Osman

“In order to have a real insight into the matter, we must keep in mind the following point: it is not the case that an extraordinary vision comes first to a mystic, and that then he tries to describe it through a metaphor or a series of metaphors. Quite the contrary, the vision is itself the metaphor or metaphors. There is no discrepancy here between the level of the original vision and the level of its metaphorical expression. There is in this respect no room for free choice for the mystic with regard to the "metaphor" to be used. When a mystic uses the word light, for example, in describing his vision of Reality, he has not chosen it for himself from among a number of possible metaphors. Rather, the metaphor has forced itself upon him, for light is simply the concrete form in which he sees Reality.”
― Izutsu Toshihiko, Creation and the Timeless Order of Things: Essays in Islamic Mystical Philosophy

“Few minds are spacious; few even have an empty place in them or can offer some vacant point. Almost all have narrow capacities and are filled by some knowledge that blocks them up. What a torture to talk to filled heads, that allow nothing from the outside to enter them! A good mind, in order to enjoy itself and allow itself to enjoy others, always keeps itself larger than its own thoughts. And in order to do this, these thoughts must be given a pliant form, must be easily folded and unfolded, so that they are capable, finally, of maintaining a natural flexibility.

All those short-sighted minds see clearly within their little ideas and see nothing in those of others; they are like those bad eyes that see from close range what is obscure and cannot perceive what is clear from afar. Night minds, minds of darkness.”
― Joseph Joubert, The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert: A Selection

“Ben yüreğimi örs yaptım, hem de körük oldu bağrım,
bende yaktığın alevden iç çekişleri yarattım.”
― Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Complete Poems of Michelangelo

“Only one man ever understood me, and he didn't understand me.”
― Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel