifwe could answer that question, we could be more confident about our ability to look for and implement solutions before it really is too late. The crux of the problem, I believe, is that we have come to see ourselves as being outside ofNature and free to manipulate and control her constituent parts, imagining somehow that the whole will not suffer and can take care of itself, and of us, whatever we do. I happen to think that this illusion of separateness conceals from us the degree to which we are still entirely dependent on those natural systems for our basic needs, notwithstanding Our technological genius. Surely, if we are to find our way through to a wiser, more balanced future we must learn to see the world differently-and our role in it. To me this is a "crisis of perception" which we have to face up to. Ifwe don ' t we will inevitably end up making all the same mistakes, all over ag~in. This is not, you will no doubt be relieved to hear, going to be the occasion for a lengthy discourse on mankind and Nature or the dominance of empirical argument over intuitive thought! (That will have to be reserved for a much more unfortunate audience at a later dare!) But I do just want to introduce some thoughts which, whilst not ~ ~ feature of the average after-dinner speech (although I can't believe you have taken the trouble to invite me across the Atlantic .. bear mere platitudes .. . i), are nevertheless central to many of the

6

things I have argued for so vigorously over the years. One of these is the relationship between health and harmony. Health is the practical measure by which we judge the effectiveness of things, and it can be applied to abstract concepts such as the economy, democracy or an argument, just as well as to a farm, a lifestyle or indeed a person. But both biology and the latest discoveries in quantum physics demonstrate just how profoundly health depends on organisms or particles operating in harmony with their surroundings. This is neither a debating point nor a coincidence. It is a fundamental fact of natural law. All organisms depend on a state of harmony to be healthy. Yet our species has made such powerful and unhealthy changes to this planet that we are increasingly out of harmony with our environment. We are no longer dancing in tune with Nature's rhythms. As a direct result, our environment is losing its capacity to sustain us. I want to suggest that before we even start thinking about the positive and practical steps needed to reverse environmental degradation and limit climate change, we really do need to look hard at ourselves. We need to recognize that to a large extent we have lost our capacity to see beyond our individual, and in many cases urbanized, lifestyles. Three quarters of the population of your country now lives in a city, and the proportion is much the same in Europe. This means that many people now have little or no physical contact with the Earth. They may see excellent programmes about Nature on their television screens, but they have little--if any-
7


Health and Harmony: Earth as Sacred Presence

of gigantic production system, capable of ever-increasing outputs for our benefit-at no cost. And we would be more willing to recognize the Earth for what it is-a complex, living organism, dependent on harmony for its health-and ours. With this approach, Ladies and Gentlemen, we would take full responsibility for our actions and give greater weight to our instinctive and intuitive responses. These instincts have been an essential guide to o~ actions over thousands of years. They are actually part of our survIval kIt, handed down over all those generations, but they have become blunted through lack of use, with their messages drowned out by the clutter and static of Our daily lives. Yet they are still there, If only we could find the time to listen .... Many times in my life I have come across people who remain deeply conscious of this older, more natural perspective. Years ago, in Northern Australia, I remember seeing the aftermath of a temble typhoon in Darwin and being told that the Aboriginal people there, together with the birds, had sensed that disaster was imminent and had disappeared to find a safer place. I heard exactly the same story just two years ago when I saw for myself the awful aftermath of the Asian Tsunami when I visited Sri Lanka. The tiny Andaman and Nlcobar Islands were close to the epicentre of the earthquake off Sumatra and bore the brunt of the devastation. But the small tribes who have lived there for 50,000 years and who are in clo~e contact with the Earth used their instinctive powers of participatIOn to save nearly all of their people. Coastal tribes like the Onge and Jarawa on South and LIttle Andaman noticed subtle changes in thebehavlOur of bIrds and fish. These warning signs are woven into therr folklore and they responded immediately, wasting no time in moving quickly to higher ground and the shelter of the forest. In this way, they survived. . Such people do not observe the world from the outside. They conSider themselves participants in it and define life on Earth as "sacred presen~." They ~ sensitive to the importance of the innate Harmony I have Just mentIoned and do something about it when it starts to Dagment. They also take direct responsibility for the future and listen C2refully to their well-learnt and thus instinctive responses. _ I come across many people who say they feel deeply ill at ease !be way we use the world today-that we misuse it and waste its ,"'..... ::som .,...,u:s."" Deep down, in their inner-most being, they sense that we 8

are heading towards some kind of catastrophe. Perhaps unconsciously, they are reading the signs and, like many of us, I suspect, they know in their hearts that, somehow, we must change our ways. But all too often we continue to turn a blind eye to these intuitive feelings. Why? Is it because we feel that such an intuitive response has no place in a world so dominated by the one response of rationalism? If that is so, then I would argue that such a reduced response is far from rational. It is irrational! Not least because it persuades us that all we have to do is invent our way out of the problems we have created-that technology will fix everything. But it seems to me that however effective they may be, technological fixes are not enougb on their own. Only by widening and deepening our focus will we begin to recognize that we cannot carry on the way we do now as if it were "business as usual." I happen to think that intuition is a much-maligned faculty. And yet the word itself is a clue to what it truly is. Our "in-born tutor"is the voice of the soul; the link between the body and mind and therefore the link between the particular and the universal. If we were to recognize this truth we would once again begin to see our existence in its proper place, within creation and not in some specially-protected and privileged category of our own making. I realize that saying such things in one of the commercial capitals of the world may seem somewhat nalve-<>r, as the British press like to observe so frequently, "eccentric"!-but it does seem to me that the business community-which, oddly enough, often recognizes the value of instinct and "gut feel"-has a particular responsibility to see and understand the broader relationship between mankind and the natural world. As Professor Herman Daly once said so eloquently, "the natural world is the envelope that contains, sustains and provisions the economy" and not the other way round. There seems to be a view in some quarters that in commerce there is only a ruthless "law ofthe jungle" to be observed. Yet this is a much-abused metaphor, because a jungle is in fact a vivid example of an immensely complex natural system, in which the various parts survive-and tlrrive-as much tlrrough co-operation as competition. If we really lived by the law of the jungle, properly understood, then we would treasure diversity in our economy, reward collaboration, build skills to manage complexity, and maintain all those subtle checks and balances that keep any economy, or eco-system, vibrant and healthy. 9


Health and Hannony: Earth as Sacred Presence

There are, of course, many far-sighted businesses which do take a longer and broader view of their responsibilities. It is instructive for instance, to look at the major oil companies and see the differen; approaches it is possible to take to the science of climate change. Some of them still seem to be in a state of increasingly desperate demal. Others are ~OVIng ahead with strategies that will, gradually, but probably not qUICkly enough, position them and their shareholders for the reality of a carbon-constrained future. I know where I would prefer to invest! Companies in many other sectors have also seen the future and are adapting their corporate behaviour accordingly. In San Francisco, In 2005, I met representatives of several United States businesses who are already taking action to limit their contribution to climate change. There are so many shining and practical examples of what can be done that It would be invidious to name just one or two of the companies that are settIng the pace. But, as a general observation, the things that are bel~g done do not require either huge investment or extraordinary IngenUity. They mostly need clear thinking, a proper understanding of the Issues and possibilities, determination and good management. These are, ?f course, among the hallmarks of any successful company, and I certaInly understand why some business analysts are starting to claIm that the companies which succeed in tackling climate change are those that wIll achIeve long-term success in other areas too. In pressi~g for every company, large and small, in every sector, to follow theIr example we have to recognize another factor, which is that the pressures on businesses come from two main sources: governments and consumers. If those pressures are aligned and consistent t?en It IS much easIer for companies to see where their best interests lie and then take effective action. It is for governments to establish policy frameworks to encourage and enable companies to take the necessary steps to make major reductions in their emissions of greenhouse gases. And consumers can make it clear that they regard this as essenlJal and that they will remove their custom from businesses which are not moving fast enough. This is another area where each of us as individuals can make a real difference. ~y, like therest of the world, I am watching with enormous Interest the grOWIng debate now taking place here in the United St!res on. c!ffitate change. Indeed, it was particularly encouraging to «a1 !be JOmt statement published only last week in Washington by 10

evangelical leaders and leading scientists in America calling for.a change in "values, lifestyle and public policy" to protect the Earth. ThIS followed a gathering in South Georgia under the auspices of our host tonight, the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, and the National Association of Evangelicals. As thIS report said, "there is no excuse for further delays" and "business as usual cannot continue yet one more day". As you may have gathered by now, I have been in no doubt for a considerable number of years that climate change represents a fundamental and critical threat to our survival and to any kind of future for millions of people. When I say that the British Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir David King, told me recently that we are living today with the consequences of carbon emissions from 30 years ago, it perhaps becomes more starkly apparent-or should do-that the dramatically increased emissions since then are rapidly accelerating the whole process of climate change. Our successors will pay most dearly for our dilatoriness and inaction as it is, but we surely owe it to them to take urgent st~ps now-not just by "2020"-to halt and reverse that ever-acceleratIng graph of global temperature rise shown to such alanning effect in Al Gore's film. Perhaps we should see this as a war we simply have to win-and in wartime it is remarkable how solutions can be found to challenges that were previously considered insolvable. Finally Ladies and Gentlemen, as on so many occasions in the past, and as I said when I was here some 18 months ago, I can tell you that the rest of the world, where alann is growing exponenlJally as the evidence mounts, is looking to this great country to provide the leadership and commitment that could transform the situation and bring us that much-needed element of hope. Meanwhile, I am deeply grateful to you for raising my morale by giving me this splendid Award.

II

The Contemporary Islamic World and the Environmental Crisis by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

The Significance of the Issue oth people and governments in the Islamic world, as elsewhere, are naturally paying attention to sundry problems, but outside the purely spiritual and religious dimensions of life, nothing is more important and worthy of consideration today than the environmental crisis. This crisis encompasses the natural ecological system of the globe as well as the human ambience, the air we breathe, the food we consume, the water we drink, and even the inner workings of our bodies. The crisis also endangers the harmony of the whole fabric of life on Earth and the system that makes human life possible. And yet, most Muslims, much like their fellow human beings, are wandering through this unprecedented crisis like sleepwalkers, barely aware of what goes on about them or of the deeper causes of a crisis that threatens human existence itself here on Earth. And this sleepwalking by the majority is taking place despite the powerful and persuasive spiritual teachings ofIslam about the natural world and the relation of human beings to it. My own concern with issues of the environmental crisis goes back to the early 1950s and my student days at the Massachusetts Institute ofTecbnology and Harvard University. Always sensitive to the beauty of nature, I used to walk alone, like Thoreau, around Walden Pond when the natural scenery of the area was still well preserved. It was the construction of Route 128 around Boston and the consequent separation, ecologically speaking, of the area inside the beltway from the relatively unhindered countryside beyond that brought horne to me the fact that something was basically wrong in our relationship to nature. As a result of this human experience and of years of study not only of modern but also of traditional science along with religious perspectives concerning the natural world, I was led to foresee a major environmental crisis, whose real causes were spiritual, looming

B

12

13

The Contemporary Islamic World and the Environmental Crisis

Seyyed Hossein Nasr on the horizon. I saw the blind development of modem industry as a cancer in the body of nature; this development was like a cancerous substance which would finally lead to the destruction of the harmony and balance of the natural world and to its "death" in the form that we knew it. Upon returning to Iran in 1958, I took every opportunity to speak about the subject of the environmental crisis, and in 1966 I delivered the Rockefeller Series Lectures at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago on the theme of the encounter of human beings and nature and the spiritual crisis of the modern world, which predicted the environmental crisis and pointed to its spiritual roots. Although my book Man and Nature' containing the text of these lectures appeared in 1968 and was translated into several European languages, it was not translated into Persian until a couple of years ago and has never appeared in Arabic. Despite my efforts and those of a small number of Islamic scholars wbo turned to the subject from the 1970s onward, general indifference to the environmental crisis and apathy in seeking to find solutions to it based on Islamic principles continued until the 1980s and 1990s when, gradually, voices began to be heard concerning this issue among both members of the general public and various governmental agencies. Yet, even now those voices are often drowned out by those of others whose agendas do not put a priority on the preservation of the environment. Furth ermore, among religious scholars in the Islamic world, who wield so much influence among ordinary people, only a few have risen to strongly defend the Islamic teachings about the natural environment and to criticize in depth actions taken by both governmental and non-governmental agencies wbich are detrimental to the health of the environment. One can say, therefore, that despite a gradual rise in recognition of the seriousness of the environmental crisis in many Islamic countries and the reformulation in a contemporary language of both legal and philosophical/theological teachings of Islam about the natural environmental, tbere is still a general lack of aware ness of this crucial matter. Furthermore, there is a clear lack of the will that is necessary lO prevent further deterioration of the environment, a deterioration brought about through actions often carried out in the name of human ..-dfiIre. but whicb result in the destruction ofthe health of the natural
Islamic view of nature and concrete directives for buman action in the natural world are not being emphasized by governme.ntal authontles or even by the majority of 'ulamii', who are.the traditional guardians of Islamic knowledge in its various d1ffienslOns.

Obstacles to Realizing and Impleme~ting the Islamic View ofthe Natural Envrronment When one studies the Islamic view of nature and hum~nd's relation to the natural environment, as well as the way classl~al IslamiC civilization created a society and especially an urban settmg 10 harmony with nature, and when one compares these r~ahtles With the situation in tbe Islamic world today, it becomes obvIOUS that neither governments nor most people in Muslim countries are follow1Og Islamic principles in their treatment of the natural envITon:ne~t. Nor are most of the 'ulamii' teaching and preach10g the IslamiC view of this subject to the public. Furthermore, many Mushms, especially those uprooted from their villages and the countryside and resld10g often in squalid conditions in larger towns and CItieS, are not even continuing the practices of their parents and grandparents back 10 their villages as far as matters pertaining to the natural environment are concerned. One must tberefore ask what tbe obstacles are to knowing and then implementing Islamic teachings concern1Og the natural environment. . . This question becomes particularly pertment If one. remembers that throughout nearly the whole Islamic world, the rehglOn ofIslam is still strong. The mosques are full, and on ~ridays thousands upon thousands listen to preachers discussing vanous Issues .. Books and media programs dealing with Islam have a vast readership and audience. To answer this question, we must tum to deeper causes that concern not the religion oflslam, which places so much responslblhty on hum~n beings in their relation to nature, but tbe external o.bstacles that prevent these teachings (to which we: sball tum later 10 thiS essay) from being propagated and implemented 10 a society 10 wblch the vOice of religion is still very strong and where all ethics, whethe~ they be personal, social, or environmental, have a rehglOus foundatIOn. Let US then tum to a number of the major obstacles: I. The present environmental crisis is directly related tfo theduse of modem technology and the various apphcatlOns 0 mo em 15

Seyyed Hossein Nasr


science. One can see this in problems as far apart as the rise m populatIOn due to the practice of modem medicine and global wanning caused by a set of complex industrial factors. But modem science and technology also provide those who possess them with power and are in fact the main reason the West can exercise domination over other societies, including the IslamiC countnes. Consequently, both Muslim governments and many Muslim individuals want to gain access to the very technology which has had devastating environmental consequences. Seeking to gain power for themselves in the intricate political and economic situation of today's world, they are, at best, always at the receiving end of a technology that is ever changing and needs to be constantly borrowed anew from the West and, to some extent, Japan. There is no pause in the dev.eloprnent of ever newer forms of technology, a pause that might allow Islamic societies to create some form of equilibrium with the technology that is borrowed to "humanize" certain aspects of it to the degree possible, and to mlmmlze Its negati~e environmental impact.' The governing classes m the Islarmc world have their eyes only on emulatmg the West when it comes to the question of science and technology, but they are emulating an ever-changing model. They therefore remain constantly on the receiving end in a situation in which it is difficult, although not impossible, to apply Islamic principles to the economic and environmental fields while still being part of what is euphemistically called the global economic order. They seem to have neither the insight nor the courage and will to create an Islamic economic order in which the Islamic view of the relation of human beings to the natural environment would be central. And being at the receiving end, they are even less prepared than the highly industrialized countries to ameliorate, to some extent at least, the negative effects of modem technology. 2. In the present period of human history, the agenda for major ~Ial and economic matters, including the applications of science and technology, is set by the West, while the rest of the world tries its best to provide answers on the basis of its own cultures. Rarely do non-Western cultures and societies 16

have the power to set the agenda themselves. This includes newer factors contributing to the environmental crisis itself and proposals for its solution. For example, recently the West has developed biotechnologies that are already havmg a global impact not only in medicine but also in agriculture. Muslims did not invent the problems arising from genetically altered crops. That agenda was set by the West. But they must now grapple with them, as they must grapple with the ethical consequences of cloning. Muslims, like nearly all other non-Westerners except perhaps the Japanese, have to accept the fact that in so many crucial issues the technologically more powerful West chooses both the playing field and the rules of the game. Obviously, this constitutes a formidable challenge to Islamic governments and societies if they wish both to implement the Islamic principles involved and to play the game. Ifthey choose not to do so, external pressures become so great as to force them to enter the playing field. Only smaller units can in some cases remain separate and not have to participate in the game ofthe day, whose rules are set beyond one's borders. 3. Such rapid transformations are made possible by those who constitute the vanguard of what one could call "Faustian Science," to use the language of Goethe. There are only a few Muslims in that vanguard group, but they are for the most part different from others only in that they have Muslim names. Otherwise, they usually accept completely the modem scientistic worldview and are champions of "Faustian Science." They also usually look upon Islamic science as simply a prelude to modem science, not as a science based on a sacralized and not secularized view of nature. Although the number of such advanced scientists in the Islamic world is small, scientism has a fairly substantial following, especially among the ruling classes in various Islamic societies. In fact, modernists as well as so-called fundamentalists are all in favor of the propagation of modem science and technology, to the extent possible, and of increasing Muslim participation in furthering the growth of "Faustian Science."Needless to say, such an attitude constitutes a major obstacle to the propagation 17

Seyyed Hossein Nasr


of the Islamic view of nature and the cultivation of sciences based on Islamic principlesJ 4. On a ~ore practical level there is the major obstacle of the mIgratIOn of the vast number of people from the countryside to urban areas. Typically, such people lived in ecological harmony WIth theIr environment back home in their villages. They cared for animals and plants and were careful not to pollute their water resources. But once cut off from their traditional surrounding, they become uprooted people, dislocated not only on the human plane but also in their relation to the natural world. In urban settings usually impoverished and full of all kinds of pollution, their task becomes solely the survIval of themselves and their families with little interest in anything else. Even if the municipality' plants trees before theIr houses, they usually care little for them and are often instrumental in their destruction. In contrast to the earlier population, which occupied the centers of the older Islamic cities and lived with an awareness of its responsibilities toward its environment, the new occupants, although from the countryside, wreak havoc not only upon shanty towns but also upon the old urban centers they now occupy. One need only to look at the old CIty In Fez or the heart of Cairo to realize the problem and to see how difficult it is to reeducate the more recent migrated groups in environmental concerns and make them regain the same respect for their new environment that they displayed back home in the countryside where they felt that the tree outside was their tree to be protected and the stream flowing by their house was iheir stream, not to be polluted. The mass migration of people from the countryside to the cities, which is a global phenomenon and one of the results of modem industrialization, is as fully evident in the IslamIC world as elsewhere. Its effect on both the cities and the countryside has been devastating as far as the natural environment is concerned. 5. Governments in the Islamic world are, needless to say, confronted WIth these and many other social and economic difficulties not all of their Own making. But solutions offered

18

even by relatively benign governments interested in the welfare of their people have been and remain to a large extent based on Western models. Nearly always they seek to apply attempted Western solutions to problems ofIslamic society. Although there have been a few changes here and there in recent years, blind imitation of the West in this domain remains the norm in most places. Now, these governments wield power over their societies and use their power to oppose by force any movement which would challenge them. Since they base their solution to the environmental crisis on various Western models, they remain, naturally, opposed to any voice which seeks Islamic solutions, unless there is a situation in which such a solution would be favorable to the government in question. 6. The autocratic, and in some cases dictatorial, nature of regimes in many Islamic countries makes an environmental movement based on Islamic principles a threatening undertaking if it challenges government policies and plans-many of which are dangerous from the environmental point of view. One needs only to recall the opposition of the Ministry of Housing in Egypt two generations ago to the remarkable village built by the great Egyptian architect Hasan Fathy, because his philosophy of architecture-based on the use oflocal materials with full awareness of the necessity of the integration of architecture and the natural environment-was opposed to the views of the Ministry, which were based completely on prevalent Western ideas of the day. Considering how volatile opposition to state planning can be in such instances, in many Islamic countries open criticism of environmentally dangerous programs supported by the government can be politically dangerous. It is true that there are now "green groups" in certain Islamic countries, such as Iran, and that these groups assemble here and there to resist the destruction of the environment. And it is true that some governments have ministries and bureaus in charge of environmental matters. Nevertheless, in much of the Islamic world, open opposition to governmental policies which are environmentally dangerous can be politically risky, as is also the case in India, China, 19

Seyyed Hossein Nasr


and many other countries. This lack of freedom to oppose openly government policies which endanger the environment IS a major obstacle in many countries from Bangladesh to Malaysia. This IS one of the tragic conditions of our times just when we so need to have heard those voices which speak for the health of the whole planet, and do not only claim to address the need for self-gratification of only one species that is, human beings. ' 7. Strangely enough, movements in the Islamic world which have sought t~ revive Islamic teachings, often in opposition to eXlslI~g pohlical orders, have been for the most part blind to IslamiC teachIngs about the natural environmental. When such groups have opposed modernists and secularists on many Issues, they have for the most part agreed completely with the latter group in their blind imitation of Western technology, se':'ltude toward modern science and its application, and Indifference to the consequences of the adoption of modern technology for the natural environment, as well as for the souls and minds of Muslims. They always speak of jusiice, but not ofJUS lice for all forms oflife; although they espouse the causes of Islamic revival, they do not contribute to the revival of the Islamic understanding of the natural environment and of our responsibilities toward God's creation beyond the human world. It is interesting to note that Saudi Arabia which is dominated by Wahhabism and which is usually called "fundamentalist," was the theater in the I 970s and 1980s for the largest transfer of Western technology in history. Yet, very few voices were raised concerning the consequences of this technology on the environment. Such concerns are only now being expressed in that country and some action is being taken. Also, when the Islamic Revolution of 1979 in Iran occurred, there was at first strong opposition to the national park system created during the royal regime and many protected animals were killed. It was years before the government realized the importance of environmental issues and created the position of a vice president to deal with the subject AJtogether, the political revival ofIslam has not meant an automatic revival oflslamic teachings concerning nature.

20

The revival of the latter has come through individuals and small groups who have made governments, whether modernist or "fundamentalist," gradually realize the crucial significance ofthe environmental crisis and the role that Islamic teachings can play in solving that crisis. 8. Finally, in enumerating the obstacles in Islamic societies confronting the task of reformulating Islamic teachings about the environment and implementing them in society at large, one must mention the lack of awareness and preparation of the traditional scholars ('ulamii ') who are the custodians of Islam and who have the ear of the vast majority of Muslims in all matters, including those pertaining to the environmental crisis. There are several reasons for this state of affairs. First, human beings traditionally were not a danger to the environment and lived more or less in equilibrium with it. Preachers in mosques, when addressing the relation between human beings and nature, usually spoke about ethical matters, including kindness to animals and the virtue of planting trees as the Prophet had cornmanded. They did not have to address the dangers of the destruction of bio-diversity and global warming. Second, during the past two centuries. Islam was attacked by intrusive colonialists and aggressively proselytized by either Christian or secularist missionaries from the West. Much of the energy of Muslim religious scholars was spent defending Islam from those attacks and preserving the people's religious identity. Third, as modermsm spread WithIn Islamic society itself, the 'ulamii ' saw their duty primarily as one of guiding people to the right path amid the chaos created within sectors ofIslamic society itself, and they did not spend their energies studying in depth what was occurring in the West. As far as the environment is concerned, even in the West itself Christian and Jewish theologians and thinkers did not turn to the "theology" of nature until the 1980s and 1990s; in the Islamic world the same trend is now gradually being seen. There are now a few eminent Muslim 'ulamii ', such as the grand mufti of Syria, Shaykb Ahmad Kiftaru, who speak often of the Islamic teachings about the environment. But 21

Seyyed Hossein Nasr


the majority are still unaware of the urgency of this matter. When they do speak about it, it is often at the instigation of governments which want people to clean up the stream near theIr home or not to litter the park next door-but nothing more basIC that could threaten various government projects. Governments know full well the power of the 'ulama' to mfluence the public at large. The problem, as far as the environment is concemed, is that most 'ulama' still remain unaware of the centrality of environmental issues. Nor do they realize how important their contributions can be to the physical, psychological, and social health of their communities. These traditional scholars need to become fully aware of Islanuc teachmgs about the environment and be willing to speak about. and act on them with courage in the face of ImmedIate poittlcal considerations and contingencies.

Islamic Sources and Their Teachings on the Environment As in the case of everything else Islamic, the primary source of IslamIC teachmgs about the natural environment is the Quran, in which the foundatIOn of the relation between human beings and the world of nature IS clearly stated. Then there are the collections of hadith in which one can find numerous sayings of the Prophet con~ernin~ the treatment of nature by human beings. After these twin sources of Islam, one must point to the injunctions oflslamic Law, or Sharl'ah. Although envlro~e~tallaw is not considered a distinct and separate ~art of the Shan ah 10 the same way that it has developed as a distmct domam of law in the West, recently there have been numerous shar,'ite injunctions dealing specifically with the environment, with s~ch matters as water, soil, animal, and plants-issues that have a distmct beanng on the natural world and, in fact, constitute the natural enVIronment. Likewise, texts of Islamic ethics are of significance, in therr concern both WIth such human passions as greed, which have such a devastatmg effect on the environment in the modem context and with animals and even plants. ' On ::nother level, one must mention texts of Islamic philosophy_dealing WIth nature. The main schools of Islamic theology, or toliim, did not pay much attention to a "theology of nature" which 22

would be of significance in the present-day environmental crisis. By contrast, numerous works oflslamic philosophy provide not only an Islamic philosophy of nature, but what in the West would be c~lled a "theology of nature." This is also true of Sufism, whIch contams the most profound expressions of an Islamic "metaphysIcs and theology of nature." Certain Sufi texts bring out the most mward meanmg of the Quranic doctrine concerning the cosmos and human beings' relation to the world of nature. Over the centuries Islam produced a major scientific tradition which dealt with the world of nature and at the same time functioned within an Islamic universe of discourse. This scientific tradition has much to offer in the process of formulating a contemporary language expressing Islamic views of the relation of hum.an beings and the natural environment. This contemporary IslamIC VIew, m conjunctIOn with various forms of technology developed in Islamic civilization, could help find a way out of the impasse created by the current environmental crisis. Islamic art complements Islamic science and its expressions, especially in architecture, landscaping, and urban design. These are visible applications and embodiments of the Islamic sciences of nature. and cosmology. A careful study of the traditional Islamic arts, especIally those just mentioned, could be an important source of both knowledge and inspiration for creating human living spaces in harmony, rather than discord, with the natural environment. One of the Islamic arts is literature, which, in the form of poetry especially, has been able to propagate the most profound tea~hings about the spiritual significance of nature among mtellectual ehte and ordinary people. Numerous Arabic-speaking peoples recall the verse of the Arab poet Abu Nuwas:

Wa li-kulli shay 'in lahu iiyatun, Tadullu 'ala annahu wai}idun. In everything there resides a sign of Him, Providing proof that He is one. And, is there a Persian speaker who has not heard the verse of Sa'di in his Gulistan?

23

Seyyed Hossein Nasr


B~jahan khurram az iinam ki jahiin khurram az ust 'Ashigam bar hama 'alam ki hama 'alam az ust.

'

I amjoyous in the world of nature for the world of nature is JOYous through Him, I am in love with the whole cosmos for the whole cosmos comes from Him. Various literature~ of the Islamic people, ranging from Arabic and Persian to Bengali and Swahili, contain a vast wealth of material on the Islamic view of the relationships between human beings and the natural envlfonment. Literature is also an excellent means for the propagation of that view among contemporaries, not only through recourse to classical works, but also through the help of present-day w~lters and poets, some of whom could surely tum their attention to this subject If they were to be made aware of its crucial importance If w.e were to examine these sources, what would we learn about Is: lamlc teachmgs concerning the environment? Some work has already been done in this domain, and here one can only summarize some of ItS most relevant and salient features. The Quran in a sense addresses the cosmos as well as human. beings, and the world of nature participates 10 the Quramc revelatIOn. The cosmos itself is in fact God's first revelatIOn, and upon the leaves of trees, the faces of mountains, the feature~ of ammals, as well as in the sounds of the winds and gently flowmg brooks, are to be found the signs of God. These are the messages ofthat primordial revelation. That is why classical Islamic thought r~fers to both the recorded Quran (al-qur 'an al-tadw'inf) and the cosrruc Quran (al-qur 'an al-takw'inf). Furthermore, the verses of the Quran, the phenomena in the world of nature, and events within the souls of human beings are all referred to as portents or sig~s (iiyat) of God by the Quran itself, as in the verse, "We shall show them ?ur portents (ay,at) upon the horizons and within themselves, until It becomes mamfest unto them that it is the truth" (41:53, Pickthall translatIOn). LikeWise, alI the crea~res in the natural world sing the PIalse of God. In destroymg a speCies, we are in reality silencing a whole class of God's worshipers.

