From Islamic Mysticism to the Theory of Syntopotentialism. The Formation of a New Philosophy of Possibilities

Summary

Contemporary science and philosophy increasingly recognize that classical linear, deterministic models cannot account for the complexity of reality, prompting interest in processuality, uncertainty, and self-organization. Sufism, often seen as purely mystical, contains sophisticated concepts of consciousness, self-knowledge, and the unity of being that parallel ideas in cognitive science and complexity theory. This monograph reconstructs the cognitive geometry of Sufism—its spatial and dynamic structures of consciousness—and proposes syntopotentialism, a philosophical paradigm grounded in potentiality as a fundamental ontological principle. Reality is viewed as a multidimensional field of potentialities, consciousness as navigation within this space, and sociality as a dynamic field of interacting potentials, integrating Sufi insights with contemporary science.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The beginning of the twenty-first century has been marked by profound transformations in the ways reality, human beings, and society are understood. The rapid development of cognitive science, neuroscience, complexity theory, synergetics, quantum physics, digital technologies, and artificial intelligence has prompted a fundamental reconsideration of many traditional assumptions concerning the nature of being, consciousness, and social development. It has become increasingly evident that classical explanatory models of the world, grounded in the principles of linearity, determinism, and substantialism, are no longer sufficient to account for the complexity of contemporary reality. As a result, contemporary philosophy and science have increasingly turned their attention to such concepts as processuality, uncertainty, self-organization, emergence, and potentiality. At the same time, the humanities have witnessed a growing interest in intellectual traditions that, over the course of centuries, developed alternative ways of understanding human existence and the structure of reality. Among these traditions, Sufism occupies a distinctive place. As the spiritual and philosophical dimension of Islamic civilization, Sufism has produced one of the most sophisticated conceptions of consciousness, self-knowledge, and the unity of being. Although Sufism is often interpreted primarily as a mystical or religious phenomenon, its intellectual heritage contains highly developed reflections on the structure of reality, the nature of cognition, the dynamics of consciousness, and the relationship between the actual and the potential dimensions of existence. In the works of Ibn al-'Arabi, Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jīlī, and other representatives of the Sufi tradition, a number of philosophical concepts were developed that can today be reinterpreted within the frameworks of contemporary philosophy of consciousness, cognitive science, and social theory. In particular, such notions as Wahdat al-Wujūd (the Unity of Being), Aʿyān Thābita (Immutable Entities), Tajallī (Divine Self-Disclosure), Khayāl (Creative Imagination), and al-Insān al-Kāmil (the Perfect Human) represent not only religious and metaphysical constructs but also a distinctive model of the organization of consciousness and reality, grounded in the principles of multiplicity of possibilities, nonlinear development, and continuous becoming. Contemporary interdisciplinary scholarship increasingly demonstrates that many of the fundamental intuitions of classical Sufism are conceptually close to the central ideas of post-nonclassical science. The Sufi understanding of the world as a process, reality as a network of interconnected levels, consciousness as a dynamic space of transformation, and the human being as an agent capable of actualizing latent potentials finds remarkable parallels in synergetics, cognitive science, complexity theory, and contemporary models of consciousness. This convergence makes it possible to reinterpret the Sufi tradition not merely as a historical or religious phenomenon but as a source of conceptual frameworks capable of contributing to the development of new philosophical paradigms. One of the most promising avenues for such a reinterpretation is the reconstruction of the cognitive geometry of Sufism. In the present study, cognitive geometry is understood as the system of spatial, topological, and dynamic relationships that determine the structure of consciousness, the logic of its development, and the mechanisms through which it interacts with reality. From this perspective, cognitive processes are conceived not as isolated mental operations but as trajectories unfolding within a multidimensional space of meanings and possibilities. Core Sufi concepts including maqāmāt (stations), aḥwāl (states), the hierarchical levels of the qalb (heart), khayāl (creative imagination), and ʿaql (intellect), can be interpreted as constituting a conceptual map of a multidimensional cognitive space. Rather than representing exclusively spiritual or theological categories, these notions describe distinct modes of cognition, transformation, and self-organization that govern the dynamics of human consciousness. Viewed in this way, Sufism emerges not merely as a path of spiritual perfection but as a sophisticated model for navigating a multidimensional landscape of meaning, possibility, and