Bridging the Past to the Future: Reinterpreting Persian Mystical Philosophy through AI-Driven Visual Storytelling

Abstract

This artistic, practice-led research explores the potential of generative AI to reinterpret and visually communicate Persian Spiritual Wisdom and its storytelling traditions within a contemporary, AI-driven short film. The central inquiry asks how AI technologies can serve as visual tools for producing symbolic, culturally grounded imagery that enriches narrative structures (McCormack et al., 2019; Manovich, 2013), offering new pathways for engaging with historical philosophies through emergent digital practices. The creative outcome is a short film following Kimia, a young Iranian woman embarking on a transformative journey across southern Iran, seeking meaning and spiritual purpose. Her story draws on Ḥosn O Del (c. 15th century), an allegorical work by Fattāḥī Nišāpūrī, blending her personal search with motifs rooted in Persian philosophical traditions. The work engages deeply with Suhrawardī’s (1154–1191) Illuminationist philosophy, where light, the Imaginal realm, and spiritual knowledge intertwine (Suhrawardī, 1187/1999; Corbin, 1972). Key themes framing this research include the Mystical Journey (Corbin, 1998), Unity of Being (Nasr, 2006), the Imaginal World (Corbin, 1972), Inner Vision (Tajer & Zekrgoo, 2019), and Dreams as conduits of hidden truths (Mazandarani & Aguilar–Vafaie, 2018). The research adopts a heuristic methodology (Moustakas, 1990), interwoven with Illuminationist principles (Najafi, 2022) and the Seyr o Solūk paradigm, positioning the researcher’s intuitive insight, cultural embeddedness, and lived experience as central to knowledge generation. Methods include immersion, reflective journaling, field research, AI-assisted visual development, storyboarding, animatic creation, production processes, and contextual reflection. This research contributes to emerging dialogues on how AI can be ethically and creatively integrated within culturally situated visual storytelling.