Simorgh (Receptivity)
April 29th, 2012
If you are profligate, if you are pure/You are but water mixed with dust, no more/A drop of trembling instability/And can a drop resist the surging sea? (2318-19)
This piece was inspired by our reading of The Conference of the Birds, by Farid ud-Din Attar. Rather than depict the birds themselves, I chose to focus on the hoopoe’s description of the effect that a single feather from the Simorgh had on the world.
In this painting, the feather’s descent is shown as a disturbance of the ocean beneath it. The ocean is at once receptive and violent, as the feather’s coming upends its previous state of tranquil ignorance. This disturbance incites a fervor that ripples around the world, and is the catalyst that allows the birds to reach their full potential. The splendor of the feather alone is not enough to guarantee a successful journey, but it is the spark that they were unknowingly awaiting.
This brings me to a seeming discrepancy in my work: the Simorgh let a single feather float down to the world, yet this painting shows the descent of two. The second feather, indistinguishable from the first, is the mirror which lies hidden in the breast of each of the birds. The birds union with the Simorgh is dependent on their discovery of this “secret counterpart” within themselves, yet this feather would never have been brought to light if not for the outward manifestation of the Simorgh’s existence.
I was really taken with the beauty and depth of this poem, and know it to be one that I will return to long after this class is over.
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