The Dragon on the Path and the Emerald of Love: A Nietzschean reading of Rūmī’s concept of love
Facing suffering and death, or what is known as human fragility, does not seem all that difficult and challenging in the presence of a morally responsible God or the primordial source of all existence. However, if our theodicy does not allow for the existence of such a God or primordial source, as i...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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De Gruyter
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Open Theology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1515/opth-2022-0215 |
| _version_ | 1811246739693240320 |
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| author | Arani Hamidreza Mahboobi |
| author_facet | Arani Hamidreza Mahboobi |
| author_sort | Arani Hamidreza Mahboobi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Facing suffering and death, or what is known as human fragility, does not seem all that difficult and challenging in the presence of a morally responsible God or the primordial source of all existence. However, if our theodicy does not allow for the existence of such a God or primordial source, as in Ashʿarite theology or Schopenhauer’s philosophy, then the encounter with human fragility necessitates a more sophisticated explanation. Schopenhauer, by rejecting the loving Christian God, adopts the Buddhist solution to death which, he claims, has been maintained in Sufism. While recognizing Schopenhauer’s metaphysics, Nietzsche disagrees with his moral approach and attempts to address human vulnerability from an aesthetic standpoint. In this article, I argue that Rūmī, following Ashʿarite theodicy, attempts to transcend the moral position of theologians with his concept of love and, instead of appealing to the dominant asceticism of fear and terror, confronts human fragility through the framework of his mysticism of love. The article then makes an effort to provide a reasonable interpretation of this mysticism in light of Nietzsche’s aesthetic metaphysics. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T14:58:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2f8a3dd3ac8a4fde814810b006b8f3c6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2300-6579 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T14:58:39Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | De Gruyter |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Open Theology |
| spelling | doaj.art-2f8a3dd3ac8a4fde814810b006b8f3c62022-12-22T03:28:09ZengDe GruyterOpen Theology2300-65792022-10-018139140910.1515/opth-2022-0215The Dragon on the Path and the Emerald of Love: A Nietzschean reading of Rūmī’s concept of loveArani Hamidreza Mahboobi0Department of Philosophy, Tarbiat Modares University Faculty of Humanities, Tehran 14115-111, Islamic Republic of IranFacing suffering and death, or what is known as human fragility, does not seem all that difficult and challenging in the presence of a morally responsible God or the primordial source of all existence. However, if our theodicy does not allow for the existence of such a God or primordial source, as in Ashʿarite theology or Schopenhauer’s philosophy, then the encounter with human fragility necessitates a more sophisticated explanation. Schopenhauer, by rejecting the loving Christian God, adopts the Buddhist solution to death which, he claims, has been maintained in Sufism. While recognizing Schopenhauer’s metaphysics, Nietzsche disagrees with his moral approach and attempts to address human vulnerability from an aesthetic standpoint. In this article, I argue that Rūmī, following Ashʿarite theodicy, attempts to transcend the moral position of theologians with his concept of love and, instead of appealing to the dominant asceticism of fear and terror, confronts human fragility through the framework of his mysticism of love. The article then makes an effort to provide a reasonable interpretation of this mysticism in light of Nietzsche’s aesthetic metaphysics.https://doi.org/10.1515/opth-2022-0215the primordial source of all existencemorality, justice, aesthetic perspective, individuality, appearance, death and annihilation, love |
| spellingShingle | Arani Hamidreza Mahboobi The Dragon on the Path and the Emerald of Love: A Nietzschean reading of Rūmī’s concept of love Open Theology the primordial source of all existence morality, justice, aesthetic perspective, individuality, appearance, death and annihilation, love |
| title | The Dragon on the Path and the Emerald of Love: A Nietzschean reading of Rūmī’s concept of love |
| title_full | The Dragon on the Path and the Emerald of Love: A Nietzschean reading of Rūmī’s concept of love |
| title_fullStr | The Dragon on the Path and the Emerald of Love: A Nietzschean reading of Rūmī’s concept of love |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Dragon on the Path and the Emerald of Love: A Nietzschean reading of Rūmī’s concept of love |
| title_short | The Dragon on the Path and the Emerald of Love: A Nietzschean reading of Rūmī’s concept of love |
| title_sort | dragon on the path and the emerald of love a nietzschean reading of rumi s concept of love |
| topic | the primordial source of all existence morality, justice, aesthetic perspective, individuality, appearance, death and annihilation, love |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1515/opth-2022-0215 |
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