ارض ملکوت: کالبد رستاخیزی انسان، از ایران مزدایی تا ایران شیعی

by Henry Corbin, انشاءالله رحمتی

ارض ملکوت، از آثار کلیدی و مبنایی هانری کربن است. موضوع بحث آن عالمی است که در میانه عالم معقول محض و عالم محسوس محض قرار دارد. و این همان عالم مثال است که در اندیشه ایرانی، چه ایران مزدایی و چه ایران شیعی، فراوان درباره اش بحث شده است.
اعتقاد به این عالم راه را بر بسیاری از تعارض های به ظاهر ناگشودنی و نزاع های بی حاصل در عرصه دین و اندیشه می بندد. در این اثر نشان داده شده است که چگونه «افلاطونیان پارس» در همیشه تاریخ ایران زمین تا به امروز در عرصه پیکار برای کشف این عالم و بهره‌گیری از آن، حضور کارآمد داشته اند و بشریت امروز می تواند بر مبنای دستاوردهای آنان این «قاره گمشده» را بازیابی کند. نویسنده معتقد است که بدون درک این عالم میانی مثال یا همان ارض ملکوت نمی‌توان از گرداب نیست انگاری و لا ادری گری رهایی پیدا کرد این کتاب درآمدی خواندنی برتحقیقات کربن به ویژه نوشته‌های وی درباره قوه خیال و عالم مثال است.

Genres: Islam, Religion, Philosophy, Spirituality, Iran, Mysticism, Nonfiction

528 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Henry Corbin was a philosopher, theologian and professor of Islamic Studies at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. As a boy he revealed the profound sensitivity to music so evident in his work. Although he was Protestant by birth, he was educated in the Catholic tradition and at the age of 19 received a certificate in Scholastic philosophy from the Catholic Institute of Paris. Three years later he took his "licence de philosophie" under the great Thomist Étienne Gilson. In 1928 he encountered the formidable Louis Massignon, director of Islamic studies at the Sorbonne, and it was he who introduced Corbin to the writings of Suhrawardi, the 12th century Persian mystic and philosopher whose work was to profoundly affect the course of Corbin’s life. The stage was then set for a personal drama that has deep significance for understanding those cultures whose roots lie in both ancient Greece and in the prophetic religions of the Near East reaching all the way back to Zoroaster. Years later Corbin said “through my meeting with Suhrawardi, my spiritual destiny for the passage through this world was sealed. Platonism, expressed in terms of the Zoroastrian angelology of ancient Persia, illuminated the path that I was seeking.”
Corbin is responsible for redirecting the study of Islamic philosophy as a whole. In his Histoire de la philosophie islamique (1964), he disproved the common view that philosophy among the Muslims came to an end after Ibn Rushd, demonstrating rather that a lively philosophical activity persisted in the eastern Muslim world – especially Iran – and continues to our own day.

Reviews

[Brian Griffith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Corbin presents a range of insights and writings of Sufi mystic philosophers, discussing and “mapping” the multi-dimensional realms of our cosmos. As Shaikh Abu’i-Qasim Khan Ibrahimi explains, We should at this point give a brief outline of the question of Hurqalya, of the description of the universe and its situation among the planes of being. We would like to bring to an end all difficulties of those of our brothers who, having been attracted to theosophical gnosis, have perhaps not paid sufficient attention to this point.

In his “Physiology of the Resurrected Body,” Shaik Ahmed Ahsa’i details the phases or levels of the human body-mind: the elemental material body, the incorruptible spiritual body, the astral body, and the essential original body. Such things are perceived through the eye of imagination, which Mulla Sadra (Shadruddin Shirazi) claims is "independent of the physical organism, and consequently surviving it."

For these visionaries, the imagination is actually a perceptive sense. The things it sees or dreams are realities, but on differing levels of reality. Of the things envisioned by mystics, Shihabuddin Yahya Suhrawardi asks, How can the brain, or one of its cavities, contain the mountains and oceans seen in a dream, whether the dream be true or false, no matter how one conceives of, or explains, this capacity?

