=kit065.txt

[ Editorial note appended ]

KIT 65 - Ibn 'Arabi's Vision of Beauty

            For the Sufis, the propensity of the divine nostalgia
which manifests in the human being as love is fulfilled by the act
whereby God creates Him/Herself. There is thus a generating of the
miracle of the vision of beauty and the majesty that evidences the
orderliness of the divine planning of the universe. Consequently
for the Sufis our involvement in the creative act of what we
perceive in beauty ranges at all levels of our being, including
our celestial bodies.

            In fact our evaluation of beauty calls upon a
resonance at the higher levels of our being. Indeed, the vision of
a beautiful object, being, action, or work of art, carries our
consciousness and attunement surreptitiously into celestial
spheres. The contemplation of beauty triggers off self-discovery.

            For the Sufis, beauty is the objective of the
intention behind the formative process of the universe. It is in
the universe that God reveals the many-splendored potentialities
of the virtuality of beauty inherent in His/Her essence to the
ones who are able to grasp it.

"We shall show them Our Signs on the horizons and in their souls."
QUR'AN (41:53)

[ N.B. (sa) -- In this KIT, quotations in the SOS are set off in
both quotatin marks and italics, in the Kaivan they are set off
only in blue_font and itlaics, both of which are stripped out in a
Save_As__text_only , via Word 2000 anyhow. ]

            The Sufis give some clues as to the landmarks mapping
the spheres. These may serve to pilot one as one ascends from
sphere to sphere.


"Now His/Her journey in God involves the dissolving of their
composite nature and acquaints them with what corresponds to them
in each world of being, by passing with them through the different
sorts of worlds."
IBN 'ARABI

            Let us follow the itinerary proposed by the Sufis in
their discovery of beauty in the many-tiered universe.
              

ALAM AL NAZUT. The physical plane

            Granted that the ground floor is the physical level of
reality framed by time and space and where a projection - as in a
hologram - of a formless reality appears in tangible constructs
endowed with form, the form of objects conveys the meaningfulness
that programmed them.

"God reveals His/Her intention through signs."
IBN 'ARABI

            The substance is just the support system of the form
that conveys the meaning.


ALAM AL ARWAH. The etheric plane.

            The Sufis sometimes interpose here the sphere
corresponding to our etheric, astral or subtle bodies or even our
aura, which will act as the body of resurrection.

            "As for the Sufis, they have spiritual journeys in the
intermediate world during which they directly witness spiritual
realities that are embodied in forms that have become sensible for
the imagination; these sensible images convey knowledge of the
spiritual realities contained within these forms."
IBN 'ARABI

            Ultimately a subtle form transpires through the outer
form (like a countenance behind the features of a face). Moreover
that subtle form which manifests as a configuration rather than a
profile is actually the form of the subtle matter that transpires
through the grosser matter.

            The shift of our consciousness and attunement from the
perception of gross matter to that of form and then to that of
subtle matter and then to that of subtle form is looked upon as
the first fumbling steps, in the journey that will lead the
aspirant into the celestial spheres in search of the divine
intention.

            One can fashion the subtle fabric of these bodies
imprinting them with the hall-mark of one's celestial body, and
with the wisdom gained in one's experience on earth, according to
the form one wishes to manifest.

            If the forms reveal meaning it is because they serve
as expressions of a language which articulates that meaning. It is
as though God were endeavoring to reveal His/Her intention in the
measure of each creature's ability to grasp what is revealed
rather than be impressed by the devices whereby it is revealed.
Traditionally that language is spelled in sound (the verb). The
Sufis refer to the 'names' of all things.

"God revealed to Adam the names of all things."
QUR'AN

            Indeed, each object is endowed with a frequency
pattern. Although objects may produce sound-waves when struck,
basically what is meant by a frequency pattern is a pattern of
frequencies of energy. And this is precisely what the Sufis mean
by 'saute sarmad', pure vibration.

            Hence at this level our qualities, considered by the
Sufis to be subtle forms, are also characterized by their
frequency patterns and therefore are articulated by the Sufis in
the form of the names (asma).


MITHAL. The level of metaphor.

            To hoist oneself to the sphere of metaphor, one needs
to imagine in order to experience; beauty reveals to us the divine
meaningfulness buried in ourselves.

            To qualify to be appraised of the revelation of the
divine intention through His /Her names, one needs to contemplate
these names (in the practice with the wazaif) discovering in the
seed bed of one's personality the same beauty one sought outside.
For this, one needs to cleave to the level of metaphor that is
easily masked by one's own personal mental constructs (khyal).

            The transformation that one undergoes by proceeding
thus opens up one's knowledge of these and through these, the
divine intention. Our appreciation of beauty as perceived through
the mediation of the world brings us in contact with the celestial
spheres of imaginary forms (and this includes formative
processes). Rather than assuming that these forms are static we
need to realize that they are ever newly generated by dint of the
activity of the creative imagination of our minds functioning at
this lofty level (mithal).

            In so doing we participate in the divine creative act
that spawns all creation: Our imaginings are extensions of the
divine imagination behind the fashioning of the universe. Let us
also bear in mind that these evanescent forms or formations have
their existence irrespective of whether or not they are actuated
in physical matter.


MALAKUT. The angelic spheres

            Furthermore, the Sufis recognize a celestial sphere
where the states of consciousness corresponding to the attunement
of the soul fashions the forms and formative processes that shape
the universe. In their ecstasy aroused in the exercise of austere
disciplines, the Sufi dervishes are tuned in resonance with the
souls of beings at this level who convey something of the nature
of the inspiration that animates them. Thus this level can be
acceded to by either discovering in oneself the guilelessness of
the angelic beings who have not yet incarnated on earth or the
wisdom of the masters who having disincarnated, convey the know-
how acquired on earth to the sphere of Malakut.

IBN 'ARABI refers to:
"...heavenly encounters with the spirits of earlier prophets and
saints. "

            At this level which appears as a dream in a dream, one
realizes that the forms at the physical level (nazut) and at the
level of metaphor (mithal) are configurations that manifest higher
levels of reality; that beings are indeed embodied spiritual
realities.

            "Thus the Ascensions of the saints are the Ascensions
of their spirits and the visions of their hearts, the vision of
forms in the intermediate world and of embodied spiritual
realities."
IBN 'ARABI

            At this level, one does not suffice oneself with
trying to have some clue of the eternal model behind that hologram
that is the world by earmarking clues in the 'signs' in which God
reveals something of His/Her being, in the world or in one's
personality. Rather one accedes to the second mode of cognizance,
according to Ibn 'Arabi:

            "There is a further perspective: you discover in your
consciousness the act of the divine consciousness discovering
Himself through your discovery of Him through you."
IBN 'ARABI


JABARUT. The level of pure splendor

            Beyond this sphere, the Sufis recognize a sphere at
which beauty eschews all forms. Consider this level as that at
which the (non-spacial) archetypes manifesting at the existential
realm as forms have their seat. One recognizes a degree of
perfection in its beauty beyond any perceptual image. At this
level there is no form, one does not perceive, one is attuned to
pure splendor. It is simply a matter of allowing oneself to be
moved by bewonderment and glorification.

            We have hoisted ourselves at a level beyond existence
- the state of potentiality - within which lies the:

"...possibility of existing or not existing...But having been once
existentiated, there is no way in which things can return to the
state of potentiality."
IBN 'ARABI

            Since