Eidetic Visionary Recital

Things we can perceive with our senses are called phenomena. Noumena is a term that designates things that are thought; they are things we can perceive with our imaginary senses Through use of imagination one can study an issue with creativity and abstractness which Plato called Eidetic Reflection. Although Plato beleived we have inherent essences of certain things as ideas, my use of the method is to get insight from my subconscious which, through visions and dreams, seems to contain useful and inspiring insights, being somewhat of a human archive of things long forgotten by our conscious thoughts. The inherent human ability to dream, about things we focus on, is a tool which cannot be ignored especially when working with human sciences like anthropology and religion. It is my belief that students should use this method of self inquiry to inspire them towards original insights and epiphanies when faced with an issue or abstract concept. In the Persian philosophy tradition from which Avicenna and Sohravardi wrote their philosophical discources alongside visionary recitals, I propose to do the same. The phenomenological process of individuation is not just helpful but essential to the study of anthropology and religion. By alienating a whole part of our brains when studying we neglect who we are as humans and we become handicapped by our sense of perception's univocality. To have a vision of a concept in all its abstractness imaged from ourselves and directed towards our own self for us to dwell upon it and examine it is what we call dreaming. It is possible and frequent that one gains insights about things that perplex him/her. A recital of the experience greatly enhances a research, in my view, for it attempts to rebuild a philosophical tradition that inspires scholars to totaly immerse themselves in their object of study.This may help students gain epiphanies when faced with an issue or abstract concept.

Visionnary Recital example: "Chains of Humanity"

"I imagined two chain of humans all naked and holding themselves to infinity. Both chains of humans met at certain random places where one man or woman in the link belonged to both chains.The First of the Chains was of made of normal men, the Second Chain was made of angels. The men and woman who belonged to both chains were archangels. The first being made of earth, the Second of fire and the intersecting ones of both sexes and element." These archangels are blind to the fact that they are something more than normal men, they are oblivious to themselves being the intersection, the link. So they remain trapped in the human chains, unable to ascend to their dwelling places in the sky. Because of the abstractness of the visionary experience, the vision came with three meanings: The first chain is symbology transmitted through biology. The second chain is symbology transmitted through culture. The intersecting divine ones are contain both, symbolized as being archangels. So in this recital's meaning, we find that being human is to be the divine archangels who are oblivious to the fact that they are the links between biological and cultural symbology.but when they will be aware of their own state as a link they become who they really are, thus breaking the links and ascending to the sky. The first chain is symbolized by logic. The second chain is symbolized by creativity. The intersecting divine ones are the use of both. Symbolized as being archangels. So in this recital's meaning, we find that being human is to be the divine archangels who are oblivious to the fact that they are the links between logical and creative but when they will be aware of their own state as a link they become who they really are, thus breaking the links and ascending to the sky. The first chain consist of men 'Adam' and the Second chain contains women 'Eve' .The intersecting ones are both in One, hermaphrodites who are not yet aware of their sexuality, being as two disctinct persons, male and female, but not realizing their alliance. If they would fall upon awareness, they would become as One, their inital state in paradise. "It is for the psychology of symbols to discover under what conditions this appearance of the soul to itself takes place -- of the soul perceiving itself in the form of a winged being. The symbolism of the wing emposes itself spontaneously as an archetype, as we see from Plato; hence its frequent recurrences. The bird still has a rank of a symbol, of an Image through which the soul meditates on itself and divines itself." (Henri Corbin)

"It is for the psychology of symbols to discover under what conditions this appearance of the soul to itself takes place -- of the soul perceiving itself in the form of a winged being. The symbolism of the wing emposes itself spontaneously as an archetype, as we see from Plato; hence its frequent recurrences. The bird still has a rank of a symbol, of an Image through which the soul meditates on itself and divines itself." (Henri Corbin) Sources: Plato, Phaedrus, 246d. Plato, Republik, bk. 6. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, New York, Oxford University Press, 995. Henry Corbin, Avicenna and the Visionnary Recital, Routleg & Kegan Paul, London, 1960. Henri Corbin, The Rustling of Gabriel's Wing, Journal Asiatique (Paris), 1935, 1-82.