275 � 2001 Blanton-Peale Institute

Journal of Religion and Health, Vol. 40, No. 2, Summer 2001 (� 2001)

The CreativeImagination of theSufi Mystic, Ibn ‘Arabi

FREDRICA R. HALLIGAN

ABSTRACT: The 12th–13th century mystic, Ibn ‘Arabi, was known as “the Greatest Master”among the Sufis. His insights into dreams, visions and prophetic processes may prove enlighten-ing to our own more secular age. The findings of Carl Jung parallel some of the revelations of themystic, but Ibn ‘Arabi goes farther than Jung into the Active Imagination as both conscious—willed—and spontaneous, autonomous process. Through surrender and annihilation in the Di-vine, the mystic opens himself to receive theophanies, resulting in a life lived perpetually inawareness of Divine Presence. Union with the Divine is the aim of the mystic and Ibn ‘Arabishows us a detailed account of how that life is experienced.

KEY WORDS: mysticism; Sufism; Jung; Islam.

“My heart has become capable of every form: it is a pasture forgazelles and a convent for Christian monks,And a temple for idols and the pilgrim’s Ka’ba and the tables ofthe Tora and the book of the Qur’an.I follow the religion of Love: whatever way Love’s camels take,that is my religion and my faith.”(Ibn ‘Arabi, cited in Mercer, 1996, p. i)

A vast body of scholarly discourse has been written about Ibn ‘Arabi (1165–1240 C.E.), an important and complex Sufi mystic. This paper endeavors totake the flavor of Ibn ‘Arabi’s thought and experience, making it accessible tothe Western non-Islamic spiritual seeker. Coming to this research as a depthpsychologist interested in spiritual issues, I write for the benefit of other psy-chologists, pastoral counselors and the lay public, who may not have the timeto delve deeply into a tradition other than their own.1

Fredrica R. Halligan, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, who teaches psychology, religion andpastoral counseling at Fordham University, Blanton Peale Institute, and other training pro-grams in the New York area. She has a consulting practice in Stamford, CT.