A butterfly, this one or one much like it, lit on the corner of the opened book resting on my knee, page 66. The butterfly crawled out of sight, down onto my knee, then back up onto the page, and soon enough flitted off. The butterfly: symbol of transformation, of psyche, beauty and the transitory life. A reminder, perhaps, to take this moment to open the wings of awareness.
Of course, we need not read anything into this visitation, but it might be worth looking again at the page. To wonder. I would anyway because sticky tabs were already marking passages in these opening pages of Chapter 3, “Ibn ‘Arabi’s Polished Mirror: Identity Shift and Meaning Event,” in Michael Sells’ Mystical Languages of Unsaying.
The particular pink sticky tab near where the butterfly lit marked phrases concerned with “the issue of the divine image.” What might we make of the image involved in creation? Not considered on Sells' page but coming to my mind are relevant Biblical passages beginning with Genesis 1:26-27. Passages also might include Eph 4:24 (“and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness”), II Cor 4:4 (“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”), and many others. Since in this chapter Sells focuses on Ibn “Arabi, he works from the saying of Muhammad “Allah created Adam in his sura [image, form]” (p. 65).
Sells develops the issue by pointing out that theologians ask: “How could a transcendent, unbound, absolutely unified deity have an image or form?” Did God create Adam “as a fully developed human, rather than having him develop through various embryonic and postembryonic stages of development” (p. 65)? Instead of focusing the meaning of “image” on either the deity or the human, on page 66, Sells pushes for something beyond:
“the issue of the divine image… is at the moment of mystical union, symbolized by the polished mirror … His/his image is constituted. The constitution of this image occurs within the heart of ‘the complete human’ (al-insan al-kamil).”
These passages invite me to wonder about ways I can participate with greater frequency and depth in the divine inheritance. How can I more fully realize the Presence? That’s why my desktop gets littered with books on mysticism, the holy, beauty, as well as teaching stories (e.g., Rumi’s “Mathnawi” & Attar) and poetry. It’s also the reason for my dedication to horsemanship and stewardship of these woods and gardens.
Of course, it’s easy to get distracted, distanced from the divine, by books and in words. Sells prefaces his close textual study in Chapter 3 with the reminder that “the absolute unity” is “beyond the dualistic structures of language and thought, beyond all relation” (p. 64). And yet our God-given languaging can participate in the mystical dance, flowing into it and with it. It’s a bit like the moments in riding when, after years of study and work, I finally find the awe of not-knowing, a kind of aporia, about whether it’s the horse or me that's transitioning. It is the time to breathe as long as possible in the “ahh.” Be watchful for the flow, for the time of the butterfly. Perhaps in some form this is always present and yet it's so easy to rush past without even noticing.
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