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All the World an Icon: Henry Corbin and the Angelic Function of Beings
All the World an Icon is the fourth book in an informal "quartet" of works by Tom Cheetham on the spirituality of Henry Corbin, a major twentieth-century scholar of Sufism and colleague of C. G. Jung, whose influence on contemporary religion and the humanities is beginning to become clear. Cheetham's books have helped spark a renewed interest in the work of this important, creative religious thinker.
Henry Corbin (1903-1978) was professor of Islamic religion at the Sorbonne in Paris and director of the department of Iranic studies at the Institut Franco-Iranien in Teheran. His wide-ranging work includes the first translations of Heidegger into French, studies in Swedenborg and Boehme, writings on the Grail and angelology, and definitive translations of Persian Islamic and Sufi texts. He introduced such seminal terms as "the imaginal realm" and "theophany" into Western thought, and his use of the Shi'ite idea of ta'wil or "spiritual interpretation" influenced psychologist James Hillman and the literary critic Harold Bloom. His books were read by a broad range of poets including Charles Olson and Robert Duncan, and his impact on American poetry, says Cheetham, has yet to be fully appreciated. His published titles in English include Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi, Avicenna and the Visionary Recital , and The Man of Light in Iranian Sufism.
As the religions of the Book place the divine Word at the center of creation, the importance of hermaneutics, the theory and practice of interpretation, cannot be overstated. In the theology and spirituality of Henry Corbin, the mystical heart of this tradition is to be found in the creative, active imagination; the alchemy of spiritual development is best understood as a story of the soul's search for the Lost Speech. Cheetham eloquently demonstrates Corbin's view that the living interpretation of texts, whether divine or human—or, indeed, of the world itself seen as the Text of Creation—is the primary task of spiritual life.
In his first three books on Corbin, Cheetham explores different aspects of Corbin's work, but has saved for this book his final analysis of what Corbin meant by the Arabic term ta'wil —perhaps the most important concept in his entire oeuvre . "Any consideration of how Corbin's ideas were adapted by others has to begin with a clear idea of what Corbin himself intended," writes Cheetham; "his own intellectual and spiritual cosmos is already highly complex and eclectic and a knowledge of his particular philosophical project is crucial for understanding the range and implications of his work." Cheetham lays out the implications of ta'wil as well as the use of language as integral part of any artistic or spiritual practice, with the view that the creative imagination is a fundamentally linguistic phenomenon for the Abrahamic religions, and, as Corbin tells us, prayer is the supreme form of creative imagination.
Henry Corbin (1903-1978) was professor of Islamic religion at the Sorbonne in Paris and director of the department of Iranic studies at the Institut Franco-Iranien in Teheran. His wide-ranging work includes the first translations of Heidegger into French, studies in Swedenborg and Boehme, writings on the Grail and angelology, and definitive translations of Persian Islamic and Sufi texts. He introduced such seminal terms as "the imaginal realm" and "theophany" into Western thought, and his use of the Shi'ite idea of ta'wil or "spiritual interpretation" influenced psychologist James Hillman and the literary critic Harold Bloom. His books were read by a broad range of poets including Charles Olson and Robert Duncan, and his impact on American poetry, says Cheetham, has yet to be fully appreciated. His published titles in English include Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi, Avicenna and the Visionary Recital , and The Man of Light in Iranian Sufism.
As the religions of the Book place the divine Word at the center of creation, the importance of hermaneutics, the theory and practice of interpretation, cannot be overstated. In the theology and spirituality of Henry Corbin, the mystical heart of this tradition is to be found in the creative, active imagination; the alchemy of spiritual development is best understood as a story of the soul's search for the Lost Speech. Cheetham eloquently demonstrates Corbin's view that the living interpretation of texts, whether divine or human—or, indeed, of the world itself seen as the Text of Creation—is the primary task of spiritual life.
In his first three books on Corbin, Cheetham explores different aspects of Corbin's work, but has saved for this book his final analysis of what Corbin meant by the Arabic term ta'wil —perhaps the most important concept in his entire oeuvre . "Any consideration of how Corbin's ideas were adapted by others has to begin with a clear idea of what Corbin himself intended," writes Cheetham; "his own intellectual and spiritual cosmos is already highly complex and eclectic and a knowledge of his particular philosophical project is crucial for understanding the range and implications of his work." Cheetham lays out the implications of ta'wil as well as the use of language as integral part of any artistic or spiritual practice, with the view that the creative imagination is a fundamentally linguistic phenomenon for the Abrahamic religions, and, as Corbin tells us, prayer is the supreme form of creative imagination.
