Art is inextricably tied to man's survival - not to his physical survival, but to that on which his physical survival depends: to the preservation and survival of his consciousness.
The differences between religions are reflected very clearly in the different forms of sacred art: compared with Gothic art, above all in its __lamboyant_ style, Islamic art is contemplative rather than volitive: it is __ntellectual_ and not __ramatic_, and it opposes the cold beauty of geometrical design to the mystical heroism of cathedrals. Islam is the perspective of __mnipresence_ (__od is everywhere_), which coincides with that of __imultaneity_ (__ruth has always been_); it aims at avoiding any __articularization_ or __ondensation_, any __nique fact_ in time and space, although as a religion it necessarily includes an aspect of __nique fact_, without which it would be ineffective or even absurd. In other words Islam aims at what is __verywhere center_, and this is why, symbolically speaking, it replaces the cross with the cube or the woven fabric: it __ecentralizes_ and __niversalizes_ to the greatest possible extent, in the realm of art as in that of doctrine; it is opposed to any individualist mode and hence to any __ersonalist_ mysticism. To express ourselves in geometrical terms, we could say that a point which seeks to be unique, and which thus becomes an absolute center, appears to Islam__n art as in theology__s a usurpation of the divine absoluteness and therefore as an __ssociation_ (shirk); there is only one single center, God, whence the prohibition against __entralizing_ images, especially statues; even the Prophet, the human center of the tradition, has no right to a __hristic uniqueness_ and is __ecentralized_ by the series of other Prophets; the same is true of Islam__r the Koran__hich is similarly integrated in a universal __abric_ and a cosmic __hythm_, having been preceded by other religions__r other __ooks___hich it merely restores. The Kaaba, center of the Muslim world, becomes space as soon as one is inside the building: the ritual direction of prayer is then projected toward the four cardinal points.If Christianity is like a central fire, Islam on the contrary resembles a blanket of snow, at once unifying and leveling and having its center everywhere.
Gnosis: Divine Wisdom: A New Translation with Selected Letters
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The differences between religions are reflected very clearly in the different forms of sacred art: compared with Gothic art, above all in its __lamboyant_ style, Islamic art is contemplative rather than volitive: it is __ntellectual_ and not __ramatic_, and it opposes the cold beauty of geometrical design to the mystical heroism of cathedrals. Islam is the perspective of __mnipresence_ (__od is everywhere_), which coincides with that of __imultaneity_ (__ruth has always been_); it aims at avoiding any __articularization_ or __ondensation_, any __nique fact_ in time and space, although as a religion it necessarily includes an aspect of __nique fact_, without which it would be ineffective or even absurd. In other words Islam aims at what is __verywhere center_, and this is why, symbolically speaking, it replaces the cross with the cube or the woven fabric: it __ecentralizes_ and __niversalizes_ to the greatest possible extent, in the realm of art as in that of doctrine; it is opposed to any individualist mode and hence to any __ersonalist_ mysticism. To express ourselves in geometrical terms, we could say that a point which seeks to be unique, and which thus becomes an absolute center, appears to Islam__n art as in theology__s a usurpation of the divine absoluteness and therefore as an __ssociation_ (shirk); there is only one single center, God, whence the prohibition against __entralizing_ images, especially statues; even the Prophet, the human center of the tradition, has no right to a __hristic uniqueness_ and is __ecentralized_ by the series of other Prophets; the same is true of Islam__r the Koran__hich is similarly integrated in a universal __abric_ and a cosmic __hythm_, having been preceded by other religions__r other __ooks___hich it merely restores. The Kaaba, center of the Muslim world, becomes space as soon as one is inside the building: the ritual direction of prayer is then projected toward the four cardinal points.If Christianity is like a central fire, Islam on the contrary resembles a blanket of snow, at once unifying and leveling and having its center everywhere.
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