Halligan2001 Article TheCreativeImaginationOfTheSuf
Halligan2001 Article TheCreativeImaginationOfTheSuf
Halligan2001 Article TheCreativeImaginationOfTheSuf
The Creative
Imagination of the
Sufi Mystic, Ibn ‘Arabi
FREDRICA R. HALLIGAN
ABSTRACT: The 12th –13th century mystic, Ibn ‘Arabi, was known as “the Greatest Master”
among the Sufis. His insights into dreams, visions and prophetic processes may prove enlighten-
ing to our own more secular age. The findings of Carl Jung parallel some of the revelations of the
mystic, but Ibn ‘Arabi goes farther than Jung into the Active Imagination as both conscious—
willed—and spontaneous, autonomous process. Through surrender and annihilation in the Di-
vine, the mystic opens himself to receive theophanies, resulting in a life lived perpetually in
awareness of Divine Presence. Union with the Divine is the aim of the mystic and Ibn ‘Arabi
shows us a detailed account of how that life is experienced.
A vast body of scholarly discourse has been written about Ibn ‘Arabi (1165–
1240 C.E.), an important and complex Sufi mystic. This paper endeavors to
take the flavor of Ibn ‘Arabi’s thought and experience, making it accessible to
the Western non-Islamic spiritual seeker. Coming to this research as a depth
psychologist interested in spiritual issues, I write for the benefit of other psy-
chologists, pastoral counselors and the lay public, who may not have the time
to delve deeply into a tradition other than their own.1
Fredrica R. Halligan, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, who teaches psychology, religion and
pastoral counseling at Fordham University, Blanton Peale Institute, and other training pro-
grams in the New York area. She has a consulting practice in Stamford, CT.
Active imagination
“In Ibn ‘Arabi as in Sufism in general, the heart (qalb) is the organ which
produces through knowledge, comprehensive intuition, the gnosis (ma’rifa) of
God and the divine mysteries, in short, the organ of everything connoted by the
term ‘esoteric sciences’. . . . this ‘heart’ is not the conical organ of flesh, situated
on the left side of the chest, although there is a certain connection. Here we have
to do with a ‘subtile physiology’ elaborated ‘on the basis of ascetic, ecstatic and
contemplative experience’ and expressing itself in symbolic language.” (Corbin,
1969, p. 221)
Individuation and the power of imagery to heal and to guide. These are all
Jungian terms but they also have close affiliation with the concepts of Ibn
‘Arabi. What Jung might call the “Collective Unconscious,” is essentially the
realm of the Active Imagination of Ibn ‘Arabi.
Corbin writes: “. . . we must distinguish between the imaginations that are
premeditated or provoked by conscious process of the mind, and those which
present themselves to the mind spontaneously like dreams (or daydreams)”
(Corbin, 1969, p. 219). The former may be spiritually the starting place where
the aspirant uses conscious process, e.g., to “Worship God as if you saw Him”
(Qur’an, cited in Corbin, p. 231). Thus the imagination is used consciously to
help keep the focus on God. On the other hand, what Ibn ‘Arabi calls the
“autonomous imagination” (Corbin, p. 220) is the special locale of dreams,
fleeting images, and spontaneous visions, which were commonly reported by
the Prophet Muhammad, by many Sufis, and by Ibn ‘Arabi in particular.
Psychologically, it seems clear that anyone has access to conscious imagina-
tion, although some may be more visual than others, and some certainly use
it more creatively. (Auditory, olfactory, kinesthetic and savory senses may
also be related to imaginative experiences.) It is undoubtedly true that all
humans also have access to the autonomous imagination through the experi-
ence of dreaming every night. On the other hand, theophanies, whether
through dreams or waking imagery or full fledged visions, may be more spe-
cific to spiritually oriented persons.2
William Chittick notes that, for Ibn ‘Arabi, imagination is probably the key
mode of knowing when one is perceiving the Self-revelation of God. He writes:
“Unveiling . . . is knowledge that God gives directly to the servants when He lifts
the veil separating Himself from them and ‘opens the door’ to perception of invis-
ible realities. . . . Generally speaking, unveiling is associated with imagination
because it typically occurs through the imaginalization of various entities or re-
alities. In other words, things that are normally inaccessible to sense perception
or to reason are given form by God and then perceived within imagination by
those to whom the door to unseen things has been opened. Unveiling is an every-
day occurrence for prophets. For the friends of God, it is an inheritance from the
prophets. The Folk of Unveiling are the highest ranking friends of God. (Chit-
tick, 1998, p. xxii f.)
