This lecture will explore the origin, nature and significance of the image in light of the wisdom of some of the great visionary teachers of Islam. Drawing upon the insights of the Sufi mystic ‘Ibn Arabi and the Persian physician Avicenna, as well as their later interpretation by Henry Corbin, Nicholas Pearson will relate how the understanding of the image offered by these thinkers has profoundly affected his approach to ‘the learning of the imagination’ as a working psychotherapist.

After charting the degradation of the image and the imagination in the West, this talk will explore how we might find a path out of our current secular malaise. It will argue that a recovery of a spiritual orientation can be found through a true understanding of the nature of Soul and the images that circle around that reality.

Citing examples from his own practice in working with autoimmune dis-ease, this lecture will show how the direct experience of the image, and the powers it contains, can be found through careful attention to the body and mind.

NICHOLAS PEARSON was born in India in 1943 and spent his first half-century in the Army, in politics and in international business. This period ended for him abruptly in a catastrophic car crash which ushered in a total re-orientation of his life. Eventually training as a counsellor aged 60, he has explored the nature and creative power of working with the imagination. He is a Fellow of the Academy, having served as its chairman for twelve years, and runs a busy psychotherapeutic practice from Kensington where he lives with his wife.

Venue & Admission

The Art Workers’ Guild, 6 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3AT. Doors Open 6.10pm, Lecture Begins 6.30pm

£10 General Admission or FREE for Temenos Academy Members/Full-time students with student ID card