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Abstract

Mikhail Naimy is a twentieth century Lebanese author and philosopher whose writings verge towards the mystical and the metaphysical. Naimy’s philosophy is a synthesis of his own life conflicts and his built premises and drawn conclusions that trivialize materialism, following the steps of Christ. Among Naimy’s first conflicts was leaving of his hometown Baskinta and its highland Shakhroub for Nazareth to continue his education, and the estrangement he felt that was alleviated by a touch of God. Some of the other conflicts in Naimy’s life were the love affairs that yielded to the understanding that true love should be beyond change, and therefore, beyond the sensual enchainment that confines the metaphysical meaning of love. An added conflict that paved the way for peace was Naimy’s conscription as an American soldier in World War I, at the Normandy front. He witnessed the ugliness and absurdity of war, and this experience led him to believe God lives within humans, never without. As Naimy returned to New York, after World War I, he realized he was held captive against his will in the buck race, a race where humans run after the dollar to make a living, so they end up being enslaved to a currency they deem essential for their survival while they as humans are the primary elements of their own being. As a result, transcendence was the only remedy; this transcendence was through finding the higher cause of existence, embodied in loving and expressed in writing. Finally, Naimy perceives that conflicts are blessings and pave the way for peace through love, faith, and transcendence.

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