"Nor was he rapt in the contemplation of the All that his Neosufic religion enjoined."
-Poul Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (New York, 2012), p. 250.
Sufism is Muslim mysticism. "Neo-" means "new" which, in practice, can mean almost anything. Traditions can change and even become their opposites.
Apart from this, there is no evidence that Magnusson is a Muslim. However, yogic and meditative practices can indeed be detached from their original contexts, e.g.:
hatha yoga, commonly called "yoga," can be practiced not for meditation but for health;
zazen, just sitting, can be practiced either for relaxation or for meditation but outside a specifically Buddhist context.
Maybe, when Magnusson realizes his oneness with the All, he exclaims, "All, ah!" Despite the humor of this remark, I respect my neighbors' Islam and myself subscribe to the view that each of us is one with the All although apparently separate.
There is a disorienting moment when Magnusson tells Flandry:
"'...I now have one more proof that the God looks after His warriors.'" (p. 400)
A man speaking like a Merseian! Impossible. He cannot be a Merseian disguised as a human being. No, but he was educated on Merseia and hypnotically indoctrinated by no less an agent of the Roidhunate than the cynical Aycharaych.
A single transcendent deity served by warriors - maybe there is some common ground between Muslims and Merseians?
5 comments:
Hi, Paul!
Your piece touches, perhaps without realizing it, on one of the major differences of Christianity from Judaism (and even more so from Islam), Judaism teaches the absolute and infinite transcendence and otherness of God from all that He had created. Far too briefly, it can be seen how such a faith would be appreciated by warriors. Christianity differs in a huge way from this in proclaiming how God humbled Himself to become Incarnate as man, pass thru the womb of a woman, live like a man among us, and even be scorned, mocked, reviled, nailed to a cross, die and then rise from the dead, etc.
I know little about Sufism, except that I have seen remarks that it was influenced by Christianity and that many Muslims look askance at it as something not truly Muslim.
Sean
Sean,
I understand (not got details) that a Sufi was crucified for the heresy of identifying himself with Allah.
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
If true, that would certainly show how unorthodox Sufism is in the eyes of most Muslims. Or, did you have the founder of the Bahai religion in mind?
Sean
No, a Sufi.
Zen monk buys a hot dog.
Vendor asks, "What do you want on it?"
Monk says, "Make me one with everything."
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