transformation. Its cognitive architecture anticipates several ideas that have become central to contemporary cognitive science, complexity theory, and the philosophy of mind, including nonlinear development, self-organization, emergent order, and multidimensional cognitive structures. The reconstruction of this cognitive geometry leads to a broader philosophical question: is it possible to formulate, on the basis of Sufi experience, a universal model of reality suitable for describing not only spiritual processes, but also general patterns of the development of consciousness, culture, and society? This question is the original intention of this monograph. The paper proposes that behind the diversity of Sufi concepts lies a special ontology of possibilities, in which reality is viewed not as a set of completed entities, but as a multidimensional field of potentialities that are in the process of constant actualization. From this point of view, being is not a static fact, but a dynamic process of unfolding the possible. Consciousness, in this case, appears not as a passive reflection of the world, but as an active factor in the formation and navigation of spaces of possibilities. Further development of this idea leads to the formation of the concept of syntopotentialism. Unlike traditional ontologies, which proceed from the primacy of being, matter, or consciousness, syntopotentialism is grounded in the primacy of potentiality as the universal principle underlying the organization of reality. The theoretical foundations of this approach draw upon both classical philosophical conceptions of possibility: from Aristotle and Leibniz to Bergson, Whitehead, Heidegger, and Deleuze as well as contemporary research in synergetics, complexity theory, cognitive science, and the philosophy of consciousness. Of particular significance are the works of Hermann Haken, Ilya Prigogine, Erich Jantsch, Edgar Morin, Stuart Kauffman, Peter Gärdenfors, and other scholars who have understood the development of complex systems as a process of the emergence of new structures of possibility. The present monograph argues that the Sufi tradition may be understood as an early historical model of potential reality, while its cognitive architecture can be interpreted as a precursor to the development of a contemporary philosophy of possibility. At the same time, syntopotentialism is neither identified with nor reduced to Sufism. Rather, it represents an attempt to universalize selected principles of the Sufi worldview and integrate them with the achievements of contemporary science within the framework of a new interdisciplinary philosophical paradigm. The study pays special attention to the transition from individual consciousness to collective forms of organization of social reality. If classical socio-philosophical concepts mostly described society through institutions, structures, norms or communication systems, then the syntopotentialist approach suggests considering sociality as a dynamic field of interacting potentials. In such a perspective, social consciousness acquires a topological character and appears as a complex network of semantic, cognitive and value connections that determine the trajectories of collective development. The aim of the monograph is to reconstruct the cognitive geometry of Sufism and to substantiate on its basis syntopotentialism as a new philosophical paradigm that combines the ontology of possibilities, the theory of consciousness and a new social ontology. To achieve this goal, the following tasks are envisaged: - to investigate Sufism as a special ontological model of reality; - to reconstruct the cognitive geometry of the Sufi tradition; - analyze the potential dimension of Sufi metaphysics; - identify conceptual connections between Sufism, cognitive science and the theory of complex systems; - substantiate the basic principles of syntopotentialism as a metaontology of possibilities; - formulate the universals of the syntopotentialist worldview; - reveal a new understanding of consciousness as navigation in the space of potentialities; - explore the topological structure of social consciousness; - outline the prospects for the formation of a new social ontology in the context of syntopotentialism. The scientific novelty of the monograph lies in the fact that for the first time a systematic reconstruction of the cognitive geometry of Sufism is carried out as a basis for the formation of syntopotentialism, a new philosophical paradigm in which the category of possibility acquires the status of a fundamental ontological principle. The paper proposes the concept of the topology of social consciousness, formulates the universals of the syntopotentialist worldview, and substantiates approaches to building a new social ontology based on the idea of interaction and actualization of collective potentials. Thus, the monograph represents an attempt to move from a historical-philosophical analysis of the Sufi tradition to the creation of a generalized theoretical model capable of explaining the processes of the formation of consciousness, the development of social systems, and the evolution of reality through the categories of possibility, potentiality, and self-organization. In this sense, syntopotentialism appears as one of the possible metaparadigms of the 21st century, combining the spiritual experience of humanity and the achievements of modern scientific knowledge in a single conceptual space.