Spontaneous-figurative Memory in the Works of Henri Bergson and in Sufism (Comparative Analysis)

Abstract

In his work Matter and Memory, Henri Bergson asserts the existence of two forms of memory: mechanical, based on repetition and spontaneous-figurative, in which the activity of the spirit manifests itself. Similar thoughts about the con­nection of figurative memory with the activity of the spirit were expressed at one time by the Central Asian outstanding thinker, founder of the Sufi Tariqa Najm ad-Din Kubra and the famous Persian mystic poet Jalal ad-Din Rumi. According to Kubra, spontaneous-figurative memory is located in the depths of a person’s spiritual heart and the path to it is reached through various spiritual states that have different colors for inner vision, these colors symbolize the levels of spiri­tual development and are called in Kubra’s teaching by the word “latoif”. At the highest stage of spiritual development, a treasure trove of memory opens for the seeker. It stores not just beautiful images that were a source of inspiration for po­ets, but this memory has a huge psychic power with which the spirit manifests its active activity. He materializes these images, thanks to the spontaneous-figura­tive memory, the connection of matter and spirit occurs. Spiritual love and intu­ition help the seeker to go through various stages of spiritual evolution and reach the treasury of spontaneous-imaginative memory.