Sufism, Jung, Kaballah Interfaith Dialogue

Sufism, Jung, Kaballah

Interfaith dialogue and Peace

Interfaith dialogue and Peace negotiations: Jewish Kabbalah, Islamic Sufism and Jung

The present political situation in the world over the last decade has underscored and stressed the importance for interfaith and inter-religious discourse and dialogue. From one point-of-view "...Interreligious dialog is seen as an alternative to the much-discussed "clash of civilizations" (Jung Center - Interfaith Class Series).

Those who do not subscribe to the theory that a civilizational clash is inevitable are proposing instead a dialogue of civilizations, an exchange of views aimed at mutual enrichment, a sharing of insights that can lead everyone to a deeper understanding of the nature of the Mercy of the God and God's will for humankind on this planet

Jung Center - Interfaith Class Series).

The questions that are being addressed in this paper can be stated as follows: can one talk of connections and parallels in the dialogue between faiths and different religious perspectives; and, if so, what can connections and parallels teach us today in terms of interfaith dialogue and peace negotiation? The first question is easier to answer. There are certainly connections and parallels between different religions and faith structures, especially in the Abrahamic religious groupings. There are many studies and articles that discuss the similarities and areas of consensus about various issues among the dominant faiths of the world, both East and West. For example, there is intensive discourse and numerous publications that explore the intersection between Zen Buddhism and Christianity, mainly through the intercession of the works of D.T. Suzuki.

However, the second question is much harder to unravel and to answer in a concise and unequivocal way. The relationship between interfaith dialogue and peace negotiation is hampered and problematized by the knowledge that the majority of wars and conflicts in the world today are the result of fundamentalist differences and disagreements between religious faiths and worldviews. Many scholars such as Huntington in his work Clash of Cultures suggest that the cultural and religious differences between Islam and Christianity are causative factors in world conflict today and in the future. This thesis states that violence tends to manifest itself "...in areas which have been the meeting places of major cultures or races..." (Huntington1971, pp. 11-12) in other words, the close proximity of different ethnic groups with differing ideologies and religious views of life and reality creates a situation which can propagate radical acts of violence and aggression. An example often given of terrorist activities that have resulted from the close proximity of different ethnic and ideological groups is the Jewish - Palestinian conflict and related acts of violence.

Religious differences are seen as a source of terrorism that goes hand-in-hand with economic and ideological differences (Howell 2003, p.177).

One therefore has to approach this question with a certain amount of judicious caution as the areas being focused on involve a very extensive and complex range of experiences and competing views. While one acknowledges this complexity of the issues at stake it might serve as starting point to intentionally simplify the issues in the search for areas of interconnection. In other words, instead of becoming encumbered by layers of detail and argument a more simplified and obvious pattern may be discerned in the dialogue between the differing faiths and approaches to reality.

Simplistically put, religion is the search for and manifestation of truth and reality, or in other terms, of the transcendent or the numinous. Cultural differences aside, when one approaches the question of interfaith connections in this light it is preferable to strip away the outward and more superficial differences between religions and concentrate on the areas that can be seen to be similar or at least in agreement with regard to the larger issues of reality and truth.

Using this approach the central thematic that will be discussed is that there is a substratum, a core of meaning and understanding which can be metaphorically understood as a seed or generating point for comparison, interaction and connection - and which can also be seen to contribute to a better understanding between faiths and religious groupings, which in the end contribute to world peace.

The central point that is being made is that it is only through a deeper and more perceptive vision of the unity of all religions that any movement towards global peace can be achieved. In other words, the differences between religious faiths and denominations are often one of formality, dogma and superficial customs and ideologies. Beneath these often contradictory and divisive differences there are many common elements. The purpose of this discussion must therefore be to isolate these common aspects in order to create points of common inter-sections, nodes of reference and relevance that can awaken mankind to the commonalities between religions. In this process there are many seemingly paradoxical stances that will be encountered.

One of the central aspects of intersection is in the area of mystical and esoteric beliefs and knowledge and in the area as well of transcendence and non-duality. Non-duality is best known in relation to Eastern religions but recent explorations in psychology and transpersonal psychology, as well as in modern western philosophy, has brought aspects such as non-duality into the mainstream of modern thought. Postmodern thinking, deconstruction and other contemporary efforts to break done and place into rigorous doubt the often restrictive and hidebound thinking of the past has in fact also opened the way to a more inclusive and holistic view of religion and particularly of the underlying elements that unite all religions.

