The Aporia of Transcendence: a Critical Discussion of Michael Sells Analysis - Essay Example

The Aporia of Transcendence: A Critical Discussion of Michael Sells' Analysis in Relation to the Works of Jalaluddin Rumi and Marguerite Porete YourName Here Divine Bodies: Mystical Discourses in Philosophy 'Mystical experience' has long been portrayed as a remote awareness that can be explained and contrasted amongst other types of experience. But, this assessment has been met with substantial criticism in the past two decades. Such methodology evolved over time as a result of an assiduous decline of faith in humanity to impart paradigms by which people could attain secure identities. If society neglects to present convincing authority in regards to questions of Being, individuals often recoil to the internal sanctum of thoughts and feelings. In the alluring, vivacious, and sinister recesses of private musings, existence is validated and given merit. 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 "Annihilation 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. Literally translated, apophasis means "speaking away." Sells compellingly makes a case for a view of "apophasis" as a system of "unsaying" assenting affirmations rather than a means for negating them. 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 examinations allow one to appreciate the theatrical nature of the texts. These texts are intended to activate an understanding of "being" that is reflected in the text's presentation. According to Marguerite Porete, understanding is a partaking of reality that is uncovered in the text. Marguerite composed her book as both a philosophical and theological treatise on how to achieve divine preeminence, or what she describes as "The Annihilation of the Soul." Marguerite wrote her work in dialect and she persisted in dispensing it, even after it had been rebuked and burned in public. "And thus Love speaks for your sake: condemn There are seven stages of noble being, From which a creature receives being; so The Soul disposes herself of all the stages Before she comes to perfect being. And We will tell you how before this book ends." (Porete 81) Marguerite's Prologue concludes with these poetically telling words. The Mirror of Simple Souls explains how a person, can with the help of "Divine Love" advance the seven platforms in order to be annihilated. In The Mirror of Simple Souls, Marguerite classifies an "annihilated soul" as someone who has entirely given his soul to God so that he no longer has a will of his own and becomes merged with the Divine. In her work, Marguerite puts a great emphasis on love. This is essential because Marguerite Porete puts love over reason and all the other virtues. But, she also employs images taken from the chivalric custom of expressing affection for the divine. In her Prologue, Marguerite conveys a story in which a young maiden learns of a magnificent and gallant King by the name of Alexander. The young maiden never meets King Alexander, but she manages to fall in love with him by merely reflecting on the tales of his notorious deeds. The maiden tragically pined for her love, because King Alexander was very far away. "And so she had an image painted which would represent the semblance of the king she loved . . . And by means of this image . . . she dreamed of the king" (Porete The Mirror of Simple Souls 80). Fervent love is not unusual in spiritual metaphors of the Middle Ages. Several biblical descriptions utilize this idea of Christ as the Bridegroom and the Church as his Bride. The spirit can only evolve by gaining love for the divine. Marguerite compares this love to the type of desire that is generally associated with a physical relationship. A love for the divine is judged to be more pure than worldly love. Marguerite expounds upon this advancement with the "annihilation of the soul" design. According to this concept, the soul must achieve perfection in order to surpass its love for the divine. "The soul's senses fail, and in abandoning her ardor by means of her ardor, the soul's desirous love is emptied of all self-will, all desire, and her will is annihilated"(Porete The Mirror of Simple Souls 40). This can be likened to Sells' conception of the aporia of transcendence in which one can achieve spiritual ascendance by defeating one's dialect through the use of one's dialect. Sells suggests that the writer uses language as a vehicle of rising above one's self. Marguerite proposes that the soul cannot ascend without an "annihilation of the soul" accomplished only through perfect love for the divine. Jalaluddin Rumi had a vision not entirely disparate from those of Michael Sells and Marguerite Porete. Rumi felt that mortal purity could only be realized following tribulations in which the soul tolerantly endures an arduous process of translation. This process could be compared to the trials of alchemy in which the soul poses as a basic metal that must be altered in order to turn into something better, like gold. In other words, "the soul has to be purified, dissolved and crystallized anew to achieve its 'golden nature'; which is immutable purity and luminosity" (Burckhardt 1970, p.24). Only a soul that has cleansed itself of transgressions and depraved attributes due to an infusion of characteristics ascribed to God can possibly achieve wholeness and perfection. Accordingly, only such a soul conquers the inherent capability of the human condition. In order to bear witness to the divine harmony, man must first "die unto himself;" "What is Tawhid To burn one's self before the One" (Jalaluddin Rumi 1982, 1 3008). In Rumi's revelation, absolute good and evil cannot exist in God's universe. According to Rumi's vision, all things good and evil partake in God's will of making the mystical secrets discernible. But, all things are resolved within the illimitable existence