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A synopsis of the conference of the birds

the conference of the birds

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SYNOPSIS

The story recounts the longing of a group of birds who search for a leader, and narrates the journey of these birds toward the living place of a legendary bird, Simorgh, as a symbol of the human search for self.

In this book a hundred thousand birds of every species gather together in a meeting, decide the legendary Simorgh (Sî-Murg which means “the thirty birds”) should be their king and leader and embark on a journey to find him at his court. One by one the birds drop out unable to fulfill the challenging journey over seven valleys, where the mystic road winds - a symbolic representation of the stages crossed through which the soul with constant progression reaches its divine perfection. Eventually only thirty birds reach the land of Simorgh but instead of finding their spiritual leader, all they see is their own reflection in a lake. The mystical, magical, beautiful and powerful Simorgh is thus revealed in reality to be the mirror where they will see reflected the thirty who arrive at the court, discovering at the end that the Simorgh is themselves. As the birds realize the truth, they see they are not separate from the universe, they are one with it.

an epic journey…

Farīd ud-Dīn Attār depicts a captivating story of birds in the epic poem, The Conference of the Birds (Persian: Mantiq-ut-Tair). The poem starts with the conference of the all world birds to find the king. The wisest bird, Hoopoe, proposes that they should discover the legendary bird Simorgh. The group of birds starts the journey to cross seven valleys of quest, love, understanding, detachment, unity, astonishment, and finally deprivation and death, one after to find Simorgh.

Each bird is a moral symbol of human behavior and has an associated literacy purpose. The guiding bird is the hoopoe, while the nightingale symbolizes the lover.

On the way to find the Simorgh, birds drop out of the journey one by one, claiming that they are not able to bear the journey or that the differences between them are too great to overcome. However, the wisest bird, Hoopoe, convinces them to continue the journey, advising them to focus on the integrity and ignore the conflicts between them. In the end, only thirty birds stay in the group as they reach Qaf, the dwelling place of Simorgh. It is worth mentioning that Simorgh [Si (thirty)+morgh (bird)] means “thirty birds” in Persian, referring to the number of birds that endured the journey. What happens at the end? All they discover is a water lake in which they see their own image and not the mythical Simorgh: What they were looking for exists within their collective self and in the totality of all things.In the poem, the birds of the world gather to decide who is to be their sovereign, as they have none. The hoopoe, the wisest of them all, suggests that they should find the legendary Simorgh. The hoopoe leads the birds, each of whom represents a human fault which prevents human kind from attaining enlightenment.

The hoopoe tells the birds that they have to cross seven valleys in order to reach the abode of Simorgh. These valleys are as follows:[1]

1. Valley of the Quest, where the Wayfarer begins by casting aside all dogma, belief, and unbelief.

2. Valley of Love, where reason is abandoned for the sake of love.

3. Valley of Knowledge, where worldly knowledge becomes utterly useless.

4. Valley of Detachment, where all desires and attachments to the world are given up. Here, what is assumed to be “reality” vanishes.

5. Valley of Unity, where the Wayfarer realizes that everything is connected and that the Beloved is beyond everything, including harmony, multiplicity, and eternity.

6. Valley of Wonderment, where, entranced by the beauty of the Beloved, the Wayfarer becomes perplexed and, steeped in awe, finds that he or she has never known or understood anything.

7. Valley of Poverty and Annihilation, where the self disappears into the universe and the Wayfarer becomes timeless, existing in both the past and the future.

Sholeh Wolpé writes, "When the birds hear the description of these valleys, they bow their heads in distress; some even die of fright right then and there. But despite their trepidations, they begin the great journey. On the way, many perish of thirst, heat or illness, while others fall prey to wild beasts, panic, and violence. Finally, only thirty birds make it to the abode of Simorgh. In the end, the birds learn that they themselves are the Simorgh; the name “Simorgh” in Persian means thirty (si) birds (morgh). They eventually come to understand that the majesty of that Beloved is like the sun that can be seen reflected in a mirror. Yet, whoever looks into that mirror will also behold his or her own image.

more …

 

The Simurgh has a very rich symbolism in the thought of mystics and Persian literature. In the oldest mythological sources of this tradition it is the name given to a species of mythical bird which possessed and bequeathed the divine powers of creation and healing.

In the Islamic era the Simurgh symbolized not only the manifestation of divinity but also the symbol of the occult “I”.

So it is that the name of our theatre comes from the book “The Conference of the Birds” by the mystical Sufi poet of the XII century, the Persian Farid ad-Din Attar.

In this way the poet in the epilogue of his work exhorts the readers to reread his verses repeatedly because: “the children of illusion are shipwrecked on the music of my verses, but the children of reality have penetrated my secrets”.

Sholeh Wolpé, in the foreword of her modern translation of this work writes:[1]

The parables in this book trigger memories deep within us all. The stories inhabit the imagination, and slowly over time, their wisdom trickles down into the heart. The process of absorption is unique to every individual, as is each person’s journey. We are the birds in the story. All of us have our own ideas and ideals, our own fears and anxieties, as we hold on to our own version of the truth. Like the birds of this story, we may take flight together, but the journey itself will be different for each of us. Attar tells us that truth is not static, and that we each tread a path according to our own capacity. It evolves as we evolve. Those who are trapped within their own dogma, clinging to hardened beliefs or faith, are deprived of the journey toward the unfathomable Divine, which Attar calls the Great Ocean.

Sources

·       US National Library of Medicine
National Institutes of Health

·       Basic Clin Neurosci. 2018 Jul-Aug; 9(4): 297–305.

·       Published online 2018 Jul 1. doi: 10.32598/bcn.9.4.297

·       PMCID: PMC6276536

·       PMID: 30519388