It should also be stressed that the advances in western thought and humanism initiated by Jung and the innovative thinking of the likes of James Hillman, have added a further dimensionality to this question. Modern thinking has tended to question barriers and differences in an attempt to focus on 'archetypal' core aspects that unite all human beings in the search for reality.

2. Religious foundation

There is a general consensus that interfaith dialogue is not something new in the history of human religious thought and action. Among the plethora of examples that can be cited is the fact that Catholic, Orthodox Christians as well as Muslims, Jews and Sufis lived in harmony in the Balkans under Ottoman Turk rule between the 15th and 19th centuries (History of Interfaith dialogue). There are also examples of dialogue taking place between churches of the Abrahamic faiths in the Early 20th Century (History of Interfaith dialogue). In 2008 an interfaith debate was initiated by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to solve world problems (History of Interfaith dialogue). And this year the Dalai Lama inaugurated an interfaith "World Religions-Dialogue and Symphony."

Despite these examples it is equally true that there has been in many sensitive areas of the world a contemporary 'hardening' of views and attitudes between different faiths, a fact that is often culturally driven. There are intense differences in dogma and ideologically that are endlessly debated and which hamper the true understanding and interconnections between religious faiths. One example is the difference between Buddhism and Catholicism with regard to certain central religious concepts; for example in a comparison between Theravada Buddhist and Catholic views on the subject of salvation.

Salvation is a concept that is central to the core meaning and theological trajectories of most religions. In brief, salvation refers to the centrality of being saved from the evil of illusion and finding eternal life beyond death. There are many often radically different views about the meaning and process of salvation in various religions, which also reflects on other core differences.

This aspect can be seen in a basic analysis of soteriology or the study of salvation. Soteriology is derived for the word Soter, meaning savior, and logos meaning word, reason or principle. (soteriology) From a Catholic and Christian perspective, "Soteriology discusses how Christ's death secures the salvation of those who believe. It helps us to understand the doctrines of redemption, justification, sanctification, propitiation, and the substitutionary atonement" (What is Soteriology? (www.gotquestions.org/Soteriology.html"). Therefore, the Christian doctrine of salvation can be summarized as "... spiritual rescue from sin and death; saving of the soul through the atonement of Jesus' redemption" (WHAT IS SALVATION ACCORDING to the BIBLE?).

From a Buddhist religious context the above definition of salvation would differ in many fundamental ways. In the first instance, Buddhism does not believe in a "savior" or in a concept of God. The more traditional mode of Buddhism thought, Theravada Buddhism, focuses on personal effort or Prajna and not on the grace and aid of a deity. In contrast, the Catholic Church rather focuses on the atonement with God and God's grace in the process of salvation.

Therefore, a central difference between these two religions is that Buddhism rejects the concept of God. "The concept of a supreme Creator God is rejected or at least considered irrelevant to Theravada Buddhism. Buddha, "the Awakened One," is revered above all -- not as "God" but as supreme sage, model of a fully enlightened person" (What Theravada Buddhists Believe). This is possibly the greatest obstacle to a comparison with Christian religious concepts such as salvation. For a Catholic salvation without God or Christ is unthinkable. Admittedly, this is a comparison of two outwardly very different religious structures and cultures but it serves to illustrate the fact that important differences do occur and this can also be applied to other more homogenous religious groupings.

While one may add dozens of similar examples of fundamental differences between religions, at the risk of over-simplification one could also assert that all regions and faiths have one central core and similarity. This can be very broadly and somewhat obliquely referred to as the search for reality and truth. This fundamental aspect can be described in many different ways; for example, as the search and encounter with the numinous, the transcendent and the mystical. On the other hand, religion as a threat to world peace can be ascribed as one or another religious grouping claiming sole right and knowledge of the truth.

However, with the rise of secular society and the decline of many conventional and formal religious movements in the West and East, avenues have been created for new perspectives and interpretations of reality and a general falling away from the strict and dogmatic assumptions about religion and religious differences. This is particularly evident in the modern exploration of speculative psychology and psychoanalysis that was initiated by Jung and James Hillman, among others. Their search is a search for meaning essentially outside of the conventional theological context but which is nevertheless a search for meaning that attempts to transcend specific interfaith differences.

