![investigate the way representation deeply influences the conceptualization and processes
of research.
In the humanities, this kind of critique predominates. Scientists and technolog-
ical innovators, however, believe in the ability to discover universal truths and assert
that reform can overcome those places where scientific process falls short of its aspira-
tions to universality and objectivity. As evidence of science’s validity, they point to
the accomplishments of the scientific worldview in building robust, cross-substantiating
theoretical structures, and in predicting and controlling the material and organic
world.
Any attempt to cross the disciplinary borders between art and science will confront
this disjunction—today’s incarnation of C. P. Snow’s “Two Cultures” theory. Some of
the artists in the following chapters have created works that join the critique, creating
installations that highlight aspects of science that fail the classical hygienic view. Others
implicitly accept the power of the canon, building on the formulations of prior research
and using processes of experimentation and theoretical elaboration.
What Is Technology?
High-tech artists do not necessarily engage science. An examination of the relationship
between technology and science is useful for understanding the range of artistic work
related to research. Technology is seen as “knowing how,” while science is seen as “know-
ing why.” Engineers and technologists are seen as primarily interested in making things
or refining processes, not in understanding principles. Many histories of technology are
essentially histories of invention—the objects, tools, and machines that people made
and the processes that made them.4
Melvin Kranzberg and Carroll Pursell believe that
this definition is too broad. In Technology in Western Cultures, they define it more nar-
rowly, as
man’s effort to cope with his physical environment—both that provided by nature and
that created by man’s own technological deeds, such as cities—and his attempt to subdue or
control that environment by means of his imagination and ingenuity in the use of available
resources.5
The relationship of science to technology is quite complex; it became a focus for
philosophers of science and technology. Contemporary definitions of technology some-
times call it applied science—the application of scientific principles to solving problems.
However, since technology predates science, it should be seen broadly, as human at-
tempts to shape the physical world: “[technology] for much of its history had little
Definitions and Theoretical Reflections
13](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/37774-250511161329-7f7290c8/85/Information-Arts-Intersections-of-Art-Science-and-Technology-1st-Edition-Stephen-Wilson-41-320.jpg)
![relation to science, for men could and did make machines and devices without under-
standing why they worked or why they turned out like they did.”6
Developers of technology used many techniques in refining their methods, including
learning from other practitioners, observing all aspects of their environment, and experi-
menting based on instinct, and trial and error. The goal was rarely the development of
scientific principles. Certainly, the experiments of many artists in finding appropriate
innovations to accomplish their artistic goals could fit this description.
With the Industrial Revolution and the refinement of science in the eighteenth cen-
tury, technology began to draw more on scientific understanding to help solve its prob-
lems. In the twentieth century, scientific research became a major source of new
technologies, and most manufacturers included scientists in their industrial research labs.
Historically, technological research is considered somehow less “pure,” and less lofty
than science.7
The origins of these attitudes lie deep in the history of Western culture.
Among the Egyptians and the Greeks, fabrication was done by slaves or low artisans,
and concern with the material world was considered less important than focus on more
essential qualities:
Making, even in the form of art, was often mistrusted as inimical to virtue or the pursuit of the
highest good because it focused attention on material reality . . . [it] was not considered important
as a contribution to the understanding either of the ends of human life or of the first principles
of being.8
The distrust of “making” continued into the Christian Middle Ages. Just before the
Renaissance, however, philosophers started to reexamine these notions. For example, in
City of God, St. Augustine noted that technological accomplishments were the exercise
of “an acuteness of intelligence of so high an order that it reveals how richly endowed
our human nature is,” as well as a sign of divine benevolence.9
With the Enlightenment came a positive attitude toward technological prowess. For
example, Francis Bacon proposed that science should serve technological innovation,
and suggested that the understanding of nature often becomes clear only when trying
to manipulate it technologically:
Bacon proposes a reconstruction of science to produce “a line and race of invention that may in
some degree subdue and overcome the necessities and miseries of humanity.” . . . Mind must
utilize art and hand until nature “is forced out of her natural state and squeezed and molded”
because “the nature of things betrays itself more readily under the vexations of art than in its
natural freedom.10
Chapter 1.1: Art and Science as Cultural Acts
14](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/37774-250511161329-7f7290c8/85/Information-Arts-Intersections-of-Art-Science-and-Technology-1st-Edition-Stephen-Wilson-42-320.jpg)
![This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.
Title: The Kashf al-mahjúb: The oldest Persian treatise on
Súfiism
Author: ‘Ali ibn ‘Usman Hujviri
Translator: Reynold Alleyne Nicholson
Release date: March 11, 2021 [eBook #64786]
Most recently updated: October 18, 2024
Language: English
Credits: KD Weeks, Fritz Ohrenschall and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file
was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KASHF AL-
MAHJÚB: THE OLDEST PERSIAN TREATISE ON SÚFIISM ***](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/37774-250511161329-7f7290c8/85/Information-Arts-Intersections-of-Art-Science-and-Technology-1st-Edition-Stephen-Wilson-54-320.jpg)
![[JANE GIBB, died November 26, 1904],
E. G. BROWNE,
G. LE STRANGE,
H. F. AMEDROZ,
A. G. ELLIS,
R. A. NICHOLSON,
E. DENISON ROSS,
AND
IDA W. E. OGILVY GREGORY (formerly GIBB), appointed
1905.
CLERK OF THE TRUST.
JULIUS BERTRAM,
14 Suffolk Street, Pall Mall,
LONDON, S.W.
PUBLISHERS FOR THE TRUSTEES.
E. J. BRILL, LEYDEN.
LUZAC & CO., LONDON.
CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS.
Page 2, penult. For (p. 3) read (p. 1).
p. 3, line 14 and l. 30. For (p. 3) read (p. 1).
p. 4, l. 18. For (p. 3) read (p. 1).
p. 4, l. 26. For just as the veil destroys revelation (mukáshafat) read
just as veiling destroys the unveiled object (mukáshaf).
p. 6, l. 4 and l. 16. For (p. 3) read (p. 1).
p. 51, l. 6. For Parg read Burk or Purg, and correct the note
accordingly. See Guy Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern
Caliphate, p. 292.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/37774-250511161329-7f7290c8/85/Information-Arts-Intersections-of-Art-Science-and-Technology-1st-Edition-Stephen-Wilson-62-320.jpg)
![PREFACE.
This translation of the most ancient and celebrated Persian
treatise on Ṣúfiism will, I hope, be found useful not only by the small
number of students familiar with the subject at first hand, but also
by many readers who, without being Orientalists themselves, are
interested in the general history of mysticism and may wish to
compare or contrast the diverse yet similar manifestations of the
mystical spirit in Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam. The origin of
Ṣúfiism and its relation to these great religions cannot properly be
considered here, and I dismiss such questions the more readily
because I intend to deal with them on another occasion. It is now
my duty to give some account of the author of the Kashf al-Maḥjúb,
and to indicate the character of his work.
Abu ´l-Ḥasan `Alí b. `Uthmán b. `Alí al-Ghaznawí al-Jullábí al-
Hujwírí[1]
was a native of Ghazna in Afghanistan.[2]
Of his life very
little is known beyond what he relates incidentally in the Kashf al-
Maḥjúb. He studied Ṣúfiism under Abu ´l-Faḍl Muḥammad b. al-
Ḥasan al-Khuttalí[3]
(p. 166), who was a pupil of Abu ´l-Ḥasan al-
Ḥuṣrí (ob. 371 A.H.), and under Abu ´l-`Abbás Aḥmad b. Muḥammad
al-Ashqání or al-Shaqání[4]
(p. 168). He also received instruction from
Abu ´l-Qásim Gurgání[5]
(p. 169) and Khwája Muẕaffar[6]
(p. 170),
and he mentions a great number of Shaykhs whom he had met and
conversed with in the course of his wanderings. He travelled far and
wide through the Muḥammadan empire from Syria to Turkistán and
from the Indus to the Caspian Sea. Among the countries and places
which he visited were Ádharbáyaján (pp. 57 and 410), the tomb of
Báyazíd at Bisṭám (p. 68), Damascus, Ramla, and Bayt al-Jinn in
Syria (pp. 94, 167, 343), Ṭús and Uzkand (p. 234), the tomb of Abú](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/37774-250511161329-7f7290c8/85/Information-Arts-Intersections-of-Art-Science-and-Technology-1st-Edition-Stephen-Wilson-66-320.jpg)
![Sa`íd b. Abi ´l-Khayr at Mihna (p. 235), Merv (p. 401), and the Jabal
al-Buttam to the east of Samarcand (p. 407). He seems to have
settled for a time in `Iráq, where he ran deeply into debt (p. 345). It
may be inferred from a passage on p. 364 that he had a short and
unpleasant experience of married life. Finally, according to the Riyáḍ
al-Awliyá, he went to reside at Lahore and ended his days in that
city. His own statement, however, shows that he was taken there as
a prisoner against his will (p. 91), and that in composing the Kashf
al-Maḥjúb he was inconvenienced by the loss of the books which he
had left at Ghazna. The date of his death is given as 456 A.H. (1063-
4 A.D.) or 464 A.H. (1071-2 A.D.), but it is likely that he survived Abu
´l-Qásim al-Qushayrí, who died in 465 A.H. (1072 A.D.). Rieu’s
observation (Cat. of the Persian MSS. in the British Museum, i, 343)
that the author classes Qushayrí with the Ṣúfís who had passed
away before the time at which he was writing, is not quite accurate.
The author says (p. 161): “Some of those whom I shall mention in
this chapter are already deceased, and some are still living.” But of
the ten Ṣúfís in question only one, namely, Abu ´l-Qásim Gurgání, is
referred to in terms which leave no doubt that he was alive when
the author wrote. In the Safínat al-Awliyá, No. 71, it is stated that
Abu ´l-Qásim Gurgání died in 450 A.H. If this date were correct, the
Kashf al-Maḥjúb must have been written at least fifteen years before
Qushayrí’s death. On the other hand, my MS. of the Shadharát al-
Dhahab records the death of Abu ´l-Qásim Gurgání under the year
469 A.H., a date which appears to me more probable, and in that
case the statement that the author survived Qushayrí may be
accepted, although the evidence on which it rests is mainly negative,
for we cannot lay much stress on the fact that Qushayrí’s name is
sometimes followed by the Moslem equivalent for “of blessed
memory”. I conjecture, then, that the author died between 465 and
469 A.H.
[7]
His birth may be placed in the last decade of the tenth or
the first decade of the eleventh century of our era, and he must
have been in the prime of youth when Sultan Maḥmúd died in 421
A.H. (1030 A.D.). The Risála-i Abdáliyya,[8]
a fifteenth century treatise
on the Muḥammadan saints by Ya`qúb b. `Uthmán al-Ghaznawí,
contains an anecdote, for which it would be hazardous to claim any](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/37774-250511161329-7f7290c8/85/Information-Arts-Intersections-of-Art-Science-and-Technology-1st-Edition-Stephen-Wilson-67-320.jpg)
![historical value, to the effect that al-Hujwírí once argued in
Maḥmúd’s presence with an Indian philosopher and utterly
discomfited him by an exhibition of miraculous powers. Be that as it
may, he was venerated as a saint long after his death, and his tomb
at Lahore was being visited by pilgrims when Bakhtáwar Khán wrote
the Riyáḍ al-Awliyá in the latter half of the seventeenth century.
In the introduction to the Kashf al-Maḥjúb al-Hujwírí complains
that two of his former works had been given to the public by
persons who erased his name from the title-page, and pretended
that they themselves were the authors. In order to guard against the
repetition of this fraud, he has inserted his own name in many
passages of the present work. His writings, to which he has occasion
to refer in the Kashf al-Maḥjúb, are—
1. A díwán (p. 2).
2. Minháj al-dín, on the method of Ṣúfiism (p. 2). It comprised a
detailed account of the Ahl-i Ṣuffa (p. 80) and a full biography of
Ḥusayn b. Manṣúr al-Ḥalláj (p. 153).
3. Asrár al-khiraq wa ´l-ma´únát, on the patched frocks of the
Ṣúfís (p. 56).
4. Kitáb-i faná ú baqá, composed “in the vanity and rashness of
youth” (p. 60).
5. A work, of which the title is not mentioned, in explanation of
the sayings of Ḥusayn b. Manṣúr al-Ḥalláj (p. 153).
6. Kitáb al-bayán li-ahl al-`iyán, on union with God (p. 259).
7. Baḥr al-qulúb (p. 259).
8. Al-Ri`áyat li-ḥuqúq Allah, on the Divine unity (p. 280).
9. A work, of which the title is not mentioned, on faith (p. 286).
None of these books has been preserved.
The Kashf al-Maḥjúb,[9]
which belongs to the later years of the
author’s life, and, partly at any rate, to the period of his residence in
Lahore, was written in reply to certain questions addressed to him
by a fellow-townsman, Abú Sa`íd al-Hujwírí. Its object is to set forth
a complete system of Ṣúfiism, not to put together a great number of
sayings by different Shaykhs, but to discuss and expound the
doctrines and practices of the Ṣúfís. The author’s attitude throughout
is that of a teacher instructing a pupil. Even the biographical section](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/37774-250511161329-7f7290c8/85/Information-Arts-Intersections-of-Art-Science-and-Technology-1st-Edition-Stephen-Wilson-68-320.jpg)
![of the work (pp. 70-175) is largely expository. Before stating his own
view the author generally examines the current opinions on the
same topic and refutes them if necessary. The discussion of mystical
problems and controversies is enlivened by many illustrations drawn
from his personal experience. In this respect the Kashf al-Maḥjúb is
more interesting than the Risála of Qushayrí, which is so valuable as
a collection of sayings, anecdotes, and definitions, but which follows
a somewhat formal and academic method on the orthodox lines. No
one can read the present work without detecting, behind the
scholastic terminology, a truly Persian flavour of philosophical
speculation.
Although he was a Sunní and a Ḥanafite, al-Hujwírí, like many
Ṣúfís before and after him, managed to reconcile his theology with
an advanced type of mysticism, in which the theory of “annihilation”
(faná) holds a dominant place, but he scarcely goes to such extreme
lengths as would justify us in calling him a pantheist. He strenuously
resists and pronounces heretical the doctrine that human personality
can be merged and extinguished in the being of God. He compares
annihilation to burning by fire, which transmutes the quality of all
things to its own quality, but leaves their essence unchanged. He
agrees with his spiritual director, al-Khuttalí, in adopting the theory
of Junayd that “sobriety” in the mystical acceptation of the term is
preferable to “intoxication”. He warns his readers often and
emphatically that no Ṣúfís, not even those who have attained the
highest degree of holiness, are exempt from the obligation of
obeying the religious law. In other points, such as the excitation of
ecstasy by music and singing, and the use of erotic symbolism in
poetry, his judgment is more or less cautious. He defends al-Ḥalláj
from the charge of being a magician, and asserts that his sayings
are pantheistic only in appearance, but condemns his doctrines as
unsound. It is clear that he is anxious to represent Ṣúfiism as the
true interpretation of Islam, and it is equally certain that the
interpretation is incompatible with the text.[10]
Notwithstanding the
homage which he pays to the Prophet we cannot separate al-
Hujwírí, as regards the essential principles of his teaching, from his
older and younger contemporaries, Abú Sa`íd b. Abi ´l-Khayr and](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/37774-250511161329-7f7290c8/85/Information-Arts-Intersections-of-Art-Science-and-Technology-1st-Edition-Stephen-Wilson-69-320.jpg)
![`Abdalláh Anṣárí.[11]
These three mystics developed the distinctively
Persian theosophy which is revealed in full-blown splendour by Faríd
al-dín `Aṭṭár and Jalál al-dín Rúmí.
The most remarkable chapter in the Kashf al-Maḥjúb is the
fourteenth, “Concerning the Doctrines held by the different sects of
Ṣúfís,” in which the author enumerates twelve mystical schools and
explains the special doctrine of each.[12]
So far as I know, he is the
first writer to do this. Only one of the schools mentioned by him,
namely, that of the Malámatís, seems to be noticed in earlier books
on Ṣúfiism; such brief references to the other schools as occur in
later books, for example in the Tadhkirat al-Awliyá, are probably
made on his authority. The question may be asked, “Did these
schools really exist, or were they invented by al-Hujwírí in his desire
to systematize the theory of Ṣúfiism?” I see no adequate ground at
present for the latter hypothesis, which involves the assumption that
al-Hujwírí made precise statements that he must have known to be
false. It is very likely, however, that in his account of the special
doctrines which he attributes to the founder of each school he has
often expressed his own views upon the subject at issue and has
confused them with the original doctrine. The existence of these
schools and doctrines, though lacking further corroboration,[13]
does
not seem to me incredible; on the contrary, it accords with what
happened in the case of the Mu`tazilites and other Muḥammadan
schismatics. Certain doctrines were produced and elaborated by
well-known Shaykhs, who published them in the form of tracts or
were content to lecture on them until, by a familiar process, the new
doctrine became the pre-eminent feature of a particular school.
