THE LEAP INTO DARKNESS AND THE QUEST FOR MEANING: TRANSCENDENCE IN D.H. LAWRENCE AND IBN ’ARABI.

Abstract

English novelist and poet D. H. Lawrence and Sufi master (shaikh) Ibn ‘Arabi’s writing have very little common purpose. They write in different ages, in different cultural and religious background and in different genre. Therefore, this paper is not about common purpose and similarity of themes in their writings. This paper addresses one fundamental ontological issue which fascinates both writers the most and that issue is experiencing the spiritual source of human soul.
This source, which is transcendental and without human reach, has a medium of its expression in human love, the finest human emotion God has put in the world. In this paper we will try to understand Lawrence’s transcendental leap through Ibn ‘Arabi’s concept of experiencing the divine reality in this world.