This search for new interconnections in terms of the fundamentals of regions can also be found in the works of modern and postmodern philosophers, such as Martin Heidegger. Heidegger's analysis and deconstruction of the western metaphysical tradition can be interpreted as an interrogation of the ideological master narrative that uinderlies the Western religious traditions. As such, in his essential oeuvre and analysis, Heidegger opens up areas that are vital to the modern view of reality and suggests a new religious attitude that transcends or supersedes denominational and religious differences. In the Jungian context there is an exploration of the human self as it expresses the archetypal "mythical' and core values and reality of human being.

Therefore, from one perspective it can be argued that the decline of conventional religion and the development of secular society and theories about reality have led to a modern openness or rather open-endedness in the search for new alternatives to the age-old antimonies between religions. It can also be argued that in this process, which includes modern thinkers like Nevill Drury and others, as well as the best efforts of the so-called 'new-age' movement, there lies a hope for world peace beyond religious confrontation. The increasing modern popularity of ancient systems of thought such as the Kabbalah also supports this view.

On the other hand one has to take into account many contrary view that do not see the modern world and its sense of 'progress' as conducive to a new holistic religious philosophy. For instance, traditionalists like Rene Guenon attack the modern era and its new gods of science and materialism as a complete deviation from traditional and valid religious knowledge.

In his work the Reign of Quantity Guenon states that all traditional views and religious knowledge have been lost in the context of the modern secular world and "...all characteristically modern conceptions are, consciously or unconsciously, a direct and unqualified denial of that knowledge (Guenon p.8). In his critique of modern thought he states that there is a tendency to reduce all thought and experience to an "...exclusively quantitative point-of-view..." (Guenon p.8). This view is not very conducive to interfaith connections but makes an important point that has been taken up by many modern thinkers such as Martin Heidegger; namely that the present mode of thought and perception in the contemporary world is not adequate in terms of a truly religious knowledge; and that a new ands more emotionally-based mode of thought is needed to counter the reductionist tendencies of technological materialism

3. Points of interconnection and correspondence

3.1. The modern context: religious myth and secularization

In order to understand the points of correspondence and agreement between faiths in the light of deeper levels of meaning one first has to understand the significance of the term myth and the advance of modern secular society. Myth has become a term that is understood as meaning fantasy, constructed imagination and spurious fiction in the popular consciousness. However, as eminent scholars like Mircea Eliade state, myths are narratives that relate to the sacred reality of the society. It is this element of sacredness that gives myths their power and which provides a possible point of intersection between faiths.

In essence myths are essentially ontological in nature and provide the "truth "about the reality of the past, present and future. In the Structure of Myths, Eliade states that a religious myth is not a fable or a fiction. A religious myth is therefore something that cannot be interrogated or held up for questioning, as its source is not human but from a transcendent entity or god. It is essence a "primordial revelation" (Eliade, 1963, p. 1).

However, Eliade also makes the point that since the Greek era, myth has been steadily "emptied" of its sacred and primordial meaning and status. Myth has therefore come to mean fiction and been reduced to just another discredited and primitive model in the eyes of science. This relates to the advance of secularization in the word and the loss of the meaning of many traditional religious views. This is an aspect that Jung and many other modern psychologists and philosophers bring to the fore in their research and which will be explored in more depth below.

The Sufi tradition also warns against this reductionism of the discrediting of myth in the secular worlds. Ibn Arabi stresses this point in a number of texts. The renowned interpreter of Arabi and Sufi thought, Henry Corbin, states the following in Alone with the Alone. Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi. He compares the Gnostic view of the imagination as a valid conduit of the eternal values and realities to the modern 'watered down' view of imagination. In his view, modern concepts of the imagination fail when "...measured against the Gnostic conception of an Imagination which posits real being" and has "...come to be an agnosticism pure and simple. On this level all terminological rigor is dropped and imagination is confounded with fantasy" (Corbin, 1969, p.181). Referring to Arabi, Corbin also states that in the secular world the "...degredation of the imagination is complete" (Corbin, 1969, p.181). This leads to a discussion of Ibn Arabi and the concept of the active imagination, which can in many respects be related to the view of myth that has been discussed. However, this discourse is extensive and would go well beyond the parameters of the present discussion

The point that is being made is that in the modern world myth and the sacred understanding of the imagination has been reduced by the scientific and secular worldview and that this in turn has led to a range of issues that pertain to interfaith communication. One of these aspects, which is also the focus of the present study, is the assertion that religion can only intersect constructively on the basis of the deeper and more intense mystical and esoteric level. This view will be explored in terms of modern psychology and transpersonal psychology as well as in relation to the resurgence of more traditional esoteric traditions such as Sufism and the Kabbalah.

