Artwork by George Mattar
Whirling away (Photo: Emily O'Dell)
How can my soul be still
when I am whirling in stillness?
— Rumi
I spent the last two days of the week teaching the mystic philosophy of al-Ghazali, and whirling into the week-end with Lebanese and Syrian Sufis in Beirut. Over sumptuous snacks at a Sufi gathering last night, I was reminded that the questions al-Ghazali posed in the 11th century–about the nature of sense-perception, and the primacy of experiential knowledge–are still being contemplated and debated by Sufis in Lebanon and around the world…