304 pages, Paperback
First published July 3, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 15, 2022
Obra importante sobre Henry Corbin. A nivel personal el mayor descubrimiento que he hecho con esta lectura es el de la conexión, en el pensamiento de Corbin, de la teoría de la individuación de Jung con la hermenéutica de la comprensión de Heidegger. A través de este puente se establece un vínculo también con las filosofías de la nada de la Escuela de Kyoto o la filosofía de la herida metafísica de Josep María Esquirol. En la obra de Corbin, esta nada se hace patente en la jerarquía angélica: cada ser humano tiene un Ángel (que es su Sí-mismo junguiano) en el mundo espiritual (que siguiendo a Kastrup, podríamos decir que es el campo cuantico entendido como campo de significados mental y no como materia), hacia el cual cada uno debe tender en su camino espiritual de rechazo del egoísmo y las fuerzas del mal. Pero cada Ángel, e incluso Dios, tienen otro Ángel, que a su vez tiene otro Ángel, y así hasta el infinito. Es decir, hay en Corbin una postmetafísica (postmoderna) anti objetividad y anti Verdad estática. El mundo, tanto a nivel físico como espiritual, no es estático sino que está en un movimiento eterno de interpretación-integración-renacimiento hacia el infinito, pues siempre hay un Ángel que va por delante. Esto es de suma importancia, porque la filosofía de Corbin es una filosofía de la imaginación: la realidad última es la imaginación, la imaginatio vera de los alquimistas (no confundir con la fantasía que no sale de los límites del ego, que es lo que prima en nuestra miope sociedad moderna), que es en última instancia la imaginación de Dios. De esta forma se da en Corbin una filosofía junguiana a la vez que heideggeriana, imaginal a la vez que postmetafísica, simbólica a la vez que vacía. La verdad es siempre cambiante, pues depende de la imaginación infinita de Dios. Así, la verdad no se puede apresar ni controlar, que es lo que pretenden los fundamentalismos tanto religiosos como científicos.
November 13, 2025
Stop reading secondary literature Thomas…
November 28, 2018
A very important book. Cheetham includes an exploration of the way that the unconscious keeps humanity trapped and the limitations of psychological methods in engaging in opening to what is more authentic of our human psyche. In my own words to psychologize that experience poses the risk of adding to a conceptual narrative that filters out a more direct experience. He illuminates how a fundamentalist way is increasingly disorienting in this way and he supports a more spiritual realization in exploring the concept of opening to what is unknown, examining the religious and psychological writing about “ concept” and the difference between that and a more genuine archaic experience. Jung and Hillman were major supporters of archaic states who influenced "Henry Corbin" , the major focus of the book. Cheetham goes into Christian and Sufi mystical realizations which are not so direct and conceptual.
Tom Cheetham writes “I think that it is time to realize that the “destruction of the world” is a result of our unlimited and continual attempts to control a world that exceeds our understanding and our abilities to predict.”
Later he writes about the connection of Sufi and Christian themes which have their common origins in Platonic thought. One of these is the archaic mythical symbol of Sophia who is this mediating figure, standing on the boundary between the known and the unknowable. She is the guardian of the Fountain of Life, the Spring from which poetry and symbols flow. Corbin says: Because she is a guide who always leads [the mystic] toward the beyond, preserving him from metaphysical idolatry, Sophia appears to him sometimes as compassionate and comforting, sometimes as severe and silent, because only Silence can “speak,” can indicate transcendences.
Near the end he writes about Leslie Scalapino, who died at the age of sixty-six one year ago this month. Her friend and fellow poet Lyn Hejinian wrote that her work was a manifestation of what she termed “continual conceptual rebellion.” “Continual conceptual rebellion” is a means of outrunning the forces that would re-form (conventionalize) one. If you stay in one place too long, you’ll be taken over—either by your own fixating ideas or by those of others. To survive one must always be outrunning what she called “the destruction of the world.”
July 24, 2015
A wide open window onto not only a specific aspect of Shiite Sufism but Henry Corbin's experience of the cosmology and theology of Islam and how Jung and James Hillman relate to his work. One of the rare books that opens onto a way of understanding how theology and cosmology may relate to personal experience and reflection. It felt like a culmination of a preoccupation that began when I read Dante and Shakespeare as an undergrad. Understanding the depth of Corbin' insight in practice offers me a window onto aspects of Christianity that are too easily glossed over or dismissed.
April 1, 2025
(6'75/10) Que conste que, como introducción a Corbin, la angeleogía persa, la hermeneútica del ta'wil y la psicología arquetipal de Hillman es una obra hasta sobresaliente. El problema es que, si alguien ya tiene bagaje previo puede considerar (es mi caso) que ciertos brochazos se quedan a medio camino o que la perspectiva, digamos, "espiritual", tiene ciertos aromas "new age" que pueden malinterpretarse o asumirse con cierta superficialidad.
No obstante, el autor ha sabido explicar con cierta gracia un pensamiento de por sí denso y complejo, el de Henry Corbin, fusionándolo a ciertos vectores heideggerianos, además de plantear un camino iniciático espiritual no falto de insight. Pero, por otro lado, le falta cierta potencia poética y se reiteran los contenidos a menudo (lo cuál también puede ser útil para el amateur).
P.D.: Por cierto, qué buena traducción nos vuelven a regalar -otra vez- el Agustín Tobajas y María Tabuyo. Trotta tiene suerte de haber contado con tan apasionados intérpretes.