Therefore myth and imagination in the mystical traditions of all religion is seen not as fantasy or cultural fable but as valid perception of religious truth and reality. This view also relates to the Jungian view of the archetypal unconscious.

Myth in effect describes the breakthrough and the contact between this and the sacred world, which is the source or originator of this world (Eliade, 1963, p.6). The hope for inter-faith and inter-religious connections and discourse and for the long-term prospects for world peace would therefore seem to lie in the area of a regeneration of myth, but in a modern context. This sense of myth can be understood not as an archaic relic of the past but as a point of intersection and contact between religious faiths and perceptions.

3.2. Points of interconnection and correspondence

The above section has very briefly sketched views of the significance of religion in both a traditional and modern sense and has attempted to extend the understanding of religion beyond traditional confines. The demise of ancient views and attitudes towards reality and the present state of the world has led many to reassess the value of more traditional religious views. However, as has been referred to, a central contention of this paper is that while there are differences in religious perceptions, the area that is closest to the ideal of an inter-faith and inter-religious exchange lies not in the study of the formal dogmatic side of religions, but rather in the deeper and more 'mystical' aspects of religious beliefs and views.

It is in this area that there is a great deal of similarity between, for example, Christian mystics like Meister Eckhart and John of the cross and Eastern writing and thought. These correspondences have initiated a great deal of interchange between otherwise opposed religious ideologies that are possible precursors to world peace. One example fro the writing of Eckhart may serve to illustrate this point. In his sermons Eckhart states that "The eye with which I see God, is the eye with which God sees me" (Senzaki). This can be compared to the Buddhist text which reads, "I come to Buddha, and Buddha comes to me. Buddha, my mind, and all fellow beings are one" (Senzaki).

3.3. Non-duality, nothingness and attachment

Traditional religious mystical experience is very close in essence to a more modern concept that also can be seen to act as a conduit between ostensibly different faiths and religions and which have modern and postmodern equivalents. An idea that will be initiated in this discussion is that many of the barriers that have existed between religions are faltering under the gaze of postmodern and psychoanalytic scrutiny. Central to this view is the experience of nonduality.

Nondualism is a term that would take more than the present paper to discuss adequately. However, it becomes an important term in that it relates to many aspects of the mystical experience in religion and therefore in any discussion of the interconnections between different religions.

Nonduality is often spoken of in relation to Eastern religions and in particular to Buddhism and forms of Zen Buddhism that have become known in the West. Very briefly, Zen Buddhism posits a view of reality which denies the existence of dualities; while dualities on the other hands are the foundation of common Western views of existence. This can simply be seen in the difference between good and evil, soft and hard. Zen and many other religious faiths deny this duality and view it as something to be transcended.

Taoism and Zen Buddhism can also be related at a deeper level to the mystical insight of Christian adepts. This can be seen in the mystical insights of St. John of the Cross, the " Dark Night of the Soul" and the concept of nothingness we encounter in Taoism. The Taoist Classic, the Tao Te Ching, explores the view of reality as nothingness.

The Tao that can be talked about is not the true Tao.

The name that can be named

Is not the eternal Name.

Nothing - the nameless

Is the beginning;

While Heaven, the mother

Is the creatrix of all things.

Lao Tzu, 43)

This view can also be referred as well to the need to be released from the confines of attachment to the world of illusion - a theme that is evident in many Christian and Islamic texts. The release from attachment can be achieved in Buddhism by gaining clear insight into the process by which attachments lead to suffering. Whereas struggling to give up attachments only serves to make them stronger, a clear understanding of the process by which suffering occurs leads attachments to fall away without struggle, because it leads people to understand the folly of desire and clinging.

McIntosh, 1997, pp. 38/39)

The above quotation refers to an understanding of the mind and how attachment functions in a psychological sense as a form of false illusion. This can be compared to modern psychology and the concept of Mindfulness which has become a part of Western Psychological terminology in recent years.