All this reminds me of Ken Wilber’s description of the phenomenological method: "If you stand where I stand, and look where I am looking, you will see what I see. Then we will discuss it.” And I wonder what's happening if I don’t see it. Are we actually standing in different places, looking in different directions? Are the Sufi theosophists able to agree on what they see through the eye of the spirit? Do they perceive the same planes of consciousness explored in the Upanishads?

On some points of interpretation, they beg to differ. Shaikh Abu’i-Qasim Khan Ibrahimi argues that Shadruddin Shirazi is quite mistaken. His system presupposes a series of transformations: the mineral itself becomes vegetable, which in turn passes to the animal state; the animal finally becomes a human being. This system is contrary to the teaching of the Book of God and the traditions of our Imams.

[Jonathan Widell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Henry Corbin has such a formidable reputation as an expert on Islamic mysticism - and even if he did not, his erudition would immediately jump from the pages of this book anyway - that it is hard to criticize his work without feeling like a dork. Let me put it this way: reading Corbin is like quenching one's thirst from a fire-hose. There is so much force behind the information he presents to the unsuspecting reader that making sense of it takes considerable effort.

Part One, which functions as an introduction to his selections of traditional texts, is 105 pages long and replete with information. It eventually coagulates into easily understandable themes but it does so only on page 101. It is then that the title of the book starts making sense: it refers to the Earth of Hurqualya, "a world through which bodies are spiritualized, and spirits embodied...in which the liberated soul, whether in momentary ecstasy or through the supreme ecstasy of death, meets its archetypal 'I,' its alter ego or celestial Image" (p. 101, 103).

Corbin discusses his topic with Aristotelian rigor, as he well might: he is equally conversant with Thomistic and Islamic philosophy, both of which were inspired by Aristotle. An endearing reminder of that common heritage is on page 84 where Aristotle is called "the Imam of Philosophers". But there is also a lot of non-Aristotelian vigor. Corbin is clearly a man with a mission. He asks: "What does all this mean for us today? Nothing more nor less than that very thing toward which we are going, which we shape, each one of us, in the image of our own substance." (104-5) Some find his fervor objectionable. To me it is a charming reminder of the pathos that I encountered in the books I found in my grandfather's bookcase when I was a kid. I think it has something to do with erudition, which is out of fashion anyway.

Part Two consists of selections from traditional texts by the 12h-century mystic Shihabuddin Yahya Suhrawardi, Muhyiddin ibn Arabi, Daud Qaysari, Abd al-Karim Jili and seven other mystics in chronological order, including Shaikh Ahmad Ahsai, who was the founder of the Shaikhi school in the early 19th century, and two of his successors. Once one gets to Part Two, it is easy to see why Corbin was in such a hurry in Part One. Part Two is the meat of the book. Corbin has selected and translated the traditional texts himself (into French) and reminds his readers time and time again that a lot of work remains to be done to make these texts available to Westerners.

It is easy to share Corbin's childlike joy in reading the traditional texts. According to Shihabuddin Yahya Suhrawardi, for instance, "[a]s for the fact of walking on water, gliding through the air, reaching Heaven, seeing the Earth roll up like carpet, these are experiences known to a certain number of mystics" (126). Shaikh Ahmad Ahsai says of the so-called essential body, that "[i]ts capacity to experience enjoyment of food, drink, touch, amorous delights, is seventy times greater than the capacity of the elemental, material body" (198). Corbin mentions the "fourth dimension" in his introduction to Mulla Sadra, who is sixth on Corbin's list of selected texts (164). Reading those texts is like a magic carpet ride (to use a stupid comparison I thought of). Their nature being radically different from what Corbin calls "literalist" Islam, Corbin elaborates on the pre-Islamic thought of Mazdean Iran at length in Part One. It is the pre-Islamic thought that animates Shiite Islam in general and mysticism in particular.

