Page 34 - Chapter
Three: "Sufi attempts to balance the demands of transcendence and immanence
help explain why they are especially fond of paradoxes - statements that express subtle
truths by ignoring the law of non-contradiction. These help break down the insistence of
the rational mind that everything can be explained and grasped. In fact, God does not fit
into our categories. Everything in our world and our experience must be one thing or
another, but God is both nothing and everything. He is both near and far, both
transcendent and immanent, both absent and present, both this and not this."
Commentary: The
author speaks in terms of Sufi "attempts to balance the demands of transcendence and
immanence," as if they were engaged in some sort of post-facto, rationalized
reconstruction of experience. Sufis do not have to accomplish what God already has done -
that is, balance the "demands of transcendence and immanence".
The challenge facing an
individual does not revolve around any struggle to balance qualities of transcendence and
immanence. The task is to understand the nature of the way Reality is.
Thus, the prayer of the
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is: "O my Lord, show me things as they really
are," and not: ‘O my Lord, help me to balance the demands of transcendence and
immanence.’ With unveiling, comes understanding, and, consequently, the issue is one
of acquiring knowledge of Divinity rather than learning how to juggle arbitrarily
fashioned contradictions.
Transcendence is not an
antonym for immanence. Moreover, transcendence is not spatially separated from immanence
such that ‘immanence’ is ‘here’ and ‘transcendence’ is
‘over there’ someplace.
Transcendence is removed
from us because we have no way of accessing or penetrating that realm or quality. What is
transcendent could be imminently near and, yet, it remains opaque to us due to its
incredibly august nature - a nature which is beyond our capacity to grasp, envision, or
understand.
When Sufis speak,
simultaneously, of both transcendence and immanence, then, contrary to the claim of the
author of Sufism - A Short Introduction, there is no law of
non-contradiction which is being ignored. This is so for the following reason.
First of all, as the
author correctly points out, one makes a mistake whenever one assumes that God should
conform to logical categories. In fact, rationalistic thinking has been making this same
error for thousands of years - namely, projecting its own assumptions, biases, prejudices,
categories, and limitations onto Divinity and expecting that the latter should be
amendable to being subsumed in accordance with whatever conceptual system one has devised.
In other words, there is
absolutely no evidence or argument which warrants a belief that rules of classical logic
are appropriate tools for studying Divinity - as the Qur’an indicates: "They
measured not God with the true measure." (6:91). Sufis understand that classical
logic (and, actually, modern logic as well) is irrelevant and immaterial to the issue at
hand, and, consequently, the application of any of its laws only can lead to confusion,
distortion, and misunderstanding.
The author is incorrect
when he says that Sufis are fond of paradoxes - and, certainly, a Sufi shaykh cannot be
held responsible if someone, who does not understand what is being said by the shaykh,
interprets his or her own ignorance as paradoxical - which it may well be - but this has
nothing to do with what a given shaykh has said. In fact, to speak of transcendence and
immanence as being simultaneously true, is neither a paradox, nor is it designed to
"help break down the insistence of the rational mind that everything can be explained
and grasped."
More specifically, to
speak of these qualities together is not a paradox because, as noted above, the two
qualities - transcendence and immanence - are not opposites. Furthermore, mentioning these
qualities at the same time is not intended as a Zen-like exercise which, if successful,
curbs the rational mind’s tendency to presuppose that everything can be
"explained and grasped".
God, the Independent and
the Beneficent, has referred to Divinity in terms of transcendent and imminent qualities.
The Sufis are merely reminding others of what God has said.
If God tears back the
veils which, normally, render such truths impenetrable, then, an individual comes to
understand something of the nature of these truths as a function both of the precise
degree to which the veils are dissolved and, as well, the extent to which one has the
requisite spiritual capacity to appreciate, within the limits of that capacity, that which
is being unveiled. If, however, the veils guarding such truths are not removed, then, no
insight or understanding concerning them is possible - logic or no logic.
The author of Sufism
- A Short Introduction contends that "God is both nothing and everything. He
is both near and far, both transcendent and immanent, both absent and present, both this
and not this." His way of characterizing the situation is, at best, misleading, and,
at worst, just plain wrong.
The qualities of
transcendence and immanence already have been discussed. The author’s understanding
concerning these terms is incorrect, and, for the same reasons, his claim that God
"is both near and far" also is in error.
An individual may be
emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, behaviorally, and conceptually
‘distant’ from God, but God is always, entirely ‘near’. Some facets of
this nearness are, if God wishes, accessible, to varying degrees, and other dimensions of
that nearness are inaccessible.
Similarly, God is not
both "absent and present". God is present - although a human being may be absent
or present with respect to awareness of that Presence.
Finally, the author is
wrong when he maintains that "God is both nothing and everything or "both this
and not this". In truth, Divinity, in Essence, is neither.
While the assertion -
‘there is no reality but Divinity’ - is true, this is not an expression of
pantheism in which the ‘things’ of the world consist of so many atoms and
molecules of God-stuff. The ‘things’ of the world are the loci of manifestation
through which Divine Names and Attributes give expression to the nature of those qualities
which constitute ‘thingness’.
As previously indicated,
the ‘things’ of the world are like the interference swirls on a holographic
‘plate’ or tablet in the Divine Imagination. The ‘coherent’ lights and
colors of the Divine Names and Attributes pass through this plate and create a
multi-dimensional image which we refer to as this or that kind of ‘object’
according to the ‘potentials’ inherent in, as well as the ‘angle’ of
intention by which the coherent light of Divinity passes through, the aforementioned
‘plate’ or tablet.
The created image is not
Divinity and has no permanent reality. Yet, Divinity has made the image possible.
The intention underlying
Creation is Divine. However, all that arises out of that cornucopia of Divine Desire is an
expression of Creative Imagination which operates in accordance with the Mercy and
Knowledge of God which embraces those ‘products’ of Divine Imagination.
Therefore, these
‘products’ are forms of Divine knowledge concerning the nature of the original
Divine Intention and Purpose which give rise to Creation through the exercise of
God’s capacity for Creative Imagination. The qualities, properties, nature and
potential of any given form of Divine knowledge is a reflection of Divine purpose, but
Divine Essence is not reducible to that purpose even while the latter is made possible by
the former.
Divinity has equipped
that Purpose with all that is needed to fulfill its intent. These are the Names and
Attributes, but Divine Essence transcends those Names and Attributes.
There are an infinite
number of purposes that can be (or have been or are) devised by Divinity which give
expression to this or that possibility inherent in the Hidden Treasure. Even when
considered collectively, this infinite set of purposes cannot exhaust, nor be considered
synonymous with, the Essence of Divinity - although, obviously, the latter has made all of
the former possible through the exercise of Creative Imagination.
God has given humankind
the potential to know the Wish that underlies the bringing forth of Creation. However, we
cannot know the Essence which stands behind this Wish.
We have the potential for
knowing the Names and Attributes which are present in the Wish. Yet, we can never know the
Essence which underwrites the Presence of those Names and Attributes, nor know how the
latter are ‘written’ into the ‘fabric’ of the Divine Wish or Purpose.
The Prophet Muhammad
(peace be upon him) is reported to have said: "Reflect upon all things but do not
reflect on God’s Essence." Consequently, Divine Purpose, the Names and
Attributes of God, the nature of Creation, spiritual potential, Divine Law, and so on -
all of these are topics for reflection, but Dhat, or the Essence - which underwrites the
possibilities surrounding, and permeating, all of the foregoing themes - is off-limits as
a subject of reflection.
In short, within the
limits of spiritual adab and capacity - we are permitted to reflect on, and explore,
whatever has been made manifest, or whatever has the potential - though it be hidden or
veiled from us presently - to be made manifest by means of the Divine Desire. That which
is manifest - on whatever level or in whatever realm - gives expression to an array of
Names and Attributes which, if God wishes, can be accessed - within certain parameters
established by Divinity - through one, or more, of the instruments of fitra - that is, our
primordial spiritual potential.
Allah is the Name that
refers to the Reality which gives expression to the collected Names and Attributes of
Divinity. As such, this is referred to as the Supreme Name of Divinity.
Allah is the Face of the
Hidden Treasure which shines through the Intention of Creative Imagination from which
Creation was brought forth. This Face of the Real - which gives expression to the
manifestation of Names and Attributes that serve the Wish of the Hidden Treasure to be
known - can be realized in accordance with Divine Grace and spiritual capacity.
Yet, beyond this Face is
the unknowable Essence - and this, truly, is the Reality without a Name. Although we may
use nouns like ‘Dhat’ (Essence) as a way of making reference to that which lies
beyond the Name of Allah - which encompasses all other Names and is the Face through which
the Intention of the Hidden Treasure is given expression - nonetheless, there is no Name,
Attribute, or set of Names and Attributes which is capable of doing justice to, or
providing even a modicum of insight concerning, that which is impenetrable, cannot be
imagined, and is far, far beyond all of our capacities for understanding.
Essence transcends that
which is manifest or will be made manifest. Since our spiritual potential is - in a
variety of ways - receptive to, and sensitive toward, Divine manifestation, we have no
capacity to access Essence which is beyond manifestation, and, therefore, whatever we
might reflect upon in relation to Essence would be permeated with error and nothing but
error.
The Qur’an
indicates: "He let forth the two seas. They meet. There is a barrier between them.
They encroach not (one upon the other)." (55:19-20)
In the context of the
holographic model noted previously, the realm of fixed forms is analogous to the
interference swirls on the plate or tablet. These fixed forms have arisen through the flow
of Divinity’s capacity for Creative Imagination.
Fixed forms do not have
any existence per se. They are a potential, and that potential encompasses the
possibilities which, under certain conditions (to be outlined shortly), give expression to
different facets and dimensions of the fixed form’s capacity to provide the
co-ordinate sets that define the parameters with which any projected image derived from
those co-ordinates must comply.
The Divine Names and
Attributes are employed by the Divine intention - that desires or loves for the Hidden
Treasure to be known - in a manner somewhat akin to the way coherent forms of light are
directed through a holographic plate. After the ‘lights’ of the Divine Names and
Attributes have passed through the plate, or tablet, of fixed forms, this ‘object
beam’ is re-united, so to speak, with the ‘reference beam’ of Divine
Purpose, and, in the process, an ‘image’ is projected onto Being through the
agency of the Divine Names and Attributes.
The Divine Names and the
fixed forms meet. However, neither realm encroaches on the other since fixed forms do not
change Divine Names and Attributes in any essential way, nor do the latter alter the
former.
Divine Intention is the
barrier which prevents any encroachment of one realm by the other. On the other hand,
Divine Intention is also that which permits the two seas to meet and, thereby, lead to the
projection of an existent image.
Modern scientists have
discovered - although no one really understands why - that when the light used in
generating a holographic image is run through a filter which diffuses light prior to
encountering the objects that in conjunction with one another - that is, light and objects
together - will produce an interference pattern which yields far better resolution than
when no diffusion filter is used. Similarly, if the potential of the fixed form that
constitutes the fitra, or spiritual capacity, of an individual is fully realized, this has
an effect which is somewhat akin to a diffusion holograph, since the projected image is
capable of serving as a mirror that reflects the lights and colors from all of the Divine
Names and Attributes that have passed through the fixed form.
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