Practicing mindfulness means paying attention at all times. By paying close attention to their thoughts, to external stimuli, and to their own behavior, people gradually gain the insight needed to be free from suffering. It is because people generally do not pay attention that they remain ignorant to the process that leads to their suffering, and continue to behave in ways that lead to more suffering

McIntosh 38/39)

The above comparisons are intended to emphasize the point that within many religious traditions differ considerably on the surface there are points of intersection and agreement that can form the basis for a fruitful dialogue between religions and faiths. This is also supported in the modern context by the insights of psychology and philosophy that can be seen in some contexts to further this discourse and debate.

4. Sufism, Kabbalah and Jung

The discussion and juxtaposition of Sufism, Kabbalah and Jung is intended to demonstrate the central thesis - which is that the hope for inter-religious connection lies in the understanding of common root experiences and views of reality. Both Sufism and Kabbalah have in the last few decades enjoyed increasing popularity as avenues to religious truth in the West. The works of Jung and Hillman, among others, have also tended to prepare the ground, as it were, and to support the movement towards a syncretic religious view in the world, rather than a division of religious faiths.

The term Sufism refers to the esoteric and mystical teachings of Islam. "Sufism or tasawwuf, as it is called in Arabic, is generally understood by scholars and Sufis to be the inner, mystical, or psycho-spiritual dimension of Islam" (Godlas). At the heart of the Sufi tradition is mystical knowledge and union with God. The terms that are often used in a discussion of this mystical tradition are "intimacy" and the "heart" in understanding the Godhead. From a Sufi perspective this is the very purpose of all creation.

A they mention the hadith qudsi in which God states, "I was a hidden treasure and I loved that I be known, so I created the creation in order to be known." Hence for the Sufis there is already a momentum, a continuous attraction on their hearts exerted by God, pulling them, in love, towards God. They experience the joyful ecstasy of being gently drawn to their Eternal Beloved

Godlas).

It is this deep mystical insight that provides the kernel of revelation in the Sufi tradition and which compares with many other mystical traditions. As one scholar notes, "The goal...is to create an inseparable union between the individual and the Divine." (Godlas).

The central doctrine of Sufism, sometimes called Wahdat -- 'ul -- 'Wujood or Wahdat al -- 'Wujud or Unity of Being, is the Sufi understanding of Tawhid (the oneness of God; absolute monotheism). Put very simply, for Sufis, Tawhid implies that all phenomena are manifestations of a single reality, or Wujud (being), which is indeed al -- 'Haq (Truth, God). The essence of Being/Truth/God is devoid of every form and quality, and hence unmanifest, yet it is inseparable from every form and phenomenon, either material or spiritual.

What is Sufism)

The above description also reflects the concept of non-duality that was referred to briefly above; and the view that dualities are illusionary and that there is a deeper and more complex insight possible into reality. This is a view that is found in many mystical traditions.

One could immediately refer to the Christian Gnostic tradition, which still flourishes in parts of the world and which has become better known and understood in the contemporary world through the discovery of the Nag Hammadi scrolls in Egypt in 1945. Gnosticism also suggests that the purpose of all religion and faith, and in fact of all experience, is a deep and interpersonal knowledge of reality and God. The emphasis in the various Eastern and Western variations of Gnosticism is the intimate knowledge of God that is subjective and personal and not necessarily mediated through formal doctrine and clergy. As a prominent scholar of Gnosticism in the West, Stephan Hoeller, states, "...Gnsotic teaching is the direct result of the experiment of gnosis" (Hoeller. P.3). The term gnosis refers to knowledge and it is this mystical and personal knowledge that informs the entire Gnostic tradition - a tradition which also permeates other faiths and religions and has influenced the Sufi mystics as well as modern thinkers like Jung. The emphasis on personal encounter within the individual provides a bridge or a conduit into the area of depth psychology.

The Kabbalah is another area of fruitful compassion. This system mystical thought is based on the Torah, the Jewish scriptures and other sacred writings. The purpose of these teachings is to enlighten all of humanity. One central concept is immediately evident in any study of this system; this is the knowledge that is required for an intimate union with God. There are many affinities between this system and Gnostic thought. The knowledge and personal relationship with God or reality is the crux of this often complex mode of perception.

One can also turn to other examples of similarities at a deeper level between religious faiths that traditional cultural barriers. As has been referred to, Zen Buddhism and Christianity seem to opposites in that Zen does not acknowledge any deity or God and refuses to subscribe to any rational dogma in its understanding of the numinous. However, as one comparison of these two faiths notes, "They both agree that the origin of delusive passions is a falling way from the true source of the self, and that this a fall from man's orginal state" (Kadowaki, 1977, p. 23).