It is on that point that he does something I don't think I can completely agree with. He says that people reduce the origins of Shiite Islam to questions of political succession, while he attributes the flowering of Shi'ism to the resurgence of pre-Islamic gnosis in Islam (57). Point taken. He just dismisses the question of succession, not only political but also spiritual succession, too easily as a historical curiosity or a contemporary fad. It is too bad that he in no way even implies that the Shaikhi school was later more or less absorbed by the Baha'i Faith (which he does not mention). The Baha'i Faith emphasizes succession, not so much political as spiritual succession, while diminishing mystical experience. My point is that Corbin's lack of emphasis on succession obfuscates the historical chronology as a whole. It is quite hard to put the selected texts on a timeline because Corbin does not expand their historical context, apart from providing a short introduction to the texts and their authors (109-117).

There is no question this book is a masterpiece. The criticisms I may have only facilitate dialogue with it rather than undermine its credibility.

[Mauro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un paseo por los mundos internos

Desde los albores de la humanidad el hombre ha considerado que el estado de vigilia “normal” no lo era todo, y ha procurado adentrarse en caminos tangenciales a los habitudinarios, para explorar nuevos horizontes y buscar otras perspectivas. En tiempos remotos, posiblemente, su contacto con un mas allá de lo ordinario haya sido mas frecuente y mas habitual que en los tiempos posteriores, sea por la escasez de condicionamento externo, sea por la creencia en un todo sagrado del cuál el era participe completamente. Explorar nuevos horizontes quiere decir aventurarse en un viaje adentro de uno mismo, deslizarse a través de los pasillos de nuestro laberinto interior, en la búsqueda sea de la raíz del verdadero ser, sea de la innumerables respuestas a los tantos interrogativos que nos asilan desde siempre, y que en pocas palabras se pueden resumir en lo siguiente: ¿ Quien soy, a donde voy, de donde vengo?

Siempre hubo hombres y mujeres especiales, con ciertas capacidades que han hecho de ellos unos mediadores entre el hombre común y una entidad superior que acostumbramos a llamar simplemente Dios. Esto no quiere decir que únicamente a esas personas ha sido concedido poderse comunicar con lo divino, pero resulta que para ellos es mas fácil y natural. ¿Pero que quiere decir comunicarse con lo divino? ¿Cómo se logra exactamente?

Se trata de llegar a transfigurarse, trascendiendo, trasmutando la mera condición terrenal, por medio de un operar interior que permita manifestar un mundo alterno que se encuentre a medio camino entre aquel de todos los días, y otro mucho mas elevado. Se trata de poder crear un espacio sagrado a dentro de uno mismo, en donde generar un cuerpo espiritual que sea "coincidentia oppositorum", o sea unión de los contrarios, espejo místico en donde se reflejen las dos imágenes, la del humano y la del divino, la del hombre y la de Dios. Ese mundo es la esfera del alma, un plano a través del cuál comunican el plano humano del cuerpo, y el plano divino del espíritu. Como dijo magistralmente el maestro sufi Muhsin Fayd, eso es “el mundo gracias al cuál se espiritualizan los cuerpos y se corporalizan los espíritus”. Henry Corbin, famoso islamista francés del siglo pasado, ha felizmente nombrado mundus imaginalis aquella zona intermedia, traduciendo el termino árabe ālam al-mitāl, o sea mundo imaginal. Imaginar quiere decir “actuar conscientemente adentro de si mismo por medio de representaciones” (Mino Gabriele); imaginar es actuar en el profundo. El principio constante es aquí el alquímico solve et coagula, soltar los lazos que nos amarran al mundo físico, y condensar las imágenes que provienen del mundo espiritual para custodiarlas como medios para nuevamente ascender.

[Ladywhisper Nm · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book to help you in your inner journey toward Alam e mithal.

[Misam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly magnificent and brilliant. Despite the complexity covered, Corbin writing is digestible, spiritually revitalising and mentally stimulating beyond measure.

[Alessandro Gianesini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Testo ostico, con molti riferimenti a elementi non noti (almeno in apparenza) e con una quantità enorme di concetti su cui soffermarsi.
E' stata un'esperienza formativa, leggere questo libro e trovare in esso tanti punti in comune con numerose altre tradizioni che parrebbero lontanissime (geograficamente e temporalmente).

