{"id":198,"date":"2012-05-07T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2012-05-07T09:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/?p=198"},"modified":"2012-05-07T09:00:17","modified_gmt":"2012-05-07T09:00:17","slug":"reflection-through-water-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/2012\/05\/07\/reflection-through-water-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflection through Water"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 25%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-198 gallery-columns-4 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/2012\/05\/07\/reflection-through-water-2\/img_2138-3\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/files\/2012\/05\/IMG_21382-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/2012\/05\/07\/reflection-through-water-2\/img_2136-4\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/files\/2012\/05\/IMG_21363-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/2012\/05\/07\/reflection-through-water-2\/img_2135\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/files\/2012\/05\/IMG_2135-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/2012\/05\/07\/reflection-through-water-2\/img_2133-3\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/files\/2012\/05\/IMG_21332-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/2012\/05\/07\/reflection-through-water-2\/img_2154\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/files\/2012\/05\/IMG_2154-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/2012\/05\/07\/reflection-through-water-2\/img_2160\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/files\/2012\/05\/IMG_2160-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/2012\/05\/07\/reflection-through-water-2\/img_2157-2\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/files\/2012\/05\/IMG_2157-2-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/2012\/05\/07\/reflection-through-water-2\/img_2161-3\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/files\/2012\/05\/IMG_21612-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/2012\/05\/07\/reflection-through-water-2\/img_2166\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/files\/2012\/05\/IMG_2166-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/2012\/05\/07\/reflection-through-water-2\/img_2167\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/files\/2012\/05\/IMG_2167-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/2012\/05\/07\/reflection-through-water-2\/img_2170-3\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/files\/2012\/05\/IMG_21702-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/2012\/05\/07\/reflection-through-water-2\/img_2171-2\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/files\/2012\/05\/IMG_21711-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>This project is in response to several themes covered over the course of the semester, with a particular focus on the Week 10 reading of Attar\u2019s <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Conference of the Birds<\/span>.\u00a0 A mathnawi, or epic poem, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Conference of the Birds<\/span> describes the mystical journey of thirty birds on a quest to discover truth. \u00a0A wonderful recount of Sufi tradition and lessons of patience and self-discovery, the poem memorably concludes with the birds\u2019 finding \u201ctruth\u201d in their own reflection in a lake.<\/p>\n<p>In my response, I attempt to recreate the Sufi idea that God is not external or separate from the universe\u2014but rather, \u201ca totality of existence.\u201d\u00a0 As such, God is intrinsic to his believers and indefinitely tied to our inner egos.\u00a0 As Attar says to the birds, in order to truly experience Islam, one must abandon the self and the establishment of religion.\u00a0 It is these conceptions that prohibit one from reaching the <em>batin<\/em> and genuinely experiencing Islam.\u00a0 Attar explains to the birds that before reaching the truth, one thinks of God as being veiled and intangible.\u00a0 However, after the journey of truth\u2014symbolically undertaken by the birds in this story\u2014we are able to feel a connection with God that draws on a higher plane of reality, or <em>haqiqa<\/em>.\u00a0 Reaching this state of enlightenment, we become aware not only of God\u2019s existence as internal to us, but can experience him as <em>one<\/em> with us.<\/p>\n<p>Yet one of the more controversial aspects of Attar\u2019s message <em>is<\/em> the very ending, when the birds look into a lake to find only a reflection of themselves (and not the mystical Simorgh).\u00a0 I chose to focus on this concept in my creative response particularly because of the many meanings it can hold for readers of this poem. \u00a0\u00a0I used a flat, black bowl in which I spelled out \u201cAllah\u201d in Arabic using water.\u00a0 I then used a solid, white clay coloring pencil to repeat the same inscription <em>beneath<\/em> water that I poured into the bowl.\u00a0 The color pattern used\u2014black, white and translucent\u2014is meant to represent the distinct ways in which we understand God (as within us, as external or internal to us, and as unified with us).\u00a0 In the fourth picture shown, I photograph myself as a reflection in the pool.\u00a0 This is meant to represent my own journey toward understanding Islam, and the way that this knowledge has reflected on my own faith.\u00a0 Through the collage of pictures shown, I let the water dissipate for several hours, until the writing became blurred.\u00a0 Yet as the word blurred with time, it also become more prominent on the black surface\u2014this is indicative of the notion that religious enlightenment, of the type found in Attar\u2019s poem, becomes more prominent throughout our personal journeys.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This project is in response to several themes covered over the course of the semester, with a particular focus on the Week 10 reading of Attar\u2019s Conference of the Birds.\u00a0 A mathnawi, or epic poem, Conference of the Birds describes the mystical journey of thirty birds on a quest to discover truth. \u00a0A wonderful recount 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