Anvestigation into the meaningful conduct of love in Attar Neyshaburi's Asrarnameh based on Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey model
Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 Graduated in Persian Language and Literature - Mystical, Faculty of Literature and Foreign Languages, University of Mazandaran
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities, National Skill University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
The soul is a mysterious seeker that descended from a timeless and placeless beyond into the earthly body, fell into oblivion, and lost its origin. In the vacuum of meaning, it received the call and message of its twin and companion—love—for return. This love, rooted in the collective unconscious, is driven by the pain of separation and the longing for return, and manifests in the spiritual journey of the hero/seeker. The central theme of Attar's works is the movement toward truth and the elevation of the human being to perfection, framed within the archetype of the hero’s journey and represented through the motifs of “pain-love-silence.” Apparently, unlike his other masnavis, Attar does not present a narrative account of the spiritual path in Asrarnameh. Therefore, researchers, in light of this issue and with the aim of uncovering the hidden and meaningful spiritual structure in Asrarnameh, have explored the nature of the soul’s and love’s journey based on Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey model. Findings revealed that one of the most mystical types of ascension and spiritual journey is also portrayed in Asrarnameh, and the analogies between the symbolic imagery of the journey of love and the soul in the “elevation of the soul through the descent of love” and the “elevation of love through the ascension of the soul,” based on Campbell’s “cyclical movement of departure and return,” are among the most significant results of this study.