_ In the Quranic view creation is sacred but not divine, for divinny be.longs to God alone. Nature is sacred because it is the effect of the Divme Creative Act to which the Quran refers in the verse , "But, 24

His command, when He intendeth a thing, is only that He saith unto it: 'Be!' and it is (kunfa-yakiin)" (36:81). What issues directly from the Will of the One who is also called the All-Sacred (al-Quddus) in Islam and what reflects His Wisdom carmot but be sacred. Nature reflects the Wisdom (hikmah) of God and His Will (iriidah), as also the Quran repeats in different places that it was created in truth and not falsehood . Nature is not there only for our use. It IS there to reflect the creative Power of God, and grace, or barakah, also flows in the arteries and veins of the universe. Human beings are created to be a charmel of grace for the cosmic ambience in which they live. Creatures in the world of nature not only have a relation with human beings and through them with God, they also have a direct relation with God and possess an eschatological significance. The IslamiC paradise !S full of animals and plants and is not only crystalline. Creatures Will speak directly to God on the Day of Judgment. As Rumi says, "They are silent here but eloquent there." He adds in another poem: If only creatures had tongues (here below), They could lift the veil from the Divine mysteries. In fact like the Quran whose verses have levels of meaning, the phenome~a of nature possess inward levels of meaning and significance. The reality of nature is not exhausted by its outward appearance. Each phenomenon is precisely "an appearance" of a noumenal reality. The phenomena of nature are not only facts but are primarily symbols related to the higher states of being. Nature is not only the domam of quantity, the source of power and resource. It is above all the abode of spiritual presence and source for the un~erstanding a~d co~t~mplatlOn of divine wisdom. Our need for nature IS not only 10 ItS ablhty to feed and shelter our physical bodies, but also and above all in its ability to nurture our souls. As the complement to the Quran as revelatIOn, nature responds to our spiritual needs. A central concept of Islam cited often in the Quran is i,ulqq (pI. /:luquq), which means at once truth, reality, right, law, and due; The term al-Ifaqq is also a Name of God as well as of the Quran: It IS also of the utmost importance for understanding the IslamiC view of human beings in relation to the natural environment when it is used in the case of creatures. According to Islam, each being exists by virtue of the truth (/:laqq) and is also owed its due (i,ulqq) according 25


Seyyed Hossein Nasr to its nature. The trees have their due, as do animals or even rivers and mountains. In dealing with nature, human beings must respect and pa~ what IS due to each creature, and each creature has its rights accordmgly. Islam stands totally against the idea that we human beings have all the rights and other creatures have none except what we deCIde to gIve them. The rights of creatures were given by God and not by us, to be taken away when we decide to do so. The Quran speaks of human beings as both servants of God ('abd Alliih) and vicegerents of God (khalifat Allah). We have the right to practice our vicegerency on Earth only on the condition that we remain God's servants and obey His Will and His Laws. Even the permission to dominate (taskhlr) the earth is given to us on the condition that we remain in a state of submission to and servanthood of God. God dominates over His creation, but He also cares for it. In contrast to the interpretation of certain Muslim modernists and s~-called fundamentalists, the Quran does not under any condition gIve human bemgs the right to dominate nature without protecting It and actmg a~ ItS steward. We cannot take away the f;aqq of various creatures gIven to them by God, but must pay each being its due (f;aqq) in accordance with the nature of that creature. As for our rights (I,tuqiiq) over nature, like other rights, they must follow our responsibilities toward God and the world of nature. In Islam there are no human rights without human responsibilities. Rights follow and do not precede responsibilities' The Prophet ofislam, who was the first and surest guide for the understandmg of the Quran and whose sayings (af;adlth) and actions and deeds (sunnah) complement the Quranic teachings about the natural world, reflected the Quranic teachings about the treatment of the natural world in his daily life. He encouraged the planting of trees, banned destroymg vegetation even during war, loved animals and displayed great kindness to them, and encouraged other Muslims to do likewise. He even established protected areas for natural life which may be considered Islamic prototypes for contemporary natu: ral parks. and natur~ conservancies. The books of f;adlth are replete WIth saymgs pertammg to the world of nature and the attitude of human beings to it, including strong opposition to wastefulness and the needless destruction of nature based only on greed and avarice. TIle al,tadith emphasize cleanliness and disapprove of the pollution

26

of water and other substances that support life. It is the Prophet who said that it was a blessed act to plant a tree, even if it were the day before the end of the world. There is a traditional account which displays the Prophet's attitude toward the natural environmental and which should serve as a powerful lesson for contemporary Muslims. It has to do with ~he famous reclining palm tree of Seville, which the celebrated Andaluslan Sufi Ibn 'Arabi mentioned in his account of the life of the Prophet. He considered the Prophet's dealing with the tree to be one of his miracles. The account given by Ibn' Arabi is as follows: In the vicinity of the Cemetery ofMushka [in Seville] ". there was a palm tree which, as one could see, was leaning over a great deal. The people in the neighboring houses, fearing that it might fall on their homes and damage them, complamed to the local ruler who, in response to their concern, ordered It to be cut down. Those who were going to cut it down arrived at the place after the evening prayer and said: "It will soon be dark. Let us cut it down tomorrow, if God wills"" .. Now, it so happened that one of our companions [had a vision in which] he saw the Envoy of God-may God bless him and give him peace-sitting in a mosque situated in the middle ofthe Cemetery ofMushka. [And he saw how] the palm tree in question was ploughing through the ground with its roots until it arrived at his side. It then complained to him that the people wanted to cut it down on account of its curvature, for fear that it might harm their houses, and it said to him, "0 Envoy of God, pray for me!" The person who had the vision related that the Envoy of God then placed his hand on the palm tree, which immediately straightened, remaining upright and erect, and returned to its place. In the morning, when the people got up, I went with a group of individuals to establish the veracity of that vision and we all saw that it had straightened up and become erect, without any curvature.' Would that present-day Muslims remember this account when they 27

Seyyed Hossein Nasr


next try to cut trees only for the sake of convenience or greed! . As forthe Divine Law, or Shar/'ah, it contains numerous injunctions pertaInIng to the natural environment. These include insistence on making natural resources that are used by the community as a whole, such as water and forests, public and not private property, and on guardIng and protectIng them. They also include the just treatment of ammals and plants and the prohibition of killing living beings for wasteful or needless purposes. The ritual sacrifice of animals that can be eaten and whose flesh then becomes ~aliil, or permissible, is itself of the greatest importance in creating a spiritual relation between human beings and the animal world. Also, sharT'ile teachings about economic matters, !Dcluding opposition to usury, to wasteful consumerism and to the e~cessive amassing of wealth, are of the greatest direc; and IndIrect unport for human beings' relation to the natural environment. Altogether the SharT'ah contains both concrete laws and principles for the regulatIOns needed to help the Islamic community confront the cntlcal envIronmental situation today and to find solutions that would be much easier to implement than secular laws and regulations, because Mushms would be more willing to accept and implement them. They would see the.m as God's Laws, rather than simply governmental regulatIOns to be cIrcumvented whenever possible.

What Is to Be Done? Facing the environmental crisis, which threatens human life itself is of the utmost urgency precisely because of the rapidity with which the natural environment is being destroyed. The solution to this crisis requires the most urgent action, a turning to a sacralized vision of nature, as well as performing concrete actions on the earthly plane. In hght of the IslamIC teachings about the natural environment and the present situation, a number of actions can be taken in the Islamic world to ameliorate the severe crisis caused by the human treatment of the natural world today. Some of these actions are briefly outlined below: I. Since the nineteenth century, scientism and the blind adulation of modem technology have spread gradually within the Islamic world so that today, among those who rule over various Muslim societies, as well as among most modernized Muslims and even a number of religious scholars there ex-

28

ists a prevalent scientism outwardly not ~ery different from that existing in the West. Whether there IS a modenust or a so-called fundamentalist government ruling over a Muslim society, there is a blind acceptance of modem .Western science, and Western technology is adopted as rapIdly as poSSIble, with little interest in the environmental consequences of such actions. Where the Islamic world differs from the West is that the Western scientistic world-view-with its reduction of both human beings and nature to a set of complicated molecular structures bereft of any sacred significance, except In a sentImental sense-has a less tenuous hold upon the Muslim mind than it has in the West, which has had several centuries of confrontation with the materialistic and quantitative view of nature. The first step in the Islamic world must be to criticize this stifling scientistic view of reality and to demonstrate why it is opposed to the authentic Islamic and more generally religious point of view as such. There is no way to reconstruct the edifice of the Islamic view of human beings and nature without clearing the ground of all the decrepit ideological ruins posing as immovable monuments and cleanSing the mental space of the Islamic world of all of the. err~rs resulting from scientism, reductionism, and matenahsm Just as the Prophet cleared the Ka'ba of idols in the Age oflgnorance. 2. Having cleared the mental space and removed the obstacles which exist in the minds of so many Musluns and whIch prevent them from comprehending their own traditional universe, the Islamic understanding of the natural envlTonment and humanity's relation to it must then be formulated and expressed in the clearest language po~sible, one that is comprehensible to contemporary Mushms. The formulation of these Islamic teachings, drawing from the sources already mentioned, must be made on several levels. These formulations must be able to address the philosopher as well as the cobbler, the religious scholar as well as the peasant. There must exist the deepest metaphysical exposition comprehensible to those few rooted in the Islamic intellectual tradition and/or well aware of Western philosophy, as well as poetic expressions to attract the large numbers drawn to literature 29

Seyyed Hossein Nasr


and to sermons preached to the multitudes in mosques. There IS no reason why, Ifthere is the will, in a few years the Islamic teachmgs about humanity's relationship to the environment cannot be made known to all levels ofIslamic society using contemporary language. Much has been done, but has not as yet been widely disseminated. 3. Those who run the affairs of Islamic society are men and women who, obviously, have been trained in various schools and disciplines. It is essential to introduce courses on the environment at all levels of education and to emphasize themes and subjects pertaining to the environmental dimensions of other dis~iplines within those disciplines. For example, it is almost cnmmally ~egligent to teach various fields of engineermg WIthout acquamtmg the students with the environmental impact of this or that engineering project. Likewise, economic plannmg should never be taught without consideration ofthe envIronmental costs involved. The West has been more successful in this matter in recent years than the Islamic world because modern educational institutions in the Islamic world s~ply emulate the West and are therefore usually a step behmd. In many places educational systems are still following older, obsolete currIcula of their Western models. Courses on the environment, and emphasis upon subjects pertammg to the environment in other courses, should not however, be limited to modern educational institutions bu; most definitely should include the traditional school~ or madariS, in which the future religious leaders of the c~m munity are trained. These leaders are much more effective than governmental officials in turning the attention of the populace to a particular issue, and their role is crucial in creating awareness of the environmental crisis and ofisiam's answers to it. But the religious teachers and scholars must first become aw.are of these issues themselves through appropnate educatIOn. They must be educated to realize that the enviro~ental cri~is is not going .to be solved by condoning outlandIsh mdustnal projects whIch do irreparable harm to the.enVlronm.ent but which are supported by the government, while preachmg against the urban poor who pollute streams

30

with garbage. In order for this educational effort to succeed, there is the need to teach these matters from the Islanuc pomt of view, not just from the Western one, and for governments to gain the approval of religious authorities in charge of the madaris rather than trying to force the issue through some governmental decree which will only backfire. Fortunately, as already mentioned, there are a number ofleadmg rehglOus authorities throughout the Islamic world who are aware ofthe great danger of the environmental crisis, but there has not, as yet, been a concerted effort to make this issue cent~al to the curricula of religious schools throughout the IslamIC world. 4. While such religious scholars are being trained, those who are already aware of the various dimensions of the environmental crisis must be encouraged by governments which control the media in the Islamic world to spend as much effort as possible in their weekly sermons in mosques and in daily contact with ordinary people, radio and television talks, and writings to increase awareness of environmental issues. As matters stand today, in most Islamic countries what the religious scholars say and preach is controlled by the government. And when the government does not want a hotly contested political or economic issue to be discussed, it usually orders the preachers in mosques to speak about bodIly cleanlmess, keeping the water pure, and not molesting cats and dogs in the street. These admonitions are fine, but they are not sufficient, especially when the government itself is the primary agent causing the deterioration of the environment. In such cases, little freedom to criticize the government IS gIven to either religious scholars or civil leaders or teachers. Hence, the lack of political freedom becomes a factor in weakening efforts to solve the environmental crisis. Nevertheless, there is still much that can be done in the educational field, so that a few years from now both government leaders and those outside of government will see the stark reality of the problem. For this to be realized, it would be much easier to have the efforts of the two sides be complementary, and to have religious scholars, preachers, and imams

31

Seyyed Hossein Nasr


who have the ear of the people, spearhead efforts to save the environment with governmental approval, rather than having ordinary people blame the government and the government ordmary people. Because faith in Islam is still strong, joint efforts by rehglOus scholars and political and social leaders would have much more success in combating the increasing detenoratlOn of the natural environment we see in so many parts of the Islamic world today.

preserve such technologies and to use, whenever possible, alternative technologies that usually need less energy and have much less negative impact upon the natural environment. One sees such an awareness growing here and there, but much more work needs to be done. The implementation of alternative technologies can have a major impact, reducing the destructive effects of modem technology upon the environment.

5. Only recently have non-governmental institutions begun to have some Impact m the Islamic world, despite opposition in many cases by local governments. Now that such institutions are taking root, it is important to create some institutions which deal primarily with the environment, rather than with economic and social issues independent of the environment as we see so often today. Such environmentally aware institu: hons have sprung up in the West during the past few decades, and a few have been mstrumental in realizing laudable goals m .the preservation of the environment through the purchase of pnstme land and the protection offorests. There is no reason why such institutions cannot expand in the Islamic world if they are created more in keeping with Islamic teachings and norms, including the institutions of religious endowments (awqaj), rather then simply imitating Westem models. There are many religious endowments for the creation of mosques, schools, and hospitals. There is no reaSOn why endowments could not be created for the preservation of water, soil, trees, and ammals. Of course, the degree of freedom of non-governmental organiza~ions in the Islamic world is restricted by g~vernment regulatIOns, but here again, there is a wide margin wlthm which such institutions could function and flourish .

7. In the contemporary Islamic world various forms of encouragement are used to further the cause of what the governments or various private or religious organizations consider to be important. There are national and international awards given within the Islamic world for the best book, artistic creation, and service to the cause ofislam, but there is little encouragement when it comes to the question of the environment. It would not be difficult to attract the attention of the gifted to this field through various forms of encouragement, such as are also beginning to appear in the West.

6. Both blindness to the dangers of many forms of modem technology and external and internal economic and political pressures have caused nearly all governments in the Islamic world to disregard their indigenous technologies, ranging from lITIgatIOn to medical drugs, in favor of Western substitutes. There must be a major campaign by those aware of the significance of many of the traditional technologies to

32

There are, of course, many other steps that could be taken, but the few enumerated here are among the most important and most feasible.

Concluding Comments In conclusion, one must ask who is going to carry out the program thus outlined, and what force can confront the powerful international economic and technological engine that is wreaking havoc upon the earth on nearly every continent? The answer for the Islamic world cannot be governments alone because, although they wield great power, they are more a part of the problem than the solution. The solution, at the present moment, lies for the most part with individuals and small groups which can perhaps expand in the future . What is certain is that, first of all, the environmental crisis must be recognized in its spiritual and religious depth as well as its outward effects. Second, the authentic Islamic view must be resuscitated with rigor and clarity and without compromise. Those who can be awakened must be made to open their eyes and to realize that the modem world is walking on the edge of a precipice and needs only to take another "forward step" 33

Seyyed Ho.ssein Nasr

The Co.ntempo.rary Islamic Wo.rld and the Environmental Crisis

to. face its o.W? perditio.n. Awareness leads to. further awareness. The IslamIc teachmgs abo.ut Go.d, human beings, nature, and the relatio.n between them all co.nstitute a clario.n call fo.r this awakening fro.m the dangerous dream o.fsclentIsm and humanity's selfish co.nquest o.fnature. Th~y can set Muslims again o.n the co.rrect path to. a harmo.nio.us modus vIvendI WIth nature, and they can also. help the Western wo.rld to. regam and. recollect Its o.wn fo.rgo.tten traditio.n co.ncerning the role o.fhuman bemgs m Go.d's creatio.n. Let us ho.pe that this awakening takes place through proactiv.e human effo.rts and no.t as a co.nsequence of the rude awak~nmg resultmg from eco.logicai disasters that threaten the very pOSSIbIlIty of human life o.n earth. In discussing such mo.mentous matters~ It IS a~propriate to remember the Islamic teaching that the future IS m Go.d s hands. UltImately, God is, as one of His Sacred Names, al-Muhil, tells us, literally, o.ur "environment."

Notes I. 2.

3.

4. 5. 6. 7.

8.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man (I 967; Chicago: ABC Inlemational, 2000). The analyses of Ivan lllich made a generation ago still hold true. See his Tools for Conviviality (New York: Harper, 1980). Also, although Jacques Ellul holds a rather anti-Islamic stand, his works have been well received in certain circles in the Islamic world precisely because he deals with the issue of the negative impact of modem technology upon human society in such a way that his words speak eloquently to those Muslims aware of the deeper issues involved in the introduction

of modem technology into their own societies. During the past two decades a number of both religious philosophers and scientists in the Islamic world have become aware of this question and of the necessity for reviving Islamic science along lines that I suggested several decades ago in Science and Civilization in Islam (1968; Chicago: ABC International, 200 I) and several other works. Today, there are a number of centers in Malaysia, India, Pakistan, lran, Turkey, and elsewhere concerned with the Islamic meaning of Islamic science and the danger of imitating modem science as ifit were simply a continuation of the Islamic scientific tradition. See Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Need for a Sacred Science (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993), 129 ff. See Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Heart of Islam: Enduring Values for Humanity (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 2002), 281-82. Ibid., 273 ff. See Pablo BeneitoArias, "Life ofthe Prophet and Miracles of the Palm Tree," Journal of Muhayiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society 30 (2001): 88-91. This vision was made famous throughout the Islamic world through al-Qazwini's mention of it in his Athar al-bi/ad. This task has already begun and, besides my own works, a number of books and essays from different perspectives have appeared on this subjec!. See, for example, Richard C. Foltz, ed., Worldviews, Religion, and the Environment (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 2002), 357-91; Akhtaruddin Ahmad, Islam and the Environmental Crisis (London: TaHa Publishers, 1997); and Fazlun M. Khalid and Joanne O'Brien, eds., Islam and Ecology (New York: Cassell, 1992). See also the Journal of Islamic Science 16, no. 1-2 (2000), where several essays are devoted to the issue of Islamic teachings on the environment.

Reprintedwilh permission ofthe authorfrom Islam and Ecology (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions, 2004). 34

35

An Interview with

Huston Smith uston Smith is internationally known and revered as the premier teacher of world religions and for his bestselling books including The World's Religions and Why Religion Matters. He was the focus of a five-part PBS television series with Bill Moyers, and has taught at Washington University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Syracuse University, and the University of California, Berkeley. Through his landmark books and documentary films, Huston Smith has opened the eyes of the world to the "invisible geometry" that shapes human spirituality. He possesses in himself a treasure house of spiritual wisdom which he generously shares through his works. In his own words from a recent interview, "I've spent the last 50 years or so steeping myself in the world's religions, and I've done my homework. I've gone to each of the world's eight great religions and sought out the most profound scholars I could find, and I've apprenticed myself to them." The Foundation of Traditional Studies, publisher of Sophia, has had the privilege of his guidance as a board member and contributor since its beginning. In October this year Professor Smith granted the following interview to Sophia:

H

The empty silhouette in this Jain icon represents the liberated soul, the one who has allained moksha.

36

37

An Interview with Huston Smith


Sophia: There are many important issues confronting humanity today. What in your view are the most pressing?

Sophia: How do you see the state of relations among the religions? What steps can be taken to improve relations?

Huston Smith: The most pressing problem today is how to save our planet. Ifwe cannot save it indefinitely, the question is how, for the sake of future generations, can we delay its demise.

Huston Smith: God implodes into history like Big Bangs, Revelations that spawn religions which give rise to cultur~s which fur?ish.out into civilizations. Throughout most of human hIstOry, rehglOn-msplred cultures were self-contained; they lived in their respective cocoons, unaware of other such cocoons. Globalization has emerged gradually, and with it religion-inspired cultures, and now civilizations, start to rub shoulders. This raises the question of how they should rub their shoulders, which translates into how religions should relate to one another. The answer as to how they are relating is, variously, in innumerable ways that must be addressed case by case. On the other hand, how they should relate to one another has a singular answer. In their various idioms they all subscnbe to the sura in the Quran that reads, "Had We willed We could have made of you one people. As it is, it is better this way, so vie with one another in good works. In the end it will all be revealed to you."

Sophia: What is your view of the causes of the environmental crisis? How should humanity face and try to solve this crisis? Huston Smith: Ignorance and greed are the causes of our environmental crisis. Science is not ignorant-scientists are fully aware that if the rate of automobiles to popUlations were the same throughout the world as it is in America, Our planet's ozone sheath would instantly evaporate and our planet would be a cinder. Sophia: In many of your writings you have criticized the scientism which is to be found in many different domains. Do you think it is possible to avoid scientism in the midst of the prevalent uncritical glorification of modem science? Huston Smith: Science is good, but scientism is not, for adding the ism transforms the search for truth into the false dogma that that science is the sole oracle of truth. This is manifestly false, for science can only see what is visible. But no one has ever seen a thought, no one has ever seen a feeling, and these are what consciousness consists of. Sophia: There is a great deal of distress felt by many people as we are faced with the seeming "runaway train" of bioengineering, especially human bioengineering. What are the criteria from your perspective for determining what is and is not acceptable in this uncharted realm? Can any degree of meaningful consensus be achieved among bioethicistslphilosophers/theologians? Huston Smith: On the issue ofbioengineers I side with Lewis Thomas, author of The Lives of a Cell and erstwhile columnist on biology, who saId that he would rather be dragged into the pilot's seat of a Boeing 707 at cruising altitude than tamper with the genetic code. The components are irmumerable and we have no idea how they are orchestrated.

38

Sophia: On the subject of globalization: This is another area in which people worldwide feel as if we are no longer at ~ crossroads, but .are already racing headlong down a road full of pItfalls and. promIse. Clearly one negative result of globalization is the destruCllon of local cultures and traditions. Yet studies show that today's teenagers from around the world, those whose world this will soon be, overwhelmingly embrace globalization. Do you see a way forward that can accord with the "altermondialistes," those who say that "another world is possible"? Huston Smith: Languages and cultures evolve, and have been doing so for nearly seven millennia. But now, with instant communication around the world through radio and television, the rate of change has entered a new order of magnitude, and globalization is now full blown. Studies show that teenagers are stampeding toward it. They want it to be known that they don't live in backwaters, so they wear Nike shoes and sport the American hairdos that they see on television .. This has a severe downside: sameness, homogemzatlOn. Who would want a painting that was monochrome and did not have a variety of colors?

39


Sophia: What have been the consequences of the loss of authentic metaphysIcs In the contemporary world on the spiritual intellectual mental and psychological planes? "

The Wisdom of

Huston Smith: Metaphysics joins symbolism as being the science of the relatIOns between the mUltiple levels of reality. As such, it demands from ~s everythIng that we have, for virtue increases as we climb reahty s ladder. ThIs holds true. not only cognitively-underslanding the hIgher rungs-but eXlstenltally, conforming our lives to them.

By Wolfgang Smith

.; -*" -

40

Christian Kabbalah

T

he question presents itself whether there is in truth a Christian Kabbalah, that is to say, a valid formulation of Christian doctrine based upon Kabbalistic principles. It is true that a movement known as Christian Kabbalah emerged in the fifteenth century, which gained considerable prominence during the Renaissance and continued to exert a recognizable influence up to the time of Franz von Baader (1765-1841); but the question remains: was that so-called Christian Kabbalah authentically Christian? It may seem that it was not. One must recall that the Kabbalah transcends in principle the notion of creatio ex nihilo upon which Christian theology appears ostensibly to be based.' Does not the Apostolic Creed begin with the words "I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth"?' And is not "creation" the production of a thing in its entirety "out of nothing"?' But does it not follow, then, that to deny the creatio ex nihilo is to deny the Apostolic Creed? And moreover, would not that denial be tantamount to the heresy of pantheism? Acceptance of the theological status quo on the subject of creation appears thus to be indeed a sine qua non of Christian orthodoxy. It is no accident that the first proposition of Meister Eckhart condemned in 1329 by Pope John XXII reads as follows: "God was not able to make the world first (prius) because He cannot make things before He is; therefore, as soon as God was, He intmediately created the world"; and that the second, moreover, was this: "Likewise, it can be granted that the world existed from eternity.'" But the very fact that such propositions have been enunciated by a Master and condemned by the Church makes it clear that the question of the creatio ex nihilo is not as simple as it may appear. No one denies that the idea of "creation", as commonly conceived, has its place, which is to say that there are levels of discourse at which the concept applies, and is in fact needful; these levels, however, do not cover the entire ground. It is to be admitted that the 41

Wolfgang Smith

The Wisdom of Christian Kabbalah

accomplished K~bbalist or authentic jnani has access to a plane of VIsIon whIch radIcally transcends our normal conceptions of cosmic reality, and therefore also our concept of creation: for him, as the Zen master puts it, "mountains are not mountains, and clouds are not clouds.~' But ~trange as this may seem, it should really surprise no one: It IS mevltable that a stage is eventually reached in the spiritual ascent where "mountains" are no longer "mountains"; deep down, all of us know that. In the present article I propose to reflect upon the encounter between Kabbalah and Christianity which took place in the Renaissance. I hope to show not only that the resultant Christian Kabbalah is legitimate, but that in fact it gives access to a higher level of understanding, an interpretation of Christian themes that transcends the conventional conceptions and may properly be termed "esoteric" in relation to the official theology.

I

t is customary to assume that Christian Kabbalah came to birth in the year 1486, when a 23-year-old Count, named Pico de la Mirandola, proposed 900 Conclusions to be examined by scholars and publicly debated m Rome. The latter included 119 specifically Kabbalistic tenets, divided into a group of 4 7 drawn from Hebrew sources, plus a group ?f 72 saId to be "secundum opinionem propriam," in other words~ hIS own. His objective is to demonstrate that the teachings of ChriStJa~lty, begmmng WIth the twin mysteries of the Trinity and the IncarnatIOn, can be confirmed on Kabbalistic grounds. What is more, the Count wishes to show, by the combined strength of his 900 tenets, that the sacred beliefs of all nations are consonant with the Christian religion, which he conceives to be the end and culmination of them all. It appears that what Pico de la Mirandola advocated was indeed a specifically Christian version of what in our time has come to be known as the transcendent unity of religions. It is to be noted that documented contact between Kabbalah and Christianity goes back to the thirteenth century. To cite at least one example, I will mention Arnold of Villanova (1238-1312), a physician, alchemIst, and Franciscan no less: driven apparently by aspirations Dot unlike those motivating Pico de la Mirandola, Arnoldus proposed a Kahbalishc "derivation" of the Trinity which altogether accords with Renaissance Christian Kabbalah.' As one might expect, most

42

documents of this genre produced in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are the work of Jewish converts to Christianity, who wished presumably to justify their conversion and defend themselves against the charge of apostasy. One knows today that this endeavor has at times resulted in the falsification of Kabbalistic treatises, and the question has been raised to what extent Christian Kabbalists of a later era, beginning with Pico de la Mirandola, may have been misled by such "doctored" texts. In any case, while Jewish converts were claiming to have confirmed their Christian beliefs on Kabbalistic grounds, Talmudic Jews opposed to Christianity responded with a polemic of their own, arguing in effect that the Kabbalah constitutes a Christian heresy. By the middle of the fifteenth century, moreover, a third group of documents began to emerge, consisting of Latin translations of Kabbalistic texts, produced in the name of the Church. As we leam from Pico himself, a set of seventy such treatises were translated by order of Pope Sixtus IV (1471 -1484). In light of this prehistory one may well ask what Pico brings to the table that is new. In the first place, let it be said, he brings himself: a native Christian, a Count, and a genius; and this combination, most assuredly, is something new. One might recall, in this connection, that Pico's Conciusiones were condemned by Pope Innocent VIII (1484-1492)-at first 13 tenets, then all 900 en bloc-following which Pico fled to France, was arrested and imprisoned by the Pope's men in Lyon, and might well have died at the stake if it had not been for the protection of his friend, Lorenzo de Medici, who secured his release. Pico, thus, was a man who could not be suppressed, could not be silenced, a man who in fact commanded the admiration and respect of a new generation. He laid claim to being the first to expound "the true Kabbalah" before the Christian world; and there can be no doubt that he was perceived as such by the Christian Kabbalists who followed in his wake. What fascinated Pico, and inflamed him, was the conviction that by way of the Kabbalah he could demonstrate the consonance and perfect harmony of the Jewish, Greek, Islamic and Christian traditions. To be sure, this "ecumenical" aspiration was very much in the spirit ofprisca the%gia espoused by Marsiglio Ficino, founder of the Florentine Academy to which Pico belonged; yet it is apparent that Pico added a distinctive touch of his own. Fully persuaded that Hebrew constitutes indeed the primordial tongue, and that what he termed ''prima et vera Cabala" was revealed to Moses by God 43

Wolfgang Smith


himself, he believed that by way of this supreme doctrine one could penetrate into the mysteries enshrined in all the sacred traditions of mankind. As he himself tells us in De Hominis Dignitate, in reference to certam rare Hebrew books of Kabbalistic provenance: When I procured these works at a very high price, and had studied them with great concentration and without interruption, I recognized in them-and God is my witness-a confirmation not only of the Mosaic faith, but of the Christian. Here is to be found the secret of the Trinity, the Incarnation of the Word, the divine nature of the Messiah; here one speaks to us of original sin and its atonement through Christ, of the heavenly Jerusalem, of the fall ofthe demons, of the angelic hIerarchIes, of purgatory and the pains of hell, in the same way as we read daily in the writings of Paul and Dionysius, of Jerome and Augustine. And as concerns the philosophic content of these books, one has the impression of finding there, quite simply, the thought of Pythagoras and Plato. Now, one knows well that the doctrines of these thinkers are near to the Christian faith to such a degree that Augustine thanked God profusely for permitting him to gain acquaintance with the Platonist books. In brief, in that which separates us from the Jews there is hardly a disputed point on which we cannot with the help of the Kabbalah, refute them so cogently tha; they have no more ground upon which to stand. It is hardly surprising, let us add, that the Talmudic Jews countered by attacking the Kabbalah itself. It is traditional to conceive of the Kabbalah as being comprised of two parts-the doctrine of the Sefiroth,' and the science of Divine Names-and clearly, Pico makes ample use of both . Let us begin with the fourth tenet of the second Kabbalistic series, the one said to be "secundum opinionem priopriam," in which Pico addresses the great questIOn how the ten Sefiroth stand to En-So/, the absolute and infinite Godhead. T~e text reads as follows: "En-Sofcannot be counted among the numeratIOns [Sefiroth) because it constitutes their unity, abstract and addItIOnal, and not the unity associated with these numerations." Pico distinguishes here between two kinds of unity: the unity of EnSo/, and that of each Sefirah. Every S
"abstract and additional." What, then, does it unify? Clearly, it unifies the ten Sefiroth, or the "world" comprised of these ten emanations. But whereas En-So/, as the non-emanated origin of the ten Sefiroth, transcends not only each Sefirah, but the entire ensemble of ten, it is nonetheless "non-separate" from them, in as much as it constitutes their unity, "abstract and additional" though that unity may be. What Pico affirms in proposition H.4 amounts to a Kabbalistic formulation of non-dualism. Let us now consider how Pico proposes to interpret the Christian Trinity in Sefirothic terms. To begin with, he informs us in H.20 that the Hebrew word az, when "interpreted by the Kabbalists," throws light upon the Trinity: "de trinitatis mysterio multum illuminabuntur." Now, this Hebrew word of two letters is not a nomen Dei, but simply the common adverb "then", which on the face of it has obviously nothing to do with the mysterium trinitatis-unless, that is, the word is indeed interpreted according to the Kabbalistic art.7 Such an interpretation is in fact to be found in the Book ofFoundations, a Hebrew text which, as Chaim Wirszubski has shown, was known to Pico in a Latin translation' It states that the letter Aleph in the word az "refers to the three superior Sefiroth," whereas the letter Zayin refers to the remaining septenary. It is clear, therefore, that the concordance to which Pico alludes associates Kether Elyon ("Supreme Crown") with the Father, Hokhmah ("Wisdom") with the Son, and Bina ("Intelligence") with the Holy Ghost. One might add that this is evidently the most natural among all conceivable Sefirothic interpretations of the Trinity, and the one most commonly encountered in the writings of Christian Kabbalists. The partition, moreover, of the Sefiroth into a supreme triad and a septenary is firmly established, and it is recognized that there is, as it were, a "break" between the two groups, in keeping with the fact that the seven lower Sefiroth, commonly referred to as the Sefiroth of Construction, correspond precisely to the Seven Days of Genesis. But does the aforesaid concordance imply that the Christian Trinity has been simply identified with the given Sefirothic triad? There are those who think that it does; Joseph Blau, for example, has made the point very clearly: From the time of Pi co [the doctrine of the S
. The Wisdom of Christian Kabbalah

Wolfgang Smith of the Trinity ... The only other emanation which was treated with any thoroughness was the sixth of the Sefirolh, Tiferelh ("Glory"), which was conceived as the representation of Jesus Incamate. Thus, if anything, the doctrine of the Sefirolh aided the Christian interpreters of the Kabbalah, for it gave them the opportunity to distinguish between the Son as divine Wisdom and the Son as the incarnate Redeemer; it also resolved the difficulty of explaining the triune God by making the Persons of the Trinity manifestations or emanations of the Limitless God, by considering the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost as Three out of One, rather than Three in One. 9 Certainly it must be admitted that the conception ofthe Trinity would be greatly simplified were one to adopt the stipulated identification; but it is by no means clear that Pico, for one, does adopt it. Nowhere does he say so. What he does say, in 11.20, is that the Trinity is manifested--or represented by-the highest Sefirothic triad, and that this concordance is illuminating, that it sheds light on the myslerium Irinilalis. But that is all; the rest is speculation on our part. It is of interest to note, in this connection, that the letter Aleph, which is said to refer to the supreme Sefirothic triad, has the numerical value I, whereas the Zayin, which refers to the septenary, has in fact the value 7. This appears to indicate that the former is viewed as a unity. Could it be, then, that the Christian Trinity is to be conceived as that unity, which is indeed "abstract and additional"? Again, Pico does not say. He does however affirm something else which seems to speak against Blau's "Three out of One" interpretation: in 11.6, namely, he propounds a second concordance between the Persons of the Trinity and a Sefirothic triad, this time composed of the first, sixth and tenth Sefirah.The text reads as follows: "The three great Divine Names comprised offour letters, which pertain to the secrets of the Kabbalah, are to be associated unequivocally with the Persons of the Trinity, so that name EHYE corresponds to the Father, the name YHVH to the Son, and the name ADNY to the Holy Spirit; whosoever is versed in the Kabbalistic science will understand this ." Now, the first of these Names is none other than Ehyeh, the "I AM" of Exodus 3.14; the second is the "unspeakable" Name commonly referred to as the Tetragrammaton; and the third is Adonai, perhaps the most beloved ame of God among the Jews. There can be no doubt, moreover, 46

that the reference to "whosoever is versed in the Kabbalistic science" alludes to the identification of the three Names with Kelher Elyon, Tiferelh, and Malkhuth, the tenth Sefirah, also known as Shekhinah, a correspondence which is in fact based upon Kabbahshc pnnclples. What is especially enlightening here is the associatIOn ofthe Son With Tiferelh, whom Kabbalists are wont to identify with Adam Kadmon, primordial and universal Man. To be sure, this correspondence does prepare the ground for a Kabbalistic understandmg oft.he. IncarnatIOn; yet, even so, what Pico enunciates in IL6 is a Kabbahshc mterpretation of the Trinity. The Sefirothic triads associated With the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in IL6 and 11.20 are not the same; yet both a~e Trinitarian. One can say that the respective correspondences pertam to different points of view or darshanas in the. Hindu sense. Besides the two representations of the Tnmty, PICO proposes a Kabbalistic view of the Incarnation, that is to say, of Jesus Christ, which he bases upon the Hebrew name Yeshou (from which the name "Jesus" is derived). He does so in 11.7, immediately after proposmg one of the aforesaid Trinitarian correspondences, the one which associates the Son with Tifereth; here is the text: "No Jewish Kabbalist can deny that the name Jesus, when interpreted accordmg to the principles of Kabbalah, means precisely and unequivocally God, the Son of God and Wisdom of the Father, related to human nature m the unity ofthe Person by the third Person of the Deity, which is the most ardent fire ofLov~." How, then, does the name Yeshou lend itself to this interpretation? Pico gives us a clue i? 1I ..l4:."By the letter Shin, found in the center of the name of Jesus, It IS mdlcated to us, m Kabbalistic mode that the world finds complete repose in its perfection when the Yod'is related to the Vav, which is realized in Christ who is at once authentic Son of God and man." One thing, at least, is clear from the start: the "repose" of which Pico speaks can be none other than what the Kabbalah knows as the Sabbath resulting from Tikkun, the Restoration of all things in Malkhuth, the Kingdom of God. But the question remains, of course, how Pico's contention,as formulated in ILI4, can be justified by Kabbalistic means. Now, It appears that the key to this riddle was discovered by Hermann Grelve m a footnote to a 1596 edition of the Adversus Haereses of St. Irenaeus. \0 The annotated text reads as follows: "According to the original language of the Jews, the name of Jesus is composed of two letters surrounding a central letter, as say their scholars, and denotes the Lord who

47


Wolfgang Smith embraces heaven and earth." And this is what the footnote tells us by way of explanation: However, in order that it [the name of Jesus] designates the Lord of heaven and earth, it is necessary to write it, in the manner of the ancients, with three letters, Yod-Shin-Vav. and interpret it by means ofNotarikon, which consists of interpreting the individual letters as expressing entire words, so that Yod, which is the first letter of the Tetragrammaton YHVH, expresses the word "Lord". Moreover, the Shin is the first letter of .the word Shamayim. which means "heaven"; and finally, the Vav stands at the beginning of the word Vaarets. which means "and earth". In this manner, the three letters of the name Yod-Shin-Vav. when interpreted with the aid of Notarikon, designate the Lord of heaven and earth.

Tetragrammaton through the addition of the letter Shin, a fact which signifies that Jesus is indeed the manifestation or "utterance" of the Tetragrammaton. One can therefore say that the latter becomes "effable" through the union of Yod and Vav, as Pico himself suggests (in 11.15). Before the birth of Christ, therefore, the Name was "ineffable" in a twofold sense (corresponding to the two Advents), whereas after His historical birth it is in a way "effable" and "ineffable" at once, and will remain so until the Parousia. On the other hand, the Name of Jesus is in truth the "utterance" of the Tetragrammaton; and that is manifestly the reason why that Name is "above every name," and why, before the Name of Jesus, "every knee must bend. "12 One can thus understand Kabbalistically why this Name is endowed with the power to heal, to sanctify, and to enlighten.

It is to be noted that this not only justifies Pico's main contention in 11.14, but also in a way confirms the association between the Second Person of the Trinity and the Tetragrammaton proposed in 11.6. However, as Greive likewise points out, one can interpret II.I4 also by an alternative approach based upon the numerical values of the letters Yod and Vav: for these values, which are 10 and 6, designate God and man, respectively. If, now, one takes the letter Shin as signifying the Hebrew word she (meaning "which"), one sees that Yod-Shin-Vav can be read as "the God which is man." And this enables us, at the same time, to understand what Pico has in mind when he writes, in 11.43, that "by the mystery of the two letters Vavand Yod, one is able to understand how the Messiah, as God, is his own proper principle as man." By this simple Kabbalistic modus operandi, what is clearly the intended meaning of 11.14 and of 11.43 has become manifest. As Eugenio Anagnine observes: "The mystery of the Incarnation of the Word is represented in the Kabbalah by means of the union of the letters Vavand Yod."11 Now, that union was effected in principle by Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah: I say " in principle," because the plenary manifestation of that union remains for us unrealized. What stands at issue here is precisely the distinction between what theology knows as the First and Second Coming of Christ: the former took place when Mary conceived and bore a Son, whereas the latter will be realized when Christ shall return in Glory. One knows, moreover, on Kabbalistic grounds, that the Name of Jesus emerges out of the

e propose now to consider what Pico has to tell concerning the Fall of Adam and the Redemption wrought by Christ. He broaches the subject almost immediately, that is to say, in 1.4, which reads: "Peccatum Ade fuit truncatio regni a ceteris plan tis" ("The sin of Adam has severed the Kingdom from the other plants"). Now, in the first place, it is to be noted that one sometimes refers to the Sefiroth as "plants", a usage which Pico evidently adopts in this passage. What he is saying is that by the Sin of Adam the tenth Sefirah, known as Malkhuth ("Kingdom") or Shekhinah, has been cut off, as it were, from the remaining Sefiroth: the unity of the Sefirothic realm has been compromised. This is the idea behind the so-called "Exile ofthe Shekhinah• .. an expression commonly used in Jewish parlance. Despite the popular nature ofthis belief, however, the doctrine which stands at issue here is profoundly Kabbalistic: in fact, Moses de Leon (the presumed author of the Zohar) regarded it as extremely dangerous for the unprepared." Yet that Kabbalistic doctrine appears to have been widely disseminated among savants of the Renaissance: even Leibniz still speaks somewhere of Adam's Fall as "a severance of Malkhuth from the other plants." It is clear, from what Pico tells us in 1.4, that he aligns himself from the start with the Kabbalistic view of man; and this, as we know, is an anthropology based on a creatio in Deo as opposed to the theological creatio ex nihilo. What in effect replaces the latter is precisely the aforesaid "severance of Malkhuth," which brings into

48

W

49

Wolfgang Smith


being what we take to be the world. Moreover, since there is in truth no "second creation," but only a severance from the first, it follows that the "world" said to result from that severance cannot be distinct in its essence from the Sefirothic realm. Redemption may therefore be conceived in principle as a cognitive ascent culminating in the attainment of true gnosis, which is the knowledge of God and of the Sefirothic realm. Now, it is this, precisely, which Pi co himself affirms, in terms as Platonist as they are Kabbalistic: "If the soul grasps that which she is capable of grasping," he writes in 1.44, "and unites herself thus with the superior soul, she casts off her terrestrial robe, so that she becomes thereby severed from her earthly ambience and united with God." The superior soul of which Pico speaks is what the Kabbalah knows as Neshamah, which is, as Gershom Scholem explains, "substantially the same as God."'4In reality, that soul is never separated from God, not severed from the Sefirothic world which theology knows as Paradise. To be "united with" that superior soul is thus tantamount to the lower soul's entry into Paradise, which is none other than the plenary realm of the Sefirothic septenary; for as Pico himself explains in 1.10: "It is more correct to say that Paradise is the entire edifice, and not only the tenth [S¢rah]." Such then is the Kabbalistic conception of Redemption and of Paradise; and as regards the latter, let us note that in its center "there resides the great Adam, who is Tifereth," as Pico goes on to say. It is evident that Pico speaks of the spiritual Ascent in initiatic terms: for example, in II.lI, where he distinguishes between a socalled separation of the soul from the body-constituting what has sometimes been called "death by a kiss"-and the separation of the body from the soul which takes place in ordinary death. It is the first-named "separation" that consummates the spiritual quest; as one reads in a Jewish text: "Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints." One may note parenthetically that this explains the Hindu practice of preserving the body of an enlightened sage-of one who has "died by a kiss"-whereas the bodies of persons who die by the ordinary death are cremated: for a sage who has entered into Mahiisamiidhi need not in fact be separated from his earthly remains, which is to say that the departed may still be able to use that body as a vehicle of grace. The subject of death ex binsica ("by a kiss") is brought up again in 11.13, where Pico tells us that those who "operate in Kabbalah" over a long period of time without recourse to

50

"that which is strange" will attain this coveted death, whereas those who fall into error, or who engage in this work without the requisite purification, will be "devoured by the fire of Azazel, on account of the rigour of judgment." But whereas Pico's conception of the spiritual Ascent is evidently both Platonist and Kabbalistic, it is Christian as well, because in fact it identifies the Eschaton with Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son of God: it is in Him and through Him that we are to be united with God. That Redemption, however, is destined to include the cosmos in its entirety: this is what the Kabbalah knows as the Great Jubilee, and what St. Peter refers to as apocatastasis, "the restitution of all things."" Pico conceives of it Kabbalistically as the perfect union of the fod and the Vav realized in Jesus Christ. One more point needs to be made: Pico has not only given a Kabbalistic interpretation of Christian tenets, but has also applied Kabbalistic principles to the exegesis of certain New Testament texts. Consider John 8.56, for example, the verse which quotes Jesus as saying: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad." Pico gives us the requisite key in 11.37, where he speaks of a "subordination of Piety to Wisdom on the right." As Wirszubski points out, the Kabbalah associates Abraham with Hesed, the fourth Sefirah, which Pico designates by the term Pietas. 16 If now we call to mind the customary representation of the Sefirothic Tree, one sees that Hesed is situated directly below Hokhmah ("Wisdom") on the right! All that is yet needed to understand 51


Wolfgang Smith what Pico is saying is to recall that the Sefiroth are often referred to as "days". It then becomes clear that "the day of Christ" can be none other than Hokhmah, the Wisdom of God, which moreover explains what Pico is telling us in Il.37: namely, that Abraham, "in his day," saw "the day of Christ," as Pico says, "per rectam lineam" ("along a straight line"): along the very line connecting Hesed to Hokhmah in the Kabbalistic diagram to which we have referred! Now, this reading of John 8.56, which Pico was apparently the first to discern, far exceeds in depth what even St. Irenaeus, Origen, and others have written, who perceived the text as referring to a premonition on the part of Abraham concerning the future Messiah. It would be hard to overstate the significance of this breakthrough: for it demonstrates that there are levels of meaning in the New Testament as well-that may conceivably include the highest!-which prove to be accessible only by Kabbalistic means. And this implies that Christian Kabbalah, as Pico conceived of it, so far from being in any way secondary or marginal, proves in fact to be central, and in a sense "esoteric".

T

he movement initiated by Pico de la Mirandola spread almost immediately to France, Germany and England. There can be little doubt, moreover, that the dominant figure of the succeeding generation was Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522), a Swabian disciple of the Count, who rose to become not only a Kabbalist of note, but the most distinguished Christian Hebraist of the time. He too is inspired by the ideal ofprisca theologia emanating from the Florentine Academy, and like his predecessor, regards Hebrew as the primordial tongue, in essence the Language by means of which God created the world. But his thought is more orderly, more systematic and rigorous than that of the meteoric genius who first opened his eyes to the splendors of the Kabbalah: where Pico gives us inspired fragments, the Swabian expounds a doctrine. Reuchlin is moreover imbued with a deep and abiding interest in the Pythagorean tradition, which he takes to be of Kabbalistic origin. He has no doubt that the "numbers" to which, according to Pythagorean lore, all things in creation are reducible, are none other than the Sefiroth. which are indeed "numerations," given that the Hebrew word is derived from safar, "to count." In line with this belief, he perceives the Pythagorean tetractys as connected at

52

once with the Sefiroth and with the Tetragramrnaton, the Name said to embody the mystery of their origin. Reuchlin's major work, De arte cabalistica (1517), takes the form of a dialogue, a genre much used in those days, perhaps partly to protect the author against the dreaded charge of heresy. The colloquy has a cast of three characters: Philolaus, a Pythagorean; Marranus, a Muslim; and Simon, a Jewish Kabbalist, who evidently speaks for Reuchlin himself. The discourse is amiable, and as we would say nowadays, "ecumenical" in the extreme. The positions assumed by the disputants blend, and seem to merge on the exalted plane of Kabbalistic wisdom. Philolaus begins the discourse by expounding the symbolism of the Pythagorean doctrine, which he declares to be based upon "number", and Murranus closes the discussion of the first day in the words: "Out ofthe infinite sea ofthe Kabbalah, Pythagoras brought his river into the bounds of the Grecian fields."" What strikes one most in Reuchlin's thought is that, in the end, everything becomes centered upon the Tetragrammaton, the "unutterable" Name which is said to represent ineffably the Essence of God. In Reuchlin's system everything becomes reduced somehow to a Divine Name, and all Divine Names reduce in principle to the Tetragrammaton. The Sefiroth too corne thus to be viewed as Names: "They are the ten Divine Names we mortals conceive of God" we are told. And since they are also "numerations", or "numbers", if you will, this means that these "numbers" are themselves Divine Names. It is presumably this transcendent identity of "numbers" and "names" which underlies the very concrete association between actual numbers and the letters ofthe Hebrew alphabet, or the Hebrew words comprised thereof, and which moreover permits the Kabbalist to identify one Divine Name with another having the same numerical value. Reuchlin's magnum opus is well titled: for it deals precisely with the Kabbalistic "art", which however can equally well be described as a "science". The objective of this art or science is ostensibly to derive the Names of God-the multiplicity of which is beyond reckoning-from the one supreme and "ineffable" Name, which is the Tetragrammaton. And because we mortals are able to conceive of this Name only by way of its four component letters, these derivations require an inherently algebraic procedure, involving letters and their numerical values. One is reminded of the mathematical physics

53

Wolfgang Smith


practiced in our day, which likewise operates with symbols that do not admit of interpretation in terms of "observable" realities, except at the very end, so to speak, in the form of the predicted value of an observable. What in Kabbalah corresponds to these observables are the "utterable" Names of God which take the form of a Hebrew word found in the Torah. Let us recall that the three basic operations of the Kabbalistic calculus are Gematria, which consists of replacing a word by another having the same numerical value' Notarikon which proceeds from the letters of a word to a group of ~ords, in which the letters of the first appear as the first letters ofthe successive words, or which operates in the reverse direction, by collapsing each word in a group into its first letter; and finally, Themura, which operates through the permutation ofletters according to certain rules. By means of these operations, which are indeed "algebraic", the Kabbalist is enabled in principle to make his way up or down the Sefirothic Tree, whose branches and leaves constitute the plethora of "utterable" Names; as Paul Ricci, another sixteenth-century Christian Kabbalist, states explicitly: "All the other Names insert into the Tetragrammaton even as the branches and leaves of a tree insert into the trunk. "IS The Kabbalistic art may thus be viewed as a means of uncovering the occult unity beneath the formal diversity of manifestation, as given in the "effable" Names of God. That unity, however, is not itself "effable", but pertains to the Divine Essence, which, qua creature, we can never know. Now, for the Kabbalist-and most assuredly, for Reuchlin-that unity is represented by the Tetragrammaton, upon which moreover his entire art is based. The Tetragrammaton is thus, in a way, for the Kabbalist, what an axiom system is for the mathematician: there is, in Kabbalah, no probing into the Tetragrammaton, no "getting behind" that most basic of Names, even as there is no probing, for the mathematician, into the rationale of his axioms. This is where the pure mathematician is obliged to start, and this too is where perforce he ends: for the theorems he discovers are all in a way already contained in that foundation. So it is, logically speaking, in Kabbalah. And as, for the mathematician, the axiom system-to which nothing is prior, and outside of which nothing in truth exists-is something "given", so too, for the Kabbalist, is the Tetragrammaton: only, in this case, the Giver is God Himself. It is clear that Reuchlin in effect "situates" the Tetragrammaton on the supreme level of En-So/, the Unknown God as He is "before" 54

manifesting Himself in Creation. But what is the Creation? It appears that for Reuchlin it is the eternal "world" comprised of the "effable" Names of God, what the Kabbalah knows as Atsiluth, "the world of emanation." This leaves a total of three conceptual domains: that of the Absolute Godhead, represented by the "ineffable" Tetragrammaton; that of Atsiluth, the eternal world in Deo, comprised of the "effable" Names of God; and lastly, the realm of what Reuchlin sometimes terms "the things that are not," which in fact includes all that we normally conceive of as comprising the created universe. It goes without saying, moreover, that the Swabian Kabbalist does not attribute that universe to a creatio ex nihilo, for the simple reason that from his point of view this so-called universe does not exist; in a word, Reuchlin is a non-dualist. The great question, now, is this: how is the Unknown God-the En-So! of the Kabbalah-related to the Christian Trinity? It appears that Reuchlin responds to this question through the mouth of Simon, in words ostensibly addressed to Christians: It is, in effect, written in the book Bahir: there is no principle besides Wisdom. To which it seems well to reply by saying that the Infinitude of the three highest numerations, which you are wont to call the three Divine Persons, is the Absolute Essence, since it is hidden in the abyss of darkness .. . Likewise one calls it Nothing, or Non-Being and Without End, that is to say, En-So/, because we, who are smitten with such feebleness of intelligence in regard to divine realities, do not judge of realities which do not manifest otherwise than of those that do not exist. But when they present themselves as something that really exists, then the Aleph that is dark is changed into the Aleph that is luminous. l ' In the first place, "there is no principle besides Wisdom": that is to say, besides Hokhmah, the second Sefirah . This is indeed the "trunk" or "root" from which "the branches and leaves" of the Sefirothic Tree take their rise; as the Psalmist declares: "In wisdom hast thou made them all." But for us, "feeble" as we are, that "root" itself remains unmanifested. For us manifestation begins with the Sefirothic septenary, that is to say, with the Elohim, the Seven Days. The supreme Sefirothic tri-unity, therefore, stands for us on the side of the Unknown God, the Godhead whom we conceive as the "Divine Essence." TIle 55

Wolfgang Smith


crucial point, now, is this: Reuchlin does evidently identify the first three Sefiroth with the corresponding Persons of the Trinity, conceived however, not as "Three out of One," as Joseph Blau assumes, but indeed as "Three in One," as orthodox Christian theology insists. Why is that so? Evidently because the Three stand yet on the side of the Unknown God, the God who is the Divine Essence, "since it is hidden in the abyss of darkness." The Three, in other words, are "in One," because they have not yet come "out o/One": have not yet emerged from the Divine Essence. The point, obviously, is as subtle as it is decisive: the Mystery of Christianity hangs on that point. It is however to be noted that Simon tells us more: having identified the Three with the Divine Essence, he goes on to say: "But when they present themselves as something that really subsists, then the Aleph that is dark is changed into the Aleph that is luminous." What exactly does this mean? There can be no doubt, in the present context, that the Aleph of which Simon speaks is none other than Hokhmah, the Wisdom of God, besides which "there is no principle."'o And having identified Hokhmah with the Second Person of the Trinity, "the Aleph that is dark" is evidently Christ, the Son of God, as He is "in the Father." But then, what is "the Aleph that is luminous"? Clearly, it can only be the Incarnate Christ. Thus, having given a Kabbalistic interpretation of the Trinity, Simon goes on to interpret the second Christian mystery: that of the Incarnation. However, what stands at issue here is first of all a "Sefirothic" Incarnation, an Incarnation that "precedes" the human birth of Jesus, and which therefore differs profoundly from the "historical" upon which the theologian has his eye. Suffice it to say that despite this fundamental discrepancy, the Christian Kabbalist is able to understand and interpret, from his own point of view, all that conventional theology teaches concerning the Incarnation, "historical" though it be; it is however open to question whether the theologian, for his part, fares as well. Getting back to Silllon, one sees that "the Aleph that is luminous" can be none other than the "Sefirothic" Christ: the Son of God manifesting in infinite splendor of Light, the very Light of which Peter, James, and John caught a glimpse on Mount Tabor. And it is of interest to note that the Orthodox consider this Light to be "uncreated", which in fact it is: for that Light pertains to the Sefirothic world, the creatio ex Deo as opposed to ex nihilo, which is indeed eternal. Anticipating Jacob Boehme, one can say that this Light constitutes the "precious Sub-

56

stance" out of which the Bndy of the Incarnate Christ is composed. The question presents itself: if the Tetragrarnmaton stands for the Unknown God, or for the "Aleph that is dark," what then is the rightful Name of "the Aleph that is luminous"? Reuchlin answers, as every Christian would, that it is the name of Jesus. But now two further questions arise: what is the Hebrew orthography of that Name? and how can it be derived Kabbalistically from the Tetragrammaton? Reuchlin responds by taking the name of Jesus to be the Tetragrammaton with the letter Shin inserted between the YH and the VH. The Tetragrammaton is thus transformed into the Pentagrammaton YHSVH, an "effable" name which has come down to us as the name of Jesus. We need not concern ourselves with Reuchlin's proposed Kabbalistic derivation of that Name, which in fact appears to be somewhat strained. One wonders whether it might not be preferable to consider that Pentagrarnmaton as "axiomatic", that is to say, as not being "derivable" at all: to consider it, thus, as something known by way of a special Revelation bestowed by Jesus himself. In any case, the fact remains that the Tetragrammaton turns into the Name of the Incarnate Christ precisely by way of the letter Shin.'l Let us recall at this point that Pico de la Mirandola conceives of these matters somewhat differently. In the first place, as we have seen, he associates the Tetragrammaton, not with the Unknown Gnd, but with Tifereth, the sixth Sefirah, representing Adam Kadmon, or Universal Man. He also employs a different orthography for the name of Jesus, which he takes to be YSV. One needs however to understand that this is not a matter of "right or wrong," but a question of standpoint. One can say that Reuchlin has his eye primarily upon the emergence of the Sefirothic Incarnation, as represented by Tifereth, of which the Trinity is the principle, whereas Pico is chiefly concerned with the historical Incarnation, of which Tifereth is the prototype or immediate principle. But this means that, from Pico's standpoint, Tifereth in a way replaces the Trinity as the source of the Incarnation; and this also explains why the Tetragrammaton may be legitimately associated with both. The same consideration, moreover, accounts for the difference between the two spellings of the Name Jesus: why that Name takes the form YHSVH when conceived as emerging out of the "ineffable" Tetragrarnmaton, but takes the form YSV when conceived as emanating from the Sefirothic septenary, whose Kabbalistic designation is indeed SV, meaning "heaven and earth." It is finally to be noted that 57

Wolfgang Smith


the respective positions entail different conceptions of ineffability: for Reuchlin, the Tetragrammaton is "ineffable" because it represents God "before" His manifestation on the plane of the Sefirothic septenary, whereas for Pico it is "ineffable" so long as Heaven and Earth have not been united by the Messiah, a union which is to be realized fully at the Second Coming of Christ. But again one sees that both are right, each from his own point of view. A few words, at least, should be said regarding the reception of Reuchlin's thought. So far as Christian Kabbalists are concemed, his influence has been profound, and can be traced well into the eighteenth century;" on the other hand, it appears that the guardians of the Church were not especially pleased with Reuchlin 's ideas. The Dominicans of Cologne, in particular, took pains to persecute him, going so far as to order the destruction of his books. This explains presumably why the De arte cabalistica is prefaced by a dedication to Pope Leo X, a Medici with a more liberal outlook than was the custom in those days, which does in fact allude to the Battle of the Books, in what is evidently a plea for papal protection against Reuchlin's Dominican antagonists. It may be of interest to note that in contrast to the confreres and disciples of Aquinas, the Franciscans of the Renaissance seem not to have been unfriendly to the ideas of Christian Kabbalah; and as a matter of fact, beginning with the aforementioned Arnold of Villanova, the Order itself has contributed an impressive array of Christian Kabbalists, the best known of which are Archangelus of Borgo Nuovo and Jean Thenaud. It is tempting to wonder how the Church might have fared if the dominance of the Dominicans, and later of the Jesuits, had been tempered by a Franciscan influence. e tum now to Egidio di Viterbo (1465-1532), a Cardinal and Superior General of the Augustinians, who ranks among the greatest Christian Kabbalists of his time. A man of many parts, ranging from papal confidant and emissary to preacher and shepherd of souls, Egidio was also an eminent scholar and linguist, having acquired proficiency in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic. It is known that he assembled an outstanding collection of rare books and manuscripts, a remnant of which is now housed at the National Library in Paris; and one knows also that the Cardinal himself translated into Latin a number of major Kabbalistic texts, and employed a sizable staff, comprised

mainly ofJewish converts, to produce an entire Kabbalistic library in translation. A great admirer of Johann Reuchlin, he too looked upon Hebrew as the Ursprache, the primordial tongue, and regarded Kabbalah as the God-given means to uncover the secrets encrypted in the Mosaic text, and by implication, in the New Testament as well. He emphasizes that this sacred science is, as he puts it, "not foreign, but domestic," meaning thereby that the Kabbalah, Judaic though it be, pertains by right to Christianity as well. One could say that the two traditions share a common esoterism. The Cardinal appears moreover to acknowledge the formally esoteric character of his Kabbalistic speculations by not publishing his pertinent writings, thus restricting their use to a chosen circle of qualified friends. A man of distinctly lyrical cast, Egidio di Viterbo brings to his Christian Kabbalah a human warmth and poetic beauty not to be encountered in the austere speculations of his Swabian predecessor; if Reuchlin represents the jnanic side of the movement, the Italian Cardinal personifies its bhaktic complement. And whereas Reuchlin's mystical inquiries were centered upon the Tetragrammaton, the Unspeakable Name of the Unknown God, Egidio, in keeping with his more bhaktic temperament, appears to have his heart set upon the Shekhinah: upon Her "whose delights were with the sons of men. "23 Let us recall that the Shekhinah constitutes the tenth and last Sefirah, also known as Malkhuth ("Kingdom"). The term itself traces back to the first century A.D., and derives apparently from the Hebrew root SKN, which means "to reside." It consequently refers to God conceived as "residing" in His manifestations, and thus to the fullness and splendor of the manifested Deity, as does also the term Malkhuth. The name, moreover, is feminine, which is to say that the Shekhinah embodies the feminine aspect of God, in keeping with Genesis 1.27, which speaks of God implicitly as "male and female." But whereas in reality the Shekhinah resides in the divine or Sefirothic world, in what the Zohar terms the alma de-yihuda or "world of union," Judaic tradition, as we have seen, speaks of Her as being now "in exile," that is to say, as residing here below, in the world of fallen humanity. She is thus Emmanuel, "God with us." Now, it is to Her that the Cardinal has devoted his magnum opus, a voluminous work entitled simply "Scechina". It is clearly a labor of love, completed just two years before his death." The Cardinal seems to behold the Shekhinah in virtually all the divine manifestations spoken of in Judeo-Christian

