If you are in need of a difficult intellectual challenge that may significantly alter your perspective of reality in terms of cosmology, I highly recommend this book by William C Chittick which guides the reader through Ibn Al Arabi's terminology that describes an alternate conceptual model of the universe that is as dense, complex and as provocative as the concepts that appear to unite such divergent intellectual models of reality as exemplified by the writings of G.I Gurdjieff, David Bohm, R.A Wilson and Gregory Bateson.
It is a analytic question of cosmogenesis as well as that of phenomenology incorporated into a conceptual model from both a unique philosophic and scientific point of view that Ibn al-Arabi's cosmology encompasses, which also has fascinating implications in the study of the anomalous.
The Shaikh's hermeneutics of the cosmos relies as much on the observer as the observed.
Mr Chittick is a Professor of Comparative Studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Regardless of what you may come away with from the text, the introduction to the book that educates the reader in the difficulties of translating language and their attendant concepts is worth the price of admission since all of our lives, we translate the world we live in.
God is a loaded term much like the acronym of UFO. If the reader can substitute information field as suggested by Jacques Vallee's "Theory of Everything" and superimpose "information field "in the place of God, you may find yourself reconsidering your previous cosmologies, ontology, and epistemology.
Those who are interested in paranormal studies will find this book an interestingly provocative framework to consider what they observe, One has to be willing ( in the experience of digesting this material ) to not insert one prejudices by front loading what one is reading with one's own cosmology and yet it is an excellent companion to explore one's own programming by way of comparisons.
This is, for me, the hallmark of a worthwhile book.
As a caveat to the would be reader of this book, be prepared for what I experienced, which is a continual struggle to maintain a focusing discernment, that is mixing the concept within that of a unified field of information versus my own prejudices that arose from a theological conditioning. Many times, I had to stop reading, take a pause and let certain concepts "sit"..to untangle myself from my own stereotypes.
I would compare the mastering of the conceptual framework of Arabi's principals to learning a new language In addition to a comparison with the theory of a unified information field, one could say this text reflects also, a unique philosophical geometry. Be prepared to stretch your muscles.
It is not a simplistic self help bromide or a balm for the inconsistencies we observe in reality. Far from it.
There is no way for me in the context of this post to reduce by summary, a preview of this material, again in the manner of Dr Vallee's "Theory of Everything" inasmuch one has to have the background in terminology to understand the gist of what is conveyed. If I attempted to give one example or segment of these concepts, I would be creating a mistranslation by failing to provide a complete context of the example.
Mr Chittick assists in this in a tour de force of translation and extrapolation. Be prepared ( using myself as an example) to struggle in the analysis of the many interdependent principles therein, and so this is not a book to read on a bus, if you catch my drift. You will be gaining insight into the mind of a 11th Century genius and metaphysician whose concepts are being explored by modern physics.
The anomalies of the paranormal realm are given a fresh insight arising from the difficult work of Mr Chittick in translating "the flying cathedral" (akin to the experience of listening to Bach) of this pre- scientific physicist. Also be prepared to enter the realm of the origins of magic as defined by what we would term a mysterious personage with many names, the Green One, Al Qidr, Hermes, Melchizedek ( as considered by Vallee) by way of Mr Chitticks analysis of the relations and genealogy of this cosmology and it's operand principles.
The book is titled 'The Self Disclosure of God: Principles of Ibn al-Arabi's Cosmology" The author is William C Chittick. and is published by the State University of New York Press.
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