East and West Sages Series - (2) Wahdat al Wujud and the Language of Love: Oneness Beyond the Apparent

 

In the place where Mevlana lays bare his own existence, Wahdat al Wujud emerges as one of the most shattering doors encountered when navigating between the mystical gaze of the East and the rational line of the West. Etymologically meaning "The Unity of Being," it is far beyond a rote philosophical dogma; it is the most radical confrontation an individual establishes with the universe, with the Creator, and ultimately with their own essence.

Brought to its theoretical peak by Ibn Arabi, and lived, breathed, played through the ney, and whirled in sema among masnavis and ghazals by Mevlana, this is a state of being. So, what is this state of "Oneness"? And why is this truth insisted upon being told not through an ordinary lexicon, but through the "language of love"?

The world where we open our eyes is a noisy carnival of colors, shapes, sounds, and contrasts. Night and day, good and bad, me and you... We have grown accustomed to reading life entirely through these dualities (kesret). Wahdat al-Wujud whispers to us that this multiplicity we see when we look in the mirror is actually the reflection of a single truth from different angles.

In Mevlana’s words, every wave in the sea appears separate and crashes onto different shores; yet the essence of every wave is water, and in the end, it merges back into that ocean. Human beings, too, are temporary forms within this vast ocean of being. The problem itself lies in the individual getting trapped within that narrow shell they call "self." When that shell cracks, the walls between the inside and the outside dissolve. In the eyes of the Sufi, the cosmos is a vast mirror reflecting the names and attributes of the Truth; that single voice is what echoes in the mountains, the stones, flowers, and human beings.

At precisely this point, philosophical concepts and dry logic hit a wall and fall silent. Wahdat al Wujud is not a "piece of knowledge," but a "state." Logic tells us, "You are you, I am me," drawing boundaries and slapping labels on things. Love, however, is the only force that recognizes no boundaries and tears down those fences.

This is why Mevlana does not hide behind dogmatic molds when expressing the truth; he chooses the boundless freedom of poetry, metaphor, and music. The language of love begins where words end. Because when the distance between the lover and the beloved which once seemed like two separate entities melts away, nothing is left but "Love." That mournful breath inside the ney is actually the yearning of a reed, severed from its root, longing for its homeland. Man, too, is an exile in this world; the consciousness of wahdat is the name of an unquenchable longing for one's true home, for that absolute One.

When we look at the world today, we live in an era where everything is shattered into pieces, people are torn apart from one another, and self centered skyscrapers rise sky high. The sages of East and West have been whispering the same thing to us for thousands of years: The separations you see are nothing more than a passing dream.

Wahdat al Wujud is not merely a matter of mystical belief; it is also the most comprehensive ecological and moral stance capable of saving humanity, nature, and the universe in today's world. Because one must know that whatever you hurt is ultimately yourself.

We will continue walking through Mevlana's vision of the universe.

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