58

59

W

Wolfgang Smith


tradition, from the Burning Bush and the Ark of the Covenant to the theophanies of the New Dispensation and the Celestial Jerusalem. These perceptions, moreover, stir him deeply, and inspire an abundance of literary allusions; as Jacques Fabry has expressed it: 'The work of Egidio di Viterbo is traversed by a stream of images and symbols drawn from the Kabbalistic literature as well as from the Greek and Latin poets and the Neo-Platonist philosophers."" . It is of prime importance to note that the Cardinal evidently conceIves of the Shekhinah as the manifestation of Bina, the third Siifirah, whom Christian Kabbalists identify in a way with the Third Person of the Trinity.'· Moreover, he associates Bina with the Hebrew letter He, a letter depicted by a horizontal stroke, followed on the right by a vertIcal stroke, and on the left by a small vertical mark, which he mterprets as representing the Shekhinah; and by way of explanation, he puts the following words in the mouth of the Shekhinah herself: The point adjoined to it [the letter He] represents me, who am She that is submissive to Her [Bina] as to a mother, and who am submissive to the other Siifiroth as to brothers. A proof of this is what is written concerning the Messiah: "and he was subject unto them ."" The passage is clearly of major interest, first of all because in it the Shekhinah identifies herself with the Messiah. What is however equally significant are the words relating to the letter He, which connect wIth the mystery of the Tetragrammaton. For the latter as one ocknows, consists of three letters, one of which-namely the curs twice. Could it be that the alphabetical triad (Y, V, H) represents the Persons of the Trinity, whereas "the second He" stands for the Shekhinah, who in a sense "completes" the Trinity? It appears that the Cardmal does uphold this view: "Even though there is no Fourth Person," he writes, "if you understand things correctly, it is necessary ... to Suppose that in a way there is."" To "understand things correctly" means evidently to perceive the matter from an esoteric that is to say, from a Kabbalistic point of view. One then sees that th~ Tetragrammaton holds the key to the two fundamental mysteries of ChristIaruty: to that of the Trinity, namely, and that ofthe Incarnation which is none other than the mystery of the Shekhinah. Who, then: is the Shekhinah? Is She perhaps a Fourth Person? Not exactly, the Cardmal goes on to explain: She is a "blessed nature" which "neither

He-

60

engenders nor is engendered," but which embodies and makes its own something that "has not been given to the Three, but which they possess in common ... " The Cardinal is manifestly struggling to express in terms of human conceptions something that seems to be inherently inexpressible-which is precisely why one speaks of "mystery" with regard to both the Trinity and the Incarnation. Perhaps, in the final count, it may not be possible to "de-symbolize" the Tetragrammaton, to formulate what it signifies in conceptual or theologically explicit terms. What in any case the Cardinal appears to have recognized, and what indeed stands beyond doubt for those who "understand things correctly," is that the Tetragrammaton bears witness to the truths of Christianity: to the Trinity by virtue of its alphabetical triad, and to the Incarnation by virtue of "the second He." It is highly significant, moreover, that this "splitting of the He" is depicted in very the form of the Hebrew character, wherein "the point" is said to refer to the Shekhinah. Now, this "splitting of the He" is indicative of the separation, or seeming separation, of Bina and the Shekhinah, the transcendent or "supernal" and the immanent or "celestial" Mother. One must bear in mind, once again, that the Shekhincih resides in reality, not in what we deem to be the universe, but in the divine Creation, the creatio ex Deo et in Deo which immeasurably exceeds all that we are able to grasp or anticipate, even in our highest flights of thought and aspiration. Hers is the realm to which St. Paul alludes when he declares: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those that love him. "'9 Kabbalistically speaking, what God has prepared "for those that love him" is indeed the Shekhinah, clothed in the infinite Splendor of God. Like Reuchlin, the Cardinal distinguishes between the transcendent "world" of Bina, the eternal world of the Shekhinah, and the temporal world, comprised of what Reuchlin terms "the things that are not" ; but he does so from a different point of view, which one might characterize as "theological". Here is what he makes the Shekhinah say: But Bina represents the incorporeal world, I the corporeal; She the immortal world, I the mortal world; She the world that was, I the world that is to come. That is why She is the mother of all, and I, as the Apostle says, am yours.'·

61

Wolfgang Smith


The "world" associated with Bina is indeed "incorporeal" and "immortal": the former, because it is unmanifest, and the latter, because it is above time, and above even what the Scholastics term aeviternity. It is the "world" in which nothing exists except the Holy Trinity. But then, what shall we say concerning the "world" the Shekhinah claims as her own: is it the Sefirothic, or is it our world? The first adjective, "corporeal", could be interpreted in either sense; but the second can not: mortality pertains to this nether world alone. One sees that the Cardinal conceives of the Shekhinah primarily as residing "with us" here below; in other words, he conceives of Her "in exile." Yet he does also refer to the Sefirothic world; it is only that he conceives of it, in keeping with the theological point of view, as "the world to come." And that world, too, the Shekhinah claims as her own. Moreover, from this same point of view, the realm assigned to Bina is indeed "the world that was," since it is the source of all that exists; and that is why Bina is also "the mother of all," as the Shekhinah declares. Only one thing remains yet to be explained: namely, why the Shekhina adds "and I, as the Apostle says, am yours." The explanation is simple: the Shekhinah is "our" mother, because it is She who brings us into "the world to come." And this transformation constitutes what is known as the "second birth," which is none other than the Birth of Christ in us. Whereas Bina is indeed the Mother of Christ the Eternal King, it is the Shekhinah who, as the Virgin Mary, gives birth to Jesus of Nazareth, and in the fullness of time gives birth, Deo valente, to the "Christ in us." Now, it is of this second birth that St. Paul speaks in the passage alluded to by the Shekhinah, a discourse which begins with the words: "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. "" It is evident to a Kabbalist that the Apostle is here speaking as the Shekhinah Herself. And what does he go on to say? He distinguishes between two "mothers" and two "births": there is Agar, the "bondwoman", who gives birth "after the flesh ," and there is the "freewoman", who gives birth "after the spirit," whom St. Paul likens to "Jerusalem which is above," of which he declares that it is "the mother of us all": a more unequivocal reference to the Shekhinah as "our mother" could hardly be imagined.

62

aving duly considered how the Shekhinah is related to Binatheir mystical identity-it remains to consider Her relation with Tifereth, which is of a different kind. To begin with, let us recall that it is customary to regard the Sefirothic septenary as consisting of six "masculine" plus one "feminine" Sefiroth, the latter being of course the Shekhinah. It is moreover traditional in Kabbalah to regard Tifereth, the third in the septenary, as the "heart" and mystical center of the six, which in effect reduces the septenary to the couple Tifereth-Shekhinah. This Divine Couple, therefore, manifests on the plane of the eternal Creation the transcendent bi-unity of HokhmahBina. And as the Kabbalah has always recognized: here, in that utterly transcendent Bi-Unity, lies the Source of the divine Eros from which all worlds, all bliss, and all blessedness derive. This Eros, then, is manifested in the relation of Tifereth toShekhinah: mystically speaking, the former stands to the latter as Bridegroom to Bride-which is why, in the Cardinal's treatise, the Shekhinah refers to Tifereth as "my spouse." Like Hokhmah and Bina, Tifereth and Shekhinah are likewise conjoined: they too comprise a bi-unity. To the eye of a Christian Kabbalist, not only the Torah, but the New Testament as well contains allusions to that bi-unity or nonseparation of Tifereth and Shekhinah, beginning with the words of St. John in his Prologue: "and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." For whereas the Evangelist identifies Jesus, by the first affirmation, with the Word, and therefore with Tifereth, who personifies the Word on the plane of eternal manifestation, he identifies Him, by the second, with the Shekhinah. The Word that was "in the beginning," that was "with God" and ''was God," has become the God who "dwells among us." Yet if Tifereth has thus "become"· Shekhinah, He nonetheless remains what He is: for in becoming the one, He does not cease to be the other. And that is possible because, in truth, the two are one. Numerous are the passages in the New Testament which identify Jesus with the Son of God; yet there are passages as well in which Jesus identifies Himself implicitly with the Shekhinah: He does so, for instance, when He says "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." 12 Almost every second word here speaks to us of the Shekhinah! It is She who is "meek and lowly in heart," who is "submissive"; and it is in Her that the meek and lowly "shall find rest unto their

H

63


Wolfgang Smith souls." Even the words "my yoke" evoke Her, since the expression "the yoke of the Shekhinah" is a byword in the Judaic world. So too, as Genevieve Javry points out," all Christian Kabbalists have perceived a reference to the Shekhinah in Matthew 23.37, where Jesus cries out: "0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem! ... how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings!" For again, "under the wings of the Shekhinah" is a common expression among the Jews. We find in Jesus a perfect balance of masculine and feminine virtues and attributes: He is the King who rules and yet is "meek and lowly in heart," who commands and is yet "submissive" to all, the Judge of kings and the Friend of sinners. Wise men perceive Him as the Divine Androgyne, "in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily."" But though in a way Jesus embodies both Tifereth and Shekhinah, He nonetheless personifies the Word that "was in the beginning," the Word that is God. But if Jesus is the Word of God, who then is the Shekhinah? The answer is clear: She is His Bride. And therefore, when theologians speak of the Church as the Bride of Christ, or as His Mystical Body, they are actually speaking in Kabbalistic terms. Yet there is a difference: what, for the theologian, is a kind of sacred metaphor, becomes, for the Kabbalist, a fact on the Sefirothic plane: here "poetry" turns into a science, a gnosis. For the Kabbalist, the Church is the Bride of Christ, because it is the Shekhinah. All sacredness here on Earth derives from Her presence, from Her " indwelling". It is She that founds every sacred rite, that bestows every sacrament: what theologians know as the sacramental order rests in Her. It can indeed be said: where Christ is, there is the Shekhinah, and where She is, there is the Church. Such is the vision of Christianity, the Christian Kabbalah, bequeathed to posterity by Cardinal Egidio di Viterbo in his magnum opus; and let us note that the doctrine could not have passed theological muster before the Roman authorities. This surely explains why this work, which oddly enough was written at the request of Pope Clement VIII, to whom it is dedicated, was nonetheless left unpublished. What confronts us here might well be described as the emergence of a formal Christian esoterism, kindled by the living flame of the Kabbalah. We do not know whether that esoterism was destined to survive; yet it is safe to surmise that no Roman Cardinal was ever again to be counted among its ranks. It is clear that the teachings of

64

Egidio di Viterbo, as set forth in his Scechina, are "incurably esoteric" in relation to the official theology, to which they stand much as the Kabbalah itself stands to Talmudic Judaism.

65


Wolfgang Smith

Notes I. 2.

3.

4. 5.

6. 7.

8.

9. 10. II. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.

See my article, "Transcending the Creatio Ex Nihilo," Sophia, VoU3, No.1. The dogma was rendered more precise at the Lateran Council, in 1215, through the addition of the phrase "who by his own omnipotent power at once from the beginning of time created each creature from nothing" (Enchiridion Symbolorum, 428). St. Thomas Aquinas writes that "creation, which is the emanation of all being, is from the not-being which is nothing" (Summa Theologiae, 1.45.1). But whereas this formulation is evidently designed to carry an esoteric sense, I submit that the customary theological interpretation of the creatio ex nihilo is none the less distinctly exoteric. Enchiridion Symbolorum, 501& 502. He associates the Yod in the Tetragrammaton with the Father, the Vav with the Son, and the He with the Holy Ghost. See Gerschom Scholem, "Considerations sur I'histoire des debuts de la Kabbale chretienne," in Kabbalistes Chnitiens, edited by Antoine Faivre and Frederick Tristan, Cahiers de I'Hermetisme (Paris: Albin Michel, 1979), p. 26. According to the Kabbalah, there exist ten divine "emanations" or principles known as Sefiroth. It is not unusual in Kabbalah to assign an esoteric meaning to common words, such as mi ("who"), eleh ("these"), and mah ("what"). See my article, op. cit.. " L' Ancien et Ie Nouveau dans la confirmation kabbalistique du christianisme par Pic de la Mirandole," in Kabbalistes Chretiens. op.cit., p.187. The Christian Interpretation of the Cabala in the Renaissance (Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1965), p.15. "La Kabbale chretienne de Jean Pic de la Mirandole," in Kabbalistes Chretiens, op. cit., pp.169-70. Pico della Mirandola (Bari, 1937), p.183. Phil. 2.9, 10. Gershom Scholem, Major Trends of Jewish Mysticism (New York: Schocken Books, 1954), pp. 231-32. Op. cit., p. 241. Acts 3.21. Op. cit., pp.174-76. A summary of the dialogue is given in Joseph Blau, op. cit., pp. 4959. 66

18. See Genevieve Javary, "A propos du theme de la Sekina: variations sur Ie nom de Dieu," in Kabbalistes Chnitiens, op. cit., p. 290. 19. The passage is quoted by Genevieve Javary in her excellent article (op. cit., p. 291). References are to the French translatton of De arte cabalistica by Fran90is Secret (La Kabbale, Pans, Aubler-Montalgne, 1973). 20. It is true that the letter Aleph can also be associated with the Tetragrammaton and with Kether Elyon, depending on the context. 21 . The letter Shin itself can be associated Kabbalistically with "fire" and thus with the Holy Ghost. 22. Reuchlin's influence is apparent, for example, in the case of Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (1702-1782), who, oddly ~nough, is connected to the Swabian by way ofa Princess, named Anatorua (1613-1679). EVidently an ardent Kabbalist, she is known chiefly on account of a remarkable plaque she had installed in a small church in Wiirtenburg.Now famous as the Lehrtafel or Master Tablet of the Princess Anatoma, It contams an elaborate symbolization of Kabbalistic doctrine. 23. Provo8.31. 24. The work was published in 1959 by Francois Secret, alo~g with Egidio di Viterbo's Libellus de Litteris hebraicis (Rome: Centro mtemazlOnale di studi urnanistici). 25. " La Kabbale chretienne en Halie au XVI' siecles," in Kabbalistes Chretiens, op. cit., p. 59. 26. According to the Kabbalah, it is Bina who gives birth to the Sefirothic septenary, which thus corresponds to the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spmt spoken of in Christian theology. 27. Fol. 323 in the 1959 edition, op. cit.. The reference here is to Luke 2.51. 28. Fol. 328, op. cit. 29. I Cor. 2.9 (based upon Isaiah 64.4). 30. 31. 32. 33. 34.

Fol. 328, op. cit. Gal. 4.19. Matt. 11.29. Op. cit., p. 300. Col. 2.9.

67

Zachary Markwith

Muslim Intellectuals and the Perennial Philosophy

von Leibnitz, who understood and appreciated the perennial wisdom in the various religions that they encountered. We will also examine the Islamic equivalents to this term, such as ai-I;ikmat ai-khiiiidah and jiivfdiin khirad. Islam, like the perennial philosophy, is governed and shaped by the principle of Divine Unity (tawl;fd). God, as the Absolute and Infinite Reality, is One (ai-Al;ad). In Islam, man, religion, philosophy, art, nature, and the whole of the cosmos, all reflect the principle of Divine Unity. Each messenger and prophet came to revive the doctrine of Divine Unity. Within the Quran itself, as well as the Sunnah of the Prophet Mu~ammad, one finds some of the most universal expressions of the religio perennis. Indeed, the Prophet Mu~ammad himself simply revived the primordial religion (ai-dfn ai-l;anifJ of Adam and Abraham. More than anything else, we contest that it was direct knowledge· of the doctrine of Divine Unity, as well as the unity of the divinely sent messengers and prophets, which inspired the writings of Guenon, Schuon, Burckhardt, Lings, and Nasr. This is true of not only their texts that speak directly about Islam, but also those that appreciate the Truth and Beauty in other religions, and also point to the transcendent unity of religions. We will also examine the perennial philosophy and its expressions in the Islamic intellectual tradition, including the Muslim philosophers, Suhrawardi's lshriiqf school, Ibn ' ArabI's Akbarl school-which all found a synthesis in the writings of Mulla $adra. Further, we will pay close attention to Islamic esoterism or Sufism, and the poetry and prose of the Sufis, which culminated in Persian Sufi poetry, and the writings of lalal aI-Din RiimI, Hafiz, and Mahmiid Shabistarl. These writings clearly emphasize the· tra~scendent ·unity of religions, and issue from the inner reality (I;aqlqah) of the Quran and the soul of the Prophet Mu~ammad. We will also look at other streams related to the perennial philosophy in the Islamic tradition, such as Ithna 'asharl ShI' ism and spiritual chivalry (futuwwah). After establishing the imperati ve link between Islam and the perennial philosophy, we will examine the lives, writings, and intellectual contributions of Guenon , Schuon, Burckhardt, Lings, and Nasr. Not only did they help, more than any other group of scholars, to bring the teachings of the Islamic intellectual traditional and the perennial philosophy to the attention of the West, but perhaps more importantly, they benefited from the initiation, doctrine, and methods

ofIslam and Sufism. These Muslim intellectuals were not simply concerned with theoretical metaphysics, but gained-through the inner reality of the Quran and soul of the Prophet-a Way to the Ultimate Reality-the Eternal Sophia contained at the center of the Intellect, which transcends and is at the same time the source of our rational faculty. Therefore, it must be stated that their immense contributions to the fields of the perennial philosophy, which includes metaphysics, ontology, cosmology, symbolism, comparative religion, art, science, as well as a critique of modernity, scientism, secularism, and the environmental crisis, was made possible because of their attachment to the exoteric and esoteric aspects of the Islamic tradition. While all of these men wrote about other traditions, and knew that all orthodox religions lead to salvation and Truth,' they believed in and practiced the religion of Islam, which enabled them to know the transcendent unity of Being (wal;dat ai-wujud), as well as the transcendent unity of religions. 6 This article will demonstrate the providential link between Islam and the perennial philosophy in the twentieth century, while defending the role that orthodoxy and orthopraxy play in any authentic expression of the perennial philosophy, with a particular emphasis on Islamic orthodoxy and the perennial philosophy. For one cannot realize the One who transcends forms, except by adhering to a form that the One has revealed. Most of the leading traditionalists in the twentieth century believed in and practiced Islam, and as a result, their message was universal and helped to revive an authentic appreciation and understanding of other religions, which are also paths that lead to salvation and sanctification for different individuals and communities.

88

89

The Perennial Philosophy he essence of the perennial philosophy is metaphysics. Every religion begins with a descent of the Logos from Heaven, a descent that allows man to ascend vertically from the relative to the Absolute and have a direct taste of principial knowledge. The perennial philosophy is first and foremost concerned with the vertical axis of religion, which enables man to return to his Source. Yet, when a sage encounters the multiplicity of religious forms and recognizes the Truth and Beauty in these forms-which he has discovered through

T

Zachary Markwith


his own tradition-he cannot ignore that at the heart of all religions is a common and perennial Truth. While many scholars mistakenly attribute this unity to historical borrowing, the perennial philosophy sees in the variety of religious forms unique and direct manifestations of the same Divine Wisdom or Sophia. Therefore, the perennial philosophy is concerned with knowing the Absolute Truth through a particular religion and the perennial manifestations of the Truth in various religions. While it was commonly believed that Gottfried von Leibniz was the first to use the term the philosophia perennis in 1714, according to Seyyed Hossein Nasr, "the term was probably employed for the first time by Agostino Steuco (1497-1548), the Renaissance philosopher and theologian who was an Augustinian.'" S.H. Nasr also states, The work of Steuco De perenni philosophia was influenced by Ficino, Pico, and even Nicolas of Cusa, especially the De pace fidei which speaks of harmony between various religions. Steuco, who knew Arabic and other Semitic languages and was a librarian of the Vatican Library where he had access to the "wisdom of the ages" as far as this was possible in the Occident at that time, followed the ideas of these earlier figures concerning the presence of an ancient wisdom which had existed from the dawn of history. 8 Steuco and the earlier perennialists in the West believed this wisdom extended beyond Christianity and was present in Judaism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Greek philosophy, and the ancient Egyptian tradition.' While the perennial philosophy has been articulated in important religious and philosophical texts, its appearance does not always come in the same form. The greatest masterpieces of traditional art and architecture are clear signs of a living intellectual traditional, even if religious or philosophical manuscripts are absent. In addition, many esoteric traditions continue to be transmitted orally." The perennial philosophy has existed as long as man has. While the great works of traditional prose and poetry, and especially sacred art and architecture, aid in our return to the Source, not all of these arose in every tradition. For example, wisdom in the heart of a Nati ve American shaman is not dependent upon its written articulation, and in many cases nature or the cosmic revelation serves as a support for intellection.

I.

90

There are direct equivalents of the term the philosophia perennis in various religions, such as sanatana dharma in Hinduism and allJikmat al-khiilidah andjavidan khirad in Islam," which pre-date its use in the West, and may have also influenced its formal construction. It was not until the twentieth century however, that the meaning of the perennial philosophy was expounded with such clarity and depth by traditionalists such as Rene Guenon, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, and especially Frithjof Schuon. According to Frithjof Schuon: "Philosophia perennis" is generally understood as referring to that metaphysical truth which has no beginning, and which remains the same in all expressions of wisdom. Perhaps it would here be better or more prudent to speak of a "Sophia perennis", since it is not a question of artificial mental constructions, as is all too often the case in philosophy; or again, the primordial wisdom that always remains true to itself could be called "Religio perennis", given that by its nature it in a sense involves worship and spiritual realization ... 13 When referring to the perennial philosophy, Schuon and other traditionalists use several terms interchangeably. While these terms each possess different shades of meaning, they all refer to the primordial wisdom that is all the heart of all authentic expressions of the Truth, whether religious or philosophical. One must keep in mind that the original meaning of the latter term is the love of wisdom, which modern and postmodern philosophy has apparently forgotten. In any case, Schuon preferred the terms religio perennis and sophia perennis, while Guenon used the term tradition instead of religion because of its negative connotations in the France of his time, and A.K. Coomaraswamy added the term universalis to the philosophia perennis. 14 S.H. Nasr states: In one sense, sanatana dharma or sophia perennis is related to the Primordial Tradition and therefore to the Origin of human existence. But this view should not in any way detract from or destroy the authenticity of later messages from Heaven in the form of various revelations, each of which begins with an origin which is the Origin and which marks the beginning of a tradition that is at once the Primordial Tradition and its adaptation to a particular humanity, the adaptation being a Divine Possibility manifested on the human plane." 91


Zachary Markwith Therefore, while the perennial philosophy fully appreciates various manifestations of the Primordial Tradition, it is also concerned with understanding and preserving particular manifestations of tradition, each of which contains in its heart the Primordial Tradition. The perennial philosophy rejects syncretism and the attempt to create a meta-religion, which is devoid of religious forms, such as doctrines, rites, and laws. It is only through attaching oneself to a specific Revelation and tradition from Heaven that one can reach the transcendent Source of all religions. Unlike the pseudo-esoteric and New Age movements, which deny the validity of anyone religion in the name of universalism, traditionalists who have articulated the perennial philosophy live in one religious universe, while understanding and appreciating other religions. Further, all religions in their original form contain exoteric and esoteric dimensions.' · The exoteric doctrines, rites, and laws of a religion, provide a means of salvation in the hereafter for the faithful. Those who wish to see God here and now must also embark on the initiatic and spiritual path, which is synonymous with esoterism. The mistake of many in the West (who are often encouraged by false teachers from the East) is to attempt to practice esoterism without the necessary doctrines, rites, and laws of a particular tradition, which provides the necessary foundation and protection for those on the spiritual path. We should not confuse the perennial philosophy or the transcendent unity of religions with a false uniformity that strips all religions of their unique doctrines and methods that make the journey to the One possible. Moreover, it is only at the level of the esoteric that the religions begin to converge and finally meet in the common Principle. Only the gnostic whose heart has been illuminated by sacred knowledge, which is the goal of esoterism, can penetrate into his own and other religious forms, and perceive the One True Reality as it reveals itself through all orthodox religions, in nature, and the heart of man.

The Quran, Sunnah, and the Perennial Philosophy erhaps more than other religions, Hinduism and Islam are able to accept the multiplicity of religions, which lead to the Divine Reality because they stand at the alpha and omega points in this cycle of creation. In the case of Islam, one simply has to examine the writings of Jalal ai-DIn RiimI or Ibn ' ArabI to see how ubiquitous the principle of Divine Unity and all of its ramifications has been throughout Islamic history, even if it was not fully elaborated until the twentieth century by leading Muslim traditionalists. The wntings of great Muslim sages, philosophers, and poets are rooted in the Quranic revelation and Sunnah of the Prophet MUQammad, whIch emphasizes the unity of the Divine Principle (tawJ.!id) , as well as the chain of messengers and prophets sent by Heaven to restore the message of Divine Unity. Therefore, to understand why the restating of the perennial philosophy in the twentieth century came primarily from Muslim intellectuals, it is necessary to understand the essential link between Islam and the perennial philosophy. According to Seyyed Hossein Nasr,

P

Islam sees the doctrine of unity (al-tawJ.!id) not only as the essence of its own message but as the heart of every religion. Revelation for Islam means the assertion of al-tawJ.!id and all religions are seen as so many repetitions in different climes and languages of the doctrine of unity. Moreover, wherever the doctrine of unity was found , it is considered to be of divine origin.'7 Muslims believe that the Absolute Reality revealed sacred messages to different communities through 124,000 prophets. The Quran affirms, "Every community has had a messenger." ( 10:47)'8 Many specific prophets, whose sacred stories are also found in the Bible, are extensively referred to in the Quran, prophets such as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Mary and Jesus. Wbile the Quran does not explicitly name prophets, avatars, or sages, from the iranian, Indian, or Shamanic religions,'· it firmly establishes the principle of the transcendent unity of religions, which extends to all the world' s great religions 20 According to the Quran: Verily, those who have attained to faith [in this divine writ], as well as those who follow the Jewish faith, and the Chris-

92

93


Zachary Markwith tians, and the Sabians-all who believe in God and the Last Day and do righteous deeds-shall have their reward with their Sustainer; and no fear need they have, and neither shall they grieve. (2:62) Therefore, we can assert that the Quran affirms the variety of sacred forms as paths for different communities that all lead to the Transcendent Reality. It has been stated by some that thi s verse and others like it were abrogated," and that Islam only accepts other religions in their original form. While it is true that many religions that pre-date Islam have decayed (including some modernist and "fundamentalist" currents within Islam itself!), the Quran does not expect other religions to be carbon copies of Islam. Unto everyone of you have We have appointed a [different] law and way of life. And if God had so willed, He could surely have made you all one single community: but [He willed it otherwise] in order to test you by means of what He has vouchsafed unto you. Vie, then, with one another in doing good works! Unto God you must all return; and then He will make you truly understand all that on which you were wont to differ. (5:48) The Quran defines all of the prophets, including Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, as muslims, or those who surrender to the Divine Reality. Islam, or submission to the Divine Reality, is also seen as the universal essence of all prophetic messages, while at the same time corresponding to the crystallization and descent of the Quranic revelation in the heart of the Prophet Mul)ammad beginning in 610 A.D. In the mind of most Muslims, there is not a clear line of demarcation between the religion of Islam and its various manifestations and crystallizations in different religions throughout history. Therefore, some Muslims expect the submission (islam) of Christ or the Buddha, as practiced among their followers, to look exactly like the Islam that is practiced in Mecca in the twenty-first century. While the form of the Quran is clearly situated in the Abrahamic universe, it is only by examining the inner reality (/Jaqfqah) of the Quran that one can find close correspondences with other religions from the East, and also the indigenous traditions. According to the Quran, "On Earth there are signs [of God's existence, visible] to all

94

who are endowed with inner certainty,just as [there are signs thereof] within your own selves: can you not, then, see?" (51:20-21) If the Quran represents the central theophany of the Divine Reality in a manner similar to the Torah in Judaism, it also draws our attention to the book of the cosmos and also the soul of man. The cosmos or nature as Divine revelation is clearly emphasized among the Native American, Aboriginal, and Shinto traditions, and well as in Taoism. The soul or spirit of man as revelation, which is central in Christianity as well as the Indian religions, is also found in the Quran. Jesus is called "the spirit of God" (rii/:!ullah) in the Quran. The Arabic term rii/:!ullah can be translated as the breath, spirit, or word of God. Jesus, and by analogy the avatars in Hinduism and the inner being of each prophet and man, is a direct revelation from the Absolute, in a manner similar to the book in Judaism and Islam. By emphasizing the three grand revelations (the book, the cosmos, and man), Muslims have the necessary intellectual tools to see the signs of the Divine Reality in other religions. There are also various terms in the Quran that directly correspond to the perennial philosophy and the primordial tradition. Islam renewed the primordial religion (ai-din al-/:!anifj, which is associated with the prophet Abraham.22 The primordial religion in the Quran is also closely related to man's primordial nature iji!rah), which is hidden by forgetfulness and made accessible through religion and the remembrance (dhikr) of the Divine. The perennial philosophy was also expressed in the Sunnah or wonts of the Prophet Mul)ammad (570-632), which complements and acts as a commentary upon the Quran. According to an account of the Prophet Muhammad's life when he ordered all of the pre-Islamic idols in the Ka' bah to be smashed: Apart from the icon of the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus, and a painting of an old man, said to be Abraham, the walls inside had been covered with pictures of pagan deities. Placing his hands protectively over the icon, the Prophet told 'Uthman to see that all the other paintings, except that of Abraham, were effaced.23 There is a major difference between the idolatry practiced in Arabia in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah) , and the sacred art and symbols of other authentic religions, which the Prophet

