Archives Issue #81

FROM THE EDITORS

In Issue 81 of SUFI the theme is Divine Love. Here we explore what many would argue is the most confounding human emotion, love, and the mystery of its divine manifestation. Divine Love lies at the heart of spiritual practice; it is an experience that continues to enrich those who are touched by it, whether they belong to a school of mystical teaching or not. But explaining the experience of Divine Love can be difficult; words falter in its presence. It is also elusive, veiled from our ordinary perception, but then suddenly revealed in the words of a parable, the shades of light in a photograph, the silences between lines of poetry. This edition of SUFI attempts to lift the corner of the veil and share glimpses of Divine Love through art and writings, including a meditation on the legendary lovers, Layla and Majnun; a discussion of mystical eroticism in the Christian and Hindu traditions; reflections on higher love expressed through the internet, photography, film and calligraphy; and Coleman Barks’ observations on the poetry and importance of the great Indian poet and mystic, and Nobel Laureate in Literature, Rabindranath Tagore.

DISCOURSE, ARTICLES, NARRATIVES AND INTERVIEWS

DIVINE LOVE Discourse by Alireza Nurbakhsh, Read entire discourse>

TAGORE’S GITANJALI An Introduction by Coleman Barks

LOVE, PASSION & DIVINITY Interview with Judith Ernst and Vasudha Narayanan by Llewellyn Smith

THE KALEIDOSCOPE OF LOVE – Rumi’s Use of Moving Colors and Shapes in the Divan-i Shams by Fatemeh Keshavarz

LAYLA AND MAJNUN: LOVE IS FIRE AND I AM WOOD – A Sufi Allegory of Mystical Love by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

RAHMANDOTCOM Narrative by Dani Kopoulo

CULTUREWATCH

TURNING TO HAFIZ The Art of Figural Calligraphy by Jila Peacock Read entire article>

FILM REVIEWS

THROUGH THE LENS OF LOVE In Search of Mystical Love on Film by Peter Valentyne
Monsieur Ibrahim (2004)
Bab’Aziz: The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul (2008)
Circle of Iron / The Silent Flute (1978)

BOOK REVIEWS by David Paquiot and Kenneth Avery

The Tangles Braid: Ninety-nine Poems by Hafiz of Shiraz, translated by Jeffrey Einboden and John Slater
Abu Al-Hasan al-Shushtari: Songs of Love and Devotion, translated and introduced by Lourdes Maria Alvarez

POETRY

I say Haqq Haqq, Cry Hu Hu by Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh
Who are You? by Chris Hoffman
From Rumi’s Mathnawi translation by Alireza Nurbakhsh
Unseen by Jeni Couzyn
Vespers by Margaret Chula
Epiphany by Jo Going
Ruach by Emily Wilmer
When My Beloved Lifts a Cup of Wine by Hafiz translation by Jawid Mojaddedi
Love is a Searing Flame by Rob Sternau
The Visitation of Divine Love by Mary Ann Eiler

FEATURED POET

JO GOING, Poet

FEATURED ARTIST

HENGKI KOENTJORO, Photographer

 

(Front Cover Artwork by Greg Spalenka, spalenka.com)

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