Thus for Ibn ‘Arabi, God uses the human faculty of imagination for Self-reve-
lation, entering human consciousness through the “door” of imaginative pro-
cesses. Corbin tells us that “Ibn ‘Arabi divides men into three classes: (a) the
disciples of the science of the heart . . . the mystics, and more particularly
the perfect among the Sufis; (b) the disciples of the rational intellect . . . the
scholastic theologians; (c) simple believer.” (Corbin, p. 230). The Sufis are
disciples of heart; the theologians are disciples of intellect. Never the twain
shall meet. For simple believers, he holds out more hope: “Under normal cir-
cumstances a simple believer can develop into a mystic through spiritual
278 Journal of Religion and Health
“Know that ‘interval’ is an expression for something which separates two other
things, like the dividing line between sun and shade, and as He said—may He
be exalted—concerning the mixture of the two seas, ‘Between them is a barrier
(barzakh) which they cannot cross’ [Koran 55:20]. The meaning of ‘they cannot
cross’ is that they cannot mix one with another because of this partition which
divides them. The sense of sight does not discern it. When suddenly it is per-
ceived, the barrier does not exist. And when the barrier is between the known
and the unknown, the non-existent and the existent, the negated and the af-
firmed, and the rational and the irrational, it is called Interval—and [this Inter-
val] is the imagination. “For if you perceive it—and you are rational—you know
that your vision has encountered an existent thing, while you know unequivo-
cally that it is not a ‘thing’ completely and fundamentally. And what is this
whose ‘thingness’ is affirmed and denied simultaneously? The imagination is not
existent or non-existent, not known or unknown, not negated and not affirmed.
And the human being travels to this reality in his sleep and after his death, and
he sees descriptive qualities as existing embodied forms, and there is no doubt of
that. And the intuitive person sees in his waking state what the sleeper sees in
the state of sleep and the deceased after death.” (Ibn ‘Arabi, 1989, p. 73f)
Here we see Ibn ‘Arabi in colorful language describing his experience of what
is called today “eidetic imagery.” In his efforts at making psychological sense
of his own visions (or visual hallucinations), he recognizes the role of the
Active Imagination. He also recognizes the intermediate realm that is neither
ordinary perception nor yet fully the upper planes of Divine Reality. Ibn ‘Ar-
abi’s word, barzakh is translated into various English words: the Isthmus, the
Interval, the Barrier or Demarcation. Whatever language is used, however,
Ibn ‘Arabi’s main point is that “this kind of perception comes only by a divine
disclosure” (Austin in Ibn ‘Arabi 1980, p. 51). The angel seen, then, is always
a Messenger of God. And God sends the Messenger in whichever form can be
most readily adapted by the consciousness of the particular human receiver.
“Indeed, the capacity to encounter Him . . . is regulated by the form of the
mystic’s own consciousness, for the form of every theophany is correlative to
the form of the consciousness to which it discloses itself. It is by grasping this
280 Journal of Religion and Health
interdependence in each instance that the mystic fulfills the prophetic pre-
cept: ‘Worship God as if you saw Him.’ The vision of the ‘Friends of God,’ as
confirmed for and by the mystic’s ‘Creative Imagination,’ can no longer be
imposed by a collective faith, for it is the vision that corresponds to his funda-
mental and innermost being. This is the whole secret of the ‘theophonic
Prayer’ practiced by Ibn ‘Arabi” (Corbin, p. 232f).
Another way of looking at this intermediate terrain is expressed by Husaini
in his discussion of Ibn ‘Arabi’s Active Imagination:
And further explicating the Barzakh region, as Ibn ‘Arabi sees it, Husaini
continues:
In these two short passages we see clues to a world of imaginal reality. Note
that these views are based on Ibn ‘Arabi whose writings predate contempo-
rary psychoanalysis by over six centuries. For example, Freud’s well-known
idea of dreams as wish fulfillment is found here: “He sees his desires take
forms.” And the seminal idea of Jung that psychic energy is found primarily
at the interface of the union of opposites is seen in the whole concept of the
Barzakh as Husaini has described Ibn ‘Arabi’s thought. It is the region where
the opposites meet. The threshold, for Jung, is called the psychoid space and
it is here that: “In certain altered states of consciousness . . . one finds a
subliminal self or subject, an inner figure who is not the ego but shows inten-
tionality and will. The ego can enter into dialogue with this other subper-
sonality” (Stein, 1998, p. 94). For Jung, this figure is called the Self, and the
most usual access to its wisdom is through dreams, although synchronicities
and other “messages” from this inner wisdom are not unusual.
