Why doth the King seek to issue from his Palace, which seems to contain within itself all that his soul can long for? Is he not moved by the desire to manifest his Glory, his Power, the Splendour of his Might?
If the slime within the oyster shell, impelled by the desire for the Beautiful produceth the perfect Pearl, the emblem of the World, shall not all the more He who is the Eternal Beautiful seek to manifest Himself?
The maiden, urged by a consciousness of her loveliness, seeketh for the Mirror of the pool into which to throw the reflection of her perfection. And shall not the Eternally Perfect, the Glory of Glories, gaze into the Void of Negation, the Mirrror of Darkness, to reflect therefrom the Perfection of His Beauty, which is the World, the Universe, the Phantasm of Unreality? Verily there is but One God, He alone existeth, and all else is Naught.
O Lotus Flower! Ineffable mystery! Thou emblem of the World, thou comest out of the Unknown and art manifested unto us on the placid Mirror of the Lake. Floating on the Waters of Nothingness, thou art the reflection of the Supreme Beauty, the Supreme Rest, to which all things must return.
The Unity is the only Absolute Reality, therefore when He manifesteth Himself He can only do so within Himself against the Mirror of His Negation, the Mirror of Absolute Unreality. Is not the Manifestation therefore the consciousness in the Unity of His Absolute Reality?
And is not the Mirror of Unreality likewise a consciousness in the Unity that He alone existeth, that He alone is the Absolute Reality, that beyond Him is Naught? The Unity absorbeth all within Himself, both the Mirror in which He gazeth, which is the consciousness of His Ubiquity, and the Manifestation, which is the consciousness of His Qualities, His Glory, His Splendour.
The mind of man is conscious of the Unity of the Absolute; it is also conscious that the Absolute to manifest Himself doeth so through the Negation of Himself and the mind is also conscious that the Manifestation of the Absolute is the Creation, the expression of His Qualities. Therefore to the mind the Essence of the Absolute appeareth not as one Essence but as three Essences and yet the mind is conscious that the Absolute is but one Essence alone. Thus there are three Elements and yet but one Element. This is the great mystery who can explain it?
The qualities of the Unity govern the Law of the Manifestation whose aim is reunion with the Unity. The Soul, which is, as it were, a unit of the Unity, so long as it travels along the Path of the Manifestation feels at ease, being on the Path of Reunion, but when the Soul goes athwart the Path of Manifestation, turning towards the Mirror of Unreality, then it grows discontented, because thereby Reunion with the Unity is delayed. This is the cause of content and discontent of the World; and as the qualities of the Unity are infinite and the Manifestation thereof equals the qualities, so are there infinite causes of discontent in the World for the Soul, and one escape therefrom, Resignation (Surrender) to the Will of God, which is the Law of Manifestation, and this the Law which it is the aim of Religion to teach for the guidance of erring Souls.
Resigntation is the keynote of Islam – it is the keynote of Truth. Resignation is when the Soul bows to the Law of Manifestation – the Divine Law – which hurries the Soul along the Path of Reunion with the Unity. This is the true Resignation, than which nothing is holier. And all progress in the World comes of the struggle of the Soul caught in the grasp of Sin – to re-enter the stream of the Manifestation, to bow to its Law, and to resign itself to its current which bears it along towards the aim of Reunion.
The qualities of the Unity govern the Law of the Manifestation whose aim is reunion with the Unity. The Soul, which is, as it were, a unit of the Unity, so long as it travels along the Path of the Manifestation feels at ease, being on the Path of Reunion, but when the Soul goes athwart the Path of Manifestation, turning towards the Mirror of Unreality, then it grows discontented, because thereby Reunion with the Unity is delayed. This is the cause of content and discontent of the World; and as the qualities of the Unity are infinite and the Manifestation thereof equals the qualities, so are there infinite causes of discontent in the World for the Soul, and one escape therefrom, Resignation (Surrender) to the Will of God, which is the Law of Manifestation, and this the Law which it is the aim of Religion to teach for the guidance of erring Souls.
Resigntation is the keynote of Islam – it is the keynote of Truth. Resignation is when the Soul bows to the Law of Manifestation – the Divine Law – which hurries the Soul along the Path of Reunion with the Unity. This is the true Resignation, than which nothing is holier. And all progress in the World comes of the struggle of the Soul caught in the grasp of Sin – to re-enter the stream of the Manifestation, to bow to its Law, and to resign itself to its current which bears it along towards the aim of Reunion.
- The Mystic Rose from the Garden of the King: a fragment of the Vision of Sheikh Haji Ibrahim of Kerbala, translated by Fairfax L. Cartwright, Watkins London, 1976
The Divine Voice cries out: "I was a Hidden Treasure,
and I longed to be known and longed to be loved.
Hence I brought forth the entire creation into manifestation,
so that I might be known and loved."
- Islamic sacred tradition
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