Mēnō, Gētī and the Multiple States of Being in the Illuminationist Philosophy

Subject Areas : Philosophy

Fātemeh  Lajevardi ¹ (ندارد)

Received: 2014-12-27 Accepted : 2014-12-27 Published : 2004-06-21

Keywords:

Abstract :

The Two most important notions of the Mazdean cosmologyare mēnō and gētī. Mēnō is a non- material, invisible and suprasensorystate which belongs to Ahuramazda, Amshaspands, other deities andthe eternal mēnō of the creatures of this world. In a sharp contrast, gētīis the material, contingent and earthly mode of existence. In theAvesta and the Pahlavi texts these two modes of being seem closelyinterwoven. Mēnō is the unseen force which moves, organizes andmanipulates gētī, and gētī is the material form in which mēnō residesand with which it performs its functions.In the Illuminationist philosophy of Suhrawardi all thedescending states of being emanated from Nur al- anwar, areclassified into three categories of «the world of pure beings» ,including the world of intellect and the world of soul, «the world ofmithāl», which is the intermediate state, and «the materialworld»which includes the spheres and the elements. In a comparativeoutlook, the Mazdean triple worlds of Amshaspandns and other deties,the mēnōg forms of the gētīg beings, and the gētī correspond to thetriple worlds of Suhrawardi.