95


Zachary Markwith Mu~ammad

respected. The Prophet Mu~ammad, as the spiritual and political leader of the new Muslim community (ummah), respected all of the earlier divinely sent messengers and religions, as well as the people who practiced these religions. In response to a conflict between a Jew and a zealous Muslim who wanted to assert the superiority of the Prophet over other prophets, the Prophet Mu~ammad stated, "Say not that I am better then Moses," and "Say not that I am better than Jonah. ,,2' The Prophet of Islam married a Jewish woman and a Christian woman, neither of whom were forced to convert to Islam. He also consulted with a Christian monk, who was related to his wife Khadljah, after first receiving the Revelation. Throughout the life of the Prophet, Jews and Christians in Arabia were not forced to convert to Islam, but were allowed to practice their religion in peace and security as long as they did not harm the Muslim community. The Prophet even established a treaty with the Arab and Jewish tribes in Medina known as the Constitution of Medina, which guaranteed and outlined certain basic rights and responsibilities for Arabs and Jews. A Christian congregation was also allowed to pray in the Prophet's home-the Medina mosque-according to their own rites." What is of greater significance for Muslims, as far as the spiritual dimension of religion in concerned, is the pinnacle of the Prophet's spiritual life when he made his miraculous Night Journey with the Angel Gabriel (Jibra' il) on the mythical horse Buraq from Mecca to Jerusalem where he led a congregation of various prophets in prayer, and then made a vertical ascension (mi ' rlij) through the heavens, meeting various prophets and angels along the way, to the Divine Presence. 26 It was here that the canonical prayers of Islam were revealed. The Prophet in fact said, "The daily prayer (~allih) is the mi' rlij of the believer." One therefore finds a direct correlation between quintessential esoterism and the exoteric rites of Islam. It is by adhering to his own tradition, and specifically the Sunnah of the Prophet, that a Muslim can enter the Divine Stratosphere and gain a direct vision of the Supreme Reality, as well as of the countless prophets and angelic beings, and understand the transcendent unity of religions. The Prophet of Islam is at once the Logos and, like other prophets in the Islamic universe, a manifestation of the Logos. He represents the plenitude of the prophetic function, as well as the human norm,

96

which cannot be reduced to the modem standards that define Promethean man.27 It is clear that in the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet of Islam one finds some of clearest expressions of the perennial philosophy and the transcendent unity of religions, which Muslim sages throughout history as well as in the twentieth century drew from to elucidate the perennial philosophy. By referring and adhering to their own traditional doctrines and methods they drew from the Source of Intelligence, which is peerless in Its expression of the Truth: Say: We believe in God, and in that which has been bestowed from on high upon us, and that which has been bestowed upon Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and their descendents, and that which has been vouchsafed to Moses and Jesus, and that which has been vouchsafed to all the [other] prophets by their Sustainer: we make no distinction between any of them. And it is unto Him that we surrender ourselves. (Quran 2: 136)

The Islamic Intellectual Tradition and the Perennial Philosophy slamic philosophy and esoterism developed along similar lines, and ultimately made use of the same intellectual faculties, although they expressed their knowledge of the Sacred in different ways. Unlike in the West, where philosophy has become divorced from the Intellect (al- ' aq{) and reduced to the rational faculty alone, in the Islamic world Islamic philosophy was wedded to Revelation and intellection. In a similar manner, Muslim gnostics and Sufi masters described a vision of Reality that was based on the inner reality of Revelation and intellectual intuition, and not a sentimental form of love that is detached from sacred knowledge. Therefore, the expressions of the perennial philosophy that derive from the Islamic intellectual tradition are objective visions of Reality that are based on the Quran, Sunnah, and the central doctrine of Divine Unity, and not simply theoretical metaphysics or profane philosophy that is divorced from an operati ve tradition. After the Quran and Sunnah, the writings of sages from the Islamic intellectual tradition are of the greatest significance for the understanding of the perennial philosophy in general and the Islamic

I

97


Zachary Markwith tradition in particular. What is remarkable about the Muslim intellectuals in the twentieth century we are discussing is that they were responsible for not only restating the perennial philosophy, but also preserving and demonstrating the importance of the Islamic intellectual tradition, not to mention the Quran and Sunnah. According to S.H. Nasr, For [Muslims] the sages of antiquity such as Pythagoras and Plato were "Unitarians" (muwaJ.!J.!idun) who expressed the truth which lies at the heart of all religions. They, therefore, belonged to the Islamic universe and were not considered as alien to it. The Islamic intellectual tradition in both its gnostic (ma'rifah or ' irfiin) and philosophical and theosophical (falsafah-J.!ikmah) aspects saw the source of this unique truth which is the "Religion of the Truth" (dfn al-J.!aqq) in the teachings of the ancient prophets going back to Adam and considered Idris, who is identified with Hermes, as the "father of philosophers" (Abu ' l-J.!ukama'). 2g From al-KindT to MulHi ~adra,29 Muslim philosophers and theosophers preserved and transformed Greek philosophy, as well as Persian and Indian philosophy, and followed a different trajectory from the West after the Renaissance, because of their attachment to a living tradition and Revelation, which could discern between those sages and schools who were guided by higher principles and those trends in the West and the East which were opposed to sacred knowledge. Islamic philosophy as a whole has always relied first and foremost upon the Quranic revelation and used the wisdom of ancient philosophers to describe their vision of Reality, which was the result of their attachment to Islam and Islamic esoterism. Abii Yiisuf Ya' qiib AI-KindT (801-866) states, We should not be ashamed to acknowledge truth and assimilate it from whatever source it comes to us, even if it be by former generations and foreign peoples. For him who seeks the truth there is nothing of higher value than truth itself; it never cheapens or abases him who reaches for it, but ennobles and honors him.3o The Prophet Mu\:lammad established this principle when he said, "Seek knowledge even unto China." Therefore, the wisdom of the

98

ages, including sacred texts, philosophy, and the writings of gnostics and sages around the world was considered the rightful inheritance of Muslims, and was easily incorporated into Islamic philosophy and esoterism. According to S.H. Nasr, [AI-FarabT] sought to unify the wisdom of Aristotle and Plato and, like nearly all other Muslim sages, considered the wisdom expounded by these men to have come ultimately from Divine revelation, and could not therefore be contradictory.l' Abii Na~r al-FarabT (870-950), and many Muslim philosophers, were also conversant with and/or initiated into Sufi orders, and therefore helped establish an epistemology, which privileged higher modes of knowing--especially Revelation and intellectual intuition-without denying the importance of logic and reason, and those pre-Islamic currents of philosophy that according to the early Muslim philosophers were also the result of Revelation and gnosis.32 As mentioned above, one also finds direct references to the perennial philosophy in Islamic philosophy, such as al-J.!ikmat al-khiilidah in Arabic and jiivfdiin khirad in Persian, which may have influenced the formulation of the term philosophia perennis by Steuco and Leibnitz.33 Referring to al-J.!ikmat al-khiilidah in Arabic andjiivfdiin khirad in Persian, S.H. Nasr writes, This is in fact the title of a well-known work by Ibn Miskawayh (Muskiiyah) which contains metaphysical and ethical aphorisms and sayings by Islamic and pre-Islamic sages .. .including those from ancient Persia, India, and the Mediterranean world (Riim).34 The accumulated wisdom of the ages, as well as direct knowledge of the Sacred, is also clearly seen in the life and works of Avicenna or Abii 'AlI STna (980-1037) who was not only a Muslim philosopher and metaphysician, deeply attached to the Quran (which he had memorized), but also a traditional scientist, physician, mathematician, and psychologist, who, like al-FarabT, wrote about the theory of music." S.H. Nasr states, But it was essentially the "esoteric" or "Oriental Philosophy" of A vicenna that had the greatest import in the Orient.

99

Zachaty Markwith


It was his cosmology supported by his angelology that was elaborated by Suhrawardi and, after being divorced from the rationalistic and syllogistic mesh in whose matrix it was at first placed, became integrated into certain schools of Sufism.3•

While being firmly rooted in the Revelation and gnosis, Avicenna, as well as Aristotle and the Greek philosophers, was later misappropriated to promote rationalism, which was then critiqued by Ash' arite theology, Aba i:lamid al-Ghazzali, and Fakhr aI-Din al-Razi, despite certain excesses on their part as well.37 In response to his critics Avicenna or al-Shaykh al-Ra'is (the Master among Wise Men) wrote, It is not so easy and trifling to call me a heretic No belief in religion is firmer than mine own. I am the unique person in the world and if I am a heretic Then there is not a single Muslim anywhere in the world. 38

The wisdom of the Muslim philosophers, which included ancient Greek, Iranian, and Indian philosophy, was incorporated into Suhrawardi's Ishraq, school, which relied heavily on pure intellection and gnosis, and of course the Quran and Sunnah of the Prophet of Islam. S.H. Nasr writes, Suhrawardi considered himself as the reunifier of what he calls al-/:!ikmat al-ladun,yah , or Divine Wisdom, and al/:!ikmat al- ' aaqah, or ancient wisdom. He believed that this wisdom is universal and perennial, the philosophia perennis and universalis, which existed in various forms among ancient Hindus and Persians, Babylonians and Egyptians, and among the Greeks up to the time of Aristotle . .. 3' Shihab ai-Din Suhrawardi (l153-1191) or Shaykh al-Ishraq (the Master of Illumination) believed philosophy began with Hermes or the prophet Idris in the Quran, and therefore has its origin in prophecy, and cannot be divorced from Revelation in the name of rationalism. He also believed that he inherited this ancient wisdom from two schools in ancient Egypt and Persia, which both trace their chains of transmission back to Hermes. 40 It is interesting to note that Suhrawardi was martyred in Egypt because of his beliefs and that the lshraq' school has flourished more in Iran than in the Western Islamic lands.41 Suhrawardi states, 100

Whoever is a traveler on the road to Truth is my companion and aid on this path. The procedure of the master of philosophy and imiim of wisdom, the Divine Plato, was the same, and the sages who preceded Plato in time like Hermes, the father of philosophy, followed the same path. Since sages of the past, because of the ignorance of the masses, expressed their sayings in secret symbols, the refutations which have been made against them have concerned the exterior of these sayings not their real intentions. And the lshraq' wisdom, whose foundation and basis are the two principles of light and darkness as established by the Persian sages like Jamasp, Frashadsbar, and Bazarjumihr, is among these hidden, secret symbols. 42 The principles of Suhrawardi's Ishraq' school are found in the Quran, and in all authentic revelations. Suhrawardi made use of the verse of light in the Quran (24:35), which includes the Divine Name al-Nur (the Light), and the commentaries on this verse by al-Ghazzali in his Miskat al-anwar (The Niche of Lights)." He also relied on the writings of Avicenna, al-l:Iallaj, and the vast intellectual heritage that he inherited from Pythagoreanism, Platonism, Hermeticism, and Zoroastrianism to describe the metaphysics, ontology, cosmology, and symbolism of Divine Light.44 Suhrawardi believed that all of reality consists of degrees of light and darkness. Ultimately, all light finds its origin in the Light of lights (Nur al-anwar) or the Divine Essence, which is like the Sun of existence. This Light then radiates and reflects into the cosmos and in the heart of man through a hierarchy of angels, which are like stars in the night sky. Our goal is to discover our higher self or the angel of one's being, which is the luminous source of the immanent Intellect. 45 Suhrawardi identifies the angel of humanity with Gabriel (Jibra"il), as well as the Holy Spirit (ru/:! al-qudus) and the MUQammadan spirit (al-ril/:! al-mu/:zammadiyyah), 46 which reminds us of Christ as Christos Angelos in the Nag Hammadi collection. 47 Suhrawardi's lshraq' school was an essential element in latex branches of Islamic philosophy and gnosis, such as in the writings of Ibn ' Arabi and Mulla $adra. According to S.H. Nasr,

101

Zachary Markwith


The perennial wisdom which the Master of Ishraq has sought to establish, or rather to re-establish, in his short terrestrial life thus became not only a dominant intellectual perspective in Shi'ism, and more generally in the eastern lands of Islam, but also overt'1owed the banks of the Islamic world to reach other traditions. 4s Another major light in the firmament of the Islamic intellectual universe is Mu~yi ai-Din Ibn' Arabi (1165-1240), who made use of the legacy of Divine wisdom which his predecessors preserved and transmitted, and also added his own immense contributions. The great Andalusian gnostic, known as al-Shaykh ai-Akbar (the Greatest Master), relied heavily on the Quran, lfadlth literature, Islamic philosophy, and Sufi prose and poetry, to describe his theophanic visions of Reality. His major works, al-Furuhat al-makkiyah (The Meccan Revelations) and Fu~u~ al-I,likam (The Bezels of Wisdom) are among the greatest masterpieces of what Joseph Lumbard has called the "i/.lsaniintellectual tradition," and the perennial philosophy4" He is famously known in the West for his poem Tarjuman al-ashwaq (The Interpreter of Desires), in which he describes the beauty of a young maiden, Nizam, who becomes a symbol for the Beloved. S.H. Nasr writes, He met a young girl of great devoutness and beauty who henceforth became the embodiment of the eternal sophia for him and fulfilled a role in his life which resembles that of Beatrice in the life of Dante. 5o Indeed, the symbol of the feminine beloved in a common theme in the writings of the greatest Sufi masters, and, as we shall see, plays an important role in Shl'ite esoterism through Fa~imah the daughter of the Prophet, and also in the life ofFrithjof Schuon and his successors, through the presence of the Virgin Mary. The archetypal Sophia is a manifestation of the Infinite Beauty and Wisdom of the Divine. This beatific vision allows man to see the beauty and wisdom in the various religions, the cosmos, and in his own heart. This feminine manifestation and reflection of the Divine in Islamic esoterism is what enabled Ibn ' Arabi and Frithjof Schuon to see the Truth and Beauty in other religions. It is only after seeing the archetype of Wisdom and Beauty, that one can recognize its diverse reflections in the world of forms. 102

It was in the Tarjuman al-ashwaq that Ibn ' Arabi wrote one of the most powerful set of verses, which describes what Frithjof Schuon called the religio cordis or religion of the heart and also the transcendent unity of religions. After seeing Nizam, Ibn 'Arabi asserts: Receptive now my heart is for each form; For gazelles pasture, for monks a monastery, Temple for idols, Ka'bah to be rounded, Tables of Torah and script of Quran. My religion is love's religion; where'er tum Her camels, that religion my religion is, my faith. An example is set us by Bishr, lover Of Hind and her sister, and likewise the loves Of Qays and Layla, of Mayya and Ghaylan. 51 Ibn' Arabi's poetry, and Sufi poetry in general, is not based on eroticism or a sentimental love and attachment, but on knowledge of the Sacred, which is always wedded to love of the Divine. In Islamic esoterism, the goal of the Path is union and knowledge that unites, and there is no better symbol for this than the love and union with the beloved. What also must be kept in mind is that Ibn ' Arabi saw the Essence and Formless within all forms and religions, but came to this realization because of his attachment to Islam and Sufism, which finds its source in the inner reality of the Quran and soul of the Prophet Mu~ammad. Ibn ' Arabi and his heirs in the Akbari school of gnosis elucidated the inner meaning of the central doctrine of Divine Unity (tawl,lid) in Islam, which is based on the first part of the shahadah, La ilaha illa'Uah, or "There is no god but God," through what became known as wal,ldat al-wujud, or the transcendent unity of Being. Ibn ' Arabi, along with ' Abd ai-Karim al-Jili, was also responsible for explaining the esoteric meaning of the second part of the shahiidah, M ul,lammadun rasul Allah, or "Mu~ammad is the messenger of God," through the doctrine of the universal or perfect man (al-insan al-kamil). It would not be an exaggeration to say that the whole of Islamic esoterism is based on the inner meaning of the shahadah, which Ibn ' Arabi wrote about with remarkable depth and clarity. The realization of this inner meaning is not dependent upon its written articulation, especially during the early centuries of Islam. Conversely, the theoretical knowledge that is gained by reading the works of Ibn ' Arabi, which 103


Zachary Markwith was the fruit of realization for Ibn ' Arabi, is not the same as realized knowledge, which requires a living tradition, as well as the guidance of a spiritual master. Ibn ArabI's FU$u$ al-I;ikam also deserves special attention. According to S.H. Nasr: The work was composed in 62711229, and according to Ibn ' ArabI's own words, stated in the introduction, it was inspired by a vision of the Prophet holding a book in his hand which he ordered the Shaykh to "take" and to transmit to the world so that men might benefit by it. The very title, Bezels of Wisdom, symbolizes the content of the book in that each " bezel" contains a precious jewel which symbolizes as aspect of Divine wisdom, each bezel is the human and spiritual nature of a prophet which serves as a vehicle for the particular aspect of Divine wisdom revealed to that prophet." Each chapter is named after a prophet, such as Adam, Seth, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, and contains the archetypal wisdom of that prophet, as well as the universal wisdom of the Di vine Word.53 Written completely within the Islamic universe, the FU$U$ al-I;ikam is a summary of Islamic esoterism, as well as the sophia perennis, which each prophet manifests in his own way S4 AI-Fu!uhiit al-makklyah is a vast ocean of wisdom, which also contains some of the most important expressions of the perennial philosophy in the Islamic tradition. William Chittick quotes Ibn ' Arabi in his Imaginal Worlds: Ibn al- 'Arabi and the Problem of Religious Diversity:

the heaven and the earth and is between them for unreality [Quran 38:27] and He did not create the human being in vain [Quran 23: 115]. On the contrary, He created him alone to be in His form .. ss Ibn ' Arabi understood the diversity of religious forms is based on the infinite possibilities within the Divine Names and Nature, while adhering to the religion of Islam, which provided him a path to realization and made his universal understanding of forms and the Formless possible. Ibn' Arabi's defense of the transcendent unity of religions through the Quran is perhaps best illustrated in the following passage: Those who adore God in the sun behold the sun, and those who adore Him in living things see a living thing, and those who adore Him in lifeless things see a lifeless thing, and those who adore Him as a Being unique and unparalleled see that which has no like. Do not attach yourself to any particular creed exclusively, so that you disbelieve in all the rest; otherwise, you will lose much good, nay, you will fail to recognize the real truth of the matter. God, the omnipresent and omnipotent, is not limited by anyone creed, for He says, (Quran 2: 109), "Wheresoever ye tum, there is the face of Allah."s6

The People of Unveiling have been given an all-inclusive overview of all religions, creeds, sects, and doctrines concerning God. They are not ignorant of any of these. Adherents follow creeds, sects conform to specific laws, and doctrines are held concerning God or something in the engendered universe. Some of these contradict, some diverge, and some are similar. In every case the Possessor of Unveiling knows from where the doctrine, the creed, or the sect are taken, and he ascribes it to its place. He offers an excuse for everyone who holds a doctrine and does not declare him in error. He does not consider the doctrine to be vain, for God did not create

Titus Burckhardt quotes Ibn ' Arabi to describe the Muslim view of sacred art in other religions, which issues from Mu~ammad's respect for the icon of the Virgin and Christ referred to above: ''The Byzantines developed the art of painting to its perfection, because for them the unique nature (fardiiniyyah) of Jesus (Sayyidna ' Isa), as expressed in his image, is the foremost support of concentrating on Divine Unity."s7Ibn ' Arabi respected Islamic Law (Shari' ah ) and knew that such forms were not meant for Muslims, who have aniconic art, but he also clearly understood their importance for other religious communities and believed they were sanctioned by God. What must be emphasized when examining the intellectual contributions of Ibn ' Arabi is that his knowledge was based on direct vision or gnosis of the imaginal and angelic worlds and the Divine Reality, and not only the rational faculty or other modes of knowing. S.H. Nasr brings this poinrout when referring to one of Ibn ' ArabI's visions of the spiritual hierarchy of saints in Sufism:

104

105

Zachary Markwith


During these years the Shaykh continued to have his theophanic visions. He had already had a vision of the invisible hierarchy ruling the Universe, consisting of the Supreme Pole (Qurb); the two imiims; the four "pillars" (awtad) governing the four cardinal points; the seven "substitutes" (abdal) the influence of each of whom reigns over one of the climates; the twelve chiefs (nuqabii' ), dominating the twelve signs of the Zodiac; and the eight nobles (nujabii") corresponding to eight heavenly spheres. He also had a vision of all the spiritual poles of the revelations anteceding Islam, and realized the transcendent unity of all the traditions revealed by God to man$8 Ibn' Arabi is one the supreme expOSitors of the perennial philosophy in Islamic history, whose presence and teachings have nourished generations of Muslim philosophers, gnostics, and aspirants on the Sufi path, and helped pave the way for some of the greatest philosophers and gnostics in Islamic history, such as ~adr aI-DIn Qunyawi, MaJ:!miid Shabistari, Sayyid l:Iaydar Amuli and Mulla Sadra. The Akbari school, as well as Suhrawardi's Ishraqi school, an'd the writings of Avicenna and other Muslim philosophers found a harmonious union in the Shi' ite world through the writings of Mulla ~adra, who also represents one of the peaks of the Islamic intellectual tradition and the perennial philosophy $9 ~adr ai-DIn Shirazi (1571-1640), also known as Mulla Sadra, was born in Shiraz. He created a harmony between Islamic philosophy, Ibn ' Arabi's school, and Shi'ism with the help of his predecessor Sayyid l:Iaydar Amuli (and other important scholars), whose Jami ' al-asrar (The Sum of Divine Mysteries) sought to unify Shi'ism, the gn~sis of Ibn ' Arabi, and Sufism in genera\.60 S.H. Nasr writes," It is Amuli who believed that every true Shi' ite is a Sufi and every true Sufi a Shi'ite.,,61 Mulla ~adra was versed in traditional philosophy and the religious and intellectual sciences, which had an important impact on his life and writings. What is of even greater significance is that he may have been initiated into a Sufi order or received guidance directly from the Hidden Imam or Khi<;lr. 62 We do know that he spent several years in retreat where he focused on quintessential prayer and returned as a realized sage. 63 Therefore, whether he had a regular initiation or re106

cei ved guidance from one of the hidden masters of Islamic esoterism, his knowledge was the fruit of spiritual discipline and gnosis and not simply the result of the rational faculty. Mullii ~adra is best known for his al-ljikmat al-muta 'a/iyah fi 'l-asfor al- ' aq/iyyat al-arba' ah (The Transcendent Theosophy concerning the Four Intellectual Jouneys of the Soul), also known as Asfor (Journeys), but his corpus includes nearly fifty manuscripts on subjects that include Quran and ljadith commentary, Imamology, Shi'ite esoterism, philosophy, metaphysics, ontology, cosmogony, eschatology, symbolism, free will and predestination, epistemology, logic, and poetry. 64 In breadth and depth few philosophers in Islamic history can compare to Mulla ~adra, whose perspective has become known as transcendent theosophy (al-I.zikmat al-muta 'aliyah), not to be confused with certain pseudo-theosophical movements in the West. S.H. Nasr writes about Mulla ~adrii'sAsfor: The symbolism of wayfaring is universal and found in nearly all religions and the flight of the soul to God is often expressed in terms ofajourney. The very name Taoism is derived from the Tao or the "way", while in Islam the names for both the Divine Law or Shari'ah and the esoteric way or Tariqah mean literally road and path. The Sufis especially emphasized in their works the symbolism of traveling. Some Sufi works such as the Conference ofthe Birds (Manriq al-rayr) of ' Anar are based wholly on this symbolism. Ibn ' Arabi even wrote a treatise whose title includes the name "ai-asfor" and he discusses the meaning of its singular form, safar, in his alI~rilahiit al-~ufiyyah. Mulla ~adra was fully conscious of this tradition and in fact in the introduction of the Asfor mentions that the gnostics undertake four journeys .. 6S The path to illuminative knowledge that Mulla ~adra writes about in his Asfor, as well as his other treatises on metaphysics and ontology, was inspired by his own journey through the Divine Intellect, and returns to us as a precious jewel of the Islamic intellectual tradition and the perennial philosophy, reflecting the light and wisdom of the Revelation, intellectual intuition, and reason. The teachings of Mulla ~adra continue to be studied and cultivated throughout the Islamic world, as well as in India and the West, and constitute a living philosophical tradition that is wedded to Revelation and gnosis. 107


Zachary Markwith We should also note the immense contribution to Islamic esoterism and the perennial philosophy that Ismii'm philosophers have made. They developed a cyclical doctrine of history, which is based on the cosmological significance of the number seven. Each of the major prophets had an esoteric representative, who transmitted the inner dimension of religion. For example, the representative of Adam was Seth, of Abraham was Ishmael, of Moses was Aaron, and of Mu~ammad was' All·6 The seventh guide in the chain of each representative inaugurates a new cycle and who revives the tradition. Some of the most eminent Ismii'm philosophers include Abu l:iiitim Riizl, Nii~ir-i Khusraw, Abu Ya' qub al-Sijistiinl, and l:iamld ai-Din al-KirmiinL67 These men made great contributions to not only to Ismii'm thought, but also to the Islamic tradition as a whole and the perennial philosophy·8 Abu l:iiitim Riizl (874-933) defended religion and the prophets against the accusation that the various religions show too much formal diversity to come from one Source. 69 Referring to the essential or transcendent unity of religions, Riizl states, Whoever is just and is not arrogant, and reflects on the differences by his intellect and examines the contradictions of the prophets and what they have revealed in their shariiyi' and the parables which they have struck and have been revealed from God the exalted and glorified, - [he will perceive] that the literal words of the prophets in their symbols (amt/;iif) differ but in the inner content (or intentions, ma' iinf) they are consistent. They have not differed in the core value of religion, such as the Divine unity. They unanimously agree that God, glory be to His remembrance, is one God ... 70 The poetry and prose of Sufi masters, especially in the Persianspeaking world, is without a doubt a central expression of the perennial philosophy, as well as the transcendent unity of religions. For this reason, it is often difficult for interpreters and readers of Jaliil ai-DIn Rumi and l:iiifi~ in the West to see their essential link to the Quran and the Prophet of Islam, and falsely attribute to them a universalism that stands opposed to tradition and orthodoxy. Unfortunately, this same mistake is also made by some interpreters of Guenon and Schuon, who attempt to detach them from the Islamic tradition. 7I S.H. Nasr writes,

108

It is by making the distinction between ~urat and ma 'nii that Ruml is able to offer a hermeneutical interpretation of all of reality, of both the "cosmic Quran" and the "revealed Quran" and to unveil the transcendent unity of being and of religions. Jaliil ai-DIn is, along with Ibn' Arabi, perhaps the foremost expositor of the transcendent unity of religions in the annals of Sufism as well as one of the grand expositors of the cardinal doctrine of the unity of being (waf:uiat al-wujUd). The great Persian Sufi poet Jaliil ai-DIn Rumi (\207-1273) did not discard the ~urat or form (as if such as thing were possible in the world offorms), but revealed the ma' nii or meaning or essence within each form. Following the Quranic injunction, Ruml saw signs of the Beloved in nature, poetry, sacred music and dance, in his companions Shams and l:iusiim ai-DIn, in Islam and all of the religions he encountered. Ruml was extremely receptive to Divine Beauty and saw its reflection everywhere he turned. F. Schuon states: . ..To be sensitive to the metaphysical transparency of beauty, to the radiation of forms and sounds, is already to possess-in common with a Ruml or a Ramakrishna-a visual and auditative intuition capable of ascending through phenomena right up to the essences and the eternal melodies. 72 Mawliinii (literally our master), as Ruml is known in the Islamic world, wrote extensively about the prophets mentioned in the Quran, and provided an esoteric commentary on the Quran with his Mathnawf. 73 His appreciation for the various prophets and other religions was the result of his knowledge of the inner meaning and the outer form of the Quran. Referring to the prophets, Rumi states, Iften lamps are present in (one) place, each differs in form from the other: To distinguish without any doubt the light of each, when you turn your face toward their light, is impossible. In things spiritual there is no division and no numbers; in things spiritual there is no partition and no individuals. 74 Referring to what Frithjof Schuon called the religio cordis or the religion of the heart, Rumi also writes,

109

Zachary Markwith


The creed of love is separated from all religions; The creed and the religion of lovers of God is God himself.1' We find numerous examples of the essential, not to be confused with the formal , unity of religions in the writings of almost all Persian Sufi poets. The transcendent unity of religions is almost taken for granted by anyone who has read and appreciated these Muslim gnostics. The great Sufi poet J:lafi~ (d. 1389), who is buried in Shiraz, writes: In love no difference there is between monastery and Sufi tavern of ruins, Wheresoever it be, there is the glow of the light of the Beloved's Face.76 These lines illustrate that understanding between various religions is only achieved through what Frithjof Schuon called, "esoteric ecumenism," and knowledge of the Transcendent Reality through the inner dimension of religion. In the Gulshan-i Riiz (The Garden of Mystery), Ma~mud Shabistari (d. 1340) demonstrates that esoteric Christianity is very similar to quintessential Islam and Sufism. While Jesus is seen as a prophet in Islam, the crystallization of his teachings in the Christian world also point to the spiritual path (!arlqah) and the sole Truth (alijaqq), which is the common goal of all religions. Shabistan writes:

not fully elaborated by Muslims until the twentieth century because most religious communities only encountered a few of the world's other great religions, and the Quran itself is formally situated in the Abrahamic universe. Similar expressions were however made by Sufis when they encountered Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Greek Philosophy, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism.78 One of the clearest expressions of the transcendent unity of religions in Arabic Sufi poetry comes from Man~ur al-J:lalIaj (858-922), the Christ-like martyr in Islam who was killed for uttering, "I am the Truth." Eamest for truth, I thought on the religions: They are, I found, one root with many a branch. Therefore impose on no man a religion, Lest it should bar him from the firm-set root. Let the root claim him, a root wherein all heights And meanings are made clear, for him to grasp.79

While Shabistarl wrote about the essential unity of Christianity and Islamic esoterism, this principle applies to all religions, and was

While the transcendent unity of religions was not fully elaborated until the twentieth century by Frithjof Schuon, the principles of this doctrine can be found throughout the Quran, Sunnah, the Islamic intellectual tradition, especially in the writings of the Sufis such as Ibn ' ArabI and Jalal aI-DIn RumL There are also other notable streams that also deserve our attention, and further illustrate the link between Islam and the perennial philosophy, including Ithna 'ashari Shl' ism andfutuwwah (spiritual chivalry). Further, this brief overview of these streams within the Islamic tradition, which also demonstrates the presence of the sophia perennis in Islam, is not meant to be exhaustive. Shi' ism bases itself on the reality of Revelation, prophecy, and waliiyah (the initiatic function) . In a manner similar to Sufism, the presence and light of the Prophet Mu~ammad is perpetuated through the Twelve Imams, the first eight of whom also exist as poles (aq!iib) within certain Sufi orders in the Sunni world. so Shl'ism demonstrates the trans-historical reality of Islam, prophecy, and initiation. While the function and designation of messenger (rasii£) and prophet (nabf) is reserved for the Prophet Mu~ammad (and those prophets who preceded him), the seal of the prophets (khiitam al-anbiyii') in both the Sunni and Shl'ite world, the presence of the Imams in Shi' ism, like the saints in Sufism, is a continuation of his inner reality (al-J:zaqlqat

110

III

I have seen that Christianity's aim is real detachment; I've seen it as the breaking of the bonds of imitation. Sacred Unity 's courtyard in the monastery of Spirit where the Slmurgh of the Everlasting makes Its nest. From God's Spirit, Jesus, this work of detachment appeared, si nce he was manifested from the sacred Spirit. There is also a spirit from God within you; in which is found a trace of the Most Holy. If you should seek extinction of the earthly self, come into the chamber of the Holy Presence. Anyone who, angel-like, has detached from the earthly soul will be risen, Jesus-like, to the fourth celestial realm.77


Zachary Markwith al-mu~ammadiyyah).

