Sufism
Someone asked me what this Sufism thing is and if I could explain it. Well, the answer is I’m afraid, no - I can’t explain it. But I can give a couple of general outlines of what some people think it is all about.
July 08 2005 in Sufism/Islam | Read More | Comments [0]
Good News
Yep it’s Good News Saturday again at Joe Katzman’s Winds of Change.
I link to the above because it has a Sufi story from one of Shah’s books that is perhaps relevant to the post on Shah elsewhere on this blog. And also because I can’t write about Fortean winged cats like I wanted to because my neighbours held a rap party (mmm my fave...) till 5 am and I am somewhat discombobulated......later.........
July 06 2005 in General Stuff | Read More | Comments [0]
Sufism and Western Literature
A particular interest of mine is the influence of Islamic thought on the formation of Western civilization - specifically in the area of Sufism in relation to western literature. This field is relatively undocumented outside the ranks or Islamic scholars but the parallels and influences are a fascinating study. Numerous Sufic motifs, for example, are to be found in Shakespeare and Chaucer’s pear-tree tale occurs in Rumi’s Mathnavi. Goethe’s debt to Hafiz is perhaps well known but the parallels between Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and the history of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan of Ibn Tufayl are even more striking.
We are currently working on an in-depth overview of this topic and will post it in the articles section when completed. Meanwhile, an interesting introduction to this subject can be found in Farhang Jahanpour’s Western Encounters with Persian Sufi Literature.
For those who are interested in this area there is also a very good article on Arabic influences around Dante at Ed Emery’s archive.
July 05 2005 in Sufism/Islam | Read More | Comments [0]
Cause and Effect
There is a Mulla Nasrudin story that goes something like this:
Mulla Nasrudin was walking along an alleyway one day when a man feel from a roof and landed on top of him. The other man was unhurt but the Mulla was taken to hospital.
“What teaching do you infer from this event, Master?” one of his disciples asked him.
“Avoid belief in inevitability, even if cause and effect seem inevitable!” said Nasrudin
“Shun theoretical questions like: ‘If a man falls off a roof, will his neck be broken?’ He fell but my neck is broken!”
July 03 2005 in Mulla Nasrudin | Read More | Comments [0]
Idries Shah
I have been thinking recently about the extreme pro and anti views Shah engendered. Both camps are really quite amusing.
On the one hand you have James Moore, Gurdjeffian extraordinaire and his ‘definitive last word on the matter’ Neo Sufism, (half of which can still be perused at the preceding link) and on the other, there is the ‘Shah fan club’ who may, or may not, represent a genuine Sufi manifestation.
June 29 2005 in Sufism/Islam | Read More | Comments [22]
Esotericism
As this journal is going to touch in a large part on areas such as mysticism and esotericism, I should at least describe at the outset what I understand by this. Not what it actually is necessarily, because I may be wrong in my understanding. This is just how I understand it at this point in time. I shall probably deny it all tomorrow…
June 27 2005 in Sufism/Islam | Read More | Comments [2]
First Post
Once upon a time Khidr, the Teacher of Moses, called upon mankind with a warning. At a certain date, he said, all the water in the world which had not been specially hoarded, would disappear. It would then be renewed, with different water, which would drive men mad.
June 25 2005 in Sufism/Islam | Read More | Comments [0]
Links
Godbothering
Techieness &
Design
Mystic Mayhem
ParaPolitics
Everything Else
Archives
Recent Entries
Meta