Other schools might then accept or reject it. In some instances
sharp controversy arose, and the novel teaching gained so little
approval that it was confined to the school of its author or was
embraced only by a small minority of the Ṣúfí brotherhood. More
frequently it would, in the course of time, be drawn into the
common stock and reduced to its proper level. Dr. Goldziher has
observed that Ṣúfiism cannot be regarded as a regularly organized
sect within Islam, and that its dogmas cannot be compiled into a
regular system.[14]
That is perfectly true, but after allowing for all](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/37774-250511161329-7f7290c8/85/Information-Arts-Intersections-of-Art-Science-and-Technology-1st-Edition-Stephen-Wilson-70-320.jpg)
![divergences there remains a fairly definite body of doctrine which is
held in common by Ṣúfís of many different shades and is the result
of gradual agglomeration from many different minds.
It is probable that oral tradition was the main source from which
al-Hujwírí derived the materials for his work. Of extant treatises on
Ṣúfiism he mentions by name only the Kitáb al-Luma` by Abú Naṣr
al-Sarráj, who died in 377 or 378 A.H. This book is written in Arabic
and is the oldest specimen of its class. Through the kindness of Mr.
A. G. Ellis, who has recently acquired the sole copy that is at present
known to Orientalists, I have been able to verify the reading of a
passage quoted by al-Hujwírí (p. 341), and to assure myself that he
was well acquainted with his predecessor’s work. The arrangement
of the Kashf al-Maḥjúb is partially based on that of the Kitáb al-
Luma`, the two books resemble each other in their general plan,
and some details of the former are evidently borrowed from the
latter. Al-Hujwírí refers in his notice of Ma`rúf al-Karkhí (p. 114) to
the biographies of Ṣúfís compiled by Abú `Abd al-Raḥmán al-Sulamí
and Abu ´l-Qásim al-Qushayrí. Although he does not give the titles,
he is presumably referring to Sulamí’s ṭabaqát Al-ṣúfiyya and
Qushayrí’s Risála.[15]
The Kashf al-Maḥjúb contains a Persian
rendering of some passages in the Risála of Qushayrí, with whom al-
Hujwírí seems to have been personally acquainted. A citation from
`Abdalláh Anṣárí occurs on p. 26.
Manuscripts of the Kashf al-Maḥjúb are preserved in several
European libraries.[16]
It has been lithographed at Lahore, and
Professor Schukovski of St. Petersburg is now, as I understand,
engaged in preparing a critical text. The Lahore edition is inaccurate,
especially in the spelling of names, but most of its mistakes are easy
to emend, and the text agrees closely with two MSS. in the Library
of the India Office (Nos. 1773 and 1774 in Ethé’s Catalogue), with
which I have compared it. I have also consulted a good MS. in the
British Museum (Rieu’s Catalogue, i, 342). The following
abbreviations are used: L. to denote the Lahore edition, I. to denote
the India Office MS. 1773 (early seventeenth century), J. to denote
the India Office MS. 1774 (late seventeenth century), and B. to
denote the British Museum MS. Or. 219 (early seventeenth century).](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/37774-250511161329-7f7290c8/85/Information-Arts-Intersections-of-Art-Science-and-Technology-1st-Edition-Stephen-Wilson-71-320.jpg)
![Two considerations have impelled me to put my name at the
beginning of the book: one particular, the other general.[17]
As
regards the latter, when persons ignorant of this science see a new
book, in which the author’s name is not set down in several places,
they attribute his work to themselves, and thus the author’s aim is
defeated, since books are compiled, composed, and written only to
the end that the author’s name may be kept alive and that readers
and students may pronounce a blessing on him. This misfortune has
already befallen me twice. A certain individual borrowed my poetical
works, of which there was no other copy, and retained the
manuscript in his possession, and circulated it, and struck out my
name which stood at its head, and caused all my labour to be lost.
May God forgive him! I also composed another book, entitled “The
Highway of Religion” (Minháj al-Dín), on the method of Ṣúfiism—
may God make it flourish! A shallow pretender, whose words carry
no weight, erased my name from the title page and gave out to the
public that he was the author, notwithstanding that connoisseurs
laughed at his assertion. God, however, brought home to him the
unblessedness of this act and erased his name from the register of
those who seek to enter the Divine portal.
As regards the particular consideration, when people see a book,
and know that its author is skilled in the branch of science of which
it treats, and is thoroughly versed therein, they judge its merits
more fairly and apply themselves more seriously to read and
remember it, so that both author and reader are better satisfied. The
truth is best known to God.
Section.
In using the words “I have asked God’s blessing” (p. 3), I wished
to observe the respect due to God, who said to His Apostle: “When
you read the Koran, take refuge with God from the stoned Devil”
(Kor. xvi, 100). “To ask blessing” means “to commit all one’s affairs
to God and to be saved from the various sorts of contamination”.
The Prophet used to teach his followers to ask a blessing (istikhárat)](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/37774-250511161329-7f7290c8/85/Information-Arts-Intersections-of-Art-Science-and-Technology-1st-Edition-Stephen-Wilson-74-320.jpg)
![and explain the practical aspects of Ṣúfiism which are connected
with these theories.”
Answer.
The person questioned, `Alí b. `Uthmán al-Jullábí al-Hujwírí—may
God have mercy on him!—says:—
Know that in this our time the science of Ṣúfiism is obsolete,
especially in this country. The whole people is occupied with
following its lusts and has turned its back on the path of quietism
(riḍá), while the `ulamá and those who pretend to learning have
formed a conception of Ṣúfiism which is quite contrary to its
fundamental principles.
High and low alike are content with empty professions: blind
conformity has taken the place of spiritual enthusiasm. The vulgar
say, “We know God,” and the elect, satisfied if they feel in their
hearts a longing for the next world, say, “This desire is vision and
ardent love.” Everyone makes pretensions, none attains to reality.
The disciples, neglecting their ascetic practices, indulge in idle
thoughts, which they call “contemplation”.
I myself (the author proceeds) have already written several books
on Ṣúfiism, but all to no purpose. Some false pretenders picked out
passages here and there in order to deceive the public, while they
erased and destroyed the rest; others did not mutilate the books,
but left them unread; others read them, but did not comprehend
their meaning, so they copied the text and committed it to memory
and said: “We can discourse on mystical science.” Nowadays true
spiritualism is as rare as the Philosopher’s Stone (kibrít-i aḥmar); for
it is natural to seek the medicine that fits the disease, and nobody
wants to mix pearls and coral with common remedies like shalíthá[18]
and dawá al-misk.[19]
In time past the works of eminent Ṣúfís, falling
into the hands of those who could not appreciate them, have been
used to make lining for caps or binding for the poems of Abú Nuwás
and the pleasantries of Jáḥiẕ. The royal falcon is sure to get its wings
clipped when it perches on the wall of an old woman’s cottage. Our](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/37774-250511161329-7f7290c8/85/Information-Arts-Intersections-of-Art-Science-and-Technology-1st-Edition-Stephen-Wilson-79-320.jpg)
![contemporaries give the name of “law” to their lusts, pride and
ambition they call “honour and learning”, hypocrisy towards men
“fear of God”, concealment of anger “clemency”, disputation
“discussion”, wrangling and foolishness “dignity”, insincerity
“renunciation”, cupidity “devotion to God”, their own senseless
fancies “divine knowledge”, the motions of the heart and affections
of the animal soul “divine love”, heresy “poverty”, scepticism “purity”,
disbelief in positive religion (zandaqa) “self-annihilation”, neglect of
the Law of the Prophet “the mystic Path”, evil communication with
time-servers “exercise of piety”. As Abú Bakr al-Wásiṭí said: “We are
afflicted with a time in which there are neither the religious duties of
Islam nor the morals of Paganism nor the virtues of Chivalry”
(aḥlám-i dhawi ´l-ṃuruwwa). And Mutanabbí says to the same
effect:—[20]
“God curse this world! What a vile place for any camel-rider to alight
in!
For here the man of lofty spirit is always tormented.”
Section.
Know that I have found this universe an abode of Divine
mysteries, which are deposited in created things. Substances
accidents, elements, bodies, forms, and properties—all these are
veils of Divine mysteries. From the standpoint of Unification (tawḥíd)
it is polytheism to assert that any such veils exist, but in this world
everything is veiled, by its being, from Unification, and the spirit is
held captive by admixture and association with phenomenal being.
Hence the intellect can hardly comprehend those Divine mysteries,
and the spirit can but dimly perceive the marvels of nearness to
God. Man, enamoured of his gross environment, remains sunk in
ignorance and apathy, making no attempt to cast off the veil that
has fallen upon him. Blind to the beauty of Oneness, he turns away
from God to seek the vanities of this world and allows his appetites
to domineer over his reason, notwithstanding that the animal soul,](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/37774-250511161329-7f7290c8/85/Information-Arts-Intersections-of-Art-Science-and-Technology-1st-Edition-Stephen-Wilson-80-320.jpg)
Information Arts Intersections of Art Science and Technology 1st Edition Stephen Wilson
- 1. Information Arts Intersections of Art Science and Technology 1st Edition Stephen Wilson download https://ebookgate.com/product/information-arts-intersections-of- art-science-and-technology-1st-edition-stephen-wilson/ Get Instant Ebook Downloads – Browse at https://ebookgate.com
- 2. Get Your Digital Files Instantly: PDF, ePub, MOBI and More Quick Digital Downloads: PDF, ePub, MOBI and Other Formats Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology 2nd Edition Mehdi Khosrow-Pour https://ebookgate.com/product/encyclopedia-of-information- science-and-technology-2nd-edition-mehdi-khosrow-pour/ The Art and Science of Technology Transfer 1st Edition Phyllis L. Speser https://ebookgate.com/product/the-art-and-science-of-technology- transfer-1st-edition-phyllis-l-speser/ The Paths of Creation Creativity in Science and Art Natur Wissenschaft und die Künste Nature Science and the Arts Nature Science et les Arts Alfredo Marcos (Ed.) https://ebookgate.com/product/the-paths-of-creation-creativity- in-science-and-art-natur-wissenschaft-und-die-kunste-nature- science-and-the-arts-nature-science-et-les-arts-alfredo-marcos- ed/ Hegel and the Arts 1st Edition Stephen Houlgate https://ebookgate.com/product/hegel-and-the-arts-1st-edition- stephen-houlgate/
- 3. Teaching Geographic Information Science and Technology in Higher Education 1st Edition David Unwin https://ebookgate.com/product/teaching-geographic-information- science-and-technology-in-higher-education-1st-edition-david- unwin/ Link Analysis An Information Science Approach Library and Information Science Library and Information Science 1st Edition Mike Thelwall https://ebookgate.com/product/link-analysis-an-information- science-approach-library-and-information-science-library-and- information-science-1st-edition-mike-thelwall/ Wiley Acing the GATE Computer Science and Information Technology 1st Edition Verma Et Al https://ebookgate.com/product/wiley-acing-the-gate-computer- science-and-information-technology-1st-edition-verma-et-al/ Adequate Food for All Culture Science and Technology of Food in the 21st Century 1st Edition Wilson G. Pond https://ebookgate.com/product/adequate-food-for-all-culture- science-and-technology-of-food-in-the-21st-century-1st-edition- wilson-g-pond/ Usability and Internationalization of Information Technology 1st Edition Nuray Aykin https://ebookgate.com/product/usability-and-internationalization- of-information-technology-1st-edition-nuray-aykin/
- 6. leonardo Roger F. Malina, series editor Designing Information Technology, Richard Coyne, 1995 Technoromanticism: Digital Narrative, Holism, and the Romance of the Real, Richard Coyne, 1999 The Visual Mind, edited by Michele Emmer, 1994 The Robot in the Garden: Telerobotics and Telepistemology in the Age of the Internet, edited by Ken Goldberg, 2000 Leonardo Almanac, edited by Craig Harris, 1994 In Search of Innovation: The Xerox PARC Artist-in-Residence Program Project, edited by Craig Harris, 1999 The Digital Dialectic: New Essays on New Media, edited by Peter Lunenfeld, 1999 Immersed in Technology: Art and Virtual Environments, edited by Mary Anne Moser with Douglas MacLeod, 1996 Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology, Stephen Wilson, 2002
- 7. Information Arts Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology Stephen Wilson The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England
- 8. 2002 Stephen Wilson All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) with- out permission in writing from the publisher. This book was set in Bell Gothic and Garamond by Achorn Graphic Services, Inc., and printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wilson, Stephen, 1944– Information arts: intersections of art, science, and technology / Stephen Wilson. p. cm.—(Leonardo) ISBN 0-262-23209-X (hc: acid-free paper) 1. Art and science. 2. Art and technology. I. Title. II. Leonardo (Series) (Cambridge, Mass.). N72.S3 W55 2002 701′.05—dc21 00-038027
- 9. Contents selected artists xiii selected technologies xvii series foreword xix foreword by joel slayton xxi preface xxiii 1 Introduction, Methodology, Definitions, and Theoretical Overview 1 1.1 art and science as cultural acts 2 A Quiz 4 Revisiting the Relationship of Art and Techno-Scientific Research 5 Organization of the Book 7 The Deficiency of Categorization 8 What Areas of Technological Art Are Included? Which Are Not? 9 Definitions and Theoretical Reflections 11 Similarities and Differences between Science and Art 18 Critical Theory and Problematic Issues in the Integration of Art and Techno-Scientific Research 20 Artists’ Stances in Integrating Research 25 Summary: The End of Timelessness? 30 1.2 elaboration on the approach of art as research 34 Can the Arts Offer Alternatives in Setting Research Agendas, Interpreting Results, and Communicating Findings? 35 What Is a Viable Role for Artists in Research Settings? What Can Researchers Contribute to Art and What Can Artists Contribute to Research? What Can High-Tech Companies Gain from Artists Being Involved? 36 Art Characteristics Useful for Research 38 Preparing Artists for Research 39
- 10. The Integration of Research and Art 40 Art and Science/Technology Collaborations 41 Future Possibilities 48 2 Biology: Microbiology, Animals and Plants, Ecology, and Medicine and the Body 53 2.1 biology: research agendas and theoretical overview 54 Introduction 55 Research Agendas in Biology and Medicine 56 Areas of Cultural Significance in Biological Research 59 Theoretical Perspectives on Biology and the Body 72 Rethinking the Body and Medicine 77 Searching for Aesthetic Form in Art and Science 84 How Are Biology-Based Theory and Research Important to the Arts? 88 2.2 artists working with microbiology 94 Introduction: Microbiology and Genetics as Artistic Interest 95 Manipulations and Investigations of the Microworld 96 Creating Forms and Visualizations Based on Its Structures, Including the New Iconography of Gene Mapping 101 Reflections on the Processes of Genetic Science and Its Social Implications 105 Summary: Micro Steps 108 2.3 plants and animals 110 Introduction 111 Invertebrates 112 Arthropods: Insects and Spiders 116 Plants 118 Vertebrates 120 Acoustic Ecology 123 Summary 126 2.4 ecological art 128 Ecology: Organic Life as a System 129 Questions Raised by Artistic Interest in Ecology 130 Historical Examples of Artistic Work 131 Contemporary Artistic Work with Ecological Concepts 133 Summary: Linking Science and Art in Action 146 2.5 body and medicine 148 Introduction: Bodies, Technology, and Theory 149 Extropian and Post-Human Approaches 154 Contents vi
- 11. Artists’ Experiments with Technological Stimulation 157 Artists’ Experiments with Smell 169 Artists’ Experiments with Surgery 170 Experiments with Tissue Culture 174 Body Modification 174 Brain Processes, Heartbeats, Breath, Biosensors, and Psychology 180 The Psychological Processes of Perception, Cognition, Appreciation, and Creativity 189 Body Imaging 189 Medicine, Hospitals, Bodily Fluids, and Death 193 Summary: Dissecting the Body 198 3 Physics, Nonlinear Systems, Nanotechnology, Materials Science, Geology, Astronomy, Space Science, Global Positioning System, and Cosmology 201 3.1 physical science research agendas and theoretical reflections 202 Introduction: Questions about the Biggest and Smallest of Things 203 Survey of Research Fields and Agendas 204 Nonlinear Systems, Chaos, and Complexity 207 Astronomy, Cosmology, and Space Science 209 Epistemology—How Do We Know What We Know? 211 Potentially Important Emergent Technologies 213 Summary: Artist Explorations of Physical Science Research and Concepts 221 3.2 atomic physics, nanotechnology, and nuclear science 222 Atomic Physics 223 Viewing and Manipulating the Atomic World—Nanotechnology 226 Nuclear Science 230 Summary: Difficulties of Working at the Atomic Level 233 3.3 materials and natural phenomena: nonlinear dynamic systems, water, weather, solar energy, geology, and mechanical motion 234 Nonlinear Systems 235 Natural Phenomena—Oceans, Water, and Moving Liquid 239 Natural Phenomena—Erosion and Geological Action 241 Natural Phenomena—The Sky, Winds, and Weather 244 Solar Art 246 Mechanics—Oscillation and Pendulum Action 251 Fire, Heat, Magnetics, and Electromagnetics 253 Materials Science, Rapid Prototyping, and Chemistry 253 Summary: Pattern Finding and Poetry of Matter 256 Contents vii
- 12. 3.4 space 260 Artistic Interest in Space 261 Views from Space 263 Art Viewed from Earth 265 Art Executed in Space and Weightlessness 268 Painting and Photography Based on Space Exploration 271 Conceptual and Electronic Works 271 Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) 275 Art Critiques of Space Research 278 Summary: The Hopes 279 3.5 global positioning system (gps) 282 Possibilities and Dangers 283 Artistic Experimentation with GPS 283 Summary: Unexpected Implications 292 4 Algorithms, Mathematics, Fractals, Genetic Art, and Artificial Life 295 4.1 research agendas in mathematics and artificial life 296 Why Is Mathematics Part of a Book on Science, Technology, and Art? 297 A Review of Research Agendas in Mathematics 298 Artificial Life 302 Theoretical Perspectives on A-Life 305 Summary 311 4.2 algorithmic art, art and mathematics, and fractals 312 Algorithmic Art 313 Art and Mathematics 320 Fractals 330 Promise and Problems in Art and Mathematics and Algorithmic Art 333 Literacy—Audience Background 334 Understanding Systems 336 Abstraction and Cultural Theory 337 4.3 artificial life and genetic art 340 A-Life Sculpture and Autonomous Agents 341 Genetic, Evolutionary, and Organic Art 351 5 Kinetics, Sound Installations, and Robots 367 5.1 robotics and kinetics 368 Introduction: Robots—Creatures of Art and Science 369 An Overview of Scientific and Technological Research Agendas 371 Contents viii
- 13. Examples of Conceptual Challenges and Approaches 374 Robots and Popular Culture 382 Summary: Robot Hopes, Fears, and Realities 383 5.2 conceptual kinetics and electronics 386 Artistic Research 387 Kinetic Art Precursors 388 Kinetics and Light Sculpture 389 Conceptual Kinetics 392 Summary: More Than Robotics 405 5.3 kinetic instruments, sound sculpture, and industrial music 406 A Brief Theoretical Overture 407 Experiments in Sound Installation 409 Summary: Research as Art 422 5.4 robots 424 Robotic Theater and Robotic Dance 425 Autonomy 427 Extreme Performance, Destruction, Mayhem, and Control 432 Social Metaphors 440 Extending Robot Motion and Interfaces 446 Robot Architecture 451 Summary: Kinetics and Robots—Hybrids of Art and Science 454 6 Telecommunications 457 6.1 telecommunications research agendas and theoretical reflections 458 Introduction: Overcoming Distance 459 Telecommunications Research and Development 460 Research Trends in Telepresence 469 The Meaning of the Telecommunications ‘‘Revolution’’ 473 The Exploration of New Possibilities 481 Summary: Telecommunications—The Grand Cyber Debate 484 6.2 telephone, radio, and net.radio 486 A Brief History of Telematic Art 487 Theoretical Perspectives on Telephone Art 488 Examples of Telephone-Based Art 490 Radio, Television, and Wireless 497 Radio-Based Art and Theater Installations 503 Art Radio 504 Contents ix
- 14. The Migration to Net.Radio 507 Summary: Dangers and Opportunities in Convergence 511 6.3 teleconferencing, videoconferencing, satellites, the internet, and telepresence 514 Teleconferencing, Videoconferencing, Satellites, and Internet Collaboration 515 Telepresence Definitions 526 Artists Exploring Telepresence 528 Visualizing Net Activity 549 Parapsychological Communication 554 Summary: Being There 556 6.4 web art 558 Critical Perspectives on Web Art 561 Archive and Information Sites 564 Projects to Accumulate Web-Viewer Opinions 572 Genetic Art Using Web-Visitor Voting 573 Recomposing Web Resources 576 Collaborative Environments and Person-to-Person Communication 579 The Development of New Capabilities 585 Reflections about the Net 589 Arrangements That Use Readings of the Physical World to Affect the Web 596 Cool Sites 599 Summary: The Web as an Art Arena 600 7 Digital Information Systems/Computers 603 7.1 research agendas and theoretical overview 604 Introduction: The Computer Revolution 605 Diverse Histories of Technological Imagination 605 Research Agendas 607 Theoretical Reflections on the Digital Culture and Art 630 Summary: Debate in the Art Community—Possibilities of an Enhanced Future 657 7.2 computer media 664 Introduction: Extensions of Photography, Cinema, Video, and Literature 665 Deconstructive and Feminist Critiques of Cultural Trends 666 Extending Poetic and Expressive Capabilities 671 Art Games 676 Multi-Person Events 679 Video Installation 680 Contents x T E A M F L Y
- 15. Interactive Documentary 685 Hyperfiction 688 Summary: Computer Media—The Next Stages of Cinema and Television? 689 7.3 virtual reality 692 Introduction: Artists as Architects of Virtual Reality 693 Unorthodox Spaces and Characters 694 The Virtual Reality World as Metaphor 705 Alternative Objects and Creatures 709 Relationships between the Physical and the Virtual 712 Information Visualization 717 Distributed Virtual Reality 721 Virtual Reality, Music, and Theater 722 Research and Commercial Virtual Reality Environments 725 Summary 726 7.4 motion, gesture, touch, gaze, manipulation, and activated objects 728 Introduction: Reworking the Interface 729 Motion 730 Gesture 745 Touch and Tactility 749 Gaze 755 Face Recognition 758 Complex Actions—Balance, Walking, and Bicycling 760 Breath 764 Activated Objects 764 Summary: Can a Computer Do More Than See and Hear? 772 7.5 speech synthesis, voice recognition, and 3-d sound 774 Sound Research 775 3-D Sound 776 Speech Synthesis and Manipulation 780 Speech Recognition 782 Summary: Something to Talk About 784 7.6 artificial intelligence 786 Artificial Intelligence Research 787 Algorithms for Creativity 789 Image and Speech Recognition 794 Interactions with Artificial Characters 797 Contents xi
- 16. Affective Computing 804 Agents 806 Summary: The Role of the Arts in Artificial Intelligence and Agent Research 809 7.7 information and surveillance 812 Information Management, Visualization, Commerce, and Surveillance 813 Bar Codes and ID Technologies 814 Surveillance 815 Databases and Research Processes 822 Information Visualization 829 Reflections on Science 833 Information Organizations and Structures 836 Summary: Being Formed by Information 846 8 Resources 849 8.1 exhibitions and festivals; educational programs; art, and research collaborations; organizational resources, think tanks, and web resources 850 Permanent Spaces, Museums, and Comprehensive Institutions 851 Competitions and Festivals 857 Organizations and Information Publishers 860 Art and Science-Technology Sponsors, Competitions, and Academic Convergence Programs 865 Think Tanks and University Labs 866 Educational Resources 868 Research Conferences, Science Magazines, Trade Magazines, and Science and Technology Studies 872 Summary: Institutions as Art 873 8.2 summary—the future 874 Appendixes 879 A methodology 880 B books for further inquiry 886 name index 905 subject index 923 Contents xii
- 17. Selected Artists Artists include: James Acord Kristi Allik Mark Amerika Suzanne Anker Marcel.li Antunez Roca Margo K. Apostolos Roy Ascott Franko B Nicolas Anatol Baginsky Harlyn Baker Bill Barminski Gregory Barsamian Louis Bec Konrad Becker Tony Belaver Guy Ben-Ary Maurice Benayoun Bob Bingham Trevor Blackwell Marc Böhlen Christian A. Bohn Karl Bohringer Tom Bonauro Johnny Bradley Benjamin Britton Shawn Brixey Peter Broadwell Sheldon Brown Leif Brush C5 Patrice Caire Jim Campbell Bruce Cannon Oron Catts Shu Lea Cheang Mel Chin Richard Clar Mary Anne Clark Harold Cohen Brent Collins Tim Collins Pierre Comte Luc Courchesne Donna Cox Jordan Crandall Trevor Darrell Char Davies Joe Davis
- 18. List of Artists xiv Walter De Maria Paul DeMarinis Louis-Philippe Demers Andrea Di Castro Stewart Dickson Elizabeth Diller Mark Dion Diana Domingues Abbe Don Kitsou Dubois John Dunn Hubert Duprat Christopher Ebener Stephan Eichhorn Arthur Elsenaar Brian Evans Ken Feingold Gregory Fischer Monika Fleischmann Bill Fontana Felice Frankel Masaki Fujihata Rebecca Fuson Ulrike Gabriel Kit Galloway Paul Garrin George Gessert Bruce Gilchrist JoAnn Gillerman Ken Goldberg Guillermo Gómez-Peña George Gonzalez Gaile Gordon Reiko Goto Sharon Grace Group Spirale Kazuhiko Hachiya Newton Harrison Helen Harrison Emily Hartzell Steven Hartzog Grahame Harwood Agnes Hegedüs Michael Heivly Nigel Helyer Lynn Hershman Paul Hertz Jerry Hesketh Perry Hoberman Eric Hobijn Carsten Höller Bart Hopkins Lisa Hutton Tjark Ihmels Toshio Iwai Natalie Jeremijenko Jodi.org Ludwig John Eduardo Kac Ned Kahn Paras Kaul Yves Klein Vitaly Komar Milton Komisar Richard Kriesche Myron Krueger Ted Krueger Gregory Kuhn Mierle Landerman Ukeles Jaron Lanier Eve Andrée Laramée Brenda Laurel Ray Lauzzanna George Legrady
- 19. List of Artists xv Webster Lewin Carl Loeffler Rafael Lozano-Hemmer Dirk Luesebrink James Luna Chico MacMurtie John Maeda Judy Malloy Steve Mann Wojciech Matusik Delle Maxwell Alex Melamid Laurent Mignonneau Seiko Mikami MIT Media Lab Aesthetics and Computation Group Bonnie Mitchell Christian Möller Gordon Monahan Knut Mork Iain Mott Robert Mulder Antonio Muntadas Fakir Musafar Ken Musgrave Rob Myers Michael Naimark Ikuo Nakamura Eric Nyberg Orlan Karen O’Rourke Ed Osborn Randall Packer Eric Paulos Kate Pendry Simon Penny Jean-Marc Philippe Clifford Pickover Ian Pollock Sherrie Rabinowitz John Randolph Sonya Rapoport Alan Rath Thomas Ray Mark Reaney Catherine Richards Peter Richards Ken Rinaldo Don Ritter Keith Roberson Sara Roberts Alexis Rockman Bryan Rogers Kathleen Rogers David Rokeby David Rosenboom Teri Rueb Eric Samakh Joachim Sauter Remko Scha Stefan Schemat Julia Scher Thecla Schiphorst Barry Schwartz Ricardo Scofidio Jill Scott Bill Seaman Seemen Carlo Sequin Paul Sermon Jeffrey Shaw Roberto Sifuentes Todd Siler Janet Silk
- 20. List of Artists xvi Karl Sims Joel Slayton David Small Alexa Smith Nina Sobell Christa Sommerer Alan Sonfist Martin Spanjaard Richard Stanford Ed Stastny Stelarc Stahl Stenslie Wolfgang Strauss Rachel Strickland Susan Stryker Athena Tacha Ed Tannenbaum Project Taos Nell Tenhaaf Rob Terry Mark Thompson Mark Thorpe Bruce Tombs John Tonkin Naoko Tosa Michael Touma Trimpin Normal Tuck Tom Van Sant Paul Vanouse Roman Verostko Bill Vorn Tamas Waliczky Marius Watz Peter Weibel Barry Brian Werger Norman White Tom White Neil Wiernik Gail Wight Stephen Wilson Uli Winters Andrea Wollensak John Woodfill Arthur Woods Kirk Woolford Kenji Yanobe Pamela Z Ionat Zurr
- 21. List of Technologies xvii Selected Technologies Research areas include: Bioengineering Microbiology and genetics Smell, taste, and touch sensors Biosensors Bioidentification and Biosurveillance Neuroscience Bionics Parapsychology and bioelectricity Biological warfare Plant and animal behavior Ecology Technological stimulation of the body Surgery Tissue culture Brain monitoring Heartbeat and breath monitoring Body modification Perception and cognition Body imaging Death processes Nonlinear systems, complexity, and chaos Particle physics Nanotechnology Materials science Rapid prototyping Global positioning system (GPS) Geology and seismic activity Fluid dynamics Meteorology Solar energy Fire and magnetics Theoretical math Fractals Algorithms Artificial Life Genetic Algorithms Robot vision and motion Robot autonomy Subsumption architecture Humanoid robots Living architecture Wireless communication and mobile computing Location sensitive communication Electromagnetic spectrum
- 22. List of Technologies xviii Desktop video Computer Telephone Integration (CTI) Virtual communities and telecollaboration Telepresence Remote museums Telemedicine Synthetic image and telecommunication integration Visualizing net activity Autonomous flying vehicles Parapsychological communication Gesture and touch recognition Speech recognition and synthesis Face and facial expression recognition Object tracking and identification Video surveillance Music recognition Haptics 3-D sound Motion simulation Force feedback Immersive virtual reality Automatic video interpretation Synthetic scene generation Ambient sound and sound localization Speaker identification and tracking Earcons and sonification Autonomous software agents Social and emotional computing Artificial intelligence Information visualization and foraging Augmented reality systems Tangible bits Ubiquitous/pervasive/invisible computing Wearable computing Smart spaces, houses, highways
- 23. Series Foreword Editorial Board: Roger F. Malina, Denise Penrose, and Pam Grant Ryan The cultural convergence of art, science, and technology provides ample opportunity for artists to challenge the very notion of how art is produced and to call into question its subject matter and its function in society. The mission of the Leonardo book series, published by the MIT Press, is to publish texts by artists, scientists, researchers, and scholars that present innovative discourse on the convergence of art, science, and tech- nology. Envisioned as a catalyst for enterprise, research, and creative and scholarly experimen- tation, the book series enables diverse intellectual communities to explore common grounds of expertise. The Leonardo book series provides a context for the discussion of contemporary practice, ideas, and frameworks in this rapidly evolving arena where art and science connect. To find more information about Leonardo/ISAST and to order our publications, go to Leonardo Online at 〈http://mitpress.mit.edu/e-journals/Leonardo/isast/leobooks.html〉 or send e-mail to 〈leonardobooks.mitpress.mit.edu〉. Joel Slayton Chairman, Leonardo Book Series Book Series Advisory Committee: Annick Bureaud, Pamela Grant Ryan, Craig Harris, Roger Malina, Margaret Morse, Michael Punt, Douglas Sery, Allen Strange. Leonardo/International Society for the Arts, Sciences, and Technology (ISAST) Leonardo, the International Society for the Arts, Sciences, and Technology, and the affiliated French organization Association Leonardo have two very simple goals:
- 24. 1. to document and make known the work of artists, researchers, and scholars interested in the ways that the contemporary arts interact with science and technology, and 2. to create a forum and meeting places where artists, scientists, and engineers can meet, exchange ideas, and, where appropriate, collaborate. When the journal Leonardo was started some 35 years ago, these creative disciplines existed in segregated institutional and social networks, a situation dramatized at that time by the ‘‘Two Cultures’’ debates initiated by C. P. Snow. Today we live in a different time of cross-disciplinary ferment, collaboration, and intellectual confrontation enabled by new hybrid organizations, new funding sponsors, and the shared tools of computers and the Internet. Above all, new generations of artist-researchers and researcher-artists are now at work individually and in collaborative teams bridging the art, science, and technology disciplines. Perhaps in our lifetime we will see the emergence of ‘‘new Leo- nardos,’’ creative individuals or teams who will not only develop a meaningful art for our times but also drive new agendas in science and stimulate technological innovation that addresses today’s human needs. For more information on the activities of the Leonardo organizations and networks, please visit our Web site at 〈http://mitpress.mit.edu/Leonardo〉. Roger F. Malina Chairman, Leonardo/ISAST ISAST Board of Directors: Barbara Lee Williams, Martin Anderson, Mark Resch, Mark Beam, Sonya Rapoport, Stephen Wilson, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Joel Slayton, Penel- ope Finnie, Curtis Karnow, Mina Bissell, Rich Gold, Beverly Reiser, Piero Scaruffi. Series Foreword xx T E A M F L Y
- 25. Foreword Stephen Wilson’s Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology is the first comprehensive international survey of artists working at the frontiers of scientific inquiry and emerging technologies. The scope of Information Arts is encyclopedic: it is both a critical text and practical resource guide. The expansive taxonomy of art and research is accentuated by theoretical perspectives, analysis, and art commentaries that address a di- verse range of ideological positions. Information Arts also provides resources on organiza- tions, publications, conferences, museums, educational programs, and research centers. Steve Wilson provides a mirror that captures the essence and agendas represented by contemporary efforts of artists to integrate scientific research into their work and enter- prise. Offering a critical context of their agendas, he examines research that crosses the intellectual terrain of biology, physics, materials science, astronomy, cognitive science, engineering, medicine, architecture, and social and information science. This research indicates that although art and science share many characteristics, a special role for the arts exists in the evolution and deployment of technology—the implication being that by operating outside the conventions of traditional practice, unique and significant research enterprises can and will unfold. Information Arts helps us understand on a deeper level that experimental research is culturally necessary and serves to transform how to simulate, interact with, and experience the world. Information Arts is about the unfolding of this conceptual frontier, a frontier in which art informs research and research informs art. For more information about the book, author, and Leonardo book series, as well as updated links to artists, theorists, and researchers working at the intersection of art, science, and technology, please visit ⬍http://mitpress.mit.edu/Leonardo/isast/ leobooks/swilson/⬎. Joel Slayton
- 26. This page intentionally left blank
- 27. Preface In my last semester at Antioch College, all students were expected to complete an integra- tive final thesis. Since it was the late 1960s, most students at this experimental college focused on the political and cultural structures undergoing upheaval in that era. I ap- proached the foment differently. Radio, television, amplified music, and cinema were everywhere. They figured promi- nently as the arbiters of change even in the lives of those of us focused on the arts and humanities. Yet it struck me as strange that almost no one outside of engineering under- stood how devices such as the radio worked. How did it magically manage to send sounds thousands of miles through the ether? This acquiescence to ignorance seemed a critical gap in our literacy and ultimately our capacity to act in a technological world. For my final thesis, I proposed to teach myself how radio worked even though I lacked any significant technical background. Ultimately, I did learn how radio worked. I also learned some things that may be more important: that the mystification of science and technology was unjustified; that scientific principles were understandable, just like ideas in other fields; and that technological imagination and scientific inquiry were them- selves a kind of poetry—a revolutionary weaving of ideas and a bold sculpture of matter to create new possibilities. Over the years these insights have guided my teaching and my work as an artist. They are also the foundation for this book. There is a major categorical flaw in the way we commonly think about scientific and technological research as being outside the major cultural flow, as something only for specialists. We must learn to appreciate and produce science and technology just as we do literature, music, and the arts. They are part of the cultural core of our era and must become part of general discourse in a profound way. Many artists have begun to engage the world of technological and scientific research— not just use its gizmos—but rather to comment on its agendas and extend its possibilities. Their work can be seen as part of this essential rapprochement and as a clue to what art may look like in the twenty-first century. I wrote this book because no resource
