Monday, 4th September, 2017

Study Retreat led by Jane Clark Monday September 4th (7pm) to Sunday September 10th (2pm).  
The Fusus al Hikam, or ‘The Ringstones of Wisdom’, is a major work by the great Andulusian mystical writer, Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi, and is considered to contain the essence of his teachings. An extended exposition on the unity of existence – that reality is both single in itself and many-faceted in its expression – it takes the form of 27 chapters, each devoted to the essential meaning of a prophetic wisdom in the line of Adam to Muhammad. Not concerned with the outer forms of religion, it concerns itself with perennial truths about human beings and the meaning and purpose of our lives which continue to have universal relevance.
This course will be based on a new, fully annotated translation by Stephen Hirtenstein, Jane Clark and Cecilia Twinch, the first part of which will be published in 2018. It will be the first public reading of two chapters, Chapter 5: Wisdom of Rapturous Love in the Abraham Word, and Chapter 6: Wisdom of Truth and Reality in the Isaac Word. This new translation is designed as a complete study guide to this rich and complex text, and no previous experience of reading Ibn ‘Arab is required.