User:JohnBuuseue/sandbox

Origins of Sufism
Despite the foregoing, it is important to note statements by recognized figures from Sufi history which support the claim for pre-Islamic roots of Sufi ideas. Suhrawardi is reported to say that "this [Sufism] was a form of wisdom known to and practiced by a succession of sages including the mysterious ancient Hermes of Egypt." Ibn al-Farid "stresses that Sufism lies behind and before systematization; that 'our wine existed before what you call the grape and the vine' (the school and the system)..."

In his The Study of Sufism in the West Idries Shah provides summary of the difficulties encountered by those attempting to determine the meaning of sufi along with an interesting non-etymological explanation of its source: "Sufis regard the sounds of the letters S, U, F (in Arabic the signs for Soad, Wao, Fa) as significant, in this same order of use, in their effect upon human mentation."

Sufism and Judaism
The Jewish Encyclopedia in its entry on Sufism states that the revival of Jewish mysticism in Muslim countries is probably due to spread of Sufism in the same geographical areas. The entry details many parallels to Sufic concepts found in the writings of prominent Kabbalists during the Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain.

George Gurjieff - Reception
"Teachers of Gurdjieff" written by Rafael LeFort was published in 1966.

The Carbonari
Although a plethora of theories have been advanced as to the origins of the Carbonari

The Head of Wisdom
Idries Shah devotes a chapter of his book The Sufis to providing an interpretation of this "head of wisdom" as well as the phrase "making a head", stating that the head "is none other than the symbol for the [Sufic] completed man." .

Philosopher's Stone
The transmutation mediated by the stone has also been interpreted as a psychological process. Idries Shah devotes a chapter of his book The Sufis to providing a detailed analysis of the symbolic significance of alchemical work with the philosopher's stone. His analysis is based in part on a linguistic interpretation through Arabic equivalents of one of the terms for the stone (Azoth) as well as for sulfur, salt and mercury.

One Thousand and One Nights
One approach to discover more about the sources of the collection is to decipher the Arabic title, alf layla wa layla, using the Abjad system. Idries Shah finds the numerical equivalent of the title in the Arabic phrase umm el quissa, meaning "mother of records". He goes on to state that many of the stories "are encoded Sufi teaching stories, descriptions of psychological processes, or enciphered lore of one kind or another."

Saadi
Idries Shah elaborates further. "The place won by the Gulistan as a book of moral uplift invariably given to the literate young has had the effect of establishing a basic Sufic potential in the minds of its readers."

al-Badawi
In this regard, Idries Shah quotes al-Badawi "Sufi schools are like waves which break upon rocks: [they are] from the same sea, in different forms, for the same purpose.".

Viruses as symbionts
It has been suggested recently that viruses can be considered obligate symbionts in relation to their host organisms, a term which includes parasitic, commensalistic, and mutualistic relationships. For example, long-term coevolution between virus and host can lead to complex mutualistic relations such as those between polydnaviruses and parasitoid wasps. Here the virus, injected with the wasp eggs into the host caterpillar, both neutralizes its its immune defenses and manipulates its physiology, thus enabling the parasitic wasp eggs to thrive.

Viruses (talk): obligate parasites or obligate symbionts?
As someone with a background and abiding interest in ecology and evolution, the most interesting thing to me about viruses is the extent to which they appear to be integrated with the rest of life at many levels. Look at parasitic wasps which could not be parasitic without polydnaviruses. Or the likely involvement of retroviral DNA sequences found in mammalian genomes in the evolution of the placenta. Ryan's well-referenced book has many other examples as well as a look at possible implications. The short ecology section at the end of this article covers important role of phage viruses in marine ecology. I think the article could be improved by addressing the issue of the symbiotic functions of viruses and their role in other ecosystems.JohnBuuseue (talk) 08:47, 10 May 2020 (UTC)

Viruses as Symbionts: Graham Beards Talk
Glad to hear about your project to improve the Virus page. [add about Frank Ryan]