The Prophet of Islam said to ' An, the first Imam in ShI'ism and the fourth rightly guided Caliph, "Are you not satisfied to be to me what Aaron was to Moses except that after me there will not be another prophet?" According to the famous ~adfth at Ghadlr Khumm the Prophet said, "For whomever I am his master (mawlii) and the authority whom he obeys, ' An will be his master. Oh God! Be friendly with the friends of' An and enemy of the enemies of cAli. "81 Therefore, we find a continuation of the presence and sanctity of the Prophet ofIslam in ' An, in both ShI'ism and Sufism." Moreover, this sanctity and initiatic function was transmitted through various chains. In Ithna 'ashari ShI' ism, there are twelve Imams, of whom the Hidden Imam is the last and current Imam in the chain. The Imams transmit the light of the Prophet (al-nilr al-mu~ammadiyyah) to each generation, and also are authorities in the Islamic sciences, which include Quranic interpretation (tafsir, ta' wfl), J:fadith literature, theology (kaliim), philosophy lfalsafahl~ikmah), and gnosis (' iifiinl ma'rifah). For a ShI' ite, the perennial wisdom within the context of Islam was transmitted from the Prophet to the Imams. Within ShI' ite esoterism, the Imams are the Logos, which in fact can never be absent in a living tradition. There is also a distinct feminine presence of sanctity in ShI'ism through the Prophet's daughter Falimah, who was also the wife of Imam' An, and is likened to the Virgin Mary. Henry Corbin writes, The First Imam and Falimah are related to each other in the same reciprocal way as the two first hypostases, ' aql and Nafs, Intelligence and Soul, or in terms more familiar to us (because they go back to Philo): Logos and Sophia. The couple 'Ali-Fiitima is the exemplification, the epiphany on earth, of the eternal couple Logos-Sophia. Hence we can foresee the implications of their respective persons ... 83 In the Imam and Falimah, the mother of the second and third Imams, J:lasan and J:lusayn, one finds the manifestation of the Logos and the feminine Sophia, or archetypal beauty and wisdom. In a manner similar to the Sufi martyr al-J:lallaj, Imam J:lusayn's martyrdom at Karbala in the year 680 closely resembles the function and martyrdom of Christ in Christianity, although ShI' ism was not founded on redemptive suffering. 112

One also finds in the person and presence of the Hidden Imam, a role that is analogous to Elias and Khi"r. In Ithna 'ashari ShI' ism, the Twelfth Imam, Mul:tammad al-MahdI (868-present), had a lesser occultation, which began in the year 872, and a greater occultation, which began in 939 and continues until the present. Moreover, his return is expected before the second coming of Christ and the end of this cycle of human history, which Muslims also believe. He will restore peace and justice on earth and openly guide humanity for a number of years. 84 S.H. Nasr states: According to Islam, when the MahdI appears before the end of time not only will he reestablish peace but he will also uplift the outward religious forms to unveil their inner meaning and their essential unity through which he will then unify all religions. Similar accounts are to be found in other traditions such as Hinduism where the eschatological events at the end of the historical cycle are also related to the unification of various religious forms. 85 Nasr makes it clear that the MahdI will uplift the various religious forms to reveal their essential unity. In other words, he will restore the form of each religion and then reveal their common substance. Therefore, according to the Islamic tradition, the MahdI has a pivotal function that completes the work that many saints and sages have already begun. Indeed, even before the coming of the Imam or the Messiah, unity can only be attained by the type of esoteric ecumenism that Schuon has written about. The parody of this inner unity is seen in various manifestations of the New Age movement, which discard religious forms in the name of unity. 8. There is also a close relationship between ShI' ism, Sufism, the perennial philosophy, andfutuwwah or spiritual chivalry. In addition to spiritual chivalry, the termfutuwwah (or jawiinmara. in Persian), implies courage, honor, nobility, generosity, and beauty, and traces its origin to the prophet Abraham. According to S.H. Nasr, Abraham was therefore the initiator of the cycle of futuwwah, which according to later authors such as Wa'i? Kashifi was transmitted like prophecy (nubuwwah) itself. Abraham passed it to Ishmael and Isaac, Isaac to Jacob, and Jacob to Joseph, one of the chief exemplars offutuwwah. Then it was 113


Zachary Markwith transmitted to Christianity and finally Islam. The Prophet of Islam received through the "Mul)ammadan Light" the truth and power of futuwwah, which he transmitted to ' Ali, who henceforth became the supreme source offutuwwah in Islam for both Sunnis and ShI' ites. 87 According to a saying of the Prophet, ''There is no fata (chivalrous youth) except' AlI and no sword except dhu'l:/iqar," referring to the chivalry that' AlI displayed on the battlefield and his sword dhu'l:/iqar, although such chivalry was not possible without the aforementioned virtues. The virtues offutuwwah are summarized in a famous story when' AlI had overtaken his opponent on the battlefield, and decides to show mercy after his opponent spit in his face. RilmI retells this story in his Mathnawl, He spat on the face of 'Ali The pride of every prophet and saint. .. And 'Ali responded, He said, "I wield the sword for the sake of Truth, I am the servant of the Truth, not commanded by the body. I am the Lion of the Truth, not the lion of the passion, My action is witness to my religion. 88 In Islam, the virtues and qualities of the prophets are contained in the universal man (al-insan al-kamil), who embodies the perennial wisdom of the ages and directly reflects the Divine Names and Attributes here on earth. After the Prophet of Islam, there have been numerous Muslim saints, whose presence and teachings continue to inspire and guide ShI'ites and Sunnis. One of the greatest proofs of the sophia perennis in Islam is the vast number of saints and sages that it has produced, and, as we shall see, continues to produce. The Islamic intellectual and spiritual heritage, which derives from the inner and outer reality of the Quran and soul of the Prophet, is an ocean of sacred knowledge. Reviewing this tradition in light of the sophia or religio perennis helps explain why Muslim intellectu-

114

als were largely responsible for restating the perennial philosophy in the twentieth century. Indeed, for a Muslim sage who knows tbe Quran, lfadith literature, and the Islamic intellectual tradition----and has followed the spiritual path (Jarlqah) that leads to the Transcendent-the sophia perennis is ubiquitous. Without knowing something about the Quran, Sunnah, and the Islamic intellectual tradition, and their relationship to the perennial philosophy, the connection between contemporary Muslim traditionalists, as described below, and tbe perennial philosophy is unintelligible.

Contemporary Muslim Intellectuals and the Perennial Philosophy D ene Guenon (1886-1951) or Shaykb 'Abd al-Wiihid Yal)yii as he Ris known in the Islamic world, lived the last twenty years of his life in Cairo as a practicing Muslim. He is the reviver of tradition in the West, and a fierce critic of modernity in all its facets. He wrote extensively about metaphysics, tradition, initiation, and symbolism in the context of Hinduism, Taoism, Islam, Christianity, and Hermeticism. His critique of modernity, including scientism, materialism, secularism, democracy, and various precursors to the New Age movement, was like a sword that discerned truth from falsehood, and a powerful complement to his appreciation of tradition. Indeed, Guenon's The Crisis of the Modem World proves the famous saying, "The pen is mightier than the sword." He is responsible for expounding the principles of tradition in the modern world. Guenon made the tactical decision to first express himself through writing about the Hindu tradition in his Introduction to the Study ofHindu Doctrines and Man and His Becoming according to the Vediinta because he thought many in the West would not accept tradition ifitcame in Islamic garb, which was closely related to the Jewish and Christian traditions which many had already rejected 8 9 This, as well as the fact that he preferred privacy and moved to Egypt, concealed the fact that Guenon lived and died as a traditional Muslim in the fullest sense of the term. l! is undoubtedly true that Guenon's Catholic upbringing and- -encounters with people knowledgeable of other traditions, eSie is".! Hinduism and Taoism, enabled him to appreciate the Truth in 6:se religions and further understand the essential unity of all traditicm.. 115


Zachary Markwith what is often overlooked is Guenon's providential acceptance oflslam, both its exoteric shell and esoteric kernel, and how the universality of the Islamic tradition provided a foundation for Guenon's acceptance of other religions, as well as nourishment and support for his vertical journey to the One. Islam is certainly a central theme in several of Guenon's works including Insights into Islamic Esoterism and Taoism and The Symbolism of the Cross, which is dedicated to Shaykh 'Abd al-Ral:lman 'llyash al-Kablr of the Shadhiliyyah order. Guenon's essay "Islamic Esoterism" in Islamic Esoterism and Taoism is an essential prerequisite for anyone interested in the inner dimension of Islam, because of its insistence on Islamic Law (Sharf'ah) and a regular initiatic chain (silsilah) that goes back to the Prophet Mul:lammad. He also continuously reminds us of the goal of all wayfaring, which is knowledge of the One True Reality. These writings on Islam reveal Guenon's own tradition and the spiritual path he was on to reach the Formless. He reminded the West that all religious forms and symbols were so many vehicles and signs on the way to the Transcendent. In 1912, Guenon was initiated into the Shadhiliyyah order by a Swedish Muslim, Ivan Gustaf Agueli or ' Abd al-Hadl, who was a student of Shaykh 'Abd al-Ral:lman ' llaysh al-Kablr. Shaykh 'Abd al-Ral:lman emphasized the teachings of the great Sufi gnostic, Ibn ' ArabI, which can be seen in Guenon's Symbolism of the Cross . This text is essentially about the universal man (al-insiin al-kiimil), which as we have seen is a central doctrine in the Akbarf school. This spirituallink to Shaykh ' Abd al-Ral:lman, and by extension the Prophet Mul:lammad, connected Guenon to the heart of the Islamic tradition. Yet, according to Guenon, the acceptance of another tradition for initiatic reasons, [has1 absolutely nothing in common with any kind of exterior and contingent change, whether arising simply from the "moral" domain ... Contrary to what takes place in "conversion," nothing here implies the attribution of the superiority of one traditional form over another. It is merely a question of what one might call reasons of spiritual expediency, which is altogether different from simple individual "preference.,,90

realized the necessity of exoteric and esoteric forms to know the transcendent unity of Being, which is at the heart of tradition. Muslim and non-Muslim traditionalists continue to benefit from his exposition of the perennial philosophy. S.H. Nasr writes: The central figure who was most responsible for the presentation of the traditional doctrines of the Orient in their fullness in the modem West was Rene Guenon, a man who was chosen for this task by Tradition itself and who fulfilled an intellectual function of a supra-individual nature."1 In addition to the above-mentioned texts, some of Guenon' s most important books include, The Reign of Quantity & the Signs of the Times, East and West, The Multiple States of the Being, The Great Triad, Symbols ofSacred Science, and Traditional Forms and Cosmic Cycles. Guenon restored the meaning of the word tradition in the modem world through an authentic understanding of metaphysics, symbolism, the traditional sciences, and various religious doctrines. He used the term tradition to designate all of the above realities in a way that had not been necessary before. He also rightfully condemned various precursors to the New Age movement, as can be seen in his Theosophy: History of a Pseudo-Religion and The Spiritist Fallacy . Finally, he defended tradition against the most powerful pseudo-religions of the present day, including modernism, scientism, materialism, secularism, democracy, and individualism. Traditionalists from all faiths continue to benefit from his immense contributions. A.K. Coomaraswamy wrote: No living writer in modem Europe is more significant than Rene Guenon, whose task it has been to expound the universal metaphysical tradition that has been the essential foundation of every past culture, and which represents the indispensable basis for any civilization deserving to be called SO·2

Guenon clearly understood the essential identity of all traditions, yet felt he could not find a proper initiation in Christianity. He also 116

117

Zachary Markwith


rithjOf Schuon (1907-1998), or Shaykh 'Isa Niir aI-Din A~mad, exposed universal and esoteric truths, which were directed to all people, and especially westerners with the necessary aptitude and intelligence to understand. Among his greatest achievements is his text, The Transcendent Unity ofReligions, which demonstrates the essential unity of all religions, East and West, through metaphysics, symbolism, art, logic, and recourse to the perennial wisdom contained in the sacred texts and the writings of great sages and saints from all religions. This book issues from and points to the transcendent Reality that is common to all authentic religions, while recognizing and demonstrating the need for religious differences. All of Schuon' s texts express pure metaphysics and gnosis from a truly enlightened human being. Some of his most notable titles include Form and Substance in the Religions, Esoterism and Principle and as Way, Gnosis-Divine Wisdom, Stations of Wisdom, In the Tracks of Buddhism, and Logic and Transcendence. Schuon emphasized tradition, orthodoxy, and the need to practice the unique exoteric rites of a particular religion to fully realize the transcendent unity of religions, and more importantly the transcendent unity of Being. According to Schuon, each religion contains relatively-Absolute crystallizations of the Logos, which are needed to know the Absolute, for example, Christ in Christianity or the Quran in Islam-with all of the laws, rites, prayers, and sacred art that issue from the Logos. The forms of a particular religion are not simply impediments on the way to the Formless, but necessary keys that unlock the door to the Divine Mysteries, especially when practiced with the esoteric dimension of religion. In a manner similar to Guenon, Schuon did not publicly reveal his Muslim identity, and wrote exceptional works on the Native American religion, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He wrote about metaphysics, cosmology, philosophy, theology, epistemology, aesthetics, anthropology, psychology, eschatology, and sacred art 93 He restated the essential universality of religions and also wrote scathing critiques of the modern world. What is sometimes obscured for a reader is Schuon's universal perspective came as a result of his attachment to a particular religion-Islam-and was not simply a sentimental appreciation for ancient wisdom, or an attempt to create a meta-religion that discarded the forms of anyone religion. Schuon, more than anyone, understood that there are different paths

up the mountain, but he also followed one of those paths to reach the Eternal. Schuon's Muslim name, '{sa (Jesus in Arabic), certainly suggests a particular affinity with Christ, who also championed the esoteric and the universal in a time when many religious people had forgotten about the inner meaning of Revelation and tradition. Yet Schuon clearly lived and died in the Islamic tradition, and practiced the rites and essential laws in the Shar['ah, while also directly benefiting from an Islamic initiation at the hands of the great Algerian Shaykh, A~ad al-' AlawI. Schuon was most of all concerned with quintessential prayer, but it was quintessential prayer that derived from the Arabic name of God (Allah) in the Quran, which was always supported by the daily prayers, fasting, charity, and all of the necessary pillars and laws in Islam. Even before meeting his master, Shaykh ~ad al-' Alawi, as a young man in Switzerland Schuon met a Muslim marabout from Senegal who greatly influenced his perspective.

118

119

F

When the young Schuon talked with him, the venerable old man drew a circle with radii on the ground and explained: "God is in the center, all paths lead to Him." This metaphysical truth is the leitmotiv of all of Schuon' s writings, beginning with his first book whose title, The Transcendent Unity of Religions, is very indicative in this respect 94 Yet the greatest spiritual and intellectual influence upon Schuon came from Shaykh A~mad al-' Alawi and the Shadhiliyyah Sufi order. It was from Shaykh al-'Alawi that Schuon received initiation and a spiritual method, which allowed Schuon to ascend from the formal plane to the Divine Reality-all witltin the context of orthodox Islam. The connection between Schuon and Islam has already been brought out in S.H. Nasr's essay "Schuon and the Islamic Tradition: ..5 Nasr discusses Schuon' s acceptance of Islam in Paris in 1932, as well as his study of Arabic and the Quran with the Persian scholar, Sayyid l:Iasan ImamI. 96 S.H. Nasr writes, His journey to Algeria in 1932 where he spent several months and most important of all where he met Shaykh ~mad a1'Alawi, who initiated the young Schuon into Sufism, only strengthened his bond to the Islamic tradition in general and the traditional ambience of the Maghrib in particular. 97


Zachary Markwith Schuon was also made a representati ve of the Shadhiliyyah order by Shaykh al-'Alawi in the West, and later received a vision of the Virgin Mary, who blessed a new branch of the Shadhiliyyah order. S.H. Nasr writes, It was Islam and the Mu\.lammadan barakah that allowed him to become a spiritual teacher and a shaykh of the Shadhiliyyah Order, to found a !ariqah, the Shadhiliyyah ' Alawiyyah Maryamiyyah, and to reach spiritual states and stations from whose perspective he was to write his remarkable and incomparable works·' Schuon's works on Islam are the most salient and essential works of Islam and the perennial philosophy in a European language. His Understanding Islam reveals the powerful metaphysical significance of the shahiidah, in a manner that is unsurpassed in the West. He was also responsible for formulating what might be called, the transcendent unity of Sunnism and Shi' ism 99 in his essay "Seeds of a Divergence" in the text Islam and the Perennial Philosophy. In Sufism: Veil and Quintessence, Schuon unveils the core of the Islamic tradition and is not afraid to critique his eminent predecessors on certain issues. If one examines the texts of Schuon on Islam and Sufism alone, which also includes Dimensions of Islam and many unpublished manuscripts, one finds the most important writings on the Islamic tradition in the West. These texts elaborated the principles oflslam and Islamic esoterism, which Titus Burckhardt, Martin Lings, and Seyyed Hossein Nasr brought to fruition. Schuon dealt with all of the essential aspects of the Islamic tradition including the Quran, Sunnah of the Prophet Mu\.lammad, Islamic Law, the Path, theology, eschatology, the doctrine of Divine Unity (tawJ:zid), and the relationship between Islam and the perennial philosophy, while always differentiating between the relative and the Absolute. Schuon writes in Islam and the Perennial Philosophy,

of it too, in their fragmentary way, but clearly they do not wish to understand that the religions in fact provide the key to pure and universal Truth. That we should say this might well appear paradoxical, but every religious world not only renews the lost Paradise after its own fashion but also bears, in one way or the other, the stigmata of the fall, from which only supraformal Truth is exempt; and this inward Truth is, we repeat, de facto inaccessible without the help of outward manifestations, objective and prophetic. tOO Schuon asserts the absolute perfection of the Divine Principle alone, and the relativity of everything else, but emphatically states the need for a religious form, both outward and inward, to know the Truth. He wrote about the transcendent unity of religions and the Truth and Beauty in other religious forms, and fully realized the Absolute Truth (al-Haqq) and Beauty (al-Jami£) through the exotenc and esoteric aspect~ of the Islamic tradition, which he practiced for more than sixty years until his passing in 1998.

Revelation is present still, but it is hidden away beneath a sheet of ice which necessitates that intervention of outward Revelation; but these cannot have the perfection of what might be termed "innate Religion" or the immanent philosophia perennis. Esoterism by definition takes account of this situation; heretics and philosophers are often aware

itus Burckhardt (1908-1984), or Sidi Ibrahim ' Izz ai-DIn, was one of Schuon' s most eminent disciples. He reflected the wisdom of his master and applied the principles Guenon, Coomaraswamy, and Schuon had established to various intellectual domains, including metaphysics, cosmology, sacred art, symbolism, and also traditional astrology and alchemy. He also wrote about many modern fallacies, including scientism, empiricism, modern psychology, and Darwinian evolution. Burckhardt smashed these modern idols but was wiser than many contemporary Iconoclasts and saw the ~isdom and beauty in the world's religions, especially in their sacred art. tOt Burkhardt is perhaps best known for his book, Sacred An in East and West, which exhibits the perennial wisdom in Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Taoism through the sacred art of each tradition. In his text, Mirror of the Intellect, one finds imponant expressions of the sophia perennis, including one important section which deals with what Burckhardt called the "cosmologia perennis.~ There is also an essay in the text called, "Perennial Values in Islamic

120

121

T


Zachary Markwith

Art," which reminds us of the principle of Divine Unity in Islamic art, and ultimately all traditions. Burckhardt writes, Islamic art is fundamentally derived from taw~fd, that is, from an assent to or a contemplation of Divine Unity. The essence of al-taw~fd is beyond words; it reveals itself in the Quran by sudden and discontinuous flashes. Striking the plane of the visual imagination, these fhishes congeal into crystalline forms, and it is these forms in their turn that constitute the essence of Islamic art.'02 Burckhardt has written about the arts of Quranic recitation and calligraphy, geometry, the arabesque, the void, the alchemy of light, and the mosque. He also demonstrated the connection between these forms of art and the inner reality of the Quran, and the principle of Di vine Unity. Burckhardt did for Islamic art what Coomaraswamy did for Hindu and Buddhist art by demonstrating its profound metaphysical and cosmological symbolism that, as in other forms of sacred art, can only be discerned by the Intellect or the eye of the heart. In fact, Huston Smith said, "No one since the legendary A.K. Coomaraswamy has been able to demonstrate how entire civilizations define themselves through their art with the precision of Titus Burckhardt." 'O) His An of/slam is perhaps, along with S.H. Nasr's Islamic An and Spirituality, the most important text on the subject in that it highlights the intellectual and spiritual nature of sacred and traditional art in Islam. Burckhardt's Fez: City of Islam and Moorish Culture in Spain demonstrate his vast knowledge of and love for art in the western Islamic lands, which he knew so well. His writings on Islamic art are widely studied throughout the Islamic world, especially in Iran, Turkey, and Morocco. Burckhardt can in fact be considered the greatest writer on Islamic art from the West. He also wrote his own treatise on Islamic esoterism called An Introduction to Sufi Doctrine and translated some of the most important classical texts on Sufism, including Ibn' Arabi's Fu~u~ al-~ikam, , Abd ai-Karim Jili's al-Inslin al-klimil, and letters of spiritual counsel written by Shaykh al-' Arabi al-Darqawi, published as Letters of a Sufi Master. In this last selection, one also finds quintessential and perennial wisdom from a master in Burckhardt's own spiritual chain (silsilah). In one selection we read about the universal or perfect man, 122

Discriminative knowledge does not hide unitive knowledge from such a man, neither does the unitive hide the discriminative. From him, the effect does not hide the cause, nor the cause the effect; from him, religious law (sharf'ah) does not hide spiritual truth (~aqfqah) nor spiritual truth religious law; from him, method (sulak) does not hide inner attraction . (jadhb) , nor inner attraction method; and so on. He has attained the aim; he is the perfect one, the gnostic; whereas his opposite is the man who is lost. .. '04 This letter stresses the need for both the Divine Law and the spiritual path that leads to the Truth, and further demonstrates that the message of the sophia perennis is always wedded to a particular religious form. As mentioned above, Burckhardt was a disciple and lifelong friend of Frithjof Schuon. Therefore, like Guenon and Schuon, Burckhardt's writings on the perennial philosophy, and specifically sacred art, were the fruit of realized knowledge, which he attained through the Islamic tradition. S.H. Nasr writes, He was not a Western scholar of Islam in the usual sense but a person of exceptional intellectual and spiritual gifs who went to the Islamic world as a young man to master the Islamic disciplines from within at the feet of masters of both the exoteric and esoteric sciences. He was providentially chosen to express the truths of the Islamic tradition, and in fact tradition in its universal sense, to the modern world and in a language comprehensible to contemporary man. His writings in fact represent one of the major formulations and statements of traditional Islam in the modern world.'oS Burckhardt was a visionary figure who could, with the aid of the Intellect, penetrate into the sacred forms of all traditions and see them as symbols that suggest and even embody the principle of Divine Truth and Beauty. While he wrote about and even helped revive the study of sacred and traditional Christian art (as well as art from other traditions), as can be seen in his Siena, City ofthe Virgin and Chartres and the Binh of the Cathedral, his life was molded after the model and archetype of the Prophet of Islam. Therefore, his understanding of the principle of unity and his profound appreciation for the world' s great religions and their metaphysical doctrines, cosmology, sacred 123


Zachary Markwith art, and symbolism was a result of his connection to the inner reality of the Quran and the Prophet MU\lammad.

artin Lings (I909-2005), also known as Shaykh Abu Bakr Sirilj al-Din, was also a disciple of Frithjof Schuon, and a light and guide representing Islam and the perennial wisdom of the ages in the darkness that characterizes the modern world. Lings wrote about the sophia perennis in the context of Islam, Sufism, and even Shakespeare. Like his predecessors he was deeply concerned with metaphysics, cosmology, symbolism, sacred art, and the crisis of the modern world. Lings is perhaps the most celebrated and widely read European Muslim scholar. He was born in a Protestant family in Lancashire, England. In 1935, Lings went to Oxford to study English Literature with C.S. Lewis. 106 According to S.H. Nasr,

M

of its most conclusive results was a critique of the modern world which is dominated by materialism and the rediscovery of the wisdom which is at the heart of all religions, whether Zoroastrianism or Buddhism or Hinduism, as well as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This wisdom is the primordial light that God created in the hearts of all people, through which He guides them to the Truth (al-lJaqq).'09

The meeting between Martin Lings and Rene Guenon had the most profound impact on the emergence of the light of guidance which became known as the Traditionalist School. One

One of Lings' masterpieces is his biography of the Prophet Mu\lammad entitled, Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources. This text is considered by many to be the most accurate, elegant, and spiritually efficacious biography of the Prophet in English. Lings' biography conveys accounts of the Prophet Mu\lammad' s respect for other prophets and religions, and the eternal wisdom he received from the Transcendent. In one of Lings' last publications before his death, A Return to the Spirit, he refers to and then quotes a verse from the Quran, "They believe, all of them, in God and His Angels and His Books and His Messengers. And say: 'We make no distinction between any of His Messengers. '" (2:285) Lings understood the primary Islamic sources well and saw in them the transcendent unity of religions. Lings also refused to separate Sufism from Islam, this separation being a common error in the West. In What is Sufism? Lings writes, "Sufism is nothing other than Islamic mysticism, which means that it is the central and most powerful current of that tidal wave which constitutes the Revelation of Islam.""o Along with the Quran, Lings states that Sufism is based on the Sunnah or wonts of the Prophet Mu\lammad. This challenges the assumptions of many Orientalists, who attempt to prove the Hindu, Buddhist, Neo-Platonic, Zoroastrian, and/or Christian origin of Sufism. One of Lings' other gems is his biography of Shaykh AJ:unad aloe Alawl entitled, A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century. We nOl only learn about the saintly figure who directly initiated Schuon into Sufism, and catalyzed the revival of tradition in the West, bin also about the doctrines, methods, and goal of Sufism, such as !be transcendent unity of Being (wal:zdat al-wujiid), symbolism, rim:!I purification (wu{iii' ), and ritual prayer ($aliih), invocation (dhikr). gnosis (ma ' rifah). This volume also contains selections of ~ Al-' Alawl's own poetry rendered into masterful English verse.

124

125

Lings reminisced about his days at the University and he told me how disappointed Lewis was when the young Lings left Christianity for Islam and told Lings, "What a loss for Christianity!" As it was, Lings embraced Islam not to deny but to reconfirm the deepest and oft-forgotten truths of Christianity as his works reveal amply and he made great contributions to that religion. 107

In the 1930' s Lings became interested in the perennial philosophy through the writings of Rene Guenon and Frithjof Schuon. In 1938, Lings embraced Islam through Titus Burkhardt. ,08 Lings also spent time with Guenon in Egypt, but his most influential teacher was Frithjof Schuon, who initiated and guided Lings on the spiritual path and later made him a guide for others. Lings' connection to Guenon and Schuon is important because it shaped the rest of his life and writings and influenced a great number of people in the West and in the Islamic world. Shaykh ' All Juma' a, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, wrote the following in a tribute to Lings after his passing in 2005, which demonstrates the influence of Lings and Guenon in the heart of the Islamic world:

Zachary Markwith

Muslim Intellectuals and the Perennial Philosopby

Lings also translated a book of exquisite Arabic poetry entitled Sufi Poems: A Mediaeval Anthology, which is one of the richest collection of Arabic Sufi poetry in English. He also wrote poems of his own which have been published in a book entitled, Collected Poems. In addition to the art of poetry, Lings was also interested in the art of Quranic calligraphy and illumination. From 1970-73, he was Keeper of Oriental Manuscripts at the British Museum. Lings wrote a book on the subject that has stunning selections from the treasury of this sacred Islamic art entitled Splendors of Qur'an Calligraphy and Illumination. The new edition of this book is truly an epiphany to behold. This work also contains a foreword by the Prince of Wales, which illustrates how vast Lings' infiuence has been. Lings saw truth and beauty in all directions and found expressions of perennial wisdom in places that one would not expect from a devout Muslim. Another area of Lings' specialization that overlaps with his study of religion is his work on Shakespeare. In his The Secret of Shakespeare, Lings demonstrated the spiritual meaning of many of Shakespeare's plays and explains how the characters in each play correspond to aspects of the human soul. Shaykh Abu Bakr will be remembered as a traditional Muslim scholar who helped revive the perennial philosophy in the twentieth century through his knowledge and understanding of Islam, Sufism, sacred art, symbolism, and Shakespeare, and the Unique Source at the heart of all expressions of wisdom. His words are beautiful and generous rays of light from an Intellect that clearly perceived the Eternal Sophia. Many students of Islam, Sufism, and even Shakespeare will continue to benefit from his priceless contributions to the perennial philosophy.

