Yesterday, we learned that polishing of the mirror
symbolizes “the shift beyond the distinction between subject and object, self
and other.” (63) When the mirror is smeared, it obscures the reflection of
self, and when we polish the mirror, we can see the reflection and mirror “disappears.”
Our manifestation derives from differentiating these forms, but since knowing
that the mirror and the reflection are in fact one, “differentiated knowing
constantly transforms into self-knowing.” Thinking this about it backward, I
see that clouding up the mirror is our ignorance, our lack of self. What’s
crucial about this metaphor is that there exists an object. Before there is any
reflection, there is a presupposed knowledge that self exists. So the given condition
is that with the existing self, one must understand thy self by acknowledging thy
self through a reflection. Our perception of self, the reflection, is required
to attain that manifestation. I feel like this idea very convoluted.
I had a slightly different interpretation of Ibn-'Arabi's metaphor of the polishing of the mirror. Instead of the reflection representing, to use your words, "our perception of self", I felt that the reflection instead represented the piece of Allah that Muslims believe resides within each human being, and that piece of God led to our perception of self (adding another step). Therefore, the addition of the extra step helps justify the need for Adam, or the other prophets, or the Imams, to "polish the mirror" (66). In essence, Adam and other spiritual guides serve(d) to clarify the right path for believers and to help them reach God, or attain fana. Within my particular sect of Islam, the idea of fana, or fana-fila, is explained as fully reuniting the piece of Allah that resides within each person, while still alive. When the mirror is completely polished, the mirror can no longer be perceived, leaving behind the self and Other, which are seen to be the same.
ReplyDeleteNice post, Salman, but next time please make it a stand-alone post (rather than a comment)
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