of the divine being. God is the great unifier that makes all things perfect through affiliation. There exists nothing to oppose or assess his perfection, so God alone can transcend all resistance. In Rumi's analysis, the materialization of divine clemency and fury is both crucial to the revelation of God's eminence and purity and also vital to the spiritual growth of man. Rumi perceived man as a creature who is suspended "between two fingers of the Merciful." Man is an oscillating entity of divine and carnal, intelligence and corporeality, the ethereal and substance. According to Rumi, it is only through the "eye of the intellect" that man can be roused and become capable of sharing in the divination of nature. Only the illuminated orb of the mind can perceive the Creator cloaked in chaos. Sells concludes his reflections with this: "To arrive at the kind of unknowing spoken of by the five mystics in this volume is not an easy task. On the literary level, unsaying demands a full utilization of the literary, theological, and philosophical resources of the tradition. Its achievement is unstable and fleeting. It demands a rigorous and sustained effort both to use and free oneself from normal habits of thought and expression. It demands a willingness to let go, at a particular moment, of the grasping for guarantees and for knowledge as possession. It demands a moment of vulnerability. Yet for those who value it, this moment of unsaying and unknowing is what it is to be human." Sells' text is difficult to unravel, but it perpetually compensates careful interpretation, because it requires one to re-examine mystical dialect. Sells purports that the language of the mystics can be used as a compelling instrument for freeing one from the constant propensity of reaffirming truth that is impressed in the foundation of everyday language. The language is a staple that enables one to espouse estimations of his principles. This can result in dissonance and insularity. Mysticism provides a door through which one can learn of a collective humanity. This is not to suggest a mutual experience or common standard, but a receptiveness that allows one to constantly rupture preconceived notions and gain new and unprecedented insights. Such an experience can irrevocably be endured and not spoken into existence; but a skilled writer who has attained these heights of intellect can throw the crumbs that will lead to the door. The literal translation of Apophasis is a "speaking away"(Sells). Sometimes it is interpreted as "negative theology," and is comprised of the unfeasibility of labeling something indescribable by repeatedly returning to its name (Sells). By illustrating the mechanisms of apophasis as a vehicle of dialogue instead of investigative theology, Sells' work reveals a prolific tradition of re-examination. Sells attests that the more revolutionary the affirmations of the apophatic writers-declarations that detractors have often discarded as overstatement or condemned as nihilistic-are central to a sufficient understanding of "the mystical languages of unsaying." Sells' text also has considerable evocations for the association of traditional apophasis to the modern languages of "unsaying." Sells disputes broadly disseminated depictions of apophasis among the deconstructionists. He also challenges a plethora of recurrent ideas regarding rhetoric of the Middle Ages and human interactions within mysticism. This means that one should not seek an experience beyond the spiritual within these works, because these works were intended to create and assemble experiences by their employment of paradox. An author cannot make a claim about God without using language, and therefore God is bound to language. One cannot assert that God is above thought without thinking of God, and therefore God is bound to mysticism. In his discourse, Sells determines that several of the most notable mystical authors, including Marguerite Porete and Jalaluddin Rumi, use a similar dialectical reasoning in their inscriptions. This dialectic sparring leads to the transcendence of aporia, or the collapse of language. Countless mystics have made claims that God transcends language. Routinely, scholars have viewed these claims in a positivistic way. They feel this cultivates assumptions about God and his being. But, Sells realizes these statements were designated as contradictions that can bring forth the "meaning event." Sells defines the "meaning event" as a "semantic analogue of the experience of mystical union." These paradoxes are revealed through dialectical reasoning in a style Sells identifies as "deontological." These dialogues are given purpose in that they usher in a revolution of the intellect. The apprentice, through careful examination, can approach the boundaries of mind and reason, the site where dialect and logic break down. By embracing these boundaries, one comes to understand that he can never fully know "what really is", because all of one's deductions are considerably removed from reality(Sells). Sells' aporia of transcendence exemplifies the idea that though it may be arduous to aspire to the "annihilation of the soul" as spoken of Marguerite, and it might seem antithetical to seek refuge in a divinity that encompasses all things good and evil as suggested by Rumi, one can through dialectical debate reflect all these tenets. Works Cited Burckhardt, T 1970. An Introduction to Sufi Doctrine . Wellingborough. 1983. The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi. Albany: University Press of New York. Porete, Marguerite. (1993) The Mirror of Simple Souls. Paulist Press. New York Mahwah. Rumi, Jallaludin. (1995) The Essential Rumi. Harper & Row. San Francisco Rumi, Jallaludin. (1961) The Discourses of Rumi. Translated by AJ Arberry. Sells, Michael A. (1994) The Mystical Languages of Unsaying. The University of Chicago Press. Read More