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Divinity in Action
Catafalque; Die Before You Die: In Search of a Middle Path
One thing that Peter Kingsley brings up several times in Reality and in Catafalque: Carl Jung and the End of Humanity is the need to “die before you die”, for the ego to die before one’s physical death, whether in the context of Jung’s individuation or the path of traditional Sufism. In the case of individuation, it means descending into the underworld, being torn to shreds, being born again into a greater but notably impersonal reality, and undergoing horrendous conscious suffering; and the seven valleys that we pass through in the Sufi, Attar’s The Conference of the Birds doesn’t exactly turn out to be a jolly weekend ramble and picnic in the park (though in the case of both, there is a call or move to stillness, serenity and peace).
Kingsley leaves few stones unturned in his quest, from mistaken beliefs and tragically-lost knowledge, right down to the crucial original constellation of meanings of individual words.
— Étienne de L’Amour
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…pilgrims too reach a particular state of mystical emotion where bird cries start escaping from them…. It’s a result of their familiarity with God. It’s the result of the joy that this familiarity brings them.
— Najm al — Din Kubra