- 28. surveying this remarkable body of art and its relationship to research exists. Information Arts includes the following: • It surveys artistic work related to biology (microbiology, genetics, animal and plant behavior, ecology, the body, and medicine); the physical sciences (particle physics, atomic energy, geology, physics, chemistry, astronomy, space science, and Global Positioning System (GPS) technology); mathematics and algorithms (algorists, frac- tals, genetic art, and artificial life); kinetics (conceptual electronics, sound installation, and robotics); telecommunications (telephone, radio, telepresence, and Web art); and digital systems (interactive media, virtual reality (VR), alternative sensors, artificial intelligence, 3-D sound, speech, scientific visualization, and information systems). Using summaries from the artists’ writings, it introduces their rationales and explana- tions of their work. • It considers artists approaching research from a variety of ideological stances and reviews theoretical writing related to artistic work in these areas. • Exploring the idea of techno-scientific research as cultural acts, it also reviews the research projects, agendas, and future plans of scientists and technologists working at the frontiers of inquiry. • It also lists resources (organizations, publications, conferences, museums, research centers, and art-science collaborations); books useful for further study; and Web sites for artists, theorists, and research centers. The author wishes to thank the many who have helped to make this book possible: the artists and researchers who have created these extraordinary works and graciously allowed us to use images of their work. The technologists who created the Web, which allows us all to access each other’s work. Students in my courses in the Conceptual/ Information Arts Program at San Francisco State University, whose enthusiasm and honesty have helped hone my ideas. Student research assistants Joseph Schecter, Max Kelly, Lisa Husby, and Torrey Nommesen for helping with image and permission re- search. The reviewers and editors of MIT Press’s Leonardo series who recognized the value of the book and offered suggestions for its improvement. Production editor Debo- rah Cantor-Adams and production and graphics coordinator Sharon Deacon Warne at MIT Press who helped give the book its present polished form. Doug Sery, my editor at MIT Press, for his support and willingness to pursue these ideas. Catherine Witzling, my wife, for editing the first two chapters and her frankness in questioning the topics of this book. My daughter Sophia, for rescuing me from the obsession with the book via demands to play. Sally and Julius Wilson for teaching me to be curious about everything. Preface xxiv
- 29. 1 Introduction, Methodology, Definitions, and Theoretical Overview
- 30. 1.1 Art and Science as Cultural Acts
- 31. What do art and science have to do with each other? Information Arts takes an unortho- dox look at this question, focusing on the revolutionary work of artists and theorists who challenge the separations initiated in the Renaissance. It points toward a possible future in which the arts can reassume their historical role of keeping watch on the cultural frontier and in which the sciences and arts inform each other. Research has become a center of cultural innovation: its results are radically influenc- ing life and thought. Our culture needs to participate in defining research agendas, conducting inquiries, and analyzing their meanings. Artists should be hungry to know what researchers are doing and thinking, and scientists and technologists should be zeal- ous to know of artistic experimentation. The future will be enriched if this expansion of zones of interest becomes a part of the definition of art and science. Scientific and technological research should be viewed more broadly than in the past: not only as specialized technical inquiry, but as cultural creativity and commentary, much like art. It can be appreciated for its imaginative reach as well as its disciplinary or utilitarian purposes. Like art, it can be profitably analyzed for its subtexts, its associa- tion to more general cultural forces, and its implications as well as its surface rationales. Art that explores technological and scientific frontiers is an act of relevance not only to a high-brow niche in a segregated corner of our culture. Like research, it asks questions about the possibilities and implications of technological innovation. It often explores different inquiry pathways, conceptual frameworks, and cultural associations than those investigated by scientists and engineers. (I have adopted the convention of referring to scientific inquiry and technological innovation as techno-scientific research, even though their activities can be quite different.) Anthropologists claim that we increasingly live in an “information society” in which the creation, movement, and analysis of ideas is the center of cultural and economic life. In our culture, scientific and technological information is a critical core of that information. This book is called Information Arts because the art of such a culture must address that information if it is going to be vital. Here, then, are the questions Information Arts is attempting to answer: What kinds of relationships are possible among art, scientific inquiry, and technological innovation? How might art and research mutually inform each other? How are artists investigating techno-scientific research? How have they chosen to relate to the world of research? How does research further their artistic agendas? How do art historians and cultural theorists understand the interactions between culture and research? How do researchers conceptualize? What agendas motivate their work? What future developments are likely to call for cultural commentary and artistic attention? A Quiz 3
- 32. A Quiz We are at an interesting place in history, in which it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between techno-scientific research and art—a sign that broader integrated views of art and research are developing. The section below offers the reader a “quiz” to illustrate this point. It briefly describes research activities mentioned in this book. The reader is invited to determine which activities have been carried out by persons describing themselves as artists and which by those describing themselves as researchers. (For the sake of the quiz, all are identified as “researchers.” Answers are provided at the end of this chapter.) Research Art — — Researcher J.T. developed a method of using genetic engineering to encode messages in bacteria. — — Researcher S. developed an arrangement so that persons far away could control his body through electrical stimulation. — — Researcher E.K. created a system in which several geographically dis- persed participants shared the body of a robot that they mutually controlled. — — Researchers C.E. and U.W. bred a line of mice with a special proclivity for eating computer cables. — — Researcher P.D. developed a method for modulating sound onto the flow of dripping water. — — Researcher J.M. developed a computer display that could visualize the underlying intellectual structure of a group of articles and books. — — Researcher R.B. developed colonies of small robots with a repertoire of simple behaviors that can evolve complex intelligence skills through learn- ing and communication. — — Researcher H.S. developed a “fertility bra” that used pheromone receptors to flash indicators when the woman wearing it was in a fertile period. — — Researchers created a video composite representation of participants in a video conference in which nonactive participants faded with the level of their activity. — — Researchers at M.R. developed a device that is sensitive to hugs and can react to things it hears on the television. — — Researcher R.G. invented a toilet with biosensors that provides instant urine-based analysis of biological characteristics, such as drug presence or emotional arousal levels. Chapter 1.1: Art and Science as Cultural Acts 4
- 33. Which is which? The confusion is a significant cultural event. Revisiting the Relationship of Art and Techno-Scientific Research Historical Separations The arts and the sciences are two great engines of culture: sources of creativity, places of aspiration, and markers of aggregate identity. Before the Renaissance, they were united. Science was called natural philosophy. Philosophers were as likely to speculate about art and science as about religion and truth. Similarly, in tribal societies the phi- losopher, shaman, and artist were likely to be the same person. Visual and performance arts were integrated into the fabric of rituals and daily life. The artist who sang stories or carved ritual objects was likely to be the person who was especially observant and wise about the ways of the heavens, the weather, animals, plants, the earth, and life and death. In the West, the Renaissance initiated an era of specialization. Science became codified as a segregated set of processes and worldviews. While its accomplishments in providing new understanding of old mysteries increased confidence in its claims, art moved in its own direction, largely ignoring the agendas of science. During the Industrial Revolution, science inspired technology and technology inspired science. Research and invention spread into every corner of life, but mainstream art seemed oblivious. Increasingly, it became less likely that an educated person would be well versed in both areas of culture. In the 1960s commentator C. P. Snow developed his influential “Two Cultures” theory1 that concluded that those in the humanities and arts and those in the sciences had developed sufficiently different languages and worldviews that they did not understand each other. Note that this book will concentrate on the arts, but much of the analysis holds more generally for the humanities.2 The Urgency for Reexamination Can art and science/technology remain segregated in the twenty-first century? Informa- tion Arts seeks to revisit the relationship of art to scientific and technological research, exploring the pioneering work of artists with emerging research and the prospects for future mutual influences. Several cultural forces combine to make a reexamination of the disconnection critical. Revisiting the Relationship of Art and Techno-Scientific Research 5
- 34. Influence on Life Technological and scientific research are spreading their influence into every corner of life, from medicine, communication, and government to domestic life, education, and entertainment. Commercial innovators scan for research in hopes of creating new industries and fortunes. In earlier eras, the influence of research seemed more limited; there were long periods of continuity in everyday life. How can the arts keep watch on the cultural frontier if they ignore such omnipresent features of life? Influence on Thought Science and technology are changing basic notions about the nature of the universe and the nature of humanity. New communications technologies challenge ancient ideas about time, distance, and space. New probes peer into the biologi- cal heart of life and identity and the origins of the stars. All fields that ask philosophical questions, such as art, must take heed. Critical Studies and Cultural Theory These disciplines challenge traditional ways of studying culture and question the wisdom of trying to understand the arts, humanities, and sciences in isolation from each other and of segregating “high” and “low” culture. Critical theory deconstructs long-standing sacred cows, such as science’s privileged claims to truth and objectivity, as well as art’s claims to a special elevated sensitivity. Artists and scientists are seen as creatures of culture, and their work is understood within larger psycho-political-economic-cultural frameworks. Critical theory takes on concepts such as truth, progress, reality, nature, science, gender, identity, and the body. The compelling energy of this analysis is one important indicator of the wisdom of tearing down the walls between disciplines such as art and science. Artistic Activity The increasing level of artistic activity using computers, the Internet, and other areas of scientific interest suggests the impossibility of understanding the fu- ture of the arts without devoting attention to science and technology. Twenty years ago, when I first started my artistic experiments with computers, it was hard to find similarly involved artists or relevant critical perspectives. Now there is an explosion of interest. Some artists want to assimilate the computer to traditional artistic media, for example, by treating it as a fancy paintbrush or camera. Many others, however, recognize the computer as the tip of a techno-cultural iceberg. They understand that the most interesting work is likely to derive from a deeper comprehension of the un- derlying scientific and technological principles that have guided the computer’s de- velopment, and from participation in the research flow that points to the technological future. Chapter 1.1: Art and Science as Cultural Acts 6 T E A M F L Y
- 35. Organization of the Book Information Arts aims to be a resource in the reexamination of the relationship between research and art. It proposes to accomplish this in several ways. Presentation of Artists Artists have begun to engage the concepts, tools, and contexts of scientific and technological research, and their work is provocative and intriguing. No unified compendium of this work exists, yet this is the best source of information about new kinds of relationships between art and research in the future. I have conducted extensive research to identify artists working with scientific and technological research and have included both established and emerging artists. Where possible, I have incorpo- rated excerpts of the artists’ own statements, descriptions, and images. I have also offered commentary by others when useful. Overview of Theory Cultural theorists, art historians, and artists have begun to write about many issues in techno-culture that are germane to the discussion of the relationship between art and science/technology. For each of the major sections of the book, I have presented brief overviews of theoretical writing on the topic and indications of controver- sies where they exist. Overview of Research Agendas This book explores the possibility of viewing art and research as a unified cultural enterprise and of understanding researchers’ worldviews— their goals, category systems, and visions of the future. For each section of the book, I present overviews of what practitioners in those fields see as the most important research agendas. Indeed, it is a basic premise of this book that art practice and theory in areas of science and technology can best proceed only with profound investigation of these agendas. Methodology Creation of this book raised a wide variety of methodological ques- tions: How does one locate exemplary artists and researchers working at the fron- tiers of inquiry? How does one assess the quality of works? How have my own biases affected the choices and analysis? These questions are considered in Appendix A: Methodology. Sections of the Book I have organized the book using categories of research to differen- tiate sections. Sections cover major branches of scientific inquiry, such as biology, physi- cal sciences, and mathematics, and areas of technological foment, such as computers, alternative interfaces, telecommunications, and robotics. Within each section, chapters focus on particular research arenas. Organization of the Book 7
- 36. The Deficiency of Categorization Artists resist categorization. Artworks are typically multilayered, addressing many themes simultaneously. Many artists purposely try to confound preexisting categories. The tech- nology used may not be the most important element. Why was this book organized in accordance with scientific disciplines and techno- logical categories? How were artists and artworks placed in particular categories? As an author I confronted the challenge of developing an organizational system for consid- ering art and artworks. Since Information Arts investigates the role of scientific and technological research, I adapted practical, low-inference categories focused on scientific disciplines and areas of technology. Thus, if an artwork used biological materials or sought to comment on biological issues such as genetic engineering, I placed it in the biology section of the book. The artist may or may not consider the link with biological research as important as many other issues addressed in the artwork be- sides biology. As an aid to preserving the way the artists framed their work, I have included artists’ own descriptions and rationales wherever possible. Also, the overviews of theory relevant to the areas of research provide additional interpretive perspectives. The book attempts to cross-reference works that explore multiple research areas simulta- neously. How Does Research Function in Various Artists’ Works? The artists in the following chapters integrate techno-scientific research in a variety of ways. For some it is a central focus of their art; for others it is an incidental feature. Even for those for whom the connection is central, a variety of theoretical orientations shape their work. Here is a brief overview of the variety of approaches, starting with those in which the research is central. Note that any given artwork might mix several of these approaches. Exploration of New Possibilities The artist’s work itself functions as research into the new capabilities opened up by a line of inquiry. For example, in investigating artificial intelligence and speech recognition technology, artist Naoka Tosa created Neuro Baby, a computer-generated character that attempted to read the emotional tone of a visitor’s speech and react appropriately (see chapter 7.6). Exploration of the Cultural Implications of a Line of Research The artists use the new capabilities to create work that explores the narratives and conceptual frameworks that underlie the research. For example, artists David Rokeby and Paul Garrin created an installation called White Devil, which used motion detection technology to create a Chapter 1.1: Art and Science as Cultural Acts 8
- 37. video projection of a guard dog that snapped at visitors wherever they moved. In part, the installation commented on the implications of surveillance technology by using the technology itself (see chapter 7.4). Use of the New Unique Capabilities to Explore Themes Not Directly Related to the Research The technologies provide a new way to address any number of issues not directly related to the technology. For example, my Father Why installation used motion detection to explore a variety of emotions related to my father’s dying. Visitors’ move- ments into the places of sadness, anger, nostalgia, and resignation activated sound events related to each emotion. The longer they stayed there, the deeper the exploration of that emotion. The event was mostly about these conflicting emotions; the movement detection provided a visceral way to ask visitors to confront them: How long would they stay with a particular emotion before they would need to flee by moving their body? (See chapter 7.4.) Incidental Use of the Technology Research provides a wealth of new images and mate- rials. Some artists find the new images intriguing or beautiful but are not especially interested in the underlying inquires that led to those outcomes or in their cultural implications. The power of the work presented in the following chapters suggests that all levels of involvement with the technology are valuable. What Areas of Technological Art Are Included? Which Are Not? When I started this project I hoped to create a comprehensive compendium of science- and-technology–inspired art. I defined art broadly to include media and the performing arts in addition to visual arts. However, I quickly realized that this comprehensive ap- proach was impractical. The difficulties I encountered raised interesting questions in thinking about techno-scientific art. What Is Technology? What Is High-tech Art? Where should one draw the line? Every creation system beyond the basic apparatus of the body is a technology. At various points in history, charcoal, paints, sculpting tools and techniques, ceramics, and printmaking apparatus were state-of-the-art technologies. More recently, photography, cinema, electric machines, lights, radio, recording technol- ogy, and video were considered high technology. Now, however, when people talk about high-tech arts, they are not talking about these technologies. Technological art is a moving target. The artistic gesture to move into an area of emerging technology that is radical in one era can end up being unnoteworthy a few years later. It takes an act of artistic vision and bravery to decide to work with techniques, What Areas of Technological Art Are Included? Which Are Not? 9
- 38. tools, and concepts from a still raw area of technology not yet accepted as a valid area for the arts. It is a challenge to work with a medium before anyone defines it as a medium. Yet several years later, when the technology has matured and a body of artistic work and commentary has appeared, the choice does not have the same meaning. At the early stages of an emerging technology, the power of artistic work derives in part from the cultural act of claiming it for creative production and cultural commentary. In this regard, the early history of computer graphics and animation in some ways mimics the early history of photography and cinema. Information Arts generally focuses on art that addresses research activity emerging in the last seven years. I did not extensively consider video art, kinetic and light sculpture, sound art, electronic music, laser art, and holography. Although there continues to be experimental work in these fields, they are not currently considered emerging technolo- gies, and they have well-developed aesthetic and analytic traditions of their own. Informa- tion Arts does not consider the popular media of science fiction, literature, cinema, and television, which offer interesting arenas of mutual influence between science and art but call for an analysis outside the scope of this book. Because of the accelerated pace of technological innovation, even newer technolo- gies are rapidly passing into the stage of institutionalization. Fields such as computer graphics, computer animation, 3-D modeling, digital video, interactive multime- dia, and Web art, which were revolutionary a few years ago, have become part of the mainstream. Enormous amounts of work are being produced, the variety of aesthetic rationales has multiplied, and the technologies have been integrated into commercial software and media production. Artistic experimentation is quickly be- ing assimilated. For example, computer graphic visual effects that represented inno- vative artistic exploration a few years ago are now part of the standard Photoshop filters available to the millions who own the software. Computer animations in 3-D and effects that were known only by a few media experimenters are now becom- ing standard features of movies and commercials. Interactive computer events that were of interest only to experimental artists fifteen years ago are now part of fields such as computer-assisted education and games. In one of the most remarkably speedy transformations, Web art experiments are devoured by the steamrolling com- mercial and media expansion of the World Wide Web almost as soon as they are invented. This book will not consider computer graphics, computer animation, and dig- ital video except at their more experimental fringes. Also, although it does consider artistic work with interactive computer media and Web art, a comprehensive analy- Chapter 1.1: Art and Science as Cultural Acts 10
- 39. sis of these rapidly expanding and commercializing genres is beyond the scope of this book. The Assimilation of Art into Research and Commercial Production The pattern of sequential technological invention, artistic experimentation, and commer- cial assimilation is a fascinating part of the story of how the worlds of art and research relate to each other, and is only partially analyzed in this book. Some of the artists described in the following chapters eagerly pursue product development for their artistic ideas, and some are supported as part of corporate research labs whose ultimate goal is economic exploitation. Others resist these connections and passionately defend their independence. In part, this book is an examination of these questions: Where do researchers and artists get their ideas? How do they explore their ideas? How are techno-scientific research and art research different? What happens to the explorations over time? Does mainstream assimilation somehow destroy the validity of the work as art? Definitions and Theoretical Reflections Art, science, and technology are culturally laden terms. Indeed, debates over the bound- aries of the terms art and science regularly engage philosophers and historians of art and science. What is art? What is science? What is technology? What are the similarities and differences among the three? What does it mean to call someone a high-tech artist? What is art that is influenced by science? What is science that is influenced by art? This chapter examines these questions, offers a brief clarification of my usage, and identifies shifting criteria that make a definitive answer elusive. In recent years, critical theory has been a provocative source of thought about the interplay of art, media, science, and technology. Each of the major sections of this book presents pertinent examples of this analysis. However, in its rush to deconstruct scientific research and technological innovation as the manifestation of metanarratives, critical theory leaves little room for the appearance of genuine innovation or the creation of new possibilities. While it has become predominant in the arts, it is not so well accepted in the worlds of science and technology. This chapter analyzes the special problems that this disjunction poses for techno-scientifically influenced artists and examines various stances that artists can take in working with research. Science and technology are sometimes conflated together; even scholars of the fields acknowledge some lack of clarity. Similarly, artists working with emerging technologies Definitions and Theoretical Reflections 11
- 40. and those inspired by scientific inquiries are often lumped together. This section explores these confusions. What Is Science? Science textbooks and philosophers and commentators on science propose a number of defining elements. This set of core ideas includes the following: an attempt to understand how and why phenomena occur; focus on the “natural” world; a belief in empirical information; a value placed upon objectivity, which is sought through detailed specifica- tions of the operations that guide observation; the codification into laws or principles (wherever possible precisely expressed in the language of mathematics); and the continu- ous testing and refinement of hypotheses. The underlying assumptions of the scientific approach are that the natural, observed world is real, nature is essentially orderly, and objectivity can be achieved through self- discipline and the reliance on techniques such as the calibration of instruments, repeat- ability, and multi-observer verification.3 This core encompasses variations in emphasis. For example, empiricists emphasize the role of observations, while rationalists focus on the logical processes of theory con- struction and derivation. Some stress induction built from observation; others focus on deduction drawn from theory. Critical theorists see science as a modernist delusion. They see the self-constitution of scientist/observer as a continuation of cultural texts focused on domination and ex- ploitation. They challenge the possibility of objectivity, noting the pervasive influences of gender, social position, national identity, and history. They focus on issues such as the social forces and metanarratives that shape the questions and paradigms used in inquiry; the role of socially constructed frameworks at all stages; and the interaction of the observer and the observed phenomenon. Radical constructivists doubt our ability to discover truths applicable across all times and cultures. Many analysts have contributed to the critique of science. For example, in The Struc- ture of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn notes the way dominant paradigms shape the questions that get acceptance and support. In Against Method, Paul Feyerabend critiques assumptions of scientific rationality, noting that nature gives different answers when approached differently. In Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature, Donna Haraway analyzes the metaphoric language of science, its authoritative voice, and its unacknowledged patriarchal underlife. Having ethnographically studied life in laboratories, Latour in Science in Action proposes an actor-network theory of science in which organizations, persons, animals, and inanimate materials combine to shape scien- tific theorization. In Picturing Science, Producing Art, Peter Galison and Caroline Jones Chapter 1.1: Art and Science as Cultural Acts 12
- 41. investigate the way representation deeply influences the conceptualization and processes of research. In the humanities, this kind of critique predominates. Scientists and technolog- ical innovators, however, believe in the ability to discover universal truths and assert that reform can overcome those places where scientific process falls short of its aspira- tions to universality and objectivity. As evidence of science’s validity, they point to the accomplishments of the scientific worldview in building robust, cross-substantiating theoretical structures, and in predicting and controlling the material and organic world. Any attempt to cross the disciplinary borders between art and science will confront this disjunction—today’s incarnation of C. P. Snow’s “Two Cultures” theory. Some of the artists in the following chapters have created works that join the critique, creating installations that highlight aspects of science that fail the classical hygienic view. Others implicitly accept the power of the canon, building on the formulations of prior research and using processes of experimentation and theoretical elaboration. What Is Technology? High-tech artists do not necessarily engage science. An examination of the relationship between technology and science is useful for understanding the range of artistic work related to research. Technology is seen as “knowing how,” while science is seen as “know- ing why.” Engineers and technologists are seen as primarily interested in making things or refining processes, not in understanding principles. Many histories of technology are essentially histories of invention—the objects, tools, and machines that people made and the processes that made them.4 Melvin Kranzberg and Carroll Pursell believe that this definition is too broad. In Technology in Western Cultures, they define it more nar- rowly, as man’s effort to cope with his physical environment—both that provided by nature and that created by man’s own technological deeds, such as cities—and his attempt to subdue or control that environment by means of his imagination and ingenuity in the use of available resources.5 The relationship of science to technology is quite complex; it became a focus for philosophers of science and technology. Contemporary definitions of technology some- times call it applied science—the application of scientific principles to solving problems. However, since technology predates science, it should be seen broadly, as human at- tempts to shape the physical world: “[technology] for much of its history had little Definitions and Theoretical Reflections 13
- 42. relation to science, for men could and did make machines and devices without under- standing why they worked or why they turned out like they did.”6 Developers of technology used many techniques in refining their methods, including learning from other practitioners, observing all aspects of their environment, and experi- menting based on instinct, and trial and error. The goal was rarely the development of scientific principles. Certainly, the experiments of many artists in finding appropriate innovations to accomplish their artistic goals could fit this description. With the Industrial Revolution and the refinement of science in the eighteenth cen- tury, technology began to draw more on scientific understanding to help solve its prob- lems. In the twentieth century, scientific research became a major source of new technologies, and most manufacturers included scientists in their industrial research labs. Historically, technological research is considered somehow less “pure,” and less lofty than science.7 The origins of these attitudes lie deep in the history of Western culture. Among the Egyptians and the Greeks, fabrication was done by slaves or low artisans, and concern with the material world was considered less important than focus on more essential qualities: Making, even in the form of art, was often mistrusted as inimical to virtue or the pursuit of the highest good because it focused attention on material reality . . . [it] was not considered important as a contribution to the understanding either of the ends of human life or of the first principles of being.8 The distrust of “making” continued into the Christian Middle Ages. Just before the Renaissance, however, philosophers started to reexamine these notions. For example, in City of God, St. Augustine noted that technological accomplishments were the exercise of “an acuteness of intelligence of so high an order that it reveals how richly endowed our human nature is,” as well as a sign of divine benevolence.9 With the Enlightenment came a positive attitude toward technological prowess. For example, Francis Bacon proposed that science should serve technological innovation, and suggested that the understanding of nature often becomes clear only when trying to manipulate it technologically: Bacon proposes a reconstruction of science to produce “a line and race of invention that may in some degree subdue and overcome the necessities and miseries of humanity.” . . . Mind must utilize art and hand until nature “is forced out of her natural state and squeezed and molded” because “the nature of things betrays itself more readily under the vexations of art than in its natural freedom.10 Chapter 1.1: Art and Science as Cultural Acts 14
- 43. Currently, science and technology work together and inform each other. Technology developers often must work in areas where scientific understanding is not sufficient. Attempts to develop real-world devices and solutions result in new scientific questions and understanding. For example, the development of new instruments—such as a more powerful collider—may give rise to new categories of questions in physics; the develop- ment of new medications may result in information about physiology and organic chemistry. As researchers attempt to create technologies that simulate human psychic func- tioning, they create possibilities that then call out for scientific study. For example, computers, once created, become part of the natural world. Cognitive scientists and artificial-intelligence researchers create new insights about the nature of mind and soci- ety; user-interface researchers study the methods by which humans and machines can interact. Scientists are confronted by new questions about the nature of mind and the relationship of material reality to human thought. Technology and science goad each other into a parade of new disciplines. Philosophers of science and technology continue to grapple with the nature of this relationship. Edwin Layton proposes an interactive model in which science and technol- ogy are seen as “mirror images” of each other, using common methods and drawing on common intellectual heritages; technology does not only exploit the “golden eggs” cre- ated by science.11 This interactive model of technology probably comes close to describing what is meant when something is called high technology, or high-tech art. High-tech artists, like their counterparts in technology development settings, are engaged with the world of science. They draw on theoretical formulation and research results from scientific inquiry. They use systematic methods of experimentation borrowed from science to advance their agendas. The results can inform further work by technologists and scientists. Cyril Stanley Smith, a historian of science and technology, reflected on the relation- ship of technology and science and the role of artists in the process in his book From Art to Science: Seventy-Two Objects Illustrating the Nature of Discovery. In it, he observes that in the areas of chemistry, physics, and materials sciences, artists and artisans discover and use “subtle properties of matter” before they are even noticed by research scientists.12 This is the type of interaction that engages many of the artists in this book. Stanley wrote his book in 1978, before the digital technologies of communication, simulation, representation, and information had accelerated to their current levels. One way to differentiate between science and technology is by intention. Technology developers usually focus on specific utilitarian goals, while scientists search for something Definitions and Theoretical Reflections 15
- 44. more abstract: knowledge. So what is the best way to describe the research undertaken by the artists described in the following chapters? Many focus on the interface between science and technology. A few concentrate more specifically on more classical “scientific” inquiries. Some act like technologists, seeking utilitarian applications of scientific knowl- edge and processes to further artistic goals. Others engage the scientific world in more open-ended inquiries analogous to those of scientists. Throughout the book, the artists’ work will return to questions about science and technology. What is the relationship of thinking and doing? What does it mean to view the analysis of mind and society as science? How pure can science be? What can we really know of the physical world, since it is seen through the lens of our conceptual frameworks? What Is Art? The art presented in this book is best understood within the context of the radical shift in the boundaries of “art” over the last century. Previously, art was produced in his- torically validated media, presented in a limited set of contexts for a circumscribed set of purposes, such as the search for beauty, religious glorification, or the represen- tation of persons and places. Within a view that stresses conventional media and con- texts, it is easy to wonder how the activities described in this book can be called art. However, this century has generated an orgy of experimentation and testing of boundaries. New technological forms, such as photography and cinema, have already raised questions about art. Artists have added new media, new contexts, and new pur- poses. The art world has assimilated much of this experimentation, of which a partial list follows: • Extension beyond “realistic” representation (e.g., abstract painters) • Incorporation of found objects (e.g., Picasso’s collage and Duchamp’s urinal) • Movement into non-art settings and intervention in everyday contexts (e.g., Schwit- ters’s Merzbau apartment and Russian AgitProp) • Presentation of live art (e.g., Dada and Futurist performance) • Use of industrial materials, products, and processes (e.g., Bauhaus, photography, kinetic art, electronic music, and Warhol’s Brillo boxes) • Conceptual art (ideas as art, with deemphasis of sensual form) • Earth art (work with natural settings with resident materials) • Interactive art (dissolution of the border between the audience and artists, for exam- ple, living theater and interactive installations) • Performance and happenings (e.g., Allan Kaprow) Chapter 1.1: Art and Science as Cultural Acts 16 T E A M F L Y
