Exploring Metaphysical Spaces

The journey that will unfold ahead moves us from one point towards another, acting as an allegory to represent the act of straying away from the Path and finding your way back. The Digital Map of this exhibition depicts the space between Mecca, where Sheikh San’an and his disciples rest, to Constantinople, where he is urged to go towards to understand the obstacle that lies between him and his Beloved. One of the most fascinating things that mapping San’an’s path uncovers is how the bridge between two points is constructed to exemplify the directionality of the Path which Attar describes. Metaphysical space is shaped by the connection between reality, through lived experience and determined actions, and the ultimate direction of the Path which brings forth the personal strifes San’an must overcome to continue forward on his journey to the Beloved.

The Conference of the Birds illustrates the Path and its tribulations with love for us through several stanzas describing the plights one might expect to be faced with; Attar uses these lines from the poem to foreshadow this experience that later occurs in the Parable of the Sheikh, creating a literary bridge between the teachings illustrated in the Conference of the Birds and the experiences with forbidden love that Sheikh San’an must undergo to rejoice in his connection to the Beloved. For example, from lines 20 to 21 of The Hoopoe Advises the Birds, Attar writes ‘Love insists on the heart’s bleeding pain / Love demands a gnarled and arduous tale’ (Norton, 369). These lines are embedded within the translation of the Parable later when he writes, ‘With faith gone, what use is the heart? Loving a Christian girl is arduous’ (Norton, 371). These lines are recited by the Sheikh to himself as he witnesses the Christian Girl in Constantinople for the first time. The word arduous is used solely in these overlapping statements and delivered through self reflection when the Sheikh considers the defiance of his faith he feels he is destined to undertake. The internal monologue offers us the first aspect of distinguished metaphysical space, connecting the Sheikh’s dream to the reality he faces. What is most interesting is that the Sheikh treats his initial dream, where he ‘prostrated himself repeatedly in front of an idol inside a temple’, as a message regarding the test that will come before him against his faith (Norton, 370). This is what provides his motivation to travel to Constantinople to ‘see what can be done about it’ (Norton, 370). The metaphysical connection is derived from his internal vision, one which is self created and goes on to develop a relationship between his lived experience of reality and his own consciousness. The dream evokes a two-pronged relationship between the Sheikh’s actions, his internal strife, and his relationship to his faith. When making the decision to foreshadow the ‘arduous tale’ set forth for Sheikh San’an and his Christian Girl in Constantinople, Attar signals to the reader that this story will reflect the connection between an individual and their faith. This connection is established through the use of dreams acting as the metaphysical space which connects San’an’s internal desires to his forthcoming actions, regardless of whether or not they follow his wholehearted commitment to the path, which is why he makes the decision to travel to Constantinople with his disciples, in order to evoke the truth of this horrifying realisation. 

However, the skilled integration of dreams in the narrative extends beyond Attar’s personal inflictions between his unfounded desire for the Christian Girl and his undying commitment to his faith. Attar reasserts the power that the Path holds through bridging the Christian Girl’s connection to her lost faith with the Path by creating another metaphysical space between her dreams and her desire to act upon them towards the end of the Parable. When the Sheikh finally learns of the Prophet's blessing upon him, his disciples stated ‘the Almighty’s ocean of acceptance has surged and washed away your indiscretions. Now is the time for thankfulness, not for such wailing grief. Be obliged to your Beloved who opened a glistening path across black tar. The Beloved knows night from light, and listens to remorse for such sins. When the fire of contrition is kindled, all that must burn will ignite’ (Norton, 379). This imagery is amongst the most powerful and evocative, directly taken from imagery reflected in the Hoopoe’s advice on love, in the eleventh stanza, ‘Angels hold love not the pain; only mortals merit the pain of love. If you become sure-footed in love, you’ll transcend everything, even blasphemy and belief’ (Norton, 369). The transcendence of love is what brings forth the enlightenment which the Sheikh was far too hopeless to believe himself to be worthy of, and when his realisation is mustard from the prayers of his disciples, the impact is more powerful than imaginable to the reader, it goes as far as to extend to the Christian Girl whose own dark veil covered the Sheikh in the first place. Thus, she too dreams, and Attar creates the metaphysical space between her internal strife and her forthcoming actions through the power of her dream. The Christian Girl dreams of ‘the sun falling into her arms, and the glowing orb began to speak. It said: ‘Go after the Sheikh, take on his faith and be as dust at his feet.’ (Norton, 379). In both instances comparably, a message was communicated through the space created in each individual's dream, redirecting them in contrasting ways. What is different however, is the actions taken by the Sheikh and the Christian Girl in response to this communication, where the enlightenment of the path touches the Christian Girl enough to make the ultimate sacrifice of her life, whereas the Sheikh continued his internal battle against sacrificing his faith, expressing how the Path ultimately wins over the choices that may waylaid you. 

When Attar decided to create the space for communication, he developed a metaphysical space between the higher power of the Path, and the fundamental spiritual direction towards the Beloved (the divine sovereign of their faith), to the lived realities of the individual. He emphasises the power the Path holds, regardless of the forbidden desires within oneself, by contrasting the impact of the metaphysical space created within the Sheikh’s subconscious dreams and the Christian Girls. A bridge between their lived experience and their unapparent spiritual experience is cast to express the ultimate journey that the Path intends to lead one on, thus leading to the forgiveness granted to the Sheikh and the beginning of the Christian Girl’s new life with the Beloved.