The title evokes two spiritual traditions, Anglicanism, the Via Media between
Rome and Protestantism, and the intermediacy of the creative imagination,
a central element in Ibn 'Arabi's philosophy. A passage from The Bezels of
Wisdom illustrates the idea.
When a man loves a woman, he seeks union with her, that is to say the most complete union possible in love, and there is in the elemental sphere no greater union than that between the sexes. [Man's] contemplation of the Reality in woman is the most complete and perfect. . . . Contemplation of the Reality without formal support is not possible. . . . Since, therefore, some form of support is necessary, the best and most perfect kind is the contemplation of God in woman. The greatest union is that between man and woman (Ibn al-`Arabi, 1980: 274-5).
I want to explore the imaginative function more fully in later posts. Right
now, I need to eat breakfast. :) Maslow's hierarchy and all that.
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