چكيده لاتين :
This study attempts to analyze the paradox in Attar-e-Neyshaburi's the Conference of the Birds and Jung's Psychology. According to the results, Attar, using Simurgh and Jung, using the archetype of the "self", are both in search of human evolution, that is of a unified whole that is the paradox of the essence because it is made up of opposing forces.
Keywords: Paradox, Self, Simurgh, Attar, the Conference of the Birds, Jung.
Introduction
In Persian language, paradox is a method of artistic defamiliarization par excellence. Paradox enjoys a unique significance in various sciences that promote creativity, transformation, and innovation. This article attempts to answer whether the paradox in Attar Attar-e-Neyshaburi's the Conference of the Birds is comparable to the paradox in Jung's psychology. This article is a descriptive-analytical study.
Research findings include:
A. The universe is a particle and the particle is the universe
In the Conference of the Birds, after describing the initial creation of the universe, Attar mentions the allegory of the "particle and the universe", revealing the role of the unity of opposites in the creation of being, and then, in the later stages, extends this principle to the creation of man, which is based on the unity of opposites.
In Jung's view, in nuclear physics, such as the psychic domain "the contradictions, ranging from particles to the cosmos, are functional"; as this functionality is observable in the paradox of "universe-representing particle and particle-representing universe" in a circular movement in Attar's poetry because the circular motion in each image appears between two opposing points. Yet, in the motion itself, these contradictions are united, namely the dynamic unity of the opposites, such as the dynamic unity of the universe-representing particle and particle-representing universe, or the dynamic unity of thirty birds (=Si-murgh) and Simurgh.
B. Thirty birds are Simurgh, and Simurgh is thirty birds
Attar's the Conference of the Birds is a description of the birds' journey toward Simurgh. Jung calls Simurgh the "self". Simurgh is the most popular and famous paradoxical character in the Conference of the Birds with three animalistic (bird), humanistic (king) and divine (idealistic existence) dimensions.
In the conclusion of the Conference of the Birds, thanks to paradox, the verses represent an evolutionary process. The dichotomies are suspended and thirty birds are merged into a higher form, which is called unity in mysticism, and in Jung psychology is interpreted as "wholeness". Thus, Attar says, "this is that one, and that one is this." Similarly, Jung says, "the whole is in everything and everything is in the whole" as the unity of opposites and calls it "the unity of psycho physics in all the phenomena of life."
In the Conference of the Birds, through presenting a practical example of the self, paradoxes find more scope for their presence. The self at the same time is a symbol of wholeness and is not a symbol of total and complete unity because, for Jung, evolution in the deeper layers of the collective unconscious, and for Attar, in the divine essence, has not been realized. For this reason, in the circular course at the end of the Conference of the Birds, both the world of sense (thirty birds = Si-murgh) and the world of divine (Simurgh) are present (opposites) at the same time.
Since the "self" includes the intrinsic human nature, it has paradoxical characteristics (matter and heaven, good and evil) because evil is also a part of it. As a result, "good and evil are the same in His path."Therefore, the archetype of the self has dual values. Staying in the dark side of the "self" causes petrification (excuses of the birds) and its bright side transforms the character of the thirty birds into a new form (Simurgh) at the end of the journey, raising them from "physical death" to "glory of eternity". It is at this stage that the mystic "attains eternity in annihilation" because the non-existence in a world is simultaneously eternity in a more complete world.
6. Conclusion
According to the findings of the study, Attar, thanks to Simurgh in the Conference of the Birds, and Jung, thanks to the archetype of "self", are in their search for the whole, and in their views, the unified whole is a paradox of the essence because it is formed of opposing forces that are concerned with the balance of two aspects of being, the "body and the soul" (thirty birds= Si-murgh or conscious + Simurgh or unconscious).
Allegories such as the correspondence of "particle with the universe and vice versa" that underlie the correspondence of "Si-murgh with the Simurgh and vice versa" can be a symbol of the archetype of the "self" because they have paradoxical abilities.On the one hand, they include the conscious (thirty birds or Si-murgh) and the unconscious (Simurgh), and on the other, the unconscious with the positive aspect (creative spirit and the access to Simurgh) and the negative aspect (shadow or excuses of the birds). The unconscious also includes both individual content (shadow and passing the seven realms) and collective content (the self).In the circular course at the end of the Conference of the Birds, both the world of sense (thirty birds) and the world of divine (Simurgh) are present (opposites), and the "self", the symbol of unity, is interpreted as the unifying agent.The result of this unity is annihilation, and at the same time, this annihilation is eternity in other dimensions of being. As a result, such wholeness is a paradox of essence that in the holistic mystic's view "thirty birds (Si-murgh) are Simurgh, and Simurgh is thirty birds (Si-murgh)", "particle is the universe and the universe is the particle", that is, the unified world, because on the one hand, in the unity paradigm, opposites are suspended, and on the other hand, objects are identified as their opposites.