Compare these two sayings: “He who knows himself knows his Lord.”(Ibn
‘Arabi quoting the Prophet’s words, cited in Chittick, p. 21) and “. . . piety
Fredrica R. Halligan 281
phetic nature in that it accurately foretold the future. So too was the later
dream that he successfully interpreted for Pharaoh, thus saving his own life
and procuring him a place of favor in Pharaoh’s court:
“Joseph! O thou truthful one! Expound for us the seven fat kine which seven
lean were eating and the seven green ears of corn and other (seven) dry, that I
may return unto the people, so that they may know. He said: Ye shall sow seven
years as usual, but that which ye reap, leave it in the ear, all save a little which
ye eat. Then after that will come seven hard years which will devour all that ye
have prepared for them, save a little of that which ye have stored.” (Qur’an, XII:
46–48)
“I saw the Apostle of God in a visitation granted to me. . . . He had in his hand a
book and he said to me, ‘This is the book of The Bezels of Wisdom; take it and
bring it to men that they might benefit from it.’ I said, ‘All obedience is due to
God and His Apostle; it shall be as we are commanded.” (Ibn ‘Arabi, 1980, p. 45)
What was this “visitation”? Was this a dream? A vision? Was he “given” the
whole book? Or was he just commanded to write it, with a general outline
perhaps? These facts are missing, but what remains clear is that Ibn ‘Arabi,
like the Prophet Muhammad before him, felt called to write what he received
and did so for the benefit of humanity. This call to write The Bezels occurred
relatively late in Ibn ‘Arabi’s life. By then he was settled in Damascus and
was practiced at receiving and responding to the Divine whenever he was
given a dream or a vision that proffered directives.
Even early in his life Ibn ‘Arabi was already prone to having mystical,
visionary experiences. While still a young man in Spain he was invited to see
the great Aristotelian scholar, Averroes. The elder master questioned him:
Fredrica R. Halligan 283
“ ‘What manner of solution have you found through divine illumination and in-
spiration? Is it identical with that which we obtain from speculative reflection?’
[Ibn ‘Arabi] replied: ‘Yes and no. Between the yes and the no, spirits take their
flight from their matter, and heads are separated from their bodies.’ Averroes
turned pale. . . .
[Later, Ibn ‘Arabi said] “I wished to have another interview with Averroes. God
in his Mercy caused him to appear to me in an ecstasy . . . in such a form that
between his person and myself there was a light veil. I saw him through the veil,
but he did not see me or know that I was present. He was indeed too absorbed in
his meditation to take notice of me. I said to myself:
His thought does not guide him to the place where I myself am” (Corbin, p. 42).
This early encounter and the visionary experience were among the events
that confirmed, for Ibn ‘Arabi, the superiority of intuitive illumination over
speculative theology.
Another chance mystical encounter that he records in The Futuhat: “On my
return to Seville . . . a complete stranger came to me and recited, word for
word, the poem I had composed [in Tunis], although I had not written it out
for anyone” (Austin, in Ibn ‘Arabi, 1980, p. 4). Was this a visionary character?
An angel perhaps? Was it an instance of thought transference? Or ESP? Was
it synchronicity, as Carl Jung would call it? Certainly it was an event that is
unexplainable by modern science.
At the age of thirty-five Ibn ‘Arabi received a visionary “call” to travel to
the East in the company of a certain man whom he would meet in Fez. Fol-
lowing that directive, he went to Fez, met the individual who had been
named by the vision, and traveled on to Mecca, never again to return to his
native Spain (Austin, in Ibn ‘Arabi 1980, p. 7).
While in Mecca on two occasions Ibn ‘Arabi had visionary experiences while
circumambulating the Ka’aba. One was a vision of the “Eternal Youth” and
the second was a vision in which Ibn ‘Arabi received the epithet of “The Seal
of Muhammadan Sainthood,” being directed at that time to begin writing his
greatest work, The Meccan Revelations (The Futuhat). “Although he produced
many volumes, Ibn ‘Arabi claimed never to have written anything except in
obedience to a divine command” (Harris in Ibn ‘Arabi, 1989, p. 2). Austin
elaborates further, giving us Ibn ‘Arabi’s own description of the visionary-
writing process:
“It is clear from the author of these works himself that his writings are not
simply the result of long mental and intellectual deliberation, but rather that of
inspiration and mystical experiences. . . . He says, ‘In what I have written, I
have never had a set purpose, as other writers. Flashes of divine inspiration
overwhelm me, so that I could only put them from my mind by committing to
paper what they revealed to me. Some works I wrote at the command of God,
sent to me in sleep or through mystical revelations’. . . . For example, he claimed
. . . that The Bezels of Wisdom was all revealed to him in a single dream and
284 Journal of Religion and Health
that, while engaged in writing The Meccan Revelations, he had filled three note-
books a day.” (Austin in Ibn ‘Arabi, 1980, p. 13)
Ibn ‘Arabi may have been born with unusually strong mystic, prophetic
potentials, which were certainly nurtured during his long years of study
among the Sufis and esoteric masters. His ascetic and prayerful practices
undoubtedly prepared him to receive the communications from the Divine
that were visited upon him. By surrender or annihilation of his own will, he
followed the Sufi path: “. . . the mystics, as disciples of the heart, follow the
Prophet’s summons to vision.” (Corbin, p. 232) The mystical path has been
variously described by adepts East and West. Corbin annotates Ibn ‘Arabi’s
approach, which begins with prayer and invocation (himma):
“But there are several degrees in the Presence of the heart . . . from the faith of
simple believers to imaginative Presence . . . to the Prophet’s vision of the angel
Gabriel or Maryam’s vision at the time of the Annunciation, and still higher to
the theophany related in an extraordinary hadith, in which the Prophet tells
how in ecstasy or in a waking dream he saw God, and described the form He
assumed. . . .
“[Then again] The mode of presence conferred by the imaginative power . . . is
by no means an inferior mode or an illusion; it signifies to see directly what
cannot be seen by the senses, to be a truthful witness. The spiritual progression
from the state of simple believers to the mystic state is accomplished through an
increasing capacity for making oneself present to the vision by the Imagination
. . . :progressing from mental vision by typification . . . by way of dream vision
. . . to verification in the station of imaginative witnessing vision [which] . . .
becomes vision of the heart, that is to say, vision through the inner eye . . . which
is the vision of God by Himself, the heart being the organ, the ‘eye’ by which God
sees Himself” (Corbin, p. 231f).
ows the feminine Figure who was for him the earthly manifestation of Sophia
aeterna” (Corbin, p. 278).
cant factor in his spiritual growth and in the manner in which he was viewed
by others. Corbin writes that, “the fact of having Kidhr for a master invests
the disciple, as an individual, with a transcendent, ‘transhistorical’ dimension
. . . it is a personal, direct, and immediate bond with the Godhead” (Corbin,
p.54).
In response to the frequent teachings Ibn ‘Arabi received from Kidhr,
Sophia aeterna and other Messsengers, he wrote over 400 prose pieces, all
skillfully crafted for the benefit of his disciples through the ages. But as his
life progressed, he increasingly turned to poetry to express his most signifi-
cant spiritual insights and experiences. In The Futuhat he records a dream in
which he saw a strange ship, a vessel of stone floating on “a sea of land as
fluid as water” (Ibn ‘Arabi in Mercer, p. 8). He later interpreted this ship
allegorically as the vessel of poetry. Ibn ‘Arabi was not above manipulating
language, using puns and cryptic language to make his subtle points, and in
this case, the point is that poetry is the optimal way to ‘travel’ in the middle
world, as unreasonable as that may seem to the uninitiated observer. Again
he is reminding us that, “the intellect reaches a certain limit, beyond which it
cannot go, while one possessed of inspiration and certainty can proceed be-
yond that limit” (Ibn ‘Arabi, 1980, p. 263).
With his feet firmly planted in the divine milieu, Ibn ‘Arabi developed in
his mystical life to the point where he consciously experienced all life as man-
ifestation of the Divine. By this time, all life was speaking to him, with mes-
sages from the Divine. No longer did he just need to pay attention at night,
merely to interpret the symbolism of his dreams. By this time he saw all of
life as theophany and could interpret even the smallest coincidences as sym-
bolic expressions of the Divine in communication with himself as mystic
lover. This, of course, is Jung’s “synchronicity.” But for Ibn ‘Arabi, night and
day were similar: it seems he was living full-time in mystic love and gnostic
illumination.
In considering the role of prophecy in Ibn ‘Arabi, Izutsu writes clearly of
the relationship, for a prophet, between dreams and waking consciousness. In
this he is referring to Ibn ‘Arabi as one who lives, as well as one who de-
scribes, a prophetic role:
“Prophets are visionaries. By nature they tend to see strange visions which do
not fall within the capacity of an ordinary man. These extraordinary visions are
known as ‘veridical dreams’ . . . and we readily recognize their symbolic nature.
We ordinarily admit without hesitation that a prophet perceives through and
beyond his visions something that is ineffable, something of the true figure of
the Absolute. In truth, however, not only such uncommon visions are symbolic
‘dreams’ for the prophet. To his mind everything he sees, everything with which
he is in contact even in daily life is liable to assume a symbolic character. ‘Every-
thing he perceives in the state of wakefulness is of such a nature, though there
is, certainly, a difference in the states.’ The formal difference between the state
of sleep (in which he sees by his faculty of imagination) and the state of wakeful-
Fredrica R. Halligan 287
ness (in which he perceives things by his senses) is kept intact, yet in both states
the things perceived are equally symbols” (Izutsu, 1983, p.9).
Notes
1. Inclusive, gender free language, when referring to the Divine and to the human, is used
throughout this paper except where quoting directly from other authors.
2. Hallucinations, in any of the sense modalities but especially auditory, are also characteristic
of certain psychotic populations. See Agosin, 1992, for differentiation of mystical phenomena
and psychotic processes.
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