Alone with the alone : creative imagination in the Sufism of Ibn 'Arabi
Corbin, Henry1998
Book
Total copies: 1
Ibn 'Arabi (1165-1240) was one of the great mystics of all time. Through the richness of his personal experience and the constructive power of his intellect, he made a unique contribution to Shi'ite Sufism. This book aims to bring us to the core of this movement with an analysis of Ibn 'Arabi's life and doctrines. "Henry Corbin's works are the best guide to the visionary tradition.... Corbin, like Scholem and Jonas, is remembered as a scholar of genius. He was uniquely equipped not only to recover Iranian Sufism for the West, but also to defend the principal Western traditions of esoteric spirituality."--From the introduction by Harold Bloom Ibn 'Arabi (1165-1240) was one of the great mystics of all time. Through the richness of his personal experience and the constructive power of his intellect, he made a unique contribution to Shi'ite Sufism. In this book, which features a powerful new preface by Harold Bloom, Henry Corbin brings us to the very core of this movement with a penetrating analysis of Ibn 'Arabi's life and doctrines. Corbin begins with a kind of spiritual topography of the twelfth century, emphasizing the differences between exoteric and esoteric forms of Islam. He also relates Islamic mysticism to mystical thought in the West. The remainder of the book is devoted to two complementary essays: on "Sympathy and Theosophy" and "Creative Imagination and Creative Prayer." A section of notes and appendices includes original translations of numerous Su fi treatises. Harold Bloom's preface links Sufi mysticism with Shakespeare's visionary dramas and high tragedies, such as The Tempest and Hamlet. These works, he writes, intermix the empirical world with a transcendent element. Bloom shows us that this Shakespearean cosmos is analogous to Corbin's "Imaginal Realm" of the Sufis, the place of soul or souls.
Main title:
Author:
Edition:
[New ed.] / with a new preface by Harold Bloom.
Imprint:
Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1998.
Collation:
xx, 406 p., [4] leaves of plates : ill. ; 24 cm.
Series title:
Bollingen series ; 91.Mythos
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.Translated from the French.
Contents:
List of Plates The Curve and Symbols of Ibn 'Arabi's Life At Averroes' Funeral The Pilgrim to the Orient The Disciple of Khidr His Maturity and the Completion of His Work The Situation of Esoterism Divine Passion and Compassion The Prayer of the Heliotrope The "Pathetic God" Of Unio Mystica as Unio Sympathetica Sophiology and Devotio Sympathetica The Sophianic Poem of a Fedele d'amore The Dialectic of Love The Creative Feminine Prologue The Creation as Theophany The Creative Imagination as Theophany, or the "God from Whom All Being Is Created" The God Manifested by the Theophanic Imagination The "God Created in the Faiths" The Recurrence of Creation The Twofold Dimension of Beings Theophanic Imagination and Creativity of the Heart The Field of the Imagination The Heart as a Subtile Organ The Science of the Heart Man's Prayer and God's Prayer The Method of Theophanic Prayer Homologations The Secret of the Divine Responses The "Form of God" The Hadith of the Vision Around the Mystic Ka'aba Epilogue Notes and Appendices List of Works Cited Index
ISBN:
9780691058344 (hbk)
Dewey class:
297.4092
LC class:
B753.I24
Language:
EnglishFrench
Subject:
BRN:
143976