The Cognitive Metaphors of the Unity of Existence in Rumi's Masnavi

Alizadeh Amoli, Ali; Eskandari, Bahaeddin

doi:10.22091/jls.2024.10790.1606

The Cognitive Metaphors of the Unity of Existence in Rumi's Masnavi

Document Type : Rhetoric

Authors

¹ persian language and literature. university of qom. iran

² Faculty of Persian Language and Literature, University of Qom, Qom, Iran

10.22091/jls.2024.10790.1606

Abstract

The present research aimed to analyze the cognitive/conceptual metaphors of unity of existence in Rumi's Masnavi with a descriptive-analytical method. By examining the unity of existence in the form of cognitive metaphors, new perspectives and coherent images of the unity of existence are revealed to the audience. According to the cognitive metaphor theory, metaphor is a cognitive phenomenon, and what appears in language is the only manifestation of this cognitive phenomenon. Metaphor refers to any understanding and expression of abstract ideas in the form of more concrete ideas. The basis of the relationship between these two perceptual domains is in the form of correspondences called mapping. In this research, the mental concept of the unity of existence is the destination territory (the territory on which the mapping takes place) and one of the objective image clusters of light, water, wind, music, sweetness, spring, enchanter, and fire is the realm of source (the realm that be mapping). One can match the unity of existence (the abstract party/destination domain) with these sensations (the source/origin domain) and obtain macro metaphors, each of which contains sub-metaphors. The analysis of the concept of the unity of existence in the framework of cognitive theory is important from the point of view that it opens a new window on the perception of Rumi's mental system and makes the abstract concept of the unity of existence more objective and structured; this research deals with it for the first time. This matter becomes more important when we know that the main axis of the poems of Rumi and his companions is the unity of existence and the images related to it, and the audience who is not familiar with the cognitive metaphors of the unity of existence, cannot understand and discover the poetic-mystical world of people like Rumi and find out the mental subtleties and the hidden layers of his thoughts.

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