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" Ibn Arabi is suggesting that the contemplation of God is possible, indeed enhanced, through the human form: when man contemplates the Reality in woman he beholds God. The Epiphany that Ibn Arabi found in the contemplation of the feminine need not be exclusive to the feminine. Indeed, as the Qur‘an says in Surah Tin, the human being is created in the most beautiful proportions, created on an archetype of beauty. What Ibn Arabi found in his contemplation of Woman is a profound recognition of the Divine in the „other“. Since God has breathed His Spirit into human beings, the outward form is creaturely, while the inner nature is Divine. Therefore, God is loving Himself in us, and we are loving God in each other. In the same way, man is loving himself in woman, and she is loving herself in him. But the finding of wholeness within oneself doesn‘t necessarily cancel out the beautiful polarity between lovers. Ibn Arabi is describing sexual union as a mirroring of God within God, as a Divine Union of deep awareness, and this is the appropriate human state for sexual relations. Sexuality is sacred because it is a form of relationship within this great electromagnetic field of Love. To disparage this polarity is a denial of the Divine origins of our very humanity. To ignore its spiritual potential is to deny the Spirit that has been breathed into us. (p. 107) "

Kabir Helminski , Holistic Islam: Sufism, Transformation, and the Needs of Our Time


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Kabir Helminski quote : Ibn Arabi is suggesting that the contemplation of God is possible, indeed enhanced, through the human form: when man contemplates the Reality in woman he beholds God. The Epiphany that Ibn Arabi found in the contemplation of the feminine need not be exclusive to the feminine. Indeed, as the Qur‘an says in Surah Tin, the human being is created in the most beautiful proportions, created on an archetype of beauty. What Ibn Arabi found in his contemplation of Woman is a profound recognition of the Divine in the „other“. Since God has breathed His Spirit into human beings, the outward form is creaturely, while the inner nature is Divine. Therefore, God is loving Himself in us, and we are loving God in each other. In the same way, man is loving himself in woman, and she is loving herself in him. But the finding of wholeness within oneself doesn‘t necessarily cancel out the beautiful polarity between lovers. Ibn Arabi is describing sexual union as a mirroring of God within God, as a Divine Union of deep awareness, and this is the appropriate human state for sexual relations. Sexuality is sacred because it is a form of relationship within this great electromagnetic field of Love. To disparage this polarity is a denial of the Divine origins of our very humanity. To ignore its spiritual potential is to deny the Spirit that has been breathed into us. (p. 107)