In the beginning was the relation

In this transdisciplinary study, I will explore the concept of the divine as an agential field. The divine, when seen in this way, becomes an embodied divine that forms a relational field bridging the corporeal and spiritual. This approach allows us to become ontologically engaged in a process of becoming interconnected with all of life. Our role in an agential field is personal and direct. As integral parts of the whole, we are required to cultivate our more subtle perceptions and develop our finer energies, so that we may become more finely tuned to our participation in its unfolding. The agency of this divine field is fueled by the force of love. I draw on the ideas of Henry Corbin, Luce Irigaray, and psychoanalytic field theory. I will look at Corbin’s work with Sufi mystical philosophy and, in particular, his translations and interpretations of the 12th-century mystical philosophers Ibn ‘Arabi and Suhrawardi. I will examine Irigaray’s work on the cultivation of perception. Finally, I will share a relevant and extraordinary psychoanalytic encounter in which I was a participant.