- 45. • Public art (work with site-specific materials, social processes and institutions, and community collaborators) • Exploration of technological innovations (e.g., video, copiers, lasers, and holography) This experimentation has left the philosophy of art in turmoil. It has become difficult to achieve consensus on definitions of art, the nature of the aesthetic experience, the relative place of communication and expression, or criteria of evaluation. However, there is some agreement on these features: art is intentionally made or assembled by humans, and usually consists of intellectual, symbolic, and sensual components. For example, the Getty Museum Program in Art Education offers this definition: Art-making may be described as the process of responding to observations, ideas, feelings, and other experiences by creating works of art through the skillful, thoughtful, and imaginative appli- cation of tools and techniques to various media. The artistic objects that result are the products of encounters between artists and their intentions, their concepts and attitudes, their cultural and social circumstances, and the materials or media in which they choose to work.13 Many of the artists described in this book use unorthodox materials, tools, and ideas inspired by the worlds of science and technology. Some are present in non-art contexts, such as laboratories, trade shows, the Internet, and the street. Some intend to intervene in everyday life or the worlds of science and technology. For many, the artistic rationale guiding their work is alien to the art world. Information Arts investigates these artists’ work as a continuation of the expanding inclusiveness of the definition of art. Some of the work could even be viewed as the attempt to revisit unresolved issues from move- ments, such as conceptual art, and art and life interventions. Since the book explores the boundaries between art and techno-scientific inquiry, understanding the limits of art is significant. For example, on what basis can the work of researchers and techno- scientific artists be differentiated, or is such a distinction even important? The work and analysis of the artists described in this book contributes to this ongoing debate. Although the institutional theory has many adherents, it is not universally accepted, as philosophers struggle to identify theories that can work in the face of the last century’s experimentation. Some radical revisionists, claiming that the concept of art has been corrupted by the easy inclusion of the experiments, seek to reestablish some core defini- tions more closely related to historical forms. Others continue to search for a phenomen- logical basis for the aesthetic experience. Critical theory wants to explode the concept of art and questions its continued usefulness. The artists who work at the frontiers of science and technology throw fuel on the fire as they seek to move the definition of art Definitions and Theoretical Reflections 17
- 46. Although the art world has assimilated much of the historical experimentation, the gestures do raise perplexing conceptual problems: (1) Much of the public has not yet accepted these extensions as valid art. How can this long-lasting resistance be explained? (2) Some critical theorists deconstruct the actions of the avant-garde not as radical breaks, but as part of the cultural and economic structure of the art world. They point out the function of these gestures in generating novelty and note the ease with which the mainstream art world can assimilate them. They suggest that high art is not so different from popular media and question the viability of the category, “art.” to include their activities. Information Arts can be seen as an investigation of these moving boundaries and the cultural significance of including techno-scientific research in a defi- nition of art. Similarities and Differences between Science and Art How are science and art similar? How are they different? This analysis is useful for understanding the prospects for future relationships. Differences between Art and Science Art Science Seeks aesthetic response Seeks knowledge and understanding Emotion and intuition Reason Idiosyncratic Normative Visual or sonic communication Narrative text communication Evocative Explanatory Values break with tradition Values systematic building on tradition and adherence to standards Similarities between Art and Science Both value the careful observation of their environments to gather information through the senses. Both value creativity. Both propose to introduce change, innovation, or improvement over what exists. Both use abstract models to understand the world. Both aspire to create works that have universal relevance. Chapter 1.1: Art and Science as Cultural Acts 18
- 47. In “Principles of Research,” Albert Einstein stated that the artist and the scientist each substitute a self-created world for the experiential one, with the goal of transcen- dence.14 In “The Contribution of the Artist to Scientific Visualization,” Vibeke Sorensen describes artists as “organizers of large amounts of data”; “people who find unusual relationships between events and images”; and “creative interdisciplinarians.” She continues: Artists are . . . people who create something completely original and new, something beyond the known boundaries of the information base. By using or inventing new tools, they show new uses and applications that synergize and synthesize fields. Artists push the limits of technologies, bring- ing them to previously unattained goals. Artists as well as scientists work with abstract symbols, representations for various realities and working tools. Even the language used by the two groups is similar. Scientists working with mathematics frequently describe a particularly good explanation or solution as “elegant” . . . The intellectual bridge of abstraction and aesthetic consideration is fundamental to both groups.15 A less benign critical analysis asserts that science and art both make questionable truth claims and attempt to create privileged positions, but in reality participate in the system of symbols and narratives that shape the culture. In a paper entitled “Theoreticians, Artists, and Artisans,” Feyerabend observes that scientists play a large role in creating the phenomena they study, suggests that science could benefit from art’s awareness of absurdity and paradox, and notes the dilemma surfaced by Plato. The only way we can know pure being is by making inferences about it through imperfect senses that observe base matter. Plato considered artisans and artists as lowlifes who worked far from the core of a universe accessible only by contemplation. Feyerabend traces this distrust of observation to the present day, in which theoreticians are accorded higher status than empiricists.16 Feyerabend notes that scientists must create massive theoretical structures to link observation and the underlying “reality.” Although scientists pride themselves on objec- tivity, they are similar to artists in their construction of artificialities.17 He further asserts that difficulties arise from the extraordinary faith that science places in theoretical struc- tures and the manipulations derived from them. He questions the wisdom of distrusting the world of real things and actions.18 Feyerabend concludes that science is in many ways very similar to art, in which researchers build research structures and operations to represent their thoughts: Similarities and Differences between Science and Art 19
- 48. In a way, individual scientists, scientific movements, tribes, nations function like artists or artisans trying to shape a world from a largely unknown material, Being. . . . Or researchers are artists, who, working on a largely unknown material, Being, build a variety of manifest worlds that they often, but mistakenly, identify with Being itself.19 Finally, we return to the question of what makes the works described in this book art? How is the artist who explores unusual topological structures different from the mathematician focusing on similar topics? How is the algorist who develops a new algo- rithm for graphic output or a new way to get interesting output out of a plotter different from a technology developer? How is the artist exploring the limits of genetic inheritance by breeding mice to eat computer cables different from a biologist? In parallel fashion, one could ask why couldn’t much of the work of scientists, researchers, inventors, and hackers be considered art? The reader is asked to think about the art and research de- scribed in the book with these questions in mind. Critical Theory and Problematic Issues in the Integration of Art and Techno-Scientific Research This book explores the ways in which art and techno-scientific research are currently being integrated, and how they might be integrated in the future. Currently, critical theory and cultural studies have become a dominant discourse in analysis of the function of the arts in today’s technology-dominated world. Many sections in the following parts of this book feature theorists working from these perspectives. Important themes in critical theory include: the rejection of the modernist idea of one dominant cultural stream; the impact of mediated images and representation on ideology and behavior; the emphasis on deconstructing the language systems and metanarratives that shape culture; critiques of the narratives of progress; and challenges to science’s claim to univer- sal truth and art’s claim to an elevated, privileged, avant-garde vision. In the discussion that follows, I examine issues in the application of these analyses, including their limi- tations, and consider other models for the integration of art and techno-scientific research.20 The impact of technology on contemporary life and culture is a vital issue in our age. Critical theory and cultural studies attempt to link the arts, literature, media studies, politics, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and technology in an interdisciplinary search for relevant concepts and frameworks with which to understand the current world. While art practice and theory are being radically reshaped by this activity, the techno- scientific world in general has not deeply engaged the concepts from cultural studies. Chapter 1.1: Art and Science as Cultural Acts 20
- 49. Other documents randomly have different content
- 53. The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Kashf al- mahjúb: The oldest Persian treatise on Súfiism
- 54. This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: The Kashf al-mahjúb: The oldest Persian treatise on Súfiism Author: ‘Ali ibn ‘Usman Hujviri Translator: Reynold Alleyne Nicholson Release date: March 11, 2021 [eBook #64786] Most recently updated: October 18, 2024 Language: English Credits: KD Weeks, Fritz Ohrenschall and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KASHF AL- MAHJÚB: THE OLDEST PERSIAN TREATISE ON SÚFIISM ***
- 56. Transcriber’s Note: Footnotes have been collected at the end of each chapter, and are linked for ease of reference. There is an editorial list of corrections and additions. These, along with the errors they mention, are retained in this version. Minor errors, deemed attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details. The cover image has been enhanced with basic information from the title page, and, as modified, placed in the public domain. Corrections are indicated using an underline highlight. Placing the cursor over the correction will produce the original text in a small popup. “E. J. W. GIBB MEMORIAL” SERIES. VOL. XVII.
- 57. THE KASHF AL-MAḤJÚB THE OLDEST PERSIAN TREATISE ON ṢÚFIISM BY ‘ALÍ B. ‘UTHMÁN AL-JULLÁBÍ AL-HUJWÍRÍ TRANSLATED FROM THE TEXT OF THE LAHORE EDITION, COMPARED WITH MSS. IN THE INDIA OFFICE AND BRITISH MUSEUM. BY REYNOLD A. NICHOLSON, Litt.D. LECTURER IN PERSIAN IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE; FORMERLY FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE. AND PRINTED FOR THE TRUSTEES OF THE “E. J. W. GIBB MEMORIAL”. VOLUME XVII. LEYDEN: E. J. BRILL, Imprimerie Orientale. LONDON: LUZAC & CO., 46 Great Russell Street. 1911. PRINTED BY
- 58. STEPHEN AUSTIN AND SONS, LTD. HERTFORD. “E. J. W. GIBB MEMORIAL” SERIES. PUBLISHED, 1. The Bábar-náma, reproduced in facsimile from a MS. belonging to the late Sir Sálár Jang of Ḥaydarábád, and edited with Preface and Indexes, by Mrs. Beveridge, 1905. (Out of print.) 2. An abridged translation of Ibn Isfandiyár’s History of Ṭabaristán, by Edward G. Browne, 1905. Price 8s. 3. Translation of al-Khazrají’s History of the Rasúlí Dynasty of Yaman, with introduction by the late Sir J. Redhouse, now edited by E. G. Browne, R. A. Nicholson, and A. Rogers. Vols. I and II of the Translation, 1906, 1907. Price 7s. each. Vol. III, containing the Annotations, 1908. Price 5s. (Vol. IV, containing the Text, in the Press.) 4. Umayyads and `Abbásids: being the Fourth Part of Jurjí Zaydán’s History of Islamic Civilisation, translated by Professor D. S. Margoliouth, D.Litt., 1907. Price 5s. 5. The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, the late Dr. William Wright’s edition of the Arabic text, revised by the late Professor M. J. de Goeje, 1907. Price 6s. 6. Yáqút’s Dictionary of Learned Men, entitled Irshádu’l-aríb ilá ma‘rifati’l-adíb, or Mu‘jamu’l-Udabá: edited from the Bodleian MS. by Professor D. S. Margoliouth, D.Litt. Vols. I, II, 1907, ’09. Price 8s. each. Vol. III, part 1, 1910. Price 5s. (Further volumes in preparation.) 7. The Tajáribu´l-Umam of Ibn Miskawayh: reproduced in facsimile from MSS. Nos. 3116-3121 of Áyâ Sofia, with Preface and Summary by the Principe di Teano. Vol. I (to A.H. 37), 1909. Price 7s. (Further volumes in preparation.) 8. The Marzubán-náma of Sa`du´d-Dín-i-Waráwíní, edited by Mírzá Muḥammad of Qazwín, 1909. Price 8s.
- 59. 9. Textes persans relatifs à la secte des Ḥouroûfîs publiés, traduits, et annotés par Clément Huart, suivis d’une étude sur la religion des Ḥouroûfîs par “Feylesouf Rizá”, 1909. Price 8s. 10. The Mu`jam fí Ma`áyíri Ash`ári´l-`Ajam of Shams-i-Qays, edited from the British Museum MS. (Or. 2814) by Edward G. Browne and Mírzá Muḥammad of Qazwín, 1909. Price 8s. 11. The Chahár Maqála of Nidhámí-i-`Arúḍí-i-Samarqandí, edited, with notes in Persian, by Mírzá Muḥammad of Qazwín, 1910. Price 8s. 12. Introduction à l’Histoire des Mongols de Fadl Allah Rashid ed-Din par E. Blochet, 1910. Price 8s. 13. The Díwán of Ḥassán b. Thábit (d. A.H. 54), edited by Hartwig Hirschfeld, Ph.D., 1910. Price 5s. 14. The Ta´ríkh-i-Guzída of Ḥamdu´lláh Mustawfí of Qazwín, reproduced in facsimile from an old MS., with Introduction, Indices, etc., by Edward G. Browne. Vol. I. Text. 1910. Price 15s. 15. The Earliest History of the Bábís, composed before 1852, by Ḥájji Mírzá Jání of Káshán, edited from the unique Paris MS. (Suppl. Persan, 1071) by Edward G. Browne. Price 8s. 16. The Ta´ríkh-i-Jabán-gushá of `Alá´u´d-Dín `Aṭá Malik-i-Juwayní, edited from seven MSS. by Mírzá Muḥammad of Qazwín. Price 8s. 17. A translation of the Kashf al-Maḥjúb of `Alí b. `Uthmán al-Jullábí al-Hujwírí, the oldest Persian manual of Ṣúfiism, by R. A. Nicholson. Price 8s. IN PREPARATION. The History of the Mongols, from the Jámi`u´t-Tawáríkh of Rashídu ´d-Din Faḍlu´lláh, beginning with the account of Ogotáy, edited by E. Blochet, comprising:— Tome I: Histoire des tribus turques et mongoles, des ancêtres de Tchinkkiz-Khan depuis Along-Goa, et de Tchinkkiz-Khan. Tome II: Histoire des successeurs de Tchinkkiz-Khan, d’Ougédeï à Témour-Kaan, des fils apanagés de Tchinkkiz-Khan, et des gouverneurs Mongols de Perse d’Houlagou à Ghazan. (Sous presse.) Tome III: Histoire de Ghazan, d’Oldjaïtou, et de Abou-Saïd.
- 60. An abridged translation of the Iḥyá´u´l-Mulúk, a Persian History of Sístán by Sháh Ḥusayn, from the British Museum MS. (Or. 2779), by A. G. Ellis. The geographical part of the Nuzhatu´l-Qulúb of Ḥamdu´lláh Mustawfí of Qazwín, with a translation, by G. Le Strange. The Futúḥu Miṣr wa´l-Maghrib wa´l-Andalus of Abu´l-Qásim `Abdu ´r-Raḥmán b. `Abdu´lláh b. Abdu´l-Ḥakam al-Qurashí al-Miṣrí (d. A.H. 257), edited by Professor C. C. Torrey. The Qábús-náma, edited in the original Persian by E. Edwards. Ta´ríkhu Miṣr, the History of Egypt, by Abú `Umar Muḥammad b. Yúsuf al-Kindí (d. A.H. 350), edited from the unique MS. in the British Museum (Add. 23,324) by A. Rhuvon Guest. (In the Press.) The Ansáb of as-Sam`ání, reproduced in facsimile from the British Museum MS. (Or. 23,355), with Indices by H. Loewe. (In the Press.) The poems of four early Arabic poets. In two parts:—(1) The Díwáns of `Ámir b. aṭ-Ṭufayl and `Abíd b. al-Abraṣ, edited by Sir Charles J. Lyall, K.C.S.I.; (2) The Díwáns of aṭ-Ṭufayl b. `Awf and Ṭirimmáḥ b. Ḥakím, edited by F. Krenkow. The Kitábu´l-Raddi `alá ahli ´l-bida`i wal-ahwá´i of Makḥúl b. al- Mufaḍḍal al-Nasafí (d. A.H. 318), edited from the Bodleian MS. Pocock 271, with introductory Essay on the Sects of Islam, by G. W. Thatcher, M.A. A monograph on the Southern Dialects of Kurdish, by E. B. Soane. This Volume is one of a Series published by the Trustees of the “E. J. W. GIBB MEMORIAL”. The Funds of this Memorial are derived from the interest accruing from a sum of money given by the late MRS. GIBB of Glasgow, to
- 61. perpetuate the Memory of her beloved son ELIAS JOHN WILKINSON GIBB, and to promote those researches into the History, Literature, Philosophy, and Religion of the Turks, Persians, and Arabs to which, from his youth upwards, until his premature and deeply lamented death in his 45th year on December 5, 1901, his life was devoted. ِراَثَالٱ الي اَنَدْعَب واُرُظْنٱَف * َناْيَلَع ُّلُدَت اُرَناَثآ َكْلِت “The worker pays his debt to Death; His work lives on, nay, quickeneth.” The following memorial verse is contributed by `Abdu´l-Ḥaqq Ḥámid Bey of the Imperial Ottoman Embassy in London, one of the Founders of the New School of Turkish Literature, and for many years an intimate friend of the deceased. نطييب ايدركن وفاسيله يارانى جمله اديب ِتذا اول وفاگورمدی عمرنده کندی واصل کماله ِجاو ايدی اولمش ايکن گنج گيب مستر ايدی اولسه ياشامش اولوردی نه “E. J. W. GIBB MEMORIAL.” ORIGINAL TRUSTEES.
- 62. [JANE GIBB, died November 26, 1904], E. G. BROWNE, G. LE STRANGE, H. F. AMEDROZ, A. G. ELLIS, R. A. NICHOLSON, E. DENISON ROSS, AND IDA W. E. OGILVY GREGORY (formerly GIBB), appointed 1905. CLERK OF THE TRUST. JULIUS BERTRAM, 14 Suffolk Street, Pall Mall, LONDON, S.W. PUBLISHERS FOR THE TRUSTEES. E. J. BRILL, LEYDEN. LUZAC & CO., LONDON. CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS. Page 2, penult. For (p. 3) read (p. 1). p. 3, line 14 and l. 30. For (p. 3) read (p. 1). p. 4, l. 18. For (p. 3) read (p. 1). p. 4, l. 26. For just as the veil destroys revelation (mukáshafat) read just as veiling destroys the unveiled object (mukáshaf). p. 6, l. 4 and l. 16. For (p. 3) read (p. 1). p. 51, l. 6. For Parg read Burk or Purg, and correct the note accordingly. See Guy Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate, p. 292.
