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Metaphysics, Poetry and Logic in Oriental Traditions
By Sayyid Hossain Nasr
As a result of the continuous parting of ways between art and thought, intellectuality and sensuality, and logic and poetry , which has taken place in the West since the Renaissance, the traditional doctrine according to which Poetry and logic refer to a single reality that binds and yet transcends has become nearly completely forgotten. Yet, the traditional doctrine which is still to be found in a living manner within the various Oriental civilizations was not always limited to the Orient alone. What this traditional doctrine teaches can also be found fully elaborated by Plato or Dante, and cannot be called solely oriental in the geographical sense. It belongs to the orient of universal existence, or to use the terminology of Suhrawardi, to the land of the orient of light (Ishraq), which is at once the celestial part of the cosmic and universal hierarchy and the source of illumination.1 In our present day world it is mostly in the orient that the traditional doctrines can still be found in an operative manner and therefore it is this orient that our discussion of the rapport between logic and poetry will limit itself. This definition of the orient will essentially embrace the three regions of the Far East, the Indian, and the Islamic world.
There are naturally diverse applications of the teachings in question, but there is a remarkable unanimity concerning the fundamental doctrines involved. The definitions given in oriental civilizations for logic and poetry would be easily understood by western students if these subjects, well versed in the knowledge of western culture and its roots, whether these definitions came from a Nagajuna on the one hand or ibn Sina (Avicenna) on the other. Logic in Eastern doctrines deals with laws governing the movement of the human mind in its journey from the known to the unknown, whatever be the epistemological foundations which make the attainment of logical certitude possible as well as whatever differences may exist between, let us say, Nyaya logic and Aristotelian logic. As for poetry, it deals with human language as molded by the principle of activities of the harmony and rhythm, which also govern the cosmos. These two disciplines of activities of the human mind and soul have nearly completely parted ways in the modern west while they have preserved their complementary and close association in theory and practice wherever the oriental traditional still survive. There has always been in the orient a logical aspect to poetry and a poetic aspect to the great expressions of logical thought. Still today, in many oriental languages, works of a logical nature are to traditional poetry to the extent that this type of poetry is often used instead of a strictly logical argument to prove a logical point.
The traditional doctrines of poetry needs further elucidation seeing that the correspondence between cosmic realities and human language has become so eclipsed in an age of the quantitative study of the cosmos and of poetic synthesis. According to the traditional doctrine, the inner reality of the cosmos , which unveils itself to inner eye or to intellectual vision for which the inner eye is the instrument of perception, is based upon a harmony, which imposes itself upon the corporeal domain. This harmony is more ever reflected in the world of language which is language, the word and the substance of language which replaces the material substance of language and the external world as well as bears the imprint of the cosmic harmony.
Intellect, the eye of the heart as it is often called, is the result of the marriage of harmony (saman) and the word (r.c).”2
In the macrocosm, the harmony of the universe is more manifest in higher planes or reality and becomes more dimmed and less evident as one descends towards the lower extremities of the cosmos. At the same time this harmony lies at the heart of the traditional plastic arts and is foundation of traditional architecture and other arts dealing with material forms. In language, the same principle is to be observed. Harmony is always present but as its imprint upon the word or substance of language becomes more marked and profound, poetry comes into being, poetry which through its re-echoing of the fundamental harmony of things is able to aid man to return to the higher states of being and consciousness.
This same doctrine of the imposition of harmony upon the substance of language is to be found in the far East expressed in terms of the Yin-Yang polarization and in Islamic sources in the distinction between form (Surah) and meaning (Ma’na)3 which lies at the heart of the metaphysical teachings of such masters of Sufi poetry as Jalal al-Din Rumi.4 According to this doctrine, everything in the macrocosmic world consist of both an external form (Surah) and an inner meaning (Ma’na). This is also true of human language which has come into being as result of the imposition of ma’na upon the very substance of language or its surah. As this impression of ma’na upon surah increases, the external form or poetic language in general , this process reaches a higher degree of intensity until in the case of inspired poetry, ma’na dominates completely over surah and remolds the outward form completely from within ( without, of course, destroying the poetic canons ). In such cases, one might say, using the traditional language of Aristotelian and Thomistic metaphysics, that the substance of language becomes completely informed and hence in state of complete actualization of all its possibilities.
According to oriental doctrines, then poetry is the result of the imposition of the spiritual and intellectual principle5 upon the matter or substance of language. This principle is also inextricably related to universal harmony and its concomitant rhythm which is to be found throughout cosmic manifestation. The rhythm patterns of traditional poetry therefore possess a comic reality and are far from being simple man-made contrivances. They are profoundly related to the intellectual principle and operate within the soul of man a transformation which makes possible, with the help of traditional methods of spiritual realization, the recovery of mana’s primordial relation with the spiritual and intellectual principle of things.
The rhythm which in-forms traditional poetry is, needless to say, to be found at the heart if all incantatory spiritual practices based upon the traditional science of sounds (mantra in Sanskrit) and related to sacred languages sanctified by a particular revelation. Hence in such techniques as dhikr in Sufism, japa in Hinduism and the Nembutsu in Pure Land Buddhism, the reception of certain sacred formulas in dependent at once upon the spiritual grace present in the formula when practiced under strictly traditional conditions and the harmony and rhythm which accompany this form of practice. In fact, a great deal of traditional poetry may be considered as a kind of prolongation of the fundamental spiritual practices of the tradition in question. In the case of Islam, for example, one can refer to the case of Rumi, who composed much of his poetry after sessions in which ritual practices of dhikr of invocation were held and much of the rhythm of various litanies and invocations are reflected in his Sufi poems, especially those of the Diwani-I Shams-Tabrizi.
It is perhaps necessary to add that intellectual we do not mean rational , but literally that which pertains to the intellect in its original sense as intellectuals or nouns.
Poetry, therefore, according to traditional doctrines, logic and poetry have a common source, the intellect, and far from being contradictory are essentially complementary. Logic becomes opposed to poetry only if respect for logic becomes transformed into rationalism, and poetry. Rather than being a vehicle for the expression of a truly intellectual knowledge, becomes reduced to sentimentalism or means of expressing individual idiosyncrasies and forms of subjectivism. But in a traditional context in which logic is itself a ladder for ascent towards the transcendence.6
And poetry, whether explicitly didactic of otherwise, bears an intellectual and spiritual message, logic and poetry complement each other and point to reality which encompasses both of them. It is of some importance to mention in this context that the original title of one of the greatest masterpieces of Persian Sufi poetry , the conference of the Birds of Fard al-Din Attar, Manfalq al-tayr, the word mantaq meaning also logic both Arabic and Persian . Referring to this same doctrine, the Persian Sufi poet’Abd al- Rehman jami wrote:
ÔÚÑ å ÈæÏ¿ äæÇí ãÑÛ ÎÑÏ ÔÚÑ å ÈæÏ¿ ãËÇá ãáß ÇÈÏ
ãí ÔæÏ ÞÏÑ ãÑÛ ÇÒ Çæ ÑæÔä ßå Èå áÎä ÏÑÓÊ íÇ áÔä
ãí ÓÑÇíÏ Ò áÔä ãáßæÊ ãí ßÔÏ ÒÇä ÍÑíã ÞæÊ æ ÞæÊ
Sophia Perennis , Volume III, number 2.
What is poetry? The song of the bird of the intellect .
What is poetry? Similitude of the world of eternity.
The value of the bird becomes evident through it, and one discovers whether it comes from the oven of a bath house or a rose garden.
It composes poetry from the divine rose garden;
It draws it power and sustenance from that sacred precinct.
That which encompasses both logic and poetry is ultimate reality as revealed in various traditional metaphysical doctrines according to which this reality is neither simply a logical abstraction nor of a purely mathematical nature, nor is it devoid of this dimension. Rather, it is at once logical and poetic, mathematical and musical
God is at once the supreme geometer, and one might say, musician and poet a complete metaphysics must therefore possess at once logical and mathematical rigor on the one hand and a poetical and musical aspect on the other.
In fact, one of the great metaphysical traditions of the Occident, the Pythagorean, has always emphasized. It is because of the very nature of Reality and therefore of the metaphysical knowledge which is related to it, that in Oriental traditions the most rigorous intellectual and metaphysical expositions have been expressed in either poetry or poetical language and some of the most logical and systematic metaphysicians have also composed poetry.
It is necessary to mention, however, that there is an element in poetry that corresponds to the feminine rather than masculine aspect of the Divine Reality. If the intellect can be said at once correspond symbolically to the masculine principle, the Logos itself being usually symbolized in such a way, poetry then corresponds to the feminine pole which is at once an extrusion of the masculine and its passive and substantial complemented. There is therefore, in poetry, as in femininity, an aspect which allures and one which infers an aspect corresponding to Eve and another to Mary. In Hindu terms it might be said that poetry possesses two characteristic corresponding to the two natures or aspects of Sita , the escort of Rama, one which causes dissipation and separation and the other union causes dissipation and separation. The other union, like Maya itself which at once veils and reveals.7 In any case, traditional poetry remains wed to the intellect and bears its imprint. It is therefore, inseparable from the total expression of the Truth, which of necessity encompasses both the masculine and feminine principles.
Of course, such a conception of poetry is far removed from all profane theories of literature in the same way that traditional poetry is district from profane poetry. In the great works of Oriental poetry, as in such masterpieces of Western literature as the Divine Comedy of Dante,8 poetry is not the expression of the subjective experiences of the separated ego of the poet, but the fruit of a reality which transcends the being of the poet and for which the poet must become the expositor and guide. Such poetry is, therefore, a vehicle of principle knowledge through both its content and form, through the words as well as the rhythm and music.
To cite from the Hindu tradition, it is only necessary to remember that the Ramayana was composed by Valmiki by order of Brahma who commanded the poet to use a new mater to record a vision which had been granted to the poet. According to the traditional account:
Ten Valmiki, dwelling in the hermitage amongst his disciples, set himself to meet the great Ramayan, that bestows on all who hear him righteousness, wealth and the fulfillment of desires. He sought a deeper insight into the story he had from Narada, and thereto took his seat according to Yoga ritual and addressed himself to ponder on that subject and no other. Then by his yoga-powers he held Rama Sita , Lakshman , and Dashartha with his kingdom, laughing and talking, bearing and forbearing, doing and undoing, as in real life, as clearly as one might see a fruit held in the palm of the hand. He perceived not only what had been, but what was to come. Then only after concentrated meditation, when the whole story lay like a picture in his mind, he began to shape it shlokas.9
In Sufism also, poetry is considered to be the fruit of vision and almost a “secondary” result of the expression of spiritual truth by one who has experienced this truth and who possesses a harmonious nature (tab’-imaw-zun) expounded for those who also possess such a nature. Shaykh Mahmud Shabistari, the author of the Gulshani-i Raz (The Secret Rose Garden), which is one of the greatest masterpieces of Persian Sufi poetry, writes:
åãå ÏÇääÏ ßÇíä ßÓ ÏÑ åãå ÚãÑ äßÑÏå åí ÞÏ ÝÊä ÔÚÑ
ÈÑÂä ØÈÚã ÇÑ å ÈæÏ ÞÇÏÑ æáí ÝÊä äÈæÏ ÇáÇ ÈäÇÏÑ
Sophia Perennis, volume 3, number 2
“Everyone knows that during all my life, I have never intended to compose poetry. Although my temperament was capable of it, rarely did I choose to write poems.”
Yet in spite of himself, Shabistari, in a period of a few days and through direct inspiration (ilham) composed one of the most enduring and widely read poetical masterpieces of Oriental literature. Moreover he composed in perfect rhythmic couplets and the Mathnawi meter, while remaining oblivious to the canons of prosody as contained in the classical works on the subject.10
The same holds true for al- Jalal al- Din Rumi, the author of the monumental Mathnawi, which is at once a treatise on pure metaphysics and a poetic work of art of the highest order. In many places in this and his other works, Rumi insists on the fact that he is not poet and composes poetry in spite of himself. It is the vision of the spiritual world and the rhapsody created in the being of the poet that cause his utterances to flow out in poetic stanzas which conveys the imprint of the universal Harmony upon the substance of language in the same manner that this Harmony has come to dominate the mind and soul of the poet and seer. In his Mathnawi, Rumi writes:
I think of poetic rhyme while my Beloved (God )
Tells me to think of Him and nothing else.
What are words that thou shouldst think about them,
What are words but thorns of the wall of the vineyard?
I shall put aside expressions, words and sounds,
So that without all three I shall carry out an intimate discourse with thee.11
It is precisely because such poetry is the fruit of spiritual vision that it is able to convey and intellectual massage as well as to cause what might be called an “Alchemical transformation, in the human soul. Such a poetry has the effect of causing consent to the truth within the human soul, a consent that is related to certitude and complements the consent which results from the power of both denotation and connotation while in poetry they also have the power of suggestion and awakening of an already existing possibility for intuitive knowledge in the soul, and awakening which corresponds to a transformation of the state of the soul. 12
Poetry then, is similar to logic in that it is means and vehicle for the expression of truth, and complements logic faculties of the “fallen man.” Also poetry brings about a transformation of the soul and its sensibilities in a manner which is not possible for a purely logical work. Traditional poetry also causes and assent in the soul of man, which makes it possible to speak of the “Logic of poetry” which convinces and often clinches an argument in those regions of the world where poetry has been able to preserve until today its alchemical quality, and where the psyche of the people is still sensitive to the power of poetry and its manner of expressing the truth as well as inducing certain states in the human soul.13 In Oriental doctrines14 in general, there have not existed that antagonism between logic and poetry which has been observable in so many circles in the west during the past few centuries. Logic itself has been regarded as a ladder for ascent to the spiritual world and the world of gnosis and metaphysical enlightenment15 while poetry has remained as the vehicle for the expression for not merely sentiments but of knowledge of a principal order. This is especially true in Islamic civilization where no alternative between logic and spiritually has ever been drawn, and even if certain criticisms have been made of logic in the name of Divine Love (i’shg), it has been with the aim of preventing logic from becoming a limitation rather than and aid, and knowledge from remaining merely theoretical rather than becoming a “tasted” fruit, which is digested and becomes part of one’s being.
Ultimately the only common ground between logic and poetry as understood traditionally is that gnosis which lies at the heart of the oriental traditions. In as much as ultimate reality is at once the source of that which is logical and that which is poetical, gnosis or traditional metaphysics, which is knowledge of this reality, cannot but be common ground where logic and poetry meet, where the truth unveils itself in epiphanies which are at once logical and poetical, like virgin nature, that other grand truths, which likewise possesses logic and poetry, unimpeachable laws and harmonies. The wedding between logic and poetry cannot take place save through the rediscovery of that gnosis or metaphysics , which always has been and always will be, and which makes itself accessible to those competent of receiving its message, whether they be of the orient or the occident.
Notes
1. Concerning the meaning and symbolism of Ishraq in Islamic philosophy , associated with the name of Suhrawardi, see H. Corbin, En Islam Iranian, vol.II, Paris, 1971; S.H. Nasr, three Muslim sages, Albany (N,Y) 1975, Corbin (ed). Suhrawardi , opera metaphysical et mystical , vol. I and II, Tehran–Paris. 1976-77
2. Aitareya Brahmana, Vol III. 27, quoted in living stone, R., The traditional theory of literature. St. Paul, Minn. 1962, P. 77
3. The use of the term surah in this context and in opposition to ma’na should not in any way be confused with the use of the same term surah when contrasted with matter (maddah or hayula) in the language of hylomorophism used by many Islamic philosophers and following Aristotelian teachings. In the first case, it is ma’na which corresponds to the essence or principle and surah to the substantial, receptive and “material” aspect of things; while in the second surah is used as from in its Aristotelian and Thomistic sense, therefore as the essential and principle in contrast to the material pole.
4. On Rumi’s teachings concerning surah and ma’na, see S.H. Nasr, Jalal al-Din Rumi- Supreme poet and sage, Tehran, 1973.
5. The relation between traditional poetry and logic is to be found precisely in this metaphysical nexus which binds them together. Logic is obviously related to logos and from the traditional point of view is the process followed by the mind in its discovery of truth, a process which is made possible because the logical power of the mind is a reflection of the intellectual principle, which is none other than the Divine intellect of Logos, upon the mind, while the same principle is the ontological cause of the cosmic reality. Hence the correspondence between the mental processes of man and external reality and the possibility for the logical faculties of the mind is to discover truths which correspond to external reality. This same principle is also that which infuses the substance of language with meaning and creates.
6. On this basic theme see F. Schuoun, logic and transcendence, trans. P 8 from Jamls silsilat al-dhahab.
7. See F. Schuon , “Le mystere du voile,” Sophia Pernnis , vol. II , No.1, Autumn 1976 , pp.1 ff.
8. Likewise, Milton in his Paradise Lost prays to the Holy Spirit to be given a vision of the invisible world which would then be translated into poetry.
“And chiefly thou O Spirit , that dost prefer Before all Temples th’ upright heart and pure , instruct me, for thou knows’st:
So much the rather thou celestial light Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers Irradiate , there plant eyes , all misr from thence Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell O things invisible to mortal sight.
9. Quoted in A.K. Coomaraswamy and Sister Nivedita, Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists , New York, 1914, PP.23-24
10. See the commentary of Muhammad Lahiji upon the above poems in his Sharh-igulshan, Tehran, Iran. 1337 (A.H Solar), P. 41
11. It is worthwhile to recall here the platonic doctrine concerning harmony . “What Plato says is that we’ are endowed by the Gods with vision hearing., and harmony was given by the muses to him that can use them intellectually (kadvouv) , not as an aid to irrational pleasure , as is nowadays supposed , but assist the soul’s revolution, to restore it to order and concord with itself.” From the Timaeus 80B, translated and quoted by A.K Coomaraswamy in his figures of speeches or figure of Thought , London , 1946, P 13
12 This power of suggestion is called dhvani in the so-called ‘school of manifestation’ in Hinduism . See A.K Coomarasewamy The Transformation of Nature in Art, Cambridge (Mass), 1935, P. 53
13. Many western people who travel to Islamic countries are amazed by the role that citing a poem can play in deciding an argument in every day situations where a logical proof would seem to be called for.
14. Such schools as Zen where elliptical expressions in the form of koans are employed as a means of removing the limitative powers of the mind appear to be an exception, but in such a case the method must not be mistaken with the metaphysical doctrine involved. In any case, the Zen perspective must not be confused with oppositions of ratiocination. Zen inspired art, whether it be poetry or landscaping, is in any case not antagonistic it logic in the manner of the irrationalism and sentimental art of the modern west.
15. This principle particularly emphasized the school of Ishraq or illumination of Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi. See H. Corbin, En Islam Iranian and S.H. Nasr. Three Muslim Sages, chapter 2. Sophia Perennis , volume III. Number 2.
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