A traveler in god’s path: Sufi words and the metaphor of journey

Abstract

Sufi language is a notable style of writing in Persian which is full of novel spiritual ideas and metaphors. One of the widely-used metaphors in Persian Sufis literature is MYSTICAL JOURNEY and its related components such as the traveler in God’s path and the notion of God’s way. This study is dedicated to analyse the Sufi terminologies in which mysticism has been conceptualized as a JOURNEY metaphor by utilizing a Lakoffian cognitive approach for studying structural metaphors in language. Investigating the MYSTICAL JOURNEY in Sufi language clarifies that the cognitive approach toward metaphors explains the relation between MYSTICISM and the JOURNEY metaphor. The present research attempts to categorize the levels of mapping between the two domains inherent in the JOURNEY metaphor. The paper concludes that there is a rich relation between the two domains in MYSTICISM IS JOURNEY metaphor and by defining the levels of mapping between these two domains,a clearer viewpoint toward mystical metaphors will be achieved.