- 63. p. 54, l. 28. For the infectious cankers of the age read the cankers which infect age after age. p. 85, l. 19. For (sáḥib al-qulúb) read (ṣáḥi´l-qulúb). Ṣáḥí, “sober,” is the antithesis of maghlúb, “enraptured.” p. 127, l. 17. For al-Inṭákí read al-Anṭákí. p. 130, l. 27. Although some writers give “Abu ´l-Ḥasan” as the kunya of Núrí, the balance of authority is in favour of “Abu ´l- Ḥusayn”. p. 131, n. 2. Add, See Goldziher in ZDMG., 61, 75 ff., and a passage in Yáqút’s Irshád al-Aríb, ed. by Margoliouth, vol. iii, pt. i, 153, 3 ff.; cited by Goldziher in JRAS. for 1910, p. 888. p. 140, l. 19. For Abú Muḥammad `Abdalláh read Abú `Abdalláh. p. 155, l. 26. Omit B. before Dulaf. p. 169, l. 1. Omit B. before `Alí. p. 173, l. 11. For Pádsháh-i read Pádisháh-i. p. 182, l. 26. Sháhmurghí is probably a mistake for siyáh murghí, “a blackbird.” Cf. my edition of the Tadhkirat al-Awliyá, ii, 259, 23. p. 257, l. 1. For t`aṭíl read ta`ṭíl. p. 323, l. 10. For Miṣṣíṣí read Maṣṣíṣí.
- 64. CONTENTS. Chapter. Pages. Translator’s Preface xvii-xxiv Author’s Introduction 1-9 I. On the Affirmation of Knowledge 11-18 II. On Poverty 19-29 III. On Ṣúfiism 30-44 IV. On the Wearing of Patched Frocks 45-57 V. On the Different Opinions held concerning Poverty and Purity 58-61 VI. On Blame (Malámat) 62-9 VII. Concerning their Imáms who belonged to the Companions 70-4 VIII. Concerning their Imáms who belonged to the House of the Prophet 75-80 IX. Concerning the People of the Veranda (Ahl-i Ṣuffa) 81-2 X. Concerning their Imáms who belonged to the Followers (al-Tábi`ún) 83-7 XI. Concerning their Imáms who lived subsequently to the Followers down to our day 88-160 XII. Concerning the principal Ṣúfís of recent times 161-71 XIII. A brief account of the modern Ṣúfís in different countries 172-5
- 65. XIV. Concerning the Doctrines held by the different sects of Ṣúfís 176-266 XV. The Uncovering of the First Veil: Concerning the Gnosis of God (ma`rifat Allah) 267-77 XVI. The Uncovering of the Second Veil: Concerning Unification (tawḥíd) 278-85 XVII. The Uncovering of the Third Veil: Concerning Faith 286-90 XVIII. The Uncovering of the Fourth Veil: Concerning Purification from Foulness 291-9 XIX. The Uncovering of the Fifth Veil: Concerning Prayer (al-ṣalát) 300-13 XX. The Uncovering of the Sixth Veil: Concerning Alms (al-zakát) 314-19 XXI. The Uncovering of the Seventh Veil: On Fasting (al-ṣawm) 320-5 XXII. The Uncovering of the Eighth Veil: Concerning the Pilgrimage 326-33 XXIII. The Uncovering of the Ninth Veil: Concerning Companionship, together with its Rules and Principles 334-66 XXIV. The Uncovering of the Tenth Veil: explaining their phraseology and the definitions of their terms and the verities of the ideas which are signified 367-92 XXV. The Uncovering of the Eleventh Veil: Concerning Audition (samá`) 393-420
- 66. PREFACE. This translation of the most ancient and celebrated Persian treatise on Ṣúfiism will, I hope, be found useful not only by the small number of students familiar with the subject at first hand, but also by many readers who, without being Orientalists themselves, are interested in the general history of mysticism and may wish to compare or contrast the diverse yet similar manifestations of the mystical spirit in Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam. The origin of Ṣúfiism and its relation to these great religions cannot properly be considered here, and I dismiss such questions the more readily because I intend to deal with them on another occasion. It is now my duty to give some account of the author of the Kashf al-Maḥjúb, and to indicate the character of his work. Abu ´l-Ḥasan `Alí b. `Uthmán b. `Alí al-Ghaznawí al-Jullábí al- Hujwírí[1] was a native of Ghazna in Afghanistan.[2] Of his life very little is known beyond what he relates incidentally in the Kashf al- Maḥjúb. He studied Ṣúfiism under Abu ´l-Faḍl Muḥammad b. al- Ḥasan al-Khuttalí[3] (p. 166), who was a pupil of Abu ´l-Ḥasan al- Ḥuṣrí (ob. 371 A.H.), and under Abu ´l-`Abbás Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Ashqání or al-Shaqání[4] (p. 168). He also received instruction from Abu ´l-Qásim Gurgání[5] (p. 169) and Khwája Muẕaffar[6] (p. 170), and he mentions a great number of Shaykhs whom he had met and conversed with in the course of his wanderings. He travelled far and wide through the Muḥammadan empire from Syria to Turkistán and from the Indus to the Caspian Sea. Among the countries and places which he visited were Ádharbáyaján (pp. 57 and 410), the tomb of Báyazíd at Bisṭám (p. 68), Damascus, Ramla, and Bayt al-Jinn in Syria (pp. 94, 167, 343), Ṭús and Uzkand (p. 234), the tomb of Abú
- 67. Sa`íd b. Abi ´l-Khayr at Mihna (p. 235), Merv (p. 401), and the Jabal al-Buttam to the east of Samarcand (p. 407). He seems to have settled for a time in `Iráq, where he ran deeply into debt (p. 345). It may be inferred from a passage on p. 364 that he had a short and unpleasant experience of married life. Finally, according to the Riyáḍ al-Awliyá, he went to reside at Lahore and ended his days in that city. His own statement, however, shows that he was taken there as a prisoner against his will (p. 91), and that in composing the Kashf al-Maḥjúb he was inconvenienced by the loss of the books which he had left at Ghazna. The date of his death is given as 456 A.H. (1063- 4 A.D.) or 464 A.H. (1071-2 A.D.), but it is likely that he survived Abu ´l-Qásim al-Qushayrí, who died in 465 A.H. (1072 A.D.). Rieu’s observation (Cat. of the Persian MSS. in the British Museum, i, 343) that the author classes Qushayrí with the Ṣúfís who had passed away before the time at which he was writing, is not quite accurate. The author says (p. 161): “Some of those whom I shall mention in this chapter are already deceased, and some are still living.” But of the ten Ṣúfís in question only one, namely, Abu ´l-Qásim Gurgání, is referred to in terms which leave no doubt that he was alive when the author wrote. In the Safínat al-Awliyá, No. 71, it is stated that Abu ´l-Qásim Gurgání died in 450 A.H. If this date were correct, the Kashf al-Maḥjúb must have been written at least fifteen years before Qushayrí’s death. On the other hand, my MS. of the Shadharát al- Dhahab records the death of Abu ´l-Qásim Gurgání under the year 469 A.H., a date which appears to me more probable, and in that case the statement that the author survived Qushayrí may be accepted, although the evidence on which it rests is mainly negative, for we cannot lay much stress on the fact that Qushayrí’s name is sometimes followed by the Moslem equivalent for “of blessed memory”. I conjecture, then, that the author died between 465 and 469 A.H. [7] His birth may be placed in the last decade of the tenth or the first decade of the eleventh century of our era, and he must have been in the prime of youth when Sultan Maḥmúd died in 421 A.H. (1030 A.D.). The Risála-i Abdáliyya,[8] a fifteenth century treatise on the Muḥammadan saints by Ya`qúb b. `Uthmán al-Ghaznawí, contains an anecdote, for which it would be hazardous to claim any
- 68. historical value, to the effect that al-Hujwírí once argued in Maḥmúd’s presence with an Indian philosopher and utterly discomfited him by an exhibition of miraculous powers. Be that as it may, he was venerated as a saint long after his death, and his tomb at Lahore was being visited by pilgrims when Bakhtáwar Khán wrote the Riyáḍ al-Awliyá in the latter half of the seventeenth century. In the introduction to the Kashf al-Maḥjúb al-Hujwírí complains that two of his former works had been given to the public by persons who erased his name from the title-page, and pretended that they themselves were the authors. In order to guard against the repetition of this fraud, he has inserted his own name in many passages of the present work. His writings, to which he has occasion to refer in the Kashf al-Maḥjúb, are— 1. A díwán (p. 2). 2. Minháj al-dín, on the method of Ṣúfiism (p. 2). It comprised a detailed account of the Ahl-i Ṣuffa (p. 80) and a full biography of Ḥusayn b. Manṣúr al-Ḥalláj (p. 153). 3. Asrár al-khiraq wa ´l-ma´únát, on the patched frocks of the Ṣúfís (p. 56). 4. Kitáb-i faná ú baqá, composed “in the vanity and rashness of youth” (p. 60). 5. A work, of which the title is not mentioned, in explanation of the sayings of Ḥusayn b. Manṣúr al-Ḥalláj (p. 153). 6. Kitáb al-bayán li-ahl al-`iyán, on union with God (p. 259). 7. Baḥr al-qulúb (p. 259). 8. Al-Ri`áyat li-ḥuqúq Allah, on the Divine unity (p. 280). 9. A work, of which the title is not mentioned, on faith (p. 286). None of these books has been preserved. The Kashf al-Maḥjúb,[9] which belongs to the later years of the author’s life, and, partly at any rate, to the period of his residence in Lahore, was written in reply to certain questions addressed to him by a fellow-townsman, Abú Sa`íd al-Hujwírí. Its object is to set forth a complete system of Ṣúfiism, not to put together a great number of sayings by different Shaykhs, but to discuss and expound the doctrines and practices of the Ṣúfís. The author’s attitude throughout is that of a teacher instructing a pupil. Even the biographical section
- 69. of the work (pp. 70-175) is largely expository. Before stating his own view the author generally examines the current opinions on the same topic and refutes them if necessary. The discussion of mystical problems and controversies is enlivened by many illustrations drawn from his personal experience. In this respect the Kashf al-Maḥjúb is more interesting than the Risála of Qushayrí, which is so valuable as a collection of sayings, anecdotes, and definitions, but which follows a somewhat formal and academic method on the orthodox lines. No one can read the present work without detecting, behind the scholastic terminology, a truly Persian flavour of philosophical speculation. Although he was a Sunní and a Ḥanafite, al-Hujwírí, like many Ṣúfís before and after him, managed to reconcile his theology with an advanced type of mysticism, in which the theory of “annihilation” (faná) holds a dominant place, but he scarcely goes to such extreme lengths as would justify us in calling him a pantheist. He strenuously resists and pronounces heretical the doctrine that human personality can be merged and extinguished in the being of God. He compares annihilation to burning by fire, which transmutes the quality of all things to its own quality, but leaves their essence unchanged. He agrees with his spiritual director, al-Khuttalí, in adopting the theory of Junayd that “sobriety” in the mystical acceptation of the term is preferable to “intoxication”. He warns his readers often and emphatically that no Ṣúfís, not even those who have attained the highest degree of holiness, are exempt from the obligation of obeying the religious law. In other points, such as the excitation of ecstasy by music and singing, and the use of erotic symbolism in poetry, his judgment is more or less cautious. He defends al-Ḥalláj from the charge of being a magician, and asserts that his sayings are pantheistic only in appearance, but condemns his doctrines as unsound. It is clear that he is anxious to represent Ṣúfiism as the true interpretation of Islam, and it is equally certain that the interpretation is incompatible with the text.[10] Notwithstanding the homage which he pays to the Prophet we cannot separate al- Hujwírí, as regards the essential principles of his teaching, from his older and younger contemporaries, Abú Sa`íd b. Abi ´l-Khayr and
- 70. `Abdalláh Anṣárí.[11] These three mystics developed the distinctively Persian theosophy which is revealed in full-blown splendour by Faríd al-dín `Aṭṭár and Jalál al-dín Rúmí. The most remarkable chapter in the Kashf al-Maḥjúb is the fourteenth, “Concerning the Doctrines held by the different sects of Ṣúfís,” in which the author enumerates twelve mystical schools and explains the special doctrine of each.[12] So far as I know, he is the first writer to do this. Only one of the schools mentioned by him, namely, that of the Malámatís, seems to be noticed in earlier books on Ṣúfiism; such brief references to the other schools as occur in later books, for example in the Tadhkirat al-Awliyá, are probably made on his authority. The question may be asked, “Did these schools really exist, or were they invented by al-Hujwírí in his desire to systematize the theory of Ṣúfiism?” I see no adequate ground at present for the latter hypothesis, which involves the assumption that al-Hujwírí made precise statements that he must have known to be false. It is very likely, however, that in his account of the special doctrines which he attributes to the founder of each school he has often expressed his own views upon the subject at issue and has confused them with the original doctrine. The existence of these schools and doctrines, though lacking further corroboration,[13] does not seem to me incredible; on the contrary, it accords with what happened in the case of the Mu`tazilites and other Muḥammadan schismatics. Certain doctrines were produced and elaborated by well-known Shaykhs, who published them in the form of tracts or were content to lecture on them until, by a familiar process, the new doctrine became the pre-eminent feature of a particular school. Other schools might then accept or reject it. In some instances sharp controversy arose, and the novel teaching gained so little approval that it was confined to the school of its author or was embraced only by a small minority of the Ṣúfí brotherhood. More frequently it would, in the course of time, be drawn into the common stock and reduced to its proper level. Dr. Goldziher has observed that Ṣúfiism cannot be regarded as a regularly organized sect within Islam, and that its dogmas cannot be compiled into a regular system.[14] That is perfectly true, but after allowing for all
- 71. divergences there remains a fairly definite body of doctrine which is held in common by Ṣúfís of many different shades and is the result of gradual agglomeration from many different minds. It is probable that oral tradition was the main source from which al-Hujwírí derived the materials for his work. Of extant treatises on Ṣúfiism he mentions by name only the Kitáb al-Luma` by Abú Naṣr al-Sarráj, who died in 377 or 378 A.H. This book is written in Arabic and is the oldest specimen of its class. Through the kindness of Mr. A. G. Ellis, who has recently acquired the sole copy that is at present known to Orientalists, I have been able to verify the reading of a passage quoted by al-Hujwírí (p. 341), and to assure myself that he was well acquainted with his predecessor’s work. The arrangement of the Kashf al-Maḥjúb is partially based on that of the Kitáb al- Luma`, the two books resemble each other in their general plan, and some details of the former are evidently borrowed from the latter. Al-Hujwírí refers in his notice of Ma`rúf al-Karkhí (p. 114) to the biographies of Ṣúfís compiled by Abú `Abd al-Raḥmán al-Sulamí and Abu ´l-Qásim al-Qushayrí. Although he does not give the titles, he is presumably referring to Sulamí’s ṭabaqát Al-ṣúfiyya and Qushayrí’s Risála.[15] The Kashf al-Maḥjúb contains a Persian rendering of some passages in the Risála of Qushayrí, with whom al- Hujwírí seems to have been personally acquainted. A citation from `Abdalláh Anṣárí occurs on p. 26. Manuscripts of the Kashf al-Maḥjúb are preserved in several European libraries.[16] It has been lithographed at Lahore, and Professor Schukovski of St. Petersburg is now, as I understand, engaged in preparing a critical text. The Lahore edition is inaccurate, especially in the spelling of names, but most of its mistakes are easy to emend, and the text agrees closely with two MSS. in the Library of the India Office (Nos. 1773 and 1774 in Ethé’s Catalogue), with which I have compared it. I have also consulted a good MS. in the British Museum (Rieu’s Catalogue, i, 342). The following abbreviations are used: L. to denote the Lahore edition, I. to denote the India Office MS. 1773 (early seventeenth century), J. to denote the India Office MS. 1774 (late seventeenth century), and B. to denote the British Museum MS. Or. 219 (early seventeenth century).
- 72. In my translation I have, of course, corrected the Lahore text where necessary. While the doubtful passages are few in number, there are, I confess, many places in which a considerable effort is required in order to grasp the author’s meaning and follow his argument. The logic of a Persian Ṣúfí must sometimes appear to European readers curiously illogical. Other obstacles might have been removed by means of annotation, but this expedient, if adopted consistently, would have swollen the volume to a formidable size. The English version is nearly complete, and nothing of importance has been omitted, though I have not hesitated to abridge when opportunity offered. Arabists will remark an occasional discrepancy between the Arabic sayings printed in italics and the translations accompanying them: this is due to my having translated, not the original Arabic, but the Persian paraphrase given by al-Hujwírí. Reynold A. Nicholson. KASHF AL-MAḤJÚB.