L'unica vera pecca (e che ha reso frammentaria la lettura) è stata la scelta editoriale di postporre tutte le note, così da dover scorrere fino alla tal pagina per meglio intendere i riferimenti, che in molti casi era solo un riferimento ad altra nota o testo.

A ogni modo, per chi volesse affrontare questa lettura che permette di comprendere una realtà non proprio affine a quella dell'uomo occidentale, beh: si armi di pazienza, ma il viaggio che intraprenderà non sarà certo tempo sprecato.

[Marcus Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

These texts and Corbin's introduction invite the imagination into the most vivid and strange places. A fascinating religious thinking that sacralises the imagination, whose adepts learn to see through the world to the soul behind it.
'In our terrestrial world, our inner states are invisible
And the aspect of what we do is limited to the outer,
Observable appearance,
But in the the celestial earth the same actions assume another form and inner states
Project visible forms.
Some take the forms of palaces, others the form of houris, or of flowers, plants, trees,
Animals, gardens, streams of running water, and so on.'

[Ellieux · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books ever written about mythology of

[Verus Icono · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bello y complejo. Las estrellas que que le faltan son fruto de mi ignorancia

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mundus Archetypus. Alam al-mithal. The imaginal. A third epistemology. Understood by islamic sufis in the time which corresponds to the dark ages in the west. In a sense, it is obvious - once seen and grasped - that religiosity is the highest to which man can aspire. The western tradition carried this in the catholic church for a long time, but the sphere of God has since been closed to western man, who is locked in a profane world, blind to religious symbols and to all ideas of transcendence. In parallel, philosophy and theology has since Aristotle been separate domains of knowledge in the west, even though Christianity tried to integrate Aristotelian ideas through Aquinas. Which ultimately culminated in the absolute split of matter and spirit in Descartes, a split which still operates despite several attempts at synthesizing, most prominentally by Hegel. It can now be seen that even Hegel was doomed to fail.

Pre-Hegel the 'spirit of western philosophy' if such a thing isn't oxymoronic, was cartesian rationalism vs humean empiricism, in other words - the west had two domains of epistemology, rational thought and sense data. There was since many attempts at integrating the two, but there is something axiomatically flawed here, this diad should have been a triad, something was lacking from the beginning, a third avenue of epistemology - namely the imaginal. In the west this word connotes falsity, illusory, phantasmagoria, non-existence. Yet, the the poets reign high, without them being seen as doing anything of epistemological value. Phenomenology got us close, in a turn towards the subjective, collectivised in a sense, seen as univeralised, that there are I's who share in their intersubjectivity with one another. This never really reached what Islam had a thousand years ago though, namely the acknowledgment of the domain of imagination being ontologically real, as real as the rational and the empirical - or, what is actually the case: more real, of an higher-order.

This became possible for the western soul to grasp with Jung, who pain-stakingly mapped out this world for us. Bachelard also played a role, by his 'objective examination of the imagination'. But, as the western soul was already so far regressed, this constituted no more than getting to a very basic level, it meant unlocking the religious space once more, which of course had been operating unconsciously all this time anyway, throughout all our history. It is as if western soul was at a negative step, and just got back to zero again - reopening access to the religious/imaginal space that has been foreclosed, but this is merely remedial, catching up to where Sufism was in the 12th century.

"Where is the place, what is the organ of this intimate conviction in which God Most High reveals Himself to you? This place, this organ is precisely the Imagination, and exactly for that reason we affirm that the Imagination is the essence in which the perfection of theophany resides."

"As soon as you have become aware of that, it becomes evident to you that the Imagination is the principle and source of the entire universe, because the Divine Being is Himself the principle and origin of all things, and because the most perfect of His epiphanies can take place only in a receptacle which is itself origin and principle. This substratum is the Imagination."

The claim that imagination is "more real" or "higher-order" than rational/empirical knowledge requires accepting a hierarchical ontology where manifestation proceeds from higher to lower realms. This was axiomatic in traditional metaphysics (Neoplatonic, Islamic, Hindu) but became precisely what modernity rejected.

[Luisa Colombo]

Not easy, but really bright!