No obstante, el autor ha sabido explicar con cierta gracia un pensamiento de por sí denso y complejo, el de Henry Corbin, fusionándolo a ciertos vectores heideggerianos, además de plantear un camino iniciático espiritual no falto de insight. Pero, por otro lado, le falta cierta potencia poética y se reiteran los contenidos a menudo (lo cuál también puede ser útil para el amateur).
P.D.: Por cierto, qué buena traducción nos vuelven a regalar -otra vez- el Agustín Tobajas y María Tabuyo. Trotta tiene suerte de haber contado con tan apasionados intérpretes.
October 8, 2019
A revelation.
A deeply spiritual experience to read
a highly readable and insightful window into Corbin's views and writings
No need to read earlier works by Cheetham,
a must-read for votives of Jung, neoplatonism, Corbin and James Hillman.
"The dictation of the contemplative soul, itself raised to incandescence is driven by the energy of desire for the Angel of its own perfection. The face of the soul symbolised by the noble scribes responds to this dictation by creating. The phenomenology and hermeneutics of the angelic consciousness are, with this closure of the circle, identical, to that of the creative consciousness of the poet, the artist, the scientist, the musician, the philosopher, and the Lover."
A deeply spiritual experience to read
a highly readable and insightful window into Corbin's views and writings
No need to read earlier works by Cheetham,
a must-read for votives of Jung, neoplatonism, Corbin and James Hillman.
"The dictation of the contemplative soul, itself raised to incandescence is driven by the energy of desire for the Angel of its own perfection. The face of the soul symbolised by the noble scribes responds to this dictation by creating. The phenomenology and hermeneutics of the angelic consciousness are, with this closure of the circle, identical, to that of the creative consciousness of the poet, the artist, the scientist, the musician, the philosopher, and the Lover."
July 22, 2024
Judging by the amount of 5-star reviews, I'm just not the audience for this book.
I'm deeply interested in everything this book is supposedly about, but I just thought the writing was convoluted and didn't express anything coherently.
I read about 15% of it and gave up.
I'm deeply interested in everything this book is supposedly about, but I just thought the writing was convoluted and didn't express anything coherently.
I read about 15% of it and gave up.
September 9, 2022
I would start with this one if I could read Tom Cheetham's books on Henry Corbin for the first time again.
June 3, 2025
Įdomu tai, kad autorius į Corbino pasaulius pateko tais pačiais keliais kaip ir aš - per Jungą ir Hillmaną. Skaitant gilus atpažinimo jausmas, kad ten jau buvau, tuos pačius pakelės peizažus mačiau.
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May 16, 2016Someone I really admire recommended this, and the part about "how angels work" is really cool. Apparently everyone has a twin, who is an angel, and we are separated from each other, because they are angelic. And even God has a twin who is an angel. That's cool. Reads like gnostic Islam, which I didn't know was a thing, but I guess every traditional religion has a mystical side.
However the fact that Corbin was a westerner, I find his version of Islam maybe a little suspicious, it seems maybe like a Blakean projection onto something not actually Blakean (probably). I'd like to read a nonwesterner's version of this form of Islam.
However the fact that Corbin was a westerner, I find his version of Islam maybe a little suspicious, it seems maybe like a Blakean projection onto something not actually Blakean (probably). I'd like to read a nonwesterner's version of this form of Islam.
September 10, 2020
He llegado a este libro desde un curso de Psicología de los cuentos de hadas y me he topado de bruces con la mística, un universo desconocido para mí. Tom Cheetham ayuda a entender con esta obra al místico y filósofo Henry Corbin, a Jung, el misticismo, lo inconsciente y su propia experiencia con el encuentro de estos mundos.
"El mundo como icono" es un libro difícil pero fascinante, para leer de a poco. Me ha impresionado especialmente descubrir las descripciones y explicaciones místicas del universo, algunas de las cuales son conocidas por mí a través de la experiencia.
Es de esos libros que transforman.
"El mundo como icono" es un libro difícil pero fascinante, para leer de a poco. Me ha impresionado especialmente descubrir las descripciones y explicaciones místicas del universo, algunas de las cuales son conocidas por mí a través de la experiencia.
Es de esos libros que transforman.
April 8, 2016
As Cheetham himself explains, this book, is the "trilogy plus one" to reflect on his work around there great men, Jung Hillman and Corbin.
Outside of the Essenes and Persian Sufism there are so few sources which study the gift Humans have of Creative Imagination or Visualization. Very title I pick up this book to find a reference and have a difficult time putting it back on the shelf.
I have but one criticism of the book, the secondary title, "The Angelic Function of Being" should have been the main title ( even though the subject of " angels" is cluttered over with new age silliness.)
Outside of the Essenes and Persian Sufism there are so few sources which study the gift Humans have of Creative Imagination or Visualization. Very title I pick up this book to find a reference and have a difficult time putting it back on the shelf.
I have but one criticism of the book, the secondary title, "The Angelic Function of Being" should have been the main title ( even though the subject of " angels" is cluttered over with new age silliness.)
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December 23, 2014danger...
January 9, 2017
No one explains Corbin better than Cheetham - I've revisited this book many times, each time delving further into the world of the Imagination.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews