The Qu'Ran and Ibn Al Arabi

[nwigal]

As a side note do you think that it makes a certain piece of knowledge more approximated to the truth if we see it reappearing in different "traditions" throughout time and/or space?

Yes and No. If it's important enough to persist, it's also a prime target for disinformation and distraction, OSIT. Separating truth from lies can be a full time occupation, sometimes.

 

[Green_Manalishi]

If it's important enough to persist, it's also a prime target for disinformation and distraction, OSIT.

Yes, i understand what you mean, the forces that work against truth would want to have this one covered, but maybe because it is something that not a lot of people do, and in such "marginal" traditions that perhaps they don't even bother. It is this kind of parallels that are used to search points in common among different traditions and/teachings, and then perhaps point to a common ancestral tradition or universal truth.

Having said this i understand that the devil is still in the details, and that is what makes this in a full time job. If only we had more time to devote.

Another quote from Rûmi that i think plainly states his, and obviously others, knowledge that one sometimes must work within some limits that are imposed by the surrounding life conditions:

Thoughts are free birds; but transformed into words and sentences, they can be judged as faithful or unfaithful to Islam, like good or bad.

 

[SMM]

"The Sufi Path of Knowledge" has piqued my curiosity for a long time, seems like a very worthwhile book in light of the parallels with what the C's say.

I was hesitant about getting it for a while; have heard too much mention & haven't seen enough excerpts to put the thought of getting it aside so think I'll concede at this point.

 

[jsf]

Here are some notes from the book – Le guide divin dans le shi’isme originel (Mohammad Amir-Moezzi)

- The only complete version of the Qur'an, containing all the secrets of heaven and earth, past, present and future, was in the possession of Ali. The Vulgate written under the Caliphate of 'Uthman is, according to the Imams, a corrupted version falsified and censored, containing only one third of the full Qur'an; it was sent secretly frome one Imam to another imam until the hidden imam who allegedly took it with him in his occultation. Men will know the full Quran only after Return of the Mahdi.

- The imams hold the original and complete version of the Qur'an, three times larger than the Vulgate written under the Caliphate of 'Uthman; according to the imams, the Vulgate was formed from a mangled, distorted and censored version soon after the death of the Prophet and the sidelining of the power of 'Ali.

- Much of the data from the old doctrinal Imamism or almost all of the data - from the eschatological developments to cosmological data and also the whole of the concept of "Imam" - can hardly find basis in the Qur'an, or at least in the text we have now. Even spiritual hermeneutics (ta'wilat) of Imams, actually quite few, are far from being able to justify the huge number of "deviation" from the revealed text, unless you consider with them the entire doctrine is esoteric hermeneutics of the Qur'an, but the "keys" that hermeneutics is not presented, nor the process explained.

- To what extent, according Imamis, the text of the Koran official Vulgate, made during the reign of the third Caliph Uthman b. 'Affan (644-656), is it true to the original revelation to Muhammad? The issue is extremely serious because, because as we know, all the dogmatic system of Islam and the entire Muslim religious consciousness are crystallized in this sacred core : the Koran is in its official review, the belief in the integrity and reliability of this version compared to the divine revelation made ​​to the Prophet is one of the items most inalienable faith of Islam.

- The imams have seriously questioned the integrity of the 'uthmanian Vulgate, this thesis is actually supported by the data of ancient body of imams, but the scientists who supported it, probably because they have systematically stripped the basic texts , could not provide any information on the full Qur'an of the imams nor examine the doctrinal implications of the subject.

- According to classical ciphers, the number of verses in the Qur'an varies between 6000 and 7000; the full original Quran, transmitted by the Prophet to 'Ali and to other Imams, is nearly three times larger than the official review.

 

[Altair]

I read a couple of the first chapters from The Sufi Path of Knowledge and I must admit it's really profound. Some points are connected with G. teachings and probably even with Jung's ideas.

Chittick writes about divine names of God:

Other divine names refer to relatively specific attributes of Being, such as Life, Knowledge, Desire, Power,Speech,
Generosity, and Justice. According to a saying of the Prophet, there arc ninety-nine of these "most beautiful" divine names.

For Ibn al-'Arabi the divine names are the primary reference points in respect to which we can gain knowledge of the cosmos.

It is true that the Essence [of God] is unknown in Itself, but it is precisely the Essence that is named by
the names. There are not two realities, Essence and name, but a single reality— the Essence—which is called by a specific name in a given context and from a particular point of view. A single person may be father, son, brother, husband, and so on without becoming many people. By knowing the person as "father" we know him, but that does not mean we know him as brother. Likewise, by knowing any name of God we know God, but not necessarily in respect of another name, nor in respect to His very Self or Essence

In the same way, God's creatures must be known in terms of the divine names for any true knowledge to accrue. Every attribute possessed by a creature can be traced back to its ontological root, God Himself.

it is sufficient for present purposes to realize that the Essence manifests Itself in the divine names, and the names in turn are revealed through the divine acts.

His Essence in Itself remains forever unknown to the creatures, while He is Manifest in as much as the cosmos reveals something of His names and attributes. The question arises as to which divine attributes are revealed by the divine acts. The answer is that, generally speaking, every name of God has loci of manifestation (mazdhir; sing.: mazhar) in the cosmos, some obvious and some hidden. The universe as a whole manifests all the names of God. Within the existent things is found every attribute of Being in some mode or another.

one could say that every divine attribute is found in an absolute sense in God alone, but in a relative sense in the creatures.

just as the microcosm represents a gradual manifestation of the divine names, so also does the macrocosm.

"Life is Light is Knowledge":

To increase in light is to increase in life, knowledge, desire, power, speech, generosity, justice, and so on. This is the process of actualizing all the divine names that are latent within the primordial human nature by virtue of the divine form.

But a person who aspires to become more than a human animal will have to actualize other divine qualities which are likely to remain latent in the "natural" human state {connecting with higher emotional centers?}, that is, those traits which have a specifically moral connotation, such as generosity, justice, forbearance, and gratitude.

I'm wondering whether these divine names/attributes can be linked to Jungs's archetypes which make the most part of our collective unconscious and are revealed gradually to us in our dreams and life.

Archetypes (_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungian_archetypes)

In Jungian psychology, archetypes are highly developed elements of the collective unconscious. Being unconscious, the existence of archetypes can only be deduced indirectly by examining behavior, images, art, myths, religions, or dreams. Carl Jung understood archetypes as universal, archaic patterns and images that derive from the collective unconscious and are the psychic counterpart of instinct. They are inherited potentials which are actualized when they enter consciousness as images or manifest in behavior on interaction with the outside world. They are autonomous and hidden forms which are transformed once they enter consciousness and are given particular expression by individuals and their cultures.

Strictly speaking, Jungian archetypes refer to unclear underlying forms or the archetypes-as-such from which emerge images and motifs such as the mother, the child, the trickster and the flood among others. It is history, culture and personal context that shape these manifest representations giving them their specific content.

So we can activate and "channel" various divine names/archetypes on an indivudual or collective basis. By doing that we get to know different faces of God or they are being revealed to us. Depending on which divine names/archetypes we activate/channel by our deeds we decide between STO/STS behavior. As soon as all divine names are revealed to us (become absolute) we are in the Unity with the One (7th density).

Chittick about ontological levels of Cosmos (7 densities?)

When Ibn al-'Arabi speaks about the "hierarchy of the cosmos" (tartib al-'dlam)... he has in view the various degrees of existence or finding, the "ontological levels" (mardtib al-wujiid) of the universe, or in other words, the various degrees in which the creatures participate in the Divine Presence.

About STS and STO paths?

... human beings possess certain gifts which allow them to choose their own route of return (this is the "voluntary return," rujii' ikhtiydri). Man can follow the path laid down by this prophet {STO?} or that, or he can follow his own "caprice" (hawa) and whims {STS?}. Each way takes him back to God, but God has many faces, not all of them pleasant to meet

About 7th density?

The Essence Itself, or Being considered without the names, is what Ibn al-'Arabi sometimes calls the Unity of the One (ahadiyyat al-ahad) in contrast to Being considered as possessor of the names, which is the Unity of Manyness

Again a reference to densities?

From the perspective of Unity and Multiplicity, the Divine Presence appears as a circle whose center is the Essence and whose full deployment is the acts in their multiple degrees and kinds. The concentric circles surrounding the Center represent the ontological levels, each successive circle being dimmer and weaker than the preceding circle. Here the divine names are the relationships that the Center assumes in respect to any place on the circle. Each "place" can be assigned coordinates in terms of its distance from the Center (i.e., its degree on the ontological hierarchy) and its relationship with other points situated on the same concentric circle.

The dispersive movement toward the periphery {1th density?} is a positive creative force. Without it, Light would not shine and the cosmos would not come into existence. The divine attributes manifest themselves in an undifferentiated mode (mujmal) at the level of the intense light of the angels and in a boundlessly differentiated mode (tafsil) at the level of the sensory cosmos in its full spatial and temporal extension. But once this full outward manifestation is achieved, it is time for the unitive movement {towards 7th density?} to take over, and an active and conscious participation in this movement is the exclusive prerogative of human beings.

The attribute which rules over the return to the center is "Guidance" (hiddya), while the dispersive movement within the human sphere that prevents and precludes the return toward the Center is called "Misguidance" (idlal). The unitive movement finds its fullest human expression in the prophets and the friends of God, who are the loci of self-disclosure for the divine name the "Guide" (al-hddi). The dispersive movement finds its greatest representatives in Satan and his friends (awliya' al-shaytdn), who manifest the divine name "Misguidance" {General Law?} (al-mudill).

 

[obyvatel]

[quote author=Altair]
I'm wondering whether these divine names/attributes can be linked to Jungs's archetypes which make the most part of our collective unconscious and are revealed gradually to us in our dreams and life.
[/quote]

I think Jung's archetypes match with divine names/attributes postulated by Al Arabi.

[quote author=Altair]
So we can activate and "channel" various divine names/archetypes on an indivudual or collective basis. By doing that we get to know different faces of God or they are being revealed to us. Depending on which divine names/archetypes we activate/channel by our deeds we decide between STO/STS behavior.
[/quote]

That is my understanding also.

[quote author=Altair]
As soon as all divine names are revealed to us (become absolute) we are in the Unity with the One (7th density).
[/quote]

If you are referring to the divine names being revealed progressively as one traverses the "density" hierarchy as postulated by the C's, then it is perhaps a reasonable assumption.

At the 3D level, one can channel archetypal energy through the ego functions (thinking, feeling and then doing) but one has to guard against identifying with the archetype itself. Identifying with an archetype leads to psychological inflation and dangerous consequences as the conscious ego gets overwhelmed by archetypal forces. Megalomania, delusions, obsessions etc are just some of the individual consequences derived from empirical data. One can postulate such consequences and calamities on the collective social scale as well from historical data.

You will see that in Eastern religious texts there is a repetitive theme of singing hymns and praises in the glory of God and proclaiming again and again His greatness - to the point that would drive a casual reader to say out "I get it, you said it a thousand times already". For seekers on the path, it could serve as a warning not to identify with the divine name. Since the 3D human is infected by vanity and unhealthy self importance, there is a tendency to do just that.

So unity with the One is a concept that is best treated as theoretical at this level - OSIT.

 

[Altair]

Thanks, obyvatel.

[quote author=Altair]
As soon as all divine names are revealed to us (become absolute) we are in the Unity with the One (7th density).

If you are referring to the divine names being revealed progressively as one traverses the "density" hierarchy as postulated by the C's, then it is perhaps a reasonable assumption.

At the 3D level, one can channel archetypal energy through the ego functions (thinking, feeling and then doing) but one has to guard against identifying with the archetype itself. Identifying with an archetype leads to psychological inflation and dangerous consequences as the conscious ego gets overwhelmed by archetypal forces. Megalomania, delusions, obsessions etc are just some of the individual consequences derived from empirical data. One can postulate such consequences and calamities on the collective social scale as well from historical data.

You will see that in Eastern religious texts there is a repetitive theme of singing hymns and praises in the glory of God and proclaiming again and again His greatness - to the point that would drive a casual reader to say out "I get it, you said it a thousand times already". For seekers on the path, it could serve as a warning not to identify with the divine name. Since the 3D human is infected by vanity and unhealthy self importance, there is a tendency to do just that.

So unity with the One is a concept that is best treated as theoretical at this level - OSIT.
[/quote]

Agreed. Not identifying with archetypes was Jung's understanding. Here is what Al Arabi says about divine names:

It was said earlier that in "ethics" or assuming the character traits of God — which, precisely, is the Sufi path—equilibrium is everything. The divine names must be actualized in the proper relationships, the names of beauty preceding
those of wrath, generosity dominating over justice, humility taking precedence over magnificence, and so on. The perfect equilibrium of the names is actualized by the perfect assumption of every trait in the form of which human beings were created. In a word, perfect equilibrium is to be the outward form of the name "Allah" the Divine Presence. The person who achieves such a realization is known as perfect man (al-insdn al-kdmil), one of the most famous o f Ibn al-'Arabi's technical terms.

 

[Altair]

Al Arabi about divine conflicts:

All things in the universe manifest the effects and properties of the divine names. Even the conflict, quarrel, strife, and war that are found in created things have their roots in God. The cosmos is a great collection of things, and things go their
own ways, not necessarily in harmony with other things on the level where they are being considered. The names relate to
each other in many different modes, some harmonious, and some sufficiently disharmonious that Ibn al - 'Arabi can
even talk about "conflict" (tandzu') among the names...

This goes back to their entrance under the properties of the divine names, from whence wages are paid. Through compulsion and in reality they are the servants and the possession of the Essence. But the divine names seek them to make their effects manifest through them. So they have free choice (ikh(iydr) in entering under whichever name they desire. The divine names know this, so the divine names designate wages for them. Each divine name wants this slave of the Essence to choose to serve (khidma) it rather than the other divine names. It says to him, "Enter under my command, for I will give you such and such." Then he remains in the service of that.

And here what G. said about the Ray of Creation in ISOTM:

Summing up all that has been said before about the ray of creation, from world 1
down to world 96, it must be added that the figures by which worlds are designated
indicate the number of forces, or orders of laws, which govern the worlds in question.
In the Absolute there is only one force and only one law—the single and independent
will of the Absolute. In the next world there are three forces or three orders of laws. In
the next there are six orders of laws; in the following one, twelve;
and so on. In our world, that is, the earth, forty-eight orders of laws are operating to
which we are subject and by which our whole life is governed. If we lived on the
moon we should be subject to ninety-six orders of laws, that is, our life and activity
would be still more mechanical and we should not have the possibilities of escape
from mechanicalness that we now have...

The orders of laws and their forms vary according to the point of view from which
we consider the ray of creation.

Divine names, as Al Arabi says, are manifested differently on each ontological level and are in different relationship to each other (harmonious or disharmonious). Is it possible that the Laws which G. refers to are divine conflicts between God's names (between beautiful and ugly ones)? The more material the world is the more laws/divine conflicts it's succumbed to. The Earth and we as Earth inhabitants are subjected to 48 Laws (divine conflicts between 48 beautiful and 48 ugly names of God). By using our discernment and free will we decide under the influence of each name we enter (beautiful or ugly) and thus following either STS or STO path. By progressing to the higher world on the Ray of Creation and learning our lessons using our discernment and making choices we free ourselves step by step from the influence of these divine conflicts.

So the General Law represents us being subjected to this struggle between beautiful and ugly names and the Law of Exception - us being gradully freed from it through the Work.

Am I on track in these assumptions?

 

[Altair]

Al Arabi about faith:

To have faith is to feel secure concerning the knowledge one has received about God and to commit oneself to putting it into practice...

... faith is "a light which God throws into the heart of whomsoever He will of His servants". Faith does not belong to the proof itself, so we do not make proofs its precondition.
Faith is a self-evident knowledge which person finds in his heart and is not able to repel. When someone gains faith through proofs, his faith cannot be relied upon, since he will be susceptible to obfuscations detracting from his faith, because it derives from rational consideration, not from self-evidence...

The person of faith is he whose speech and act accord with what he believes...

The person of faith is he before whose calamities his neighbor feels secure...

 

[Altair]

Al Arabi about God's self-disclosure:

Since the light in itself is the Real, one stage of finding God has to do with elimination of darkness from the heart, the darkness connected to engendered existence...

Knowledge... is "a light which God throws into the heart of whomsoever He will"

One of the definitions of self-disclosure is "the lights of unseen things that unveiled to hearts"...

Since knowledge is intrinsic to existence/light, the self-disclosure which brings about existence also brings about knowledge...

Life is intrinsic to all things, since it derives from the divine self-disclosure to each and every existent thing. He created the existent things to worship and to know Him, and not one of His creatures would know Him unless He disclosed Himself to it...

Everything perceived on any level of existence is a divine self-disclosure. Only God's Essence is never disclosed, which is to say that God does not disclose Himself as Essence, only as other as the Essence...

Every animal and everything described by perception receives a new knowledge at each instant in respect of that perception. However, the person who perceives may be among those who do not pay any attention to the fact that it is knowledge, even tough, in fact, it is knowledge. So if knower's knowledge should be described as decreasing, that is because perception may separate him from many things which he would perceive if not for this obstruction. He is like the person who has been struck by blindness and deafness...

From the time man begins to climb the ladder of ascent, he receives divine self-disclosure in accordance with the ladder of his ascent. Each individual .. has a ladder specific to him which no one else climb...

.. Each ladder by its essence gives a specified level to each person who climbs it...

"Opening through tastings" is a knowledge gained by him who knows it through extering himself to acquire it. This knowledge belongs exclusively to the people of the path...

Unveiling takes place when God illuminates the heart, enabling it to see into the unseen world. "Opening" ... is for God to "open the door" to the unseen world through disclosing Himself to the heart, or to "open up" the heart to direct knowledge of Him.

Speaking about FRV (http://glossary.cassiopaea.com/glossary.php?id=339)?

Unveiling takes place through the light, but the light that comes from God must coincide with the light inside the heart. Sometimes a person may perceive an excess of radiance in self-disclosure so that he does not gain in knowledge. This is because his own light is not equal to the task of matching the outside light...

When the darkness of ignorance takes up residence in the heart, it makes it blind. Then the heart is not able perceive those realities...

In the cosmos, the root is ignorance, while knowledge is acquired. Knowledge is existence, and existence belongs to God, while ignorance is nonexistence, and the nonexistence belongs to the cosmos. Hence it is best to follow the the authority of the Real, who possesses Being, rather than the authority of him who is created like you. Just as you have acquired existence from Him, so also acquire knowledge from Him.

 

[United Gnosis]

In the cosmos, the root is ignorance, while knowledge is acquired. Knowledge is existence, and existence belongs to God, while ignorance is nonexistence, and the nonexistence belongs to the cosmos. Hence it is best to follow the the authority of the Real, who possesses Being, rather than the authority of him who is created like you. Just as you have acquired existence from Him, so also acquire knowledge from Him.

That is a gorgeous quote, thank you very much!

I've had Chittick's Path of Knowledge on the to-read pile for a while, but this definitely bumps it up.

 

[Altair]

About perceiving the veil:

The forms in which the Real shows Himself are not the Real Himself, but the veils which hide the Essence. The gnostic never sees God directly, since he never sees anything but His self-disclosure. And that is precisely His veil...

He never manifests Himself to His creatures except within a form, and His forms are diverse in each self-disclosure, since "He never discloses Himself in a single form twice or in a single form to two individuals."

Again about FRV, capacity of "wave reading machines" compared to transmitted information:

The knowledge acquired by reason through reflection is confined and constricted by the instrument of knowledge. The light thrown into the heart by God also has certain limitations, since it is a created light deposited within a created receptacle, but the fact that God has taken initiative and "bestowed" the knowledge makes it radically different from the knowledge "earned" through personal efforts. Reason is limited by its inability to perceive God's self-disclosure in all things, so it denies His similarity and explains away the revelatory reports which refer to it.

 

[Altair]

Two types of Knowledge:

Ibn al-Arabi frequently claims that the knowledge acquired by means of unveiling is superior to that which is earned through the efforts of intellectual investigation and rational inquiry. Nevertheless, he does not denigrate rational knowledge. He merely points out its limitations. Certain subjects lie "beyond the stage of reason", so man can gain no knowledge of them without the help of revelation.

