Daoism and Sufism in the Contemporary World 华东师范大学 East China Normal University 25 June 2024 Ali Asghar Mosleh ☘☘☘ Excerpts from the lecture: 🔹I will try to introduce a broad perspective for research in the field of philosophy and religion. 🔹The pre-modern spiritual-intellectual traditions are viewed as effective sources and possibilities for deeper reflection upon contemporary man in this type of thinking and orientation. 🔹According to Allameh Tabataba'i, the last and most important philosopher of Iran in the last century: "Dao De Jing is text of pure wisdom, whose content is not contradictory to what has been stated in the history of the Islamic mysticism and Sufism". Today, it is important for us to understand these commonalities. 🔹Traditions formed over the centuries of nations may serve as a means of introducing people to themselves and to the hidden aspects of existence for this purpose. 🔹past traditions are not repeated in the same way as their previous roles. The problems of each time are those of that time. 🔹Daoism and Sufism have the potential to inspire contemporary thinkers. From this viewpoint, it appears that we have given attention to a possibility of forgotten possibilities in the history of European metaphysics. 🔹Today, due to the intensification of technical and calculated thinking, it is essential to refocus our attention on spiritual possibilities. 🔹The best way to maintain balance in the life of any nation is to maintain spiritual traditions in harmony with the conditions and requirements of the time. 🔹Due to the subjective and humanistic foundations of contemporary society, which are based on scientific and technological foundations, it is not possible to recreate the roles played by Daoism and Sufism in the past. 🔹Maybe our world is no longer capable of cultivating sages such as Laozi, Rumi, Meister Eckhart or Shankara. There is a greater need today than ever before for us to refer to such sages to contemplate how to understand the absolute, purification, salvation, and to cultivate love, and kindness toward others. In the depths of our souls, we still seek the truth and are eager to discover it. 🔹From Plato and Aristotle to Max Scheler, all definitions of man are insufficient to describe the contemporary human state. Furthermore, it appears that traditions such as Daoism, Buddhism, and Sufism can open up inspiring horizons for forming a new understanding of human existence. 🔹The concept of hidden harmony between man and the universe is one of the common teachings of Daoism and Sufism. Today, with the advent of technology, we have lost that harmony, and as a result, we are increasingly restless and sometimes distressed than we were in the past. 🔹According to European philosophy, the East and the non-European worlds contained incomplete forms of thinking and rationality, and all things that appeared in human history are now fully emerging in Europe. 🔹It is Martin Heidegger, after Nietzsche, who paved the way for the connection of contemporary philosophy with Eastern traditions. 🔹Heidegger sees Western philosophy from Plato onwards as the history of forgetting Being and turns to the East and Daoism above all else. In the context of 20th century philosophy, he introduced the concept of Nonbeing as a new power in European philosophy. 🔹The study of Eastern traditions can provide new foundations for thinking about important categories such as time, space, virtual and unreal worlds of technology, relationships with the world, relationships with others, and the like by highlighting the importance of Nothingness and its relative meanings, such as silence and instability. @jostarha_yadashtha