Mystical Discourses in Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Mystical Discourses in Philosophy - Essay Example The clandestine struggle of a Mystic does not lend itself to understanding or provide insight into the intricate scaffolding of inspired philosophy. As Michael Sells comments, Mystic writers like Jalaluddin Rumi and Marguerite Porete did not aim to illustrate a specific type of experience. They hoped to generate an appreciation of the framework in which things take place at all and the human relationship to this fixed totality. "Mysticism is often associated with the extraordinary, the transcendent, the unimaginable, and reveals itself as the common" (Sells, Michael A. The Mystical Languages of Unsaying). Sells investigates the writer's use of language to sustain reality and its silhouette. Each discourse presents a cohesive tactic to accomplish its purpose. The aporia of transcendence, as Sells describes it, is a means of achieving dialectic ascension through apophatic debate. In contrast, Marguerite Porete believed that mystical pre-eminence could only be arrived at through the "An nihilation of the Soul." And, in Jalaluddin Rumi's vision, only in the supreme and boundless entirety of God, do all the conflict and dissension implicated in the antipathy of phenomena transcend the fracas and come to rest. Apophatic theology has commonly been depicted as a form of negation. ... Apophasis is basically a dialogue of contradiction and dueling statements. However, both Porete and Rumi would agree that most have a tendency to transfix on a solitary statement and abandon its double. Therefore, these dancing conjectures must be positioned within a larger text in order to maintain a continual regression. A referential candor within the wording suggests a particular willingness and susceptibility towards the essential necessity of practicing ceaseless transformation, as alluded to by Ibn Arabi. "Unsaying" occurs in reaction to an impasse. If one were to propose the existence of a limitless, definitive precept, then how could one submit to it Designations by nature have a way of restricting those entities they elect. When something is assigned a label, boundaries are erected that designate what it is and what it is not. Names are fixed and unyielding. How might one be liberated from this intrinsic inclination fundamental to language One must defeat language with language by posing it against itself. What Sells ascribes as a "meaning event" is accomplished by exploiting the disparity betwixt clashing statements. He illuminates the aporia of transcendence within the work of Marguerite Porete, and his ideas extend themselves to the words of Rumi as well. Sells focuses primarily on how these texts operate within their unique mythical compositions. He also examines their extensive theological and intellectual perspectives while making enlightening evaluations. These in depth exa minations allow one to appreciate the theatrical nature of the texts. These texts are intended to activate an understanding of