The Legacy of Henry Corbin: A new photo for the Archive

"...the Imagination (or love, or sympathy, or any other sentiment) induces knowledge, and knowledge of an 'object' which is proper to it..."

Henry Corbin (1903-1978) was a scholar, philosopher and theologian. He was a champion of the transformative power of the Imagination and of the transcendent reality of the individual in a world threatened by totalitarianisms of all kinds. One of the 20th century’s most prolific scholars of Islamic mysticism, Corbin was Professor of Islam & Islamic Philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris and at the University of Teheran. He was a major figure at the Eranos Conferences in Switzerland. He introduced the concept of the mundus imaginalis into contemporary thought. His work has provided a foundation for archetypal psychology as developed by James Hillman and influenced countless poets and artists worldwide. But Corbin’s central project was to provide a framework for understanding the unity of the religions of the Book: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. His great work Alone with the Alone: Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn ‘Arabi is a classic initiatory text of visionary spirituality that transcends the tragic divisions among the three great monotheisms. Corbin’s life was devoted to the struggle to free the religious imagination from fundamentalisms of every kind. His work marks a watershed in our understanding of the religions of the West and makes a profound contribution to the study of the place of the imagination in human life.

Friday, December 11, 2015

A new photo for the Archive

We have this little gem from Jean Louis Gaillemin, who writes,

"En train de mettre en ordre mes vieilles photos , je viens de scanner une photo de moi avec mon maître Henry Corbin en compagnie de Gershom Sholem et je tombe sur votre site, si cette photo vous convient, vous pouvez la publier, ( je suis à gauche sur la photo, je ne me souviens plus du nom de l'étudiant qui suivait Gershom Sholem) nous sommes vers 1973 ?"

The fourth person is Robert Bosnak, who confirms the date as 1973.

Many thanks to Jean Louis for sending this!