... reflection cannot gainsay God's word. If the proofs provided by rational thought contradict revelation, the proper road is not to reject the revelation, but to recognize that the proofs are limited by the powers which have brought them into existence and that these limitations cannot give the lie to Him who created reason and its powers...

When the knowledge from God comes to you, do not place it in the scale of reflection and do not appoint any route for your rational faculty to reach it, lest you immediately perish. For the Divine Knowledge does not enter into any scale, since it set up the scale...

Knowledge contradicts reason, since reason is a limitation, while knowledge is that which is gained from a mark.

About preparedness of receptacle:

When the friends of God climb in the ascents of their aspirations, the goal of their arrival is the divine names, since the divine names seek them. When they arrive at the names in their ascents, the names effuse upon them sciences and their own lights to the the measure of the preparedness which the friends bring. They receive only in the measure of their own preparedness.

 

[Altair]

About names and stations:

God created man in the form of all His names. What makes a human being human is this single characteristic which opens him up to all human possibilities. But each human being is a unique reflection of God, since "Self-disclosure never repeats itself"...

A human being manifests all the divine names, yet some of these names remain latent within him...

What is a human being? Anything at all, since the possibilities latent within the divine form are infinite, and each human being brings them into actuality according to a unique pattern posessed by no other...

A human being posesses every name of God - every ontological possibility - within himself. But in order to attain to felicity, he must bring these attributes into actuality according to the correct scale. God possesses all possibilities, as summarized by His names...

man is not a man until he brings the divine attributes latent within himself into actuality. He will actualize many of the divine attributes - such as life, knowledge, desire, and power - to a certain degree through the course of his natural development by the fact of being human. But these will be actualized imperfectly, and many other names and attributes cannot be actualized in their fullness without recourse to the Law.

In each study of the journey, man acquires certain divine attributes which prepare him for acquiring more. Each name whose traits he assumes bestows upon him a new preparedness which allows him to move on to the higher stages. These stages are most often called the "stations" {accomplished octaves of self-development?}.

This one is interesting. Is it about organic portals or "sleeping" men in general?

But few people are in fact human. Most people are what Ibn al-Arabi calls "animal man", that is animals in human form, since they have not actualized the divine form which would make them human. Our humanity remains but a potentiality until we have embarked on the straight path of "assuming the traits of divine names"...

 

[Altair]

The stations of the path:

... The "state" or present spiritual situation of the individual is by defintion transitory, while a "station" may have the same attributes as a state except that it is a fixed quality of the soul. States are "bestowals" while stations are earnings.

Every station in the path of God is earned and fixed, while every state is a bestowal, neither earned nor fixed. The state is like the flashing of lightning. When it flashes, it either disappears because of its contrary, or it is followed by similars...

... Stations are permanent acquisitions. Though the traveler passes on to higher stations, he never leaves behind those he has already acquired. In effect, a human potentiality latent within him has become an actuality. Once a person gains the character of patience, for example, he never lacks it in the appropriate circumstances...

When someone passes from one knowledge to another knowledge, this does not imply that he becomes ignorant of the first knowledge. On the contrary, he never leaves him.

... To say that God turns His face or directs His attentiveness towards someone means that He manifests His reality to that person through self-disclosure. But self-disclosure is always delimited and defined by the preparedness of the receptacle. In the case of stations, this means that God discloses Himself to the seeker under the guise of the name which provides the ontological support or the divine root for the station into which the seeker is entering. To take an extremely basic case, the wayfarer's entrance into the station of patience corresponds to God's directing His attentiveness toward him in respect of the name the Patient, though again, this a delimited and defined patience, not the absolute patience of the Divine Reality Itself. In short, whatever the servant requires is given by the Lord. At the same time, we are dealing here with a Lord/vassal relationship, so the divine name itself benefits from the fact that the servant enters a station which it rules, since it gains a locus in which to display its properties.

There is something I don't get. If God is Absolute and perfect in all aspects, how can divine names benefit from the fact that somebody offers a possibility to manifest their properties? Or generally speaking, if the whole Universe is a school where we learn to know the God disguised as divine names, what is the point of all this? Can the God know Himself through us, even if He is an Absolute? Or is this the aspect which belongs to His Essence and we'll never get it?