From April, 2014 interview with Etel Adnan at BOMB:

LR

 You are also a reader of Sufi philosophy.

EA

 Yes, I particularly like Sufi philosophy.

LR

 Can you talk about that?

EA

 I don’t know all the philosophers. They’re famous; I’m far from having discovered them. Al-Niffari is very good. Also Al-Hallaj and Ibn Arabi—they are great thinkers. But Al Hallaj I like as a poet, if by poetry you mean something emotional, poignant. Why shouldn’t thinking be poignant? Why shouldn’t thinking be emotional? That is what poetry is! You can’t separate even love from thinking. If by thinking you mean the activity of the Supreme, the activity of your mind, then when you love you think better in other fields also, because your mind is alert. Love is an energy that goes into many things. Love makes your perception clearer and you suddenly discover flowers. In school we’re told that this is sentimental—that is nonsense! We should stand in the origin, which is mindful energy. Why should a computer be smarter than your mind? Our head is a little radar. It is a message receiver and a message sender.

LR

 It’s sending and receiving, but isn’t it also inventing or mixing?

EA

 Inventing is sending. If you are not inventive, you don’t receive. These are not dead things. They are very complicated processes. We just have a glimpse of them.