در ادامه فایل تصویری و همچنین چکیده سخنرانی جناب آقای دکتر Aaron French (پژوهشگر پسادکتری دین پژوهی دانشگاه ارفورت آلمان) با عنوان «Attaining Higher Knowledge in East and West: Comparing the Mysticism of Suhrawardi and Rudolf Steiner» در همایش بین المللی شیخ اشراق و دنیای جدید که در  پنل انگلیسی 2 برگزار گردید، تقدیم علاقه‌مندان می شود.

This paper presents a fresh perspective on the “East/West” binary in three sections:

1. We begin by making a comparison of the modern theosophy of Austrian-German esotericist Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) and the Illuminationist philosophy of Suhrawardi (1154-1191). We ask the question, are there similarities between Steiner and Suhrawardi? It turns out there are. For example, Steiner created an image called the “German-Persian Initiate” that was painted on the copula of his modern temple to Goethe in Switzerland, which depicted a struggle between dualistic forces of light and dark and included the Zoroastrian figure of Ahriman. He outlined a philosophy of graded levels of initiation for traversing four higher worlds, culminating in intuition or revealed knowledge. Like Suhrawardi, Steiner had an affinity for Plato, rejected the rationalism of Aristotle, and developed a new approach to education.

2. As this comparison will highlight the meaningful navigation of opposites in the aforementioned perennial thinkers –Steiner and Suhrawardi– who drew from Western and Eastern principles of ultimate reality, it seems, as shown by the venue of this conference, that the confluence or apotheosis of contraries arises from the very depths in the heart of the Middle East. In this section, we refer to the modern relevance of ancient syncretistic perspectives on cataphatic and apophatic approaches to Self-knowledge (Carabine 1995, 134), which can inform and expand our contemporary interdisciplinary understandings.

3. To conclude, by drawing such connections we seek to uncover resonances and similarities, as well as tensions, opening up new avenues for cross-cultural exchange. By incorporating Western esotericism –a marginalized intellectual current in Europe grounded in experiential religiosity and mysticism, sometimes called “rejected knowledge” (Hanegraaff 2012)– we excavate an underrepresented, more productive dimension of the dialogue between East and West.