Regaining Union with God: A Comparative Study of Jalaluddin Rumi and William Blake

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Tolou-e-Mehr Non-Profit Institute of Higher Education

Abstract

The comparative study of Jalaluddin Rumi and William Blake has not been fully conducted yet. This paper will examine how man can find his true home through the divine love and annihilation with regard to human struggle in the direction of union with God. The study is limited to Rumi’s Masnavi as well as Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, Milton, and Four Zoas. In order to find the similarities and differences between the two poets, Aldous Huxley’s ideas on perennial philosophy and the theory of hermeneutics will be employed. The discussion will concentrate on the two themes of love and annihilation. At first love and annihilation will be examined in the poetry of Rumi and then paralleled to Rumi, William Bake’s attitude towards love and annihilation will be discussed. To the extent that the writer is concerned, the article is unique in a literary sense and it is possible to fill a literary gap through reviewing these two prominent figures and their literary mystical thoughts concerning love and annihilation. Consequently, it is concluded that love and annihilation could be considered as the home button of the divine GPS that man can push and be guided to his true home.

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