Visions of Beauty: Exploring Aesthetics as a Starting Point for Meaningful Inter‐Religious Encounter, True‐Seeing, Truth‐Seeking, and Personal Transformation

Abstract

Visions of Beauty: Exploring Aesthetics as a Starting Point for Meaningful Inter‐Religious Encounter, True‐Seeing, Truth‐Seeking, and Personal Transformation Fatimah Mohammed‐Ashrif Let the beauty we love be what we do, there are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground. (Rumi) These oft‐cited words from Mevlana Jalal ud‐Din Rumi, the thirteenth‐century Muslim Scholar, jurist, mystic, and poet suggest that beauty is the key to the heart and ought to be at the heart of all that we do as it melts the defenses and creates the possibility of transformation. I have been engaged with the work of Rumi's Circle for the last five years. This group facilitates the sharing of poetry, music, and movement inspired by Rumi through small gatherings, workshops, and longer retreats. Up until fairly recently, I had also been leading the work of Coexist House an interfaith organization concerned with creating a deeper understanding of the world's faith traditions among those of faith and no‐faith through an exploration of “inter‐religious aesthetics.” It is the insights and experiences gained through the work with Rumi's Circle and working to realize the vision for Coexist House that I share in this article. Inspired by my understanding of Rumi and for the purposes of this article, I would define “beauty” as that which touches the heart and “aesthetics” as sensory experiences of beauty: that which we might see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. The projects I have been working with aim to create a meaningful encounter between those of different beliefs and practices, and it is my experience that deep learning about oneself comes from meaningful and genuine encounter with others (and deep learning about the other comes from genuine encounter with oneself). To be deemed truly meaningful and genuine, these encounters must result in a marked change in understandings, attitudes, and behaviors, that is, some transformation: a melting of personal biases, defenses, and misunderstandings along with an awareness of these and other such “barriers” to genuine encounter. Transformation as I see it is made possible by being open to the truth of a thing, that is, of a different belief, perspective, or practice and this can only be achieved by an unbiased seeing of that belief, perspective, or practice. My suggestion is that “beautiful aesthetics” have a role to play in rousing our self‐enquiry, suspending our judgements, overcoming our fears, and thereby enabling us to truly see the “other” and in seeing and experiencing the “other” effect a change and growth in ourselves, allowing the possibility of a transformation of some sort. In light of growing interests in the potential of inter‐religious aesthetics, Coexist House, an organization with substantial support from significant institutions, envisages a landmark building in London devoted to “inter‐religious aesthetics,” that is, the artistic and cultural expressions of different traditions. It also sees this type of “programming” as critical to creating a truly transformative educational experience for young and old alike. This draws on wisdom shared by many religious and spiritual traditions. In this article, I intend to (1) reflect on some aspects of our “make‐up” as human beings which seem to prevent us from truly seeing others; this true‐seeing of others is vital to truth‐seeking, since as relational beings we learn best from each other. (2) Share the concept of “adab” which is central to Islam and Islamic spirituality and places “beauty” at the heart of its practice and expression; Adab has inspired and guided the way in which Rumi's Circle has sought both to hold “space” for different forms of “encounter” and how that “space” is to be filled, that is, how content is put together, or what might be referred to as “programming.” And (3) describe the Mevlevi practice of Sema as an example of an aesthetic which has been shared in inter‐religious contexts. Barriers to Love Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. (Rumi) Wise men and women of the world throughout the ages seem to have recognized that we each inherit or develop barriers...