“Ibn al-Arabi represents a grand synthesis of Sufi thought. Ignorance of his works in the West is one of the great scandals of intellectual history.”
–Robyn Creswell, The New York Review of Books

“Hundreds of years before Jung, a Sufi Islamic mystic explored the nature of the imaginal world and the figures that inhabit it. This master, Ibn ‘Arabi, wrote that the imagination was intermediary between the world of human life and the Divine Reality.”
–Jeffrey Raff

“Then he transformed for me into a form of the Addressor, and I transformed for him into a form of the Silenced From Answering. The form sought allegiance from the [other] form, and True One sent between them a Tablet inscribed and etched on.”
–Ibn ‘Arabi, al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya

Ibn ‘Arabi (1165-1240) is unique in the annals of spiritual history – author of over 300 prose works, the most prolific poet in the Arabic language, and arguably the most influential figure across Sufi traditions.

Born in Andalucia – modern day Spain – he now comes to us again in the West through new translations into English, including pivotal works such as al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya, Fusus al-hikam, and Awrad al-usbu.

More than 800 years from his birth – how do we meet Ibn ‘Arabi now? How do we encounter his essential nature?

In “Meeting Ibn ‘Arabi: Writings and Reflections,” we will meet Ibn ‘Arabi directly through his words – inspired by the archetypal transmission of Pen to Tablet.

In this structured exploration, we’ll each handwrite a shared short passage of Ibn ‘Arabi as an initiating place for personal and group reflection.

We will seek the living qualities of the words he conveys. Each of us, through the grace of the Private Face, sharing in a constellation of meaning.