ALIENATION AND MYSTICISM: A REDISCOVERY OF THE SELF IN GIBRAN'S A TEAR AND A SMILE AND TAGORE'S GITANJALI.
Mohammed Ahmad Al-Shamiri
مجلة الآداب للعلوم الانسانية - جامعة تعز May 11, 2011 DOI: 10.67951/n154j622 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Key points | Argues that Gibran's A Tear and A Smile and Tagore's Gitanjali both express alienation from illusory worldly reality and a mystical quest for union with the Absolute, achieved through suffering, surrender of the self, and emancipation of the soul from the body. |
Abstract
This paper is a humble attempt to describe elements of "Alienation" and "Mysticism" in two great creative works by two eminent poets and mystics, Gibran Kahlil Gibran's (1883-1931) A Tear and A Smile and Rabindranath Tagore's (1861-1941) Gitanjali. It is a comparative study of Kahlil Gibran's A Tear and A Smile and Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali. It is an appraisal of their sublime poetic works as a quest of precious wisdom, the cosmic truth, life and its temporal nature, through suffering and alienation from the illusive worldly reality. Both of them are the travelers on the same devotional path of spirituality and could the divine light through total surrender of the "Self". Their works strongly manifest the experience of the communion of soul with the Absolute power by emancipation of the soul from the earthly "cage" that is body; thus attaining the divine moment of trance, when "the created and the creator" seem face to face. This study, in short, explores spiritual themes interwoven in these great poetic works and vividly reflected in typical mystic, graceful, spontaneous, and lyrical style.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mysticism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The mystical mind: probing the biology of religious experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Problem of Pure Consciousness: Mysticism and Philosophy | 1993 | Edited collection of essays | |
| Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mysticism and schizophrenia: A phenomenological exploration of the structure of consciousness in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |