“Differing Voices Make Sweet Music”: Unity in Diversity in Dante’s Divine Comedy

27th June, 2021
15:00 – 16:30 BST

This event is the fifth in a series of seminars under the general title, Unity in Diversity.

Presented by Robert-Louis Abrahamson

Seminar Description

A theme running throughout the three canticles of Dante’s Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso) is the importance of community, which for Dante meant bringing together the diversity of individuals into one unified society, all the varieties of humanity conjoined in the Divine Unity. In Hell, Dante depicts the various ways people’s ego-centred actions destroy the possibility of community. Purgatory shows the way we can turn from the ego and purify ourselves in preparation for the experience of the Divine Unity. Heaven, or Paradise, is the place where Dante experiences, and ultimately joins, the life of perfect union while retaining individual identity. The talk will trace the journey through these three regions, focusing on Dante’s poetic (even mythic) rendition of the soul’s relation to these three aspects of Unity in Diversity.

Speaker

Robert-Louis Abrahamson is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Maryland. He studied Scottish literature at Edinburgh University, and has spent much of his career working with mythic literature, mainly from the Western tradition. He has spoken and published on Dante, the American Transcendentalists (Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Dickinson) and Charles Williams, and on his namesake, Robert Louis Stevenson. In 2017 he gave a presentation on Thoreau at the Chisholme Institute and in 2018 he gave a talk on Edwin Muir for the Beshara Trust.  His edition of Stevenson’s Virginibus Puerisque, the first of five volumes of Stevenson’s essays for the Edinburgh University Press’s 40-volume Works of Stevenson, was published in October, 2018.

Booking

Cost: FREE via Zoom

Registration is required via Eventbrite
https://sweet-music.eventbrite.co.uk

Know Yourself & The 29 Pages

Weekly from 18th September 2022
Sundays
13:00–14:30 PST

Online study exploring the oneness of being in the teachings of Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi

Mirrors of the Transcendent in the Cosmos of Ibn Arabi: The Body as Metaphor of Divine Self-Revelation

25th-26th July 2025
The Warburg Institute, University of London

A joint symposium held by the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society and The Warburg Institute.

More details: https://ibnarabisociety.org/events/
Booking: https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/events/cosmos-of-ibn-arabi-2025

Ibn ‘Arabi Study Afternoon

December 1, 2018 (2–5pm)
The October Gallery, London

An afternoon seminar studying the chapter on ‘The Wisdom of Being in the Word of David’ from Ibn ‘Arabi’s Fusus al-Hikam (The Bezels of Wisdom).

The Voyages of Moses (3 of 3)

Saturday November 19, 2016

An afternoon meeting in London to study extracts from Secrets of Voyaging, by Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi.

Mystics and Scientists Conference

40th Mystics and Scientists Conference

April 7 – 9, 2017

The continuing quest for unity and integration. How we are reconciling science and spirituality. Organised by The Scientific and Medical Network. Venue: De Vere Horsley Estate, Surrey.

Singleness, Oneness & Singularity

Metaphysical Foundations of the Fusus

Fridays 21st and 28th April 2023
Online 19:00 – 20:15 AEST

An exploration of the metaphysical foundations of the Fusus al-Hikam, as they are presented in the introduction to the commentary rendered into English by Bülent Rauf and Jandi’s commentary on the Wisdom of Singularity.

Jonah and the whale

Beyond Religion?

Saturday March 11, 2017

A seminar exploring the relevance of the story of Jonah to the contemporary world, facilitated by David Hornsby at the October Gallery, London.

The Letters of Bulent Rauf

Weekly from 19th November 2022

Saturdays 18:00–19:00 CST
Sundays 11:00–13:00 AEDT

A reading group for online study of the Letters of Bulent Rauf.

Ibn ‘Arabi Study Retreat: Prostration and Praise

August 5 – 12, 2017
Chisholme Institute, Scottish Borders, UK

Servanthood as the ultimate affirmation of the unity of being.

The Beshara Lecture 2016

Saturday, 4 June 2016

Delivered at St Ethelburga’s Centre, London, by Professor Alan Williams (University of Manchester). 

Poetics of Science: Global Human

September 15 – 17, 2017
Chisholme Institute, Scottish Borders, UK

The third of three seminar weekends – interactive presentations and workshops with speakers from diverse backgrounds, films and music nights.

Cordoba mosque interior

An Introduction to Ibn ‘Arabi Study

Mondays 19:00–21:00 GMT
Fortnightly Zoom sessions

This study series is an introduction to Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi’s story and perspective studying The Unlimited Mercifier by Stephen Hirtenstein. The scope of this illuminating book embraces both the inner and outer aspects of Ibn ‘Arabi’s life as each mirrors the other.

The group is underway but is open to anyone interested in joining as each session is fresh and unique in itself.