- 73. INTRODUCTION. In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. O Lord, bestow on us mercy from Thyself and provide for us a right course of action! Praise be to God, who hath revealed the secrets of His kingdom to His Saints, and hath disclosed the mysteries of His power to His intimates, and hath shed the blood of Lovers with the sword of His glory, and hath let the hearts of Gnostics taste the joy of His communion! He it is that bringeth dead hearts to life by the radiance of the perception of His eternity and His majesty, and reanimates them with the comforting spirit of knowledge by divulging His Names. And peace be upon His Apostle, Muḥammad, and his family and his companions and his wives! `Alí b. `Uthmán b. `Alí al-Jullábí al-Ghaznawí al-Hujwírí (may God be well pleased with him!) says as follows:— I have asked God’s blessing, and have cleared my heart of motives related to self, and have set to work in accordance with your invitation—may God make you happy!—and have firmly resolved to fulfil all your wishes by means of this book. I have entitled it “The Revelation of The Mystery”. Knowing what you desire, I have arranged the book in divisions suitable to your purpose. Now I pray God to aid and prosper me in its completion, and I divest myself of my own strength and ability in word and deed. It is God that gives success. Section.
- 74. Two considerations have impelled me to put my name at the beginning of the book: one particular, the other general.[17] As regards the latter, when persons ignorant of this science see a new book, in which the author’s name is not set down in several places, they attribute his work to themselves, and thus the author’s aim is defeated, since books are compiled, composed, and written only to the end that the author’s name may be kept alive and that readers and students may pronounce a blessing on him. This misfortune has already befallen me twice. A certain individual borrowed my poetical works, of which there was no other copy, and retained the manuscript in his possession, and circulated it, and struck out my name which stood at its head, and caused all my labour to be lost. May God forgive him! I also composed another book, entitled “The Highway of Religion” (Minháj al-Dín), on the method of Ṣúfiism— may God make it flourish! A shallow pretender, whose words carry no weight, erased my name from the title page and gave out to the public that he was the author, notwithstanding that connoisseurs laughed at his assertion. God, however, brought home to him the unblessedness of this act and erased his name from the register of those who seek to enter the Divine portal. As regards the particular consideration, when people see a book, and know that its author is skilled in the branch of science of which it treats, and is thoroughly versed therein, they judge its merits more fairly and apply themselves more seriously to read and remember it, so that both author and reader are better satisfied. The truth is best known to God. Section. In using the words “I have asked God’s blessing” (p. 3), I wished to observe the respect due to God, who said to His Apostle: “When you read the Koran, take refuge with God from the stoned Devil” (Kor. xvi, 100). “To ask blessing” means “to commit all one’s affairs to God and to be saved from the various sorts of contamination”. The Prophet used to teach his followers to ask a blessing (istikhárat)
- 75. just as he taught them the Koran. When a man recognizes that his welfare does not depend on his own effort and foresight, but that every good and evil that happens to him is decreed by God, who knows best what is salutary for him, he cannot do otherwise than surrender himself to Destiny and implore God to deliver him from the wickedness of his own soul. Section. As to the words “I have cleared my heart of all motives related to self” (p. 3), no blessing arises from anything in which selfish interest has a part. If the selfish man succeeds in his purpose, it brings him to perdition, for “the accomplishment of a selfish purpose is the key of Hell”; and if he fails, he will nevertheless have removed from his heart the means of gaining salvation, for “resistance to selfish promptings is the key of Paradise”, as God hath said: “Whoso refrains his soul from lust, verily Paradise shall be his abode” (Kor. lxxix, 40-1). People act from selfish motives when they desire aught except to please God and to escape from Divine punishment. In fine, the follies of the soul have no limit and its manœuvres are hidden from sight. If God will, a chapter on this subject will be found at its proper place in the present book. Section. Now as to the words “I have set to work in accordance with your invitation, and have firmly resolved to fulfil all your wishes by means of this book” (p. 3), since you thought me worthy of being asked to write this book for your instruction, it was incumbent on me to comply with your request. Accordingly it behoved me to make an unconditional resolution that I would carry out my undertaking completely. When anyone begins an enterprise with the intention of finishing it, he may be excused if imperfections appear in his work; and for this reason the Prophet said: “The believer’s intention is better than his performance.” Great is the power of intention,
- 76. through which a man advances from one category to another without any external change. For example, if anyone endures hunger for a while without having intended to fast, he gets no recompense (thawáb) for it in the next world; but if he forms in his heart the intention of fasting, he becomes one of the favourites of God (muqarrabán). Again, a traveller who stays for a time in a city does not become a resident until he has formed the intention to reside there. A good intention, therefore, is preliminary to the due performance of every act. Section. When I said that I had called this book “The Revelation of the Mystery” (p. 3), my object was that the title of the book should proclaim its contents to persons of insight. You must know that all mankind are veiled from the subtlety of spiritual truth except God’s saints and His chosen friends; and inasmuch as this book is an elucidation of the Way of Truth, and an explanation of mystical sayings, and an uplifting of the veil of mortality, no other title is appropriate to it. Essentially, unveiling (kashf) is destruction of the veiled object, just as the veil destroys revelation (mukáshafat), and just as, for instance, one who is near cannot bear to be far, and one who is far cannot bear to be near; or as an animal which is generated from vinegar dies when it falls into any other substance, while those animals which are generated from other substances perish if they are put in vinegar. The spiritual path is hard to travel except for those who were created for that purpose. The Prophet said: “Everyone finds easy that for which he was created.” There are two veils: one is the “veil of covering” (ḥijáb-i rayní), which can never be removed, and the other is the “veil of clouding” (ḥijáb-i ghayní), which is quickly removed. The explanation is as follows: one man is veiled from the Truth by his essence (dhát), so that in his view truth and falsehood are the same. Another man is veiled from the Truth by his attributes (ṣifat), so that his nature and heart continually seek the Truth and flee from falsehood. Therefore the
- 77. veil of essence, which is that of “covering” (rayní), is never removed. Rayn is synonymous with khatin (sealing) and ṭab` (imprinting). Thus God hath said: “By no means: but their deeds have spread a covering (rána) over their hearts” (Kor. lxxxiii, 14); then He made the sense of this manifest and said: “Verily it is all one to the unbelievers whether thou warnest them or no; they will not believe” (Kor. ii, 5); then he explained the cause thereof, saying: “God hath sealed up their hearts” (Kor. ii, 6). But the veil of attributes, which is that of “clouding” (ghayní), may be removed at times, for essence does not admit of alteration, but the alteration of attributes is possible. The Ṣúfí Shaykhs have given many subtle hints on the subject of rayn and ghayn. Junayd said: Al-rayn min jumlat al- waṭanát wa ´l-ghayn min jumlat al-khaṭarát, “Rayn belongs to the class of abiding things and ghayn to the class of transient things.” Waṭan is permanent and khaṭar is adventitious. For example, it is impossible to make a mirror out of a stone, though many polishers assemble to try their skill on it, but a rusty mirror can be made bright by polishing; darkness is innate in the stone, and brightness is innate in the mirror; since the essence is permanent, the temporary attribute does not endure. Accordingly, I have composed this book for polishers of hearts which are infected by the veil of “clouding” but in which the substance of the light of the Truth is existent, in order that the veil may be lifted from them by the blessing of reading it, and that they may find their way to spiritual reality. Those whose being is compounded of denial of the truth and perpetration of falsehood will never find their way thither, and this book will be of no use to them. Section. Now with reference to my words “knowing what you desire, I have arranged the book in divisions suitable to your purpose” (p. 3), a questioner cannot be satisfied until he makes his want known to the person whom he interrogates. A question presupposes a difficulty, and a difficulty is insoluble until its nature is ascertained.
- 78. Furthermore, to answer a question in general terms is only possible when he who asks it has full knowledge of its various departments and corollaries, but with a beginner one needs to go into detail, and offer diverse explanations and definitions; and in this case especially, seeing that you—God grant you happiness!—desired me to answer your questions in detail and write a book on the matter. Section. I said, “I pray God to aid and prosper me” (p. 3), because God alone can help a man to do good deeds. When God assists anyone to perform acts deserving recompense, this is truly “success given by God” (tawfíq). The Koran and the Sunna attest the genuineness of tawfíq, and the whole Moslem community are unanimous therein, except some Mu`tazilites and Qadarites, who assert that the expression tawfíq is void of meaning. Certain Ṣúfí Shaykhs have said, Al-tawfíq huwa ´l-qudrat `ala ´l-ṭá`at `inda ´l-isti`mál, “When a man is obedient to God he receives from God increased strength.” In short, all human action and inaction is the act and creation of God: therefore the strength whereby a man renders obedience to God is called tawfíq. The discussion of this topic, however, would be out of place here. Please God, I will now return to the task which you have proposed, but before entering on it I will set down your question in its exact form. Section. The questioner, Abú Sa`íd al-Hujwírí, said: “Explain to me the true meaning of the Path of Ṣúfiism and the nature of the ‘stations’ (maqámát) of the Ṣúfís, and explain their doctrines and sayings, and make clear to me their mystical allegories, and the nature of Divine Love and how it is manifested in human hearts, and why the intellect is unable to reach the essence thereof, and why the soul recoils from the reality thereof, and why the spirit is lulled in the purity thereof;
- 79. and explain the practical aspects of Ṣúfiism which are connected with these theories.” Answer. The person questioned, `Alí b. `Uthmán al-Jullábí al-Hujwírí—may God have mercy on him!—says:— Know that in this our time the science of Ṣúfiism is obsolete, especially in this country. The whole people is occupied with following its lusts and has turned its back on the path of quietism (riḍá), while the `ulamá and those who pretend to learning have formed a conception of Ṣúfiism which is quite contrary to its fundamental principles. High and low alike are content with empty professions: blind conformity has taken the place of spiritual enthusiasm. The vulgar say, “We know God,” and the elect, satisfied if they feel in their hearts a longing for the next world, say, “This desire is vision and ardent love.” Everyone makes pretensions, none attains to reality. The disciples, neglecting their ascetic practices, indulge in idle thoughts, which they call “contemplation”. I myself (the author proceeds) have already written several books on Ṣúfiism, but all to no purpose. Some false pretenders picked out passages here and there in order to deceive the public, while they erased and destroyed the rest; others did not mutilate the books, but left them unread; others read them, but did not comprehend their meaning, so they copied the text and committed it to memory and said: “We can discourse on mystical science.” Nowadays true spiritualism is as rare as the Philosopher’s Stone (kibrít-i aḥmar); for it is natural to seek the medicine that fits the disease, and nobody wants to mix pearls and coral with common remedies like shalíthá[18] and dawá al-misk.[19] In time past the works of eminent Ṣúfís, falling into the hands of those who could not appreciate them, have been used to make lining for caps or binding for the poems of Abú Nuwás and the pleasantries of Jáḥiẕ. The royal falcon is sure to get its wings clipped when it perches on the wall of an old woman’s cottage. Our
- 80. contemporaries give the name of “law” to their lusts, pride and ambition they call “honour and learning”, hypocrisy towards men “fear of God”, concealment of anger “clemency”, disputation “discussion”, wrangling and foolishness “dignity”, insincerity “renunciation”, cupidity “devotion to God”, their own senseless fancies “divine knowledge”, the motions of the heart and affections of the animal soul “divine love”, heresy “poverty”, scepticism “purity”, disbelief in positive religion (zandaqa) “self-annihilation”, neglect of the Law of the Prophet “the mystic Path”, evil communication with time-servers “exercise of piety”. As Abú Bakr al-Wásiṭí said: “We are afflicted with a time in which there are neither the religious duties of Islam nor the morals of Paganism nor the virtues of Chivalry” (aḥlám-i dhawi ´l-ṃuruwwa). And Mutanabbí says to the same effect:—[20] “God curse this world! What a vile place for any camel-rider to alight in! For here the man of lofty spirit is always tormented.” Section. Know that I have found this universe an abode of Divine mysteries, which are deposited in created things. Substances accidents, elements, bodies, forms, and properties—all these are veils of Divine mysteries. From the standpoint of Unification (tawḥíd) it is polytheism to assert that any such veils exist, but in this world everything is veiled, by its being, from Unification, and the spirit is held captive by admixture and association with phenomenal being. Hence the intellect can hardly comprehend those Divine mysteries, and the spirit can but dimly perceive the marvels of nearness to God. Man, enamoured of his gross environment, remains sunk in ignorance and apathy, making no attempt to cast off the veil that has fallen upon him. Blind to the beauty of Oneness, he turns away from God to seek the vanities of this world and allows his appetites to domineer over his reason, notwithstanding that the animal soul,
- 81. which the Koran (xii, 53) describes as “commanding to evil” (ammáratun bi ´l-sú´), is the greatest of all veils between God and Man. Now I will begin and explain to you, fully and lucidly, what you wish to know concerning the “stations” and the “veils”, and I will interpret the expressions of the technicologists (ahl-i ṣaná´i`), and add thereto some sayings of the Shaykhs and anecdotes about them, in order that your object may be accomplished and that any learned doctors of law or others who look into this work may recognize that the Path of Ṣúfiism has a firm root and a fruitful branch, since all the Ṣúfí Shaykhs have been possessed of knowledge and have encouraged their disciples to acquire knowledge and to persevere in doing so. They have never been addicted to frivolity and levity. Many of them have composed treatises on the method of Ṣúfiism which clearly prove that their minds were filled with divine thoughts. 1. Julláb and Hujwír were two suburbs of Ghazna. Evidently he resided for some time in each of them. 2. Notices occur in the Nafaḥát al-Uns, No. 377; the Safínat al- Awliyá, No. 298 (Ethé’s Cat. of the Persian MSS. in the Library of the India Office, i, col. 304); the Riyáḍ al-Awliyá, Or. 1745, f. 140a (Rieu’s Cat. of the Persian MSS. in the British Museum, iii, 975). In the khátimat al-ṭab` on the last page of the Lahore edition of the Kashf al-Maḥjúb he is called Ḥaḍrat-i Dátá Ganj-bakhsh `Alí al- Hujwírí. 3. Nafaḥát, No. 376. Through al-Khuttalí, al-Ḥuṣrí, and Abú Bakr al-Shiblí the author of the Kashf al-Maḥjúb is spiritually connected with Junayd of Baghdád (ob. 297 A.H.). 4. Ibid., No. 375. The nisba Shaqqání or Shaqání is derived from Shaqqán, a village near Níshápúr.
- 82. 5. Nafaḥát, No. 367. 6. Ibid., No. 368. 7. The date 465 A.H. is given by Ázád in his biographical work on the famous men of Balgrám, entitled Ma´áthir al-Kirám. 8. See Ethé’s Cat. of the Persian MSS. in the India Office Library, No. 1774 (2). The author of this treatise does not call al-Hujwírí the brother of Abú Sa`íd b. Abi ´l-Khayr, as Ethé says, but his spiritual brother (birádar-i ḥaqíqat). 9. Its full title is Kashf al-maḥjúb li-arbáb al-qulúb (Ḥájjí Khalífa, v, 215). 10. The author’s view as to the worthlessness of outward forms of religion is expressed with striking boldness in his chapter on the Pilgrimage (pp. 326-9). 11. Many passages from the Kashf al-Maḥjúb are quoted, word for word, in Jámí’s Nafaḥát al-Uns, which is a modernized and enlarged recension of `Abdalláh Anṣárí’s Ṭabaqát al-Ṣúfiyya. 12. A summary of these doctrines will be found in the abstract of a paper on “The Oldest Persian Manual of Ṣúfiism” which I read at Oxford in 1908 (Trans. of the Third International Congress for the History of Religions, i, 293-7). 13. Some of al-Hujwírí’s twelve sects reappear at a later epoch as orders of dervishes, but the pedigree of those orders which trace their descent from ancient Ṣúfís is usually fictitious. 14. JRAS., 1904, p. 130. 15. Cf., however, p. 114, note.
- 83. Welcome to Our Bookstore - The Ultimate Destination for Book Lovers Are you passionate about books and eager to explore new worlds of knowledge? At our website, we offer a vast collection of books that cater to every interest and age group. From classic literature to specialized publications, self-help books, and children’s stories, we have it all! Each book is a gateway to new adventures, helping you expand your knowledge and nourish your soul Experience Convenient and Enjoyable Book Shopping Our website is more than just an online bookstore—it’s a bridge connecting readers to the timeless values of culture and wisdom. With a sleek and user-friendly interface and a smart search system, you can find your favorite books quickly and easily. Enjoy special promotions, fast home delivery, and a seamless shopping experience that saves you time and enhances your love for reading. Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and personal growth! ebookgate.com