S

eyyed Hossein Nasr (1933-present) was infiuenced by all of the above Muslim sages. Born in Tehran into a family of educators and physicians, he is a descendent of the Prophet Mul)ammad, as his name Seyyed suggests, and also a famous Sufi from Kashan, Mulla Seyyed Mol)ammad Taql PoshtmashhadL At a young age he studied the Quran, classical Islamic texts, and Persian Sufi poetry, including the works of FirdawsI, Ni~aml, Sa' di, Ruml, and J::Iafi~, studies that

126

undoubtedly shaped the rest of his life. II I At the age oftwelve he left for the United States to begin an illustrious academic career. Nasr graduated from M.I.Twith a B.S. in physics, and did his postgraduate work at Harvard, earning his M.S. in geology and geophysics, and then his Ph.D. in the history of science and philosophy with an emphasis in Islamic science and philosophy. His dissertation was later published in 1964 as An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines, which remains the only text of its kind in European languages. His advanced knowledge of the natural and physical sciences is unique among traditionalist writers, except for A.K. Coomaraswamy who began his career as a geologist. Nasr therefore has credibility among mainstream scientists and philosophers when he objects to the modern worldview, based as it is on scientism, materialism, and Darwinian evolution, because clearly these are subjects that he knows well. He has been teaching in universities in the United States, Iran, and Lebanon since 1955, and continues to teach courses at the George Washington University on subjects that include Islam, Islamic theosophy and philosophy, Islamic art, Sufism, Persian Sufi poetry, mysticism East and West, man and nature, and the perennial philosophy. He has trained some of the most important intellectuals and academics in Islamic studies and comparative religion, such as William Chittick, Sachiko Murata, James Morris, Na~romih Pourjavadl, Osman Bakar, Gholam Reza A' vanl, Mehdl AminrazavI, and Zailan Moris. He also had the opportunity to work closely with Henry Corbin, Toshihiko Izutsu, Huston Smith, Jacob Needleman, and Keith Critchlow. He has studied or been acquainted with some of the most eminent Iranian scholars in the twentieth century, such as ' Allamah Taha\3ba'I, Abu'I-J::Iasan Qazwlnl, Mul;tammad ~ ' A~~ar, Murtac)a MU\3hhari, and JaWJ ai-Din AshtiyanL Of great significance also for Nasr were the teachings of Rene Guenon, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, and Frithjof Schuon. 11 2 Nasr has received some of the highest honors in the field ohdigious studies and philosophy, and he has used his position to resJl3Il! the perennial philosophy and the transcendent unity of religions.. His Knowledge and the Sacred was delivered in 1981 at the Um.-er:say of Edinburgh as the Gifford Lectures, which are the most piessig_ _ lectures held in the West on the study of religion. This text de2Is - • tradition and its decline and subsequent revival in the Wes.,,, }'.~,s ics, traditional anthropology, cosmology, time and Etemiry.nac;.:ilE2I 127

Zachary Markwith


art, the multiplicity of religions, and spiritual realization, all from a sapiential perspective. Huston Smith has said that Knowledge and the Sacred was the among the three most important works written on religion in the twentieth century, the other two being William James' Varieties of Religious Experience and Schuon's The Transcendent Unity of Religions. Nasr's Religion and the Order of Nature was prepared for the Cadbury Lectures in 1994. An immense volume, The Philosophy of Seyyed Hossein Nasr, was also dedicated to him in the Library of Living Philosophers series in 2001. To be chosen for this series is one of the most prestigious honors an academic can receive in the field of philosophy. These texts signaled the arrival of the perennial philosophy in academia and more mainstream religious and philosophical circles. Nasr has also written other key texts on the perennial philosophy such as The Need for a Sacred Science and edited The Essential Frithjof Schuon, which is the best collection of Schuon's writings and which Schuon himself endorsed. Nasr also helped edit the volume Religion of the Heart: Essays Presented to Frithjof Schuon on his Eightieth Birthday and translated Schuon's Understanding Islam into Arabic with ~aliih al-~iiwi. He has appeared in countless collections that deal directly with tradition, modernity, and the perennial philosophy. As president of the Foundation for Traditional Studies, established in 1984, Nasr supports and oversees the publication of its journal, Sophia, which contains articles by all of the leading traditionalists mentioned in this article, as well as by esteemed scholars from various religions. With Katherine O'Brien, the editor of Sophia, Nasr has also co-edited the volumes In Quest for the Sacred and The Essential Sophia, the latter of which contains some of the most pertinent articles that have appeared in this leading traditionalist journal in English. Nasr's collected essays and works in Persian also represent a major contribution to the study of the perennial philosophy in Iran. In addition to restating the perennial philosophy in so many academic domains, Nasr has also written some of the clearest and most accessible works in the West on Islam, Islamic philosophy, science, esoterism, and art. His Ideals and Realities of Islam, which was first published in 1966, is still used as a core textbook in many undergraduate and graduate university courses on Islam. His recently published The Heart ofIslam complements the previous text and deals

with the essence of the Islamic tradition as well as crucial issues that people of all faiths face. Nasr's spiritual biography on the Prophet of Islam entitled Muhammad: Man of God is a classic text and summary of the inner life and qualities of the Prophet. This text also includes important events in the Prophet's life that are missing in many of his biographies in European languages. His writings on Islamic philosophy and science are the most comprehensive and challenging works on the subject to appear in English. In addition to An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines, some of his other celebrated and influential works include Three Muslims Sages, which is about Avicenna, Suhrawardi, Ibn , Arabi, and the schools that they represent, $adr ai-Din Shirazi and his Transcendent Theosophy, Islamic Science: An IlLustrated Study, Science and Civilization in Islam, and An Annotated Bibliography of Islamic Science. Nasr's recent book, Islamic Philosophy from its Origin to the Present: Philosophy in the Land of Prophecy, is the definitive work on the subject. Nasr's work on Islamic esoterism deals with the most essential aspects of the spiritual path as well as the intellectual history of Sufism. These include Sufi Essays and the two-volume set he edited, Islamic Spirituality: Foundations and Manifestations. His most recent book on Sufism, published in 2007, is entitled The Garden of Truth . Not unrelated to Sufism are his texts on Shl'ism, the most famous of which is the volume by 'Alliimah Tabii\llbii'i, Shi 'ite Islam, which Nasr translated and edited, and is the most widely read text on Shl' ism in English. After Titus Burckhardt's corpus, Nasr's Islamic Art and Spirituality is among the few texts on the subject that penetrates into the symbolic structure of Islamic art to reveal the very principles of the religion and the Presence of the One. In this text he has beautifully written about the intellectual dimensions of sacred art in Persian culture, 'M\lIf' s Conference of the Birds, the poetry of Rurni, the influence of Sufism on traditional Persian music, the Persian miniamre, and the Void. Nasrhas also published two volumes of his own poe!ry entitled Poems of the Way and The Pilgrimage ofLife and lhe WlSdom of Rumi, which reveal the artist and gnostic behind the scholar. Perhaps Nasr's most important intellectual contribution to the world at large are his writings on the spiritual nature of the environmental crisis. In a manner similar to Guenon' s Crisis of the Modem

128

129

Zachary Markwith

Muslim Intellectuals and the Perennial Pllllosophy

World, Nasr perceived the spiritual roots of this crisis years before the world took notice. One wonders what affect he had on bringing more attention, and especially wisdom, to the most crucial issue of our day. His Man and Nature was first published in 1968, followed by Ills aforementioned Religion and the Order of Nature in 1996, and most recently, The Spiritual and Religious Dimension of the Environmental Crisis in 1999. One often overlooks this key aspect of Nasr's corpus because he is such a prolific writer on Islam and the perennial philosophy. Yet he also points out that the ecological disaster we are heading towards, and are already experiencing, can only be averted by our attachment to a living Revelation and tradition, since these provide the necessary tools and grace from Heaven for man to live in harmony with the earth. Therefore, there is an intimate relationship between the Islamic tradition, the perennial philosophy as it manifests in Islam and all traditions, and Nasr's pertinent and urgent message for the world. In depth and breath, there is no living scholar in Islamic studies or the perennial philosophy that begins to match Nasr's knowledge and insight. Yet we would be mistaken if we think Nasr's interest in the perennial philosophy and Islam is limited to the academic domain. He writes in his intellectual autobiography,

Therefore, the philosophy that Nasr espouses is philosophy in the original sense of the term, combined with an operative tradition

in its exoteric and esoteric dimensions, and not simply the academic study of the history of philosophy or religion. Nasr is able to write so powerfully and elegantly about Islam, the Islamic intellectual tradition, and the perennial philosophy because he has gone beyond theoretical knowledge of religion and philosophy, and gained sacred knowledge through the inner dimension of Islam. It has become all too easy in the West to believe in an abstract unity of religions, which denies the importance of anyone religion and therefore the possibility of attaining true knowledge of the One Reality and of the transcendent unity of religions. Nasr has defended tradition in general, and his own tradition in particular, because he understands the tendency in the West to reject forms in the name of the Formless. Yet those who reject forms, including many false interpreters of Guenon, Coomaraswamy, and Schuon, have rejected the means of knowing the Formless. One cannot truly know the transcendent unity of religions unless one knows the Transcendent, and one cannot know the Transcendent unless one knows and practices religion. Nasr has preserved tradition and championed sacred knowledge. This is an immense service for all people concerned with the sophia perennis. Moreover, he has encouraged people of all faiths to practice their traditions more fully. Like his predecessors, Nasr is a colossal intellectual and spiritual figure, and is also responsible for bringing the light of the sophia perennis and tradition to the modem world. Nasr applied the principles of the perennial philosophy that were established by Guenon, Coomaraswamy, and Schuon, to various intellectual, philosophical, and religious domains it had not reached. He is also responsible for preserving the tradition of Islam, including Islamic philosophy, science, art, Sufism and Shi' ism. There is no one scholar concerned with the perennial pllliosophy who has written as many quality works on Islam in all its facets. Nasr has thereby preserved an integral manifestation of the perennial pllliosophy for future generations. Yet, his knowledge of Islam and other traditions, which he applied so perfectly to modernism, scientism, and the environmental crisis, was also the result of his connection to the inner reality and barakah of the Quran and the Prophet Mul:larnmad, who is his biological and spiritual ancestor. This oriental sage in exile provided the intellectual armor for the perennial philosophy, and, like the other sages we are examining, helped to revive the sophia perennis and the tradition of Islam in the

130

131

I also spent much of the summer of 1957 and 1958 in Morocco. Those years were crucial to my whole intellectual and spiritual life. It was at this time that my intellectual and philosophical orientation received its final and enduring formation and I embraced Sufism not only intellectually but also existentially in a form linked to the Maghrib and more particularly to the spiritual lineage of the great Algerian master Shaykh Al:lmad al-' Alawi and Shaykh ' isa Niir ai-Din Al:lmad. These intellectual and existential experiences not only rooted my mind and soul for the rest of my life in the world of tradition, intellectual certitude, and faith, but also led to the discovery of inner illumination, the harmonious wedding of "logic and transcendence," to use the title of one of the works of Schuon, and intellectual lucidity and rigor combined with love for the truth and beauty. 113

Zachary Markwith


twentieth century. As we have seen, this is possible because as a Muslim, Nasr understands the doctrine of Divine Unity, the essential unity of the revealed books, messengers, and prophets, as well as the Islamic intellectual tradition, and applies these principles and heritage to the transcendent unity of religions, and the reformulation of the perennial philosophy in a way that contemporary man can understand.

Some Conclusions

W

hile a further study of this topic is needed to examine other important Muslim and non-Muslim scholars who also helped restate the perennial philosophy in the twentieth century, the names of some of the other major Muslim traditionalists include Victor Danner, Lord Northbourne, Whitall Perry, Charles Ie Gai Eaton, and Jean-Louis Michon, William Chittick, Osman Bakar, and Reza Shah-Kazemi. While Joseph Epes Brown studied the Native American traditions and Leo Schaya wrote some penetrating works on Judaism and the Kabbalah, they both also practiced the religion of Islam. All of these scholars were influenced by the five Muslim intellectuals we have researched and also demonstrate the wedding between Islam and the perennial philosophy in the twentieth century. It would be an inexcusable omission not to mention Ananda K. Coomaraswamy and other leading traditionalists from the world's ot~er religions who were also responsible for restating the perennial phIlosophy m the modern era. Rene Guenon' s complement in the first half of the twentieth century came from A. K. Coomaraswamy (\ 8771947),. who in his own. way revived the study of tradition through revealmg the metaphYSIcal, cosmological, and symbolic meaning of sacred art, especially Hindu and Buddhist art. A.K. Coomaraswamy also dealt extensively with the excesses of modernity and is perhaps the most Important non-Muslim traditionalist who was responsible for restating the perennial philosophy. A.K. Coomaraswamy represents the perennial wisdom of the Hindu tradition, which like Islam, is more inclined to accept the validity of other faiths. His writings on sacred and traditional Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, and to some extent Islamic art, as well as the vicissitudes of modernity represent an intellectual peak in the modem era. We must also mention in summary the names of Marco Pallis who was Buddhist, Elemire Zolla who was a Catholic traditional132

ist, Philip Sherrard who was Orthodox, and James Cutsinger who is also Orthodox. Without doubt, these men were also responsible for restating the sophia perennis in the twentieth century, which by its nature embraces all divinely revealed religions that lead to the One Eternal Reality. The presence of these men, as well as their writings, demonstrates the universal nature of the perennial philosophy and its message for people of all religions. We should also note that these men practiced one tradition fully, whether Hinduism, Buddhism, Orthodoxy, or Catholicism. They also realized that the only way to the Transcendent was through an orthodox and revealed tradition. However, we cannot ignore the fact that the vast majority of the leading traditionalists in the twentieth century as well as two of the three founders of the school practiced the religion of Islam. We maintain that this was not an accident, but the result of the message of Divine Unity in the Quran, Sunnah, and the Islamic intellectual tradition, which guided and inspired the lives and writings of Guenon, Schuon, Burckhardt, Lings, and Nasr. Therefore, we assert that the perennial philosophy was restated in the twentieth century to a large extent because of the Islamic tradition, which inspired the writings of these eminent Muslim intellectuals. What must be kept in mind is that when Guenon wrote The Crisis of the Modem World, Schuon wrote The Transcendent Unity ofReligion, Burckhardt wrote Sac red Art in East and West, Lings wrote The Secret of Shakespeare, and Nasr wrote Knowledge and the Sacred, they were all praying five times a day towards Mecca, consulting the Quran, and meditating on and invocating the Supreme Name of God in Arabic. They were not pseudo-universalists who denied Revelation and tradition, but practicing Muslims who also appreciated all of the other manifestations of the sophia perennis in the world's religions. Moreover, they knew that these diverse religions were suited for people of different temperaments and civilizations, and brought this knowledge to the attention of the West. The fact that those most responsible for restating the perennial philosophy in the twentieth century were Muslims sheds light on the universality of Islam. In a time in history when Islam is accused of promoting intolerance and fanaticism because of the actions of some Muslims, it is important to examine the Islamic tradition through the writings of its greatest sages and luminaries. In the writings of these men, and other lights in Islamic history such as Riimi, Ibn C ArabI, and 133

Muslim Intellectuals and the Perennial Phllosophy

Zachary Markwith Mum; ~adra, one finds concrete examples of universal and perennial wisdom. These Muslim intellectuals were ultimately responsible for demonstrating to the West that all religions issue from the One Transcendent Reality, and are so many expressions of Divine wisdom and beauty. While this has become common knowledge in many circles, it would be a mistake to overlook the origin of this sacred knowledge. As a relatively recent and living tradition, Islam is also able to provide a spiritual path to the Truth, which is the Source of all knowledge. Our Muslim sages in the twentieth century took this path, and shared the fruit of their realizations with the world. So while their knowledge affirms the transcendent unity of religions and helped revive so many expressions of the perennial philosophy, it would be unwise to ignore the tradition of Divine Unity that served as the primary source of inspiration for writings of these Muslims intellectuals who helped to revive the religion of Islam and the sophia perennis for people of all faiths.

Notes 1.

We wish to thank Prof. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, whose writings,lectures, and suggestions made this paper possible. We also wish to express our gratitude to Farah Michelle Kimball who first introduced us to the perennial philosophy and the texts mentioned in this paper, edited the initial draft, and provided many helpful comments on the content of the paper.

2.

While the second error is common in all religious communities, it is not as destructive at the first. Someone who denies the validity of other religions can attain salvation through his own religion, while someone who denies religion-through either syncreti sm or pseudo-esoterism-has rejected a path to salvation. It is beyond the scope of this paper to examine the study of the perennial philosophy among contemporary Muslim and non-Muslim intellectuals in the East.

3.

4.

While this phenomenon has been overlooked or ignored by many scholars, Carl Ernst makes a note of this in his review article, ''Traditionalism, the Perennial Philosophy, and Islamic Studies," Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, December 1994, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 176-81.

5.

The fact that all religions originally provided access to salvation and sanctification, does not mean that all religions are equally intact, especially their esoteric dimensions. 134

6.

7.

8. 9. 10. II .

These two doctrines, along with the universal man (al-insan al-kiimil) are perhaps the most important esoteric commentaries on the Quean and Sunnah in the Islamic intellectual tradition. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Knowledge and the Sacred (Albany, NY: Stale University of New York Press, 1989), p. 69. Ibid., p. 70. Ibid., p. 70. Ibid., pp. 253-279. This is especially true of the methods of Islamic esoterism.

12. Knowledge and the Sacred, p. 68. 13. The Essential FrithjofSchuon, ed. Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Bloomington, Indiana: World Wisdom, 2005), p. 534. 14. Knowledge and the Sacred, p. 69. 15. Ibid, pp. 68-69. 16. In Islam, the exoteric is identified with the Shari' ah (Divine Law), while the esoteric is both the Tariqah (spiritual path) and the /:faqiqah (Truth). Schuon and others have pointed out that not all religions manifest these two dimensions in the same manner. 17. Knowledge and the Sacred, p. 71. 18. The Quranic translations throughout this paper are based on Mu~arnmad Asad's The Message of the Quran (Gibraltar: Dar al-Andalus, 1980). 19. S.H. Nasr states, " .. . Not only have some of the most authoritative Muslim scholars of the sub-continent during Moghul period called the Hindus 'ahl al-kitab', belonging to the chain of prophets preceding Islam and beginning with Adam, but also some of the Muslim Indian commentators have considered the prophet Dhu'l-Kifl inentioned in the Quran to be the Buddha of Kifl (Kapilavasta) and the 'Fig Tree' of surah 95 to be the bodi Tree under which the Buddha received illumination." See "Islam and the Encounter of Religion," in S.H. Nasr, Sufi Essays (Chicago, IL: Kazi Publizations, 1999), p. 132. 20. For an excellent discussion of this topic see Reza Shah-Kazemi' s '''The Metaphysics of Interfaith Dialogue: Sufi Perspectives on the Universality of the Quranic Message," in Paths to the Heart: Sufism and the Christian East, ed. James Cutsinger (Bloomongton, IN: World Wisdom, 2002), pp. 140-189. 21. Ibn ' Arabi states, "All the revealed religions are lights. Among these religions, the revealed religion of Muhammad is like the light of the sun among the lights of the stars. When the sun appears, the lights of the stars are hidden, and their lights are included in the light of the sun. Their being hiddef\ is like the abrogation of the other revealed 135


Zachary Markwith religions that takes place through Muhammad' s revealed religion. Nevertheless, they do in fact exist, just as the existence of the lights of the stars in actualized. This explains why we have been required in our all-inclusive religion to have faith in the truth of all the messengers and all the revealed religions. They are not rendered null [hatit] byabrogation-that is the opinion of the ignorant." William Chittick, Imnginal Worlds: Ibn ai-Arabi and the Problems ofReligious Diversity (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994), p. 125. 22. Quran 2:135. 23. Martin Lings, Muhammnd: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources (Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 1983), p. 300. 24. Martin Lings, "Do the Religions Contradict One Another?," Sophia, Summer 2005, Vol. II, No. I , p. 18.

25. Muhammnd: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources, p. 324. 26. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Muhammad: Man of God (Chicago: Kazi Publications, 1995), pp. 29-36.

44. Ibid, p. 60. 45. Ibid, pp. 69-74. 46. Ibid, p. 73.

47. Knowledge and the Sacred, p. 36. 48. Three Muslim Sages, p. 82. 49. See Joseph Lumbard, "The Decline of Knowledge and the Rise of Ideology in the Modem Islamic World", in Islam, Fundamentalism, and the Betrayal of Tradition, ed. Joseph Lumbard (Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, 2004), pp. 39-77.

50. Three Muslim Sages, p. 96 51. Martin Lings, Sufi Poems: A Mediaeval Anthology (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 2004), p. 62. 52. Three Muslim Sages, p. 99. 53. Ibid, p. 99.

27. Knowledge and the Sacred, pp. 160-1 83. 28.

43. Ibid, p. 60.

Ibid., pp. 71-72.

29. Of course Islamic philosophy, and specifically the perennial philosophy in Islam, did not begin with al-Kindi or end with Mulla sadra, as this study intends to demonstrate. 30. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Three Muslim Sages (Delmar, NY: Caravan Books, 1976), p. II. 31. Ibid., p. 15. 32. Ibid., p. 16. 33. Ibn Miskawayh's (940-1030) text predated Steuco's (1497-1548) useof the term philosophia perennis by approximately five hundred years.

34. Knowledge and the Sacred, p. 87. 35. Three Muslim Sages, pp. 16,20-43.

54. Knowledge and the Sacred, p. 279. 55. Imaginal Worlds , p. 154. 56. Reynold A. Nicholson, The Mystics of Islam (London: Routledge, Kegan, Paul, 1914), pp. 87-88. 57. Titus Burckhardt, Mirror of the Intellect, trans. and ed. William Stoddart (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1987), p. 222.

58. Three Muslim Sages, p. 95. 59. It is impossible for us to do justice to the Muslim philosophers and sages who existed in between these intellectual jiants, such as Mir Damad, Mir Findiriski, and Shaykh Baha' aI-Din' Amili, who transmined these teachings to later generations. 60. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, $adr ai-DIn ShirazI and his Transcendem ~osophy (Tehran : Institute for Humanities, 1997), p. 24.

61. Sufi Essays, p. 115. 62. $adr ai-DIn ShirazI and his Transcendent Theosophy, p. 36.

36. Ibid, p. 50. 37. Ibid, p. 46.

63. Ibid., p. 37.

38. Ibid, p. 41. 39. Ibid, p. 61.

64. Ibid, pp. 40-50. 65. Ibid, p. 57.

40. Ibid, p. 62.

41. It is also interesting to note that the great center of Sunni learning. alAzhar University, is located in Cairo, and the center of ShiCite learning is in Qom, Iran.

66.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Ideals and Realities of Ishun (Cl!ic2ga: International, 2(00), p. 168.

_~

67. Isma'ilis also believe the enigmatic Ikhwiin al-safii' (!be • Purity) were Isma' ilis, although this link has not been ckfi:ci:ij~ ~ tablished. The Ikhwan al-safa' were however a map - -

42. Three Muslim Sages, p. 63. 136

137

Zachary Markwith


the sophia perennis in Islamic history, who preserved Greek philosophy and Hermeticism. See Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines (Cambridge, 1968).

and Shadhiliyyah Sufi orders. All of the Sufi orders trace their lineage to the Prophet through' Ali, and in some cases through ' Ali and AbU Bakr. 'Allamah Sayyid Mu~ammad !:Iusayn Taba!aba' i, Shi'ite Islam, trans. and ed. S. H. Nasr (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, I 97S), p. 180. See Reza Shah-Kazemi's Justice and Remembrance: Introducing the Spirituality of Imam 'Ali (New York: I.B. Tauris, 2(06). Henry Corbin, Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1977), p. 64. While Sunnis also expect a figure named the Mahdi to come, most Sunnis do not identify him with the Twelfth Imam.

68. Ideals and Realities of Islam, pp. 16S-166. S.H. Nasr writes in the same section, "Of great interest is the identification of the esoteric dimension of the religion, or biilin, by Isma' ilism with theosophy (hikmah) , which is also called dfn-i haqq (the religion of the truth), in Persian .. .Isma' ilism believes that this philosophy, or theosophy, contained in the bli!in of religion leads to spiritual rebirth (willidat-i rilhlini) through which man is transformed and 'saved' ... By philosophy the Isma' ills meant sophia which was not just a mental play but a doctrine of a metaphysical and cosmological order closely connected with means of its realization. "

81.

69. See Latimah-Parvin Peerwani's "AbU Hatim Riizi On The Essential Unity of Religions", in Beacon of Kn~wledge: Essays in Honor of Seyyed Hossein Nasr, ed. Mohammad Faghfoory (Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 2(03), pp. 269-287. 70. Ibid., pp. 283-284.

8S. Knowledge and the Sacred, p. 308. 86. These pseudo-religious movements, which are secular in nature, offer a counter-initiation, to use GUeDOn'S terminology, and will reach a new low with the anti-Christ. 87. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, "Spiritual Chivalry" in Encyclopaedia of Islamic Spirituality: Manifestations, ed. S.H. Nasr (Lahore: Suhail Academy, 2000), p. 30S. 88. Mathnawi, Book I, v. 372S.

71. We do not mean to imply that only Islam has the necessary forms to reach the Formless, but that man must choose one religion if he wishes to know the Essence of all religions. 72. Frithjof Schuon, "Concerning the Proofs of God," Studies in Comparative Religion, Winter, 1973, p. 8. 73. The Persian Sufi poet Jami wrote, "The spiritual couplets of Mawlana are the Quean in the Persian tongue." See Annemarie Schimmel, Rumi 's World (Boston: Shambhala, 1992), p. 114.

74. Mathnawf, trans. R.A. Nicholson (Warminster, Wiltshire: E.J.W. Gibb Memorial Trust, 1990), Book I, v. 678-679. One is reminded of the verse from the Quean, which states. "... We make no distinction between any of His Messengers." (2:28S) 7S. Ibid., Book II, v. 1770. 76. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Heart of Islam (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2(02), p. 316.

77. The Garden of Mystery (Gulshan-i rliz), trans. Robert Darr (Sausalito, CA: Real Impressions, 1998) pp. 106- 107. 78. See "Islam and the Encounter of Religions" in Sufi Essays, pp. 123lSI. 79. Sufi Poems, p. 34. 80. The names of ' Ali ibn Abi Talib, al-!:Iasan ai-Sib!, al-!:Iusayn alSib!, Zayn al-' Abidin, Mu~ammad al-Baqir, Ja'far al-$iidiq, MUsa al-Ka,:im, and' Ali Ri<;la are on the spiritual chains of the Qiidiriyyah 138

82. 83. 84.

89.

"Our works have never been purported to remain exclusively within

one given traditional form; indeed, the acceptance of such a restriction would be extremely difficult in view of the essential unity of tradition underlying the diversity of more or less outward forms, which are really no more than different garments clothing one and the same truth. In general, we have taken the point of view of Hindu doctrines as our central one, for reasons that have been explained elsewhere; but that can be no reason for failing to make use, whenever it seems advisable, of modes of expression drawn from other traditions-always provided. of course, that they are authentic ones, that is, traditions that can be called regular or orthodox ... " Rene Guenon, The Symbolism of the Cross, trans. A. Macnab (Hillsd.ale, NY: Sophia Perennis, 2(0 1). p_ I. 90. Rene Guenon, Initiation and Spiritual Realization, trans. Henry Fobr.. ed. Samuel Fohr (Ghent, NY: Sophia Perennis, 2(01), chap. 12. "Ibis quote nevertheless raises more questions than it answers. Guenoo IlIi!J not have felt that Islam was inherently superior to other religious.. he did feel that in the twentieth century the esoteric kernel of rdigioa was more accessible through Islam than through other religioos.. 91. Knowledge and the Sacred, p. 100.

139

Zachary Markwith 92. A.K. Coomaraswamy, The Bugbear of Literacy (Sophia Perennis

ln~. ' 93. See The Essential Frithjof Schuon, ed. Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, 2005). 94. Frithjof Schuon, Christianity/Islam: Essays on Esoteric Ecumenicism, trans. Gustavo Polit (Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, 1985). 95. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, "Schuon and the Islamic Tradition", Sophia, Summer 1999, Vol. 5, No. I. 96. Ibid., p. 29. 97. Ibid., p. 30. 98. Ibid , p. 44. 99. This is not a completely accurate description, as Sunnism and Shi'ism also agree on most exoteric religious principles.

100. Frithjof Schuon, Islam and the Perennial Philosophy, trans. P. Hobson (London: World of Islam Festival Publishing, 1976) pp. 194-195. 101. Burckhardt wrote that Islamic art was aniconic and not iconoclastic.

Therefore. while Muslims do not use naturalistic human or animal forms to represent the Divine Reality, Islam accepts and respects the various sacred forms revealed by Heaven to other communities.

102. Mirror of the Intellect, p. 230. 103. The Essential Titus Burckhardt, ed. W. Stoddart (Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, 2003). 104. The Shaykh ad-Darqawi, Letters of a Sufi Master, trans. Titus Burckhardt (Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 1998), p. 20. 105. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Traditional Islam in the Modern World (New York: Kegan Paul, 1990), pp. 291-292. 106. Shaykh Ali Juma' a, ''The Departure ofShaykh Abu Bakr Siraj ai-Din" Sophia, Summer 2005, Vol. II , No. I, p. 38. ' 107. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, "Shaykh Abu Bakr Siraj ai-Din (Martin Lings): A Tribute," Sophia, Summer 2005, Vol. II, No. I, p. 31. 108. Ibid., p. 31. 109. ''The Departure of Shaykh Abu Bakr Siraj ai-Din," Sophia, p. 40. llO. Martin Lings, What is Sufism? (Cambridge: Islamic Texts, 1993), p. 15.

III. The Philosophy of Seyyed Hossein Nasr, (eds.) L. Hahn, R. Auxier, and L. Stone (Peru, IL: Open Court Publishing, 2001), p. 7. 112. Ibid, pp. 3-85. 113. Ibid., p. 27. 140

Ananda Coomaraswamy Invites Shiva to Dance by Dan Rudmann n understanding art, the human consciousness has access to many sets of eyes. These perspectives may see in art the epitome of aesthetic beauty, a key in understanding historic events, the reflection of concurrent trends or beliefs, or even a biography of the personal creator. Within each of these dissimilar angles lies a common hurdle, the acceptance of one point of view is done so often to the detriment of others. Each mode requires the marginalization of any other perception. Consequently, the anthropologist and psychologist find little meeting ground. These reductions often lead to the trivialization of art as leisure activity or commodity. The work ofAnanda Coomaraswamy, however, attempts to merge art with the macrocosm, producing a singular eye. While he was also renowned as a scholar of religion, Coomaraswamy dedicated much of his life to this pursuit. By revealing the underlying significance of art, its existence beyond categorization becomes apparent. This perspective is based on the fundamental assertion of primordial unity. Therefore, Coomaraswamy works to achieve a synthesis in all realms through the vehicle of art. By exploring his works in the field of art, the greater landscape of mysticism is revealed. Coomaraswamy's explanation of art is both symbolic and intrinsic to mysticism, functioning to exemplify and reveal the innate relationship. In order to produce a comprehensive understanding of Ananda Coomaraswamy, this article will examine three major entities in light of the mystical conception of unity. Primarily, the meaning and function of art will be explored in order to establish its importaIX::e. both in contrast to and beyond modern appreciation. By specif)iIlg this conception to Indian works, the relationship between art and religion will be revealed. Finally, by focusing on a single work, . as Nataraja, the application of theory will serve to unveil !be of both art and Coomaraswamy's work. It is in exploring tbe faceted relationship between Coomaraswamy and Shiva tba tbe

I

==

141

Ananda Coomaraswamy Invites Shiva to Dance

Dan Rudmann of this thinker is revealed. Through this progression, the urgent nature ofCoomaraswamy's effort will convey that such a study is necessary in achieving an informed perspective of the way in which the modem and ideal struggle together. In order to achieve a knowledge of art and religion that transcends theory and is directly pertinent, familiarity with Coomaraswamy's thought is vital. For exposition, it is relevant to introduce a rudimentary understanding of mysticism. This perspective is primarily concerned with establishing a relationship between man and Divine Reality. The realm can also be referred to as God, at once transcendent and innate, beyond and part of the material world. Because the Divine can be found in all of creation, the universe is viewed as interconnected by nature. F.C. Happold illustrates this theory and provides examples for the implication of unity. Mysticism is like a great fugal pattern, each part interwoven with the other, sometimes one theme, sometimes another predominating, but together forming one whole ... In it are found four interrelated visions: the vision of Oneness, the vision of Timelessness, the vision of a Self other than the empirical self, and the vision of a Love enfolding everything that exists.' These visions are the logical consequences of the Ultimate Reality. Each denotes a function of the unified conception. It is through an interrelated essence that mysticism observes art. The work of Coomaraswamy strives to elucidate this interplay by presenting the aspects of unity, timelessness, dilution of the self, and pervading love as inherent to art and symbolic of a greater universality. While we have set the ground rules for gaining a familiarity with the viewpoint of mysticism, it is equally important to understand the individual that adheres to this way of life, the mystic. As Evelyn Underhill explains, the person who hopes to embody such a perspective must undertake their role as part of a journey. Similar to the transcendent and innate existence in mysticism, the mystic is a universal figure.

quest: the finding of a "way out" or a "way back'.' to some desirable state in which alone they can satIsfy therr cravlOg for absolute truth. 2 In searching for the interwoven essence, the mystic seeks that which is real. As we have established many perspectives of art wanting or incomplete, the mystic is unsatisfied with these answers. Therefore, such an undertaking begins at the root in hopes of revealing 100tlai truth. For this reason, undertaking Coomaraswamy's theory of art should commence at the historical origin. Before this inspection begins, however, it is similarly imperative to establish a general definition of art. While this term is commonly conceived as concerning paint, clay, or harmonics, the search for a fundamental basis leaves the types of art unsatisfactory in attempts to establish connecting factors. Ananda Coomaraswamy provides a lucid explanation for the crux of art during a radio address. We have a normal but forgotten view of art, which affirms that art is the making well, or properly arranging, of anything whatever that needs to be made or arranged, whether a statuette, or automobile, or garden.' Through simplicity, the apparent and crucial nature of a.rt is exposed. It is at once a revealed and inherent aspect of the umverse. These basic means allow the definition of art to expand over all of material existence while specifying, in the idealistic realm, that which is fashioned in the correct manner. While framed in such a basIC form, this definition of art will be illustrated as present throughout all of Coomaraswamy's work. . . . To arrive at the source in a discussion of art and mystIcIsm UDplies two distinct but ultimately corr.esponding definitions. Such a foundation can be uncovered exotencally, through an exploratIon of history in order to establish the physical "way back" as described by Underhill. Esoterically, the basis is disco~ered .in the core of the human being, an unfettered and pure state, 10 which absolute truth is revealed. Coomaraswamy expounds upon the outward Journey by tracing art back to folklore.

We meet these persons in the east and the west; in the ancient, mediaeval, and modem worlds. Their one passion appears to be the prosecution of a certain spiritual and intangible

By "folklore" we mean that whole and constituted body of culture which has been handed down, not 10 books but by

142

143


Dan Rudmann word of mouth and in practice. from a time beyond the reach of historical research in the form oflegends. fairy-tales. ballads. games. crafts. medicine. agricultural and other rites. and forms of social organization. especially those that we call "tribal.·..

Whatever was made was made by the artists. not for connoisseurs. but for consumers. not for exhibition but for use. It was taken for granted that the consumer is the critic: as Plato expressed it. "the judge of shuttles is the weaver. the judge of ships is the pilot.'"

As a means of arranging a way oflife. folklore provides the backbone of art. In relation to the inward aspects. this history also goes beyond compartmentalization and presents a universal springboard.

The artist and consumer are united entities in the creation of folk-art. This symbiotic relationship underlies the definite purpose for the construction and use of art; it is not merely viewed but observed. Furthermore. it is important to note that the artist's self is not of greater worth in this arrangement of figures .

This is a cultural complex independent of national and even racial boundaries, and of remarkable similarity throughout the world; in other words. a culture of extraordinary vitality. 5 This explanation of the ancient ground of art illustrates further the basic fact of art as omnipresent throughout the universe. This initial understanding corresponds with Coomaraswamy's assertion that art can be found innately through proper cultivation. In locating the means of art in the material world. it becomes apparent that this period is intimate with his plainspoken explanation. After establishing the source's location, it is necessary to uncover the form that art enjoys during this period. An in depth look at Coomaraswamy's radio broadcast, "The Love ofArt," from Boston's Museum of Fine Arts reveals vital characteristics of folklore. His discussion of art as folklore directly corresponds to the basic definition art's essence. This connection affirms that the most basic inward significance is intrinsically linked to the outward role. In what were called the Dark Ages, and amongst those we dare to call "uncivilized" peoples. "art" had no other meaning than " the right way of making things," "things" beings anything whatever required by man to serve his needs. whether physical or spiritual; the maker of things was therefore called

an Hartist," or to use the mediaeval word an "artificer," or a

"maker of art."6 Coomaraswamy exemplifies the historic cause of art through a discussion of the ancient artist. By revealing the pragmatic means of this figure's craft. the exoteric origin is further confirmed as the fulfillment of a corporeal need.

144

Artist and consumer were culturally unanimous. they shared the same views and tastes and recognized the same needs. They had a common interest. but it was not in one another's personalities. unless they happened to be personal friends; their mutual interest was in "the good of the thing to be made." No one supposed that the artist was a more sensitive or more intelligent being than other men. but simply that he was expert in some department of manufacture. either as a blacksmith. painter. architect. or in some other field." Similar to the implications of mystical unity. the self of the artist is lost during the process of folklore. Instead. the practicality in both a spiritual and physical sense pervades. resulting in proper creation. Coomaraswamy explains that art and the role of the artist cannot subsist independently. The material consequence is therefore a vital role in this development and corresponds to both the inner and ourer source of art. Further inspection of folklore establishes a deep relation to mysticism. As portrayed by Underhill. in the mystical. or metaphysic21. journey that has reaching the source as its goal. this primitive period is also spiritually significant. The intrinsic link between folklore and mysticism can be initially revealed through a similar e lli!4esis on oneness. Ananda Coomaraswamy illustrates that the diffaen:e between art and mysticism is found merely in the audience tb!:IeadJ medium is able to reach. The actual unity in folklore represents on the popul2r Je,,-d precisely what the doctrine of the elite represenlS in 2 reb-

145

Dan Rudmann


tively learned environment. The relation between the popular and the learned metaphysics is, moreover, analogous to and partly identical with the lesser to the greater mysteries. 9

Congruent to Coomaraswamy's point that the difference between art and mysticism is found in the accessible audience, these symbols speak to different groups.

According to Coomaraswamy, folklore serves as a material explanation of mysticism, accessible to a larger population. Through this mode, it is clear that implicit in folklore is the transmission of mystical thought. The basis of art is a means of conveying an understanding of the Divine.

To a very large extent both employ one and the same symbols, which are taken more literally in the one case and in the other understood parabolically . .. So long as the material offolklore is transmitted, so long is the ground available on which the superstructure of full initiatory understanding can be built."

The content of folklore is metaphysical. Our failure to recognize this is primarily due to our own abysmal ignorance of metaphysics and of its technical terms. We observe, for example that the primitive craftsman leaves in his work something unfinished ... That seems like nonsense to "us." And yet there survives in our vernacular the explanation of the principle involved: the craftsman leaves something undone for the same reason that the words "to be finished" may mean either to be perfected or to die. Just as Sanskrit pariniroa is both "to be completely despirated" and "to be perfected." The Buddha's parinibbana is a "finish" in both senses. Perfection is death: when a thing has been altogether fulfilled, when all has been done that was to be done, potentiality altogether reduced to act (krlakrtyah), that is the end. 10 Coomaraswamy's example of the craftsman serves to contextualize the primitive past. We see that although it might be conceptualized as a distant and therefore insignificant reality, this history is in fact apparent despite the shifting of time. Therefore, art is revealed as a "vision" beyond time. This universal nature is further emphasized as Coomaraswamy connects the model to Indian history. Coo maraswamy portrays the fundamental significance of art and mysticism as existing beyond border and category. Like mysticism, this art portrays a religious conception of the universe. The purpose of art and mysticism therefore becomes the elevation of consciousness to comprehend the Truth. As we have established that art and mysticism function as kin in the accrual of knowledge, Coomaraswamy additionally explains that both deliver their message to the soul in a similar language. Symbols constitute the transmission of the ideas found in art and mysticism. 146

Coomaraswamy's thought presents a hierarchy of sapience. Art acts as the gateway for the development of a mystical awareness. The basis for this conception can also be found by exploring ancient ways of life. This does not, however, yield corresponding results. Instead, this look back illustrates the ideal mode of symbols, which have degraded over time. The next and most famous characteristic of primitive mentality has been called "participation," or more specifically "mystical participation." A thing is not only what it is visibly, but also what it represents. Natural or artificial objects are not for the primitive, arbitrary "symbols" of some higher reality, but actual manifestations of this reality." Symbols devolved into signifying that which they reveal. Idealistically, the significance and purveyor were one in the same. Through this explanation, Coomaraswamy shows the vital role of symbols beyond mere snapshots or clues of a world beyond. Instead, they are revered as integral aspect of mystical wisdom. Therefore, we must now tum to Coomaraswamy's understanding of the function of symbols in order to grasp the composition of art. The symbol is vital, and not inconsequential, to the formation of art. Coomaraswamy illustrates the intellectual value of these works by uncovering their cause as pragmatic and functional, beyond the visual realm. Consequently, it is necessary to comprehend art in these terms. It is through Coomaraswamy's essay, "Symbols," that the author uncovers the form and function of the symbol. To begin, art must be accepted as a comprehensible form.

147


Dan Rudmann In order to understand composition ... , we must understand the logical relation of the parts: just as in order to understand a sentence, it is not enough to admire the mellifiuent sounds, but necessary to be acquainted with the meanings of separate words and the logic of their combinations n One must logically ask, therefore, from where is this meaning derived? Coomaraswamy responds that the symbol fulfills the need for coherence in art. It is for the sake of the idea, and not for its own sake, that the symbol exists: an actual form must be either symbolic--{)f its reference, or merely an unintelligible shape to be liked or disliked according to taste. I. While it merely harkens back to the original embodiment of that which it refers, the symbol still connects the viewer with a higher reality in art. By providing reason to the rhyme, the symbol transforms a material object into a mystical signpost, directing the intellect of the user of art. By unveiling the mystical nature of art as presented through discourse of symbols, Ananda Coomaraswamy reestablishes art's revered magnitude. However, his accomplishment is not merely an attempt to elevate widespread understanding. Instead, Coomaraswamy's voice in the explanation of art is tinged with urgency. Industrialism threatened to forever overshadow the vital role of art in human life. By advocating staunch specialization, this movement acted to compartmentalize every mode of art. While the past maintained an ideal mode, Coomaraswamy's immediate world suffered from the trivialization of art. I am going to suggest that the love of art, and the collection of works of art, when regarded as ends in themselves, imply the view that art is essentially an emotional luxury, that art can be divided off from the known apart from every-day social, industrial, and political activity, and should be seen only in museums and private collections, or heard in great concerthalls; just as we have come to think of religion as a luxury product, distant from social, industrial, and political functions, and to be considered only in church and on Sundays. 15

148

As we have already demonstrated the interrelation between art and mysticism, the degradation of art is in fact a spiritual crisis. By cutting these works off from their everyday application, their higher meaning becomes of little use or value. It will be another matter if one proposes not merely to be a lover of fine sounds and colors, not merely to be a connoisseur and collector, but to understand the reason of art, to understand that all peoples and all ages other than our own have created works of art, not for ornament, but use; and that to make anything solely for physical and not at the same time for spiritual uses is something rather less than human. But everyone who becomes a lover of art in this sense must realize that he can only do so as an enemy of all that we generally mean by civilization, he cannot serve God and Mammon at the same time. '6 In asserting a proper conception of art, Coomaraswamy advocates a return to the primitive mode of unity in all realms. He lamented that such a desire, although inherent to the soul, had become unfamiliar and strange. When therefore we propose to bring about such a state of affairs as is implied in the expressions "art is for everyone," and "everyone an artist," we are not trying to bring about something new to the world but to restore something very old and very normal. 17 This Divine Truth of interrelation is obscured by the current conception of separation and distinctness. Art's relegation to specific housing exemplified the soul's detachment from God. Coomaraswamy, therefore, sought a breathing example of the mysticism at work to reverse such a polarity. It is through the deep-seated religion of India that Coomaraswamy hoped to restore art. Because the no~ion of innate Oneness is so ingrained upon the Hindu mindset, its contrast to the philosophy of Industrialism is apparent. Therefore, mysticism is most apparent throughout Indian society.

149

Dan Rudmann


The most fundamental idea in Indian religious philosophy is that of unity. 'That art thou": every living thing is an incarnation of the one Self. All living things are bound together by this unity. 18 Religion, and by consequence art, could not exist in a relegated space within the Hindu superstructure. Both mysticism and Indian religion also share in the preeminence of knowledge in achieving understanding of this end. The search for Truth, while requiring direct mental action on the part of the individual, at once transcends and can be found within. What, after all, is the secret ofIndian greatness? Not a dogma nor a book; but the great open secret that all knowledge and all truth are absolute and infinite, waiting not to be created, but to be found; the secret of the infinite superiority of intuition, the method of direct perception, over the intellect, regarded as a mere organ of discrimination. I. Coomaraswamy sees India as the bridge between primitive and contemporary reality. Religion is at once mystical and in everyday use, staking its claim against cultural and spiritual dismemberment. Nurtured by the conditions in India, the ability to reach Divine Reality manifests itself in the confirmation of the essence of art. By citing the case ofIndia, Ananda Coomaraswamy has no intention of putting it forward as a supreme nation. Both Indian religion and mysticism's promotion of an interrelated nature exclaim that no one is cut off from the Divine. While realizing that Coomaraswamy was cognizant of this fact, India can be seen here as a light for the world.

Through successfully enacting the conception of interdependence in all forms of life, India, states Coomaraswamy, uniquely applies the innate to an entire society. However, this is only further indication of the potential latent in the rest of the world. In defining Indian art, Coomaraswamy expounds upon truth in a hierarchical sense. Not absolute as perceived by mysticism, but more contingent upon the external world. In his work "The Transformation Of Nature In Art," Coomaraswamy identifies a quality that allows for distinction when understanding art. It is the principle ofpramana, or "self-evident immediate perception of what is correct under given conditions"21 that relates art to a higher realm oftruth. This condition exposes the inherent source of validity in art and allows it to be judged and understood by individual intuition in light of a supreme form.

Pramana means in philosophy the norm of properly directed thought, in ethics the norm of properly directed action, in art the norm of properly conceived design. 22 The form of art denotes the pieces' relationship to a higher realm. Therefore, it is appropriate to explore how a work of art is conceived and produced in light of the conditions of pramana. Through exploring the culture of India, Coomaraswamy correlates the religion of the people with art. He notes similarities between religious Hindu practice and artistic creation. For example, the practice of Yoga serves to establish an awareness of unified God. It will be remembered that Yoga is mental concentration, carried so far as the overlooking of all distinction between the subject and the object of contemplation; a means of achieving harmony or unity of consciousness. 23

The heart and essence ofthe Indian experience is to be found in a constant intuition of the unity of all life, and the instinctive and ineradicable conviction that the recognition of this unity is the highest good and the uttermost freedom . All that India can offer to the world proceeds from her philosophy. This philosophy is not, indeed, unknown to others-it is equally the gospel of Jesus and of Blake, Lao Tze, and Rumi-but nowhere else has it been made the essential basis of sociology and education.2o

Corresponding to the primitive mentality, the individual self is absorbed within the Supreme Reality. This action corresponds to the primitive artist, who perceives himself as one with all other entities. Coomaraswamy explains that the Indian artist employs not only the same theory, but also a practice parallel to the religious acL

150

151

The practice of visualization .. . is identical in worship and in art. The worshipper recites a dhyana man tram descnbing the deity, and forms a corresponding mental picture, and it is then to this imagined form that his prayers are addressed and

Dan Rudmann


the offerings made. The artist follows identical prescriptions, but proceeds to represent the mental picture in a visible and objective form, by drawing or modeling.24 By presenting the process of art as in line with religious action, Coomaraswamy illustrates the sacred nature of art. In an effort to align the ideal form of art as purported in the description of the primitive way oflife to the modem world, India succeeded in maintaining the mystical conception of reality that allows art to flourish in a less degraded fashion. This method of conception is an essential characteristic oflndian art. As we have established art as presenting a higher meaning through symbols, the application of yoga allows for the artist to conceive of the Divine Reality apart from the corporeal world. It cannot be too clearly understood that the mere representation of nature is never the aim oflndian art. Probably no truly Indian sculpture has been wrought from a living model, or any religious painting copied from life. Possibly no Hindu artist of the old school ever drew from nature at all. His store of memory, pictures his power of visualization and his imagination were, for his purpose, finer means: for he desired to suggest the Idea behind sensuous appearance, not to give the detail of the seeming reality, that was in truth but maya, illusion.25

Uninterrupted by the surrounding world, the artist is free to utilize uninhibited intuition. The state of the material world plays no part in the representation of God. By entering the world in this fashion, Coomaraswamy points out that art is man's closest physical understanding of the Divine. Now that we have established how and why art is created in India, we must now turn to what the art is in appearance. Coomaraswamy explains that the interplay between the inner and outer realms makes art not only symbolically, but also physically, concerned with religion. Indian art is essentially religious. The conscious aim of Indian art is the portrayal of Divinity. But the infinite and unconditioned cannot be expressed in finite terms; and art, unable to portray Divinity unconditioned, and unwilling to be limited by the limitation of humanity, is in India dedicated 152

to the representation of Gods who, to finite man, represent comprehensible aspects of an infinite whole 26 Art in India takes the form of the multitude of deities, symbols and forms themselves of God. By following Coomaraswamy's thought, this is a logical consequence to the theory and practice that constitute this culture. As it is meditation that conjures an image of God and establishes the artist's subject, it follows that the manifestations of God would be both prayed to and chiefly represented in art. The conception and representation of the Divine therefore occurs in proper fashion with regard to pramana. It would be inappropriate in a theory of art to omit a discussion of beauty. One might wonder how to ascertain beauty in a piece of art that seems to be regimented. However, as stated in the basic definition of art, and as implicit in a discussion of pramana, beauty is found in correct arrangement. What is the ideal beauty implicit in Indian art? It is a beauty of type, impersonal and aloof. It is not an ideal of varied individual beauty, but of one formalized and rhythmic.27 Coomaraswarny portrays a synthesis in thought by discussing the religious foundation for this theory of beauty. As Indian thought maintains unity in all things, such creation reflects a similar core by presenting a structure of beauty. In nature there are three gunas, or qualities, Sa/tva (truth), Rajas (passion), and Tamas (gloom). These qualities are always present in nature; their relative proportion determines the character of any particular subject or object. They must, therefore, enter into all material and conditioned representations, even of Divinity, in which, nevertheless, sa/tva guna must preponderate 28 Beauty, like art in general, is a revealed form omnipresem in the religious and mystical conception of the universe. Because specific entities pervade all objects, their proper placement denotes perfection in form. Indian art, therefore, illustrates the common point of recognition in art, its beauty, as an aspect of a larger mystical type of knowledge.

153


Dan Rudmann We have established an understanding of both art in general and with regard to India. These two fields of emphasis for Coomaraswamy have been revealed as essential in his attempt to reassert the sacred nature of art and importance of mysticism. Coomaraswamy's own application of his theory becomes apparent by exploring the image of Shiva as Nataraja. The deity Shiva is recognized as the destroyer of worlds within the Hindu pantheon. This image of the god presents a dancing figure, surrounded by various symbols. Coomaraswamy introduced this work of art to the West through his essay "The Dance of Shiva." It is also important to note that this piece is present in many forms, sculpture, painting, dance, and music, however it is the common symbols that will be explored. By revealing the importance of this art, the reason that Coomaraswamy chose to present its significance will become apparent. Coomaraswamy's explanation of Shiva as Nataraja begins by presenting the mythology that surrounds the depicted scene. In this manner, the piece is presented in the same fashion that Coomaraswamy desired art to be understood, as a coherent sentence. He explains that Shiva's dance follows a confrontation with an impious assembly. Several of the objects found in the representation are then recognized as sent by the heretics to attack Shiva. A fierce tiger was created in sacrificial fires, and rushed upon Him; but smiling gently, He seized it and, with the nail of His little finger stripped off its skin, and wrapped it about Himself like a silken cloth 29 By exposing the narrative of the art, Coomaraswamy invites us to realize that the application of these objects is not accidental. Instead, the parts become full of purpose and require deeper explanation. In this way, the symbols of the image are uncovered. By identifying these symbols, Coomaraswamy can proceed to establish their context. The image of Shiva presents particularly unique images. It is their quantity, however, that reveals how important an understanding of symbols is the proper conception of art. Such are the braided locks, as of a yogi: the Cassia garland: the skull of Brahma: the figure of Ganga, (the Ganges fallen from heaven and lost in Shiva's hair): the cobras: the different earrings, betokening the dual nature ofMahadev, 'whose 154

half is Uma': and the four arms. The drum also is a general attribute of Shiva, belonging to his character of Yogi , though in the dance it has further a special significance J O Despite the complexity and number of entities found in this work of art, Coomaraswamy is able to capture its fundamental nature in a concise manner. This explanation is reticent of the revealed nature of Indian religion and art. The Essential Significance of Shiva's Dance is threefold: First, it is the image of his Rhythmic Playas the Source of all Movement within the Cosmos, which is Represented by the Arch: Secondly, the Purpose of his Dance is to Release the Countless souls of men from the Snare of Illusion: Thirdly the Place of the Dance, Chidambaram, the Center of the Universe, is within the Heart.31 These three factors highlight the mystical connotation of Shiva as Nataraja. Coomaraswamy reveals the inherent message of the piece as portraying the nature of the metaphysical reality. Nataraja represents the proper arrangement of the universe, goal of salvation, and interconnected core to all who experience this art. However, in understanding why Coomaraswamy chose this work of art, we cannot be content with the notion that it functioned solely as proper example. Dedicated to unveiling the union between all realms, Coomaraswamy was no doubt attracted to this work through seeing it in it a common end. But it may not be out of place to call attention to the grandeur of this conception itself as a synthesis of science, religion and art. How amazing the range of thought and sympathy of those rishiartists who first conceived such a type as this, affording an image of reality, a key to the complex tissue of life, a theory of nature, not merely satisfactory to a single clique 155

Dan Rudmann


or race, nor acceptable to the thinkers of one century only, but universal in its appeal to the philosopher, the lover, and the artist of all ages and all countries.32 According to Coomaraswamy, Shiva as Nataraja not only contains, but also serves as the symbol of mystical knowledge by combining multiple realms of thought into one piece. The functions of this work directly correspond to the "images" of mysticism as presented by Happold. In this way, Nataraja art is suited to contest the threat of Industrialization. In these days of specialization, we are not accustomed to such a synthesis of thought, but for those who "saw" such images as this, there could have been no division oflife and thought into water-tight compartments.33 Coomaraswamy's choice is significant in proving to be a paradigm of art, but furthermore, it is viewed as intrinsically connecting modes of thought. While the presence of Nata raja illustrates symbolic mysticism, the piece as a whole denotes unity. This has not exhausted the relationship between Coomaraswamy and Shiva as Nataraja. Further inspection reveals that both figures possess an identical vocation. While Shiva is known as the destroyer of worlds, Nataraja highlights a specific aspect of that effect, the destruction of illusion. According to mysticism, this illusion takes the form of multiplicity.

As explained by Happold, the loss of individual nature to the Self is the condition of mystical understanding. Similarly, Coomaraswamy's work can be understood as the realization of mystical consciousness through art. Together, Coomaraswamy and Shiva employ the drum. The drum reverberates throughout the universe, and denying that the contingent self is other than the true self loudly proclaims to the world the Truth.3. With this rhythm, symbolic of order in the universe, the dance is what Coomaraswamy desires, the transmission of wisdom and Divine Reality. The true place of Shiva's dance as understood by the seers is explained with almost an esoteric fervour. Ananda Tandava is the joyous dance of the soul within oneself... Here the Lord dances. In fact, all the poets and all the hymnographers have beseeched Shiva as Nataraja to dance in their hearts J7

Where and what is the burning ground? It is not the place where our earthly bodies are cremated, but the hearts of His lovers, laid waste and desolate. The place where the ego is destroyed signifies the state where illusion and deeds are burnt away.3'

As the purveyor of thought, Coomaraswamy requests this dance not for himself, but to be portrayed throughout the world. Both Coomaraswamy and Nataraja seek to enlighten. The direct connection between these two figures shows this work of art to be vital to Coomaraswamy's work. By revealing the true nature of art, Ananda Coomaraswamy presents the sacred arrangement of the cosmos. Art cannot be observed through multiplicity just as the Truth can only be found in Oneness. Coomaraswamy's simple explanation of art as the proper arrangement or objects illustrates it as reflective of a greater order. By embarking on a mystical journey back to the source of art, an origin both pbystcal and theoretical is revealed as spiritual and practical. The lan~ employed by art in transmitting these meanings was expressed thwugh symbols. Coomaraswamy's work can be seen as an attempt to that perception which had once revered art. In India, the possil.-tioy of this return was given context by the innate mystical theology pervades the culture. Furthermore, the link between religion 2Dd is presented through the similarities between a yogi and anN. _ by presenting the work of art, Shiva as Nataraja, CO(,.n21ZS&LOZ~"s purpose is unveiled as threefold. First, the ability of symbo6 connect this world with a higher reality is exemplified. Scarr shared process of synthesis between Coomaraswamy and f- r 'IiJI:i:.1Ii

156

157

Shiva is a destroyer and loves the burning ground. But what does He destroy? Not merely the heavens and earth at the close of a world-cycle, but the fetters that bind each separate soul. 34 As Shiva confronts the impious, he hopes to tum them away from error. Coomaraswamy's intention in presenting his theory of art is to dissuade those that oppose mysticism. Both figures work to achieve the conditions of mysticism.

.uric...,


Dan Rudmann art portrays the imperative nature of unity. Third, the corresponding goal between Coomaraswarny and Shiva in revealing the truth renders the two figures bound in common desire. Through this study, it is clear that the work of Coomaraswamy is not about art in the categorical sense. Instead, art serves as the means of portraying the entire cosmos, both in form and through Coomaraswamy's explanation. This entire scheme stems from the framework of mysticism, proclaiming a Supreme Truth and inherent relationship throughout. It is this interconnection that Coomaraswarny saw as the antithesis ofIndustrialization. By combating the trivialization of art, Coomaraswamy strives to bring appropriate significance to art, allowing for the proper arrangement of the world thereafter. It is Coomaraswamy's desire to playa tune that will entice Shiva to dance, revealing Divine Reality.

15. 16. 17. 18.

19.

20.

21. 22. 23.

Notes I. F. C. Happold, Mysticism: A Study and an Anthology (London: Penguin Books, 1990), p. 119. 2. Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism: The Nature and Development ofSpiritual Consciousness (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 1993), p. 3. 3. A. K . Coomaraswamy, What Use Is Art Anyway? (Third Radio Series, Station WAAB, Number I, January 14, 1937, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), p. 1. 4. A. K. Coomaraswamy, "Primitive Mentality," Coomaraswamy, ed. Roger Lipsey (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977), p. 286. 5. Ibid., p. 286. 6. A. K. Coomaraswamy, "The Love of Art," Parnassus, Vol. 8, No.4. (Apr., 1936), p 22. 7. Ibid., P 22. 8. Ibid. 9. A. K. Coomaraswamy, "Primitive Mentality," p. 292. 10. Ibid., pp. 287-288. II. Ibid., p. 292. 12. Ibid., p. 295. 13. A. K. Coomaraswamy, "Symbols," What Is Civilization? (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), p. 126. 14. Ibid., p. 125.

158

24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37.

A. K. Coomaraswamy, "The Love of Art," Parnassus, p. 22. Ibid., p. 23. Ibid., p. 22. A. K. Coomaraswamy, Selected Letters ofAnanda K. Coomaraswamy, ed. Alvin Moore, Jr. and Rama Poonambulam Coomaraswamy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), p. 367. A. K. Coomaraswamy, Fundamentals ofIndian Art, Introduction by S. Durai Raja Singam (Jaipur: The Historical Research Documentation Programme, 1985), p. 1. A. K. Coomaraswamy, "What Has India Contributed?" The Dance Of Shiva: Fourteen Indian Essays (New York: The Noonday Press, 1957), p.4. A. K . Coomaraswamy, The Transformation ofNature inArt (New York: Dover Publications, 1956), p. 15. Ibid., p. 17. A. K. Coomaraswamy, "Hindu View of Art: Historical," The Dance of Shiva: Fourteen Indian Essays, p. 26. Ibid., p. 27. A. K. Coomaraswamy, Fundamentals of Indian Art, op. cit., p. 3. Ibid., pp. 6-7. Ibid., p. 9. Ibid., p. 10. A. K . Coomaraswamy, "The Dance of Shiva," The Dance of Shiva: Fourteen Indian Essays, p. 68. Ibid., p. 70. Ibid., p. 77. Ibid., p. 77. Ibid. Ibid., p. 73 . Ibid., p. 73. David Smith, The Dance of Siva (New York: Cambridge UniveJSiIy Press, 1996), p. 20. C. Sivaramamurti, Nataraja in Art, Thought and Literature (New Delbi: National Museum New Delhi, 1974), p. 24.

159

Sophia - Journal of Traditional Studies - winter 2007 issue

Recommend Documents