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Sacred Web 16

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Sacred Web 16

Sacred Web 16

 

Editorial: On Cultivating Awareness
by M. Ali Lakhani
This editorial emphasizes the special nature of awareness that is central to metaphysical consciousness, and contrasts this with the diminished awareness of modernism, providing examples of the effects of such diminished awareness. The Editorial argues that it is the metier of man to cultivate awareness through Prayer, thereby to gain entry into the Garden of Light.

The Metaphoric Ascent: Prayer and Realization in Islam
by John Herlihy
Complementing his essay, The Metaphoric Descent (published in Sacred Web 15), the author identifies the essential elements of the Muslim prayer ritual, contrasting the Fatihah and the Pater Noster, and isolating their key elements. In the second part of the essay he leads the reader through an exploration of the inner reality of prayer, emphasizing its universal and perennial qualities that are, more than ever, relevant in the conditions of the modern world.

Veils of Darkness, Visions of Light: Layla Majnun Through the Hindu Spiritual Eye
by Lalita Sinha
Through a Hindu esoteric interpretation of an Islamic-Sufi literary classic, this article shows that the vision of Sufi poems radiate beyond Islamic boundaries. Further, that the hallmark of monotheistic Islam, the Tawhidic worldview, is essentially universal, despite a multitude of diverse formulations.

The Cloak of Illusion
by Philip Connaughton
The extent to which man manifests the internal opposition between theoretical truth and the lack of courage to acknowledge its practical implications is literally the extent that he functions without integrity. This peculiar capacity of self-deception is illustrated in the fable of The Emperor's New Clothes, which is not only the story of man's vanity but also illustrates his fallen and fragmentary nature.

Science and Epistemic Closure
by Wolfgang Smith
Developing Jean Borella's concept of "epistemic closure" (how scientism, in varying degrees, reduces phenomena to "pure relations," independent of their essences), the author examines the implications of this attribute of scientistic enquiry and points to the need to understand science in terms of sapiential philosophy, and physics in terms of metaphysics, thereby preserving the intellectual and ontological relationship of concept and substance, and, through an understanding of the transitive nature of the physical world, articulating the scientific quest as an expression not of mere utility but of truth.

Sufism and Sacred Art
by Algis Uzdavinys
This discussion of sacred art focuses on the spiritual vision and theurgic function of such art, from which it is inseparable, and does so from the perspective of the esoteric teachings of Sufism, that lie at the heart of Islam.

Remarks on Confusions inherent in Number Symbolism
by Timothy Scott
Hermeneutic teachings within religious traditions express the correspondence between numbers and metaphysical or hypostatic realities. This article explores and contrasts the cosmological codes of number symbolism in various traditions, each in its own way attempting to articulate the ineffable Truth of Reality, and the relationships between transcendence and immanence, and the One and the Many.

Numbers and Letters: Modern and Traditional Perspectives on some Mysteries in the Qur'an
by Rodney Blackhirst
The article debunks the controversial theory of the "Nineteen Code," expounded by Dr. Rashid Khalifa as "scientific" proof of the miracle of the Qur'an, advocating a more traditional approach to examining the mysteries of the scripture.

The Light Alone: Poems of Lalla Yogishwari
Rendered into English by Barry McDonald
These translations of the poems of the l4th century Kashmiri saint are introduced and newly rendered by Barry McDonald, himself a traditionalist and poet.

Whitall N. Perry (1920-2005): Tributes
In Memoriam by William Stoddart. Excerpts from an Interview by Gray Henry

Book Reviews

Letters to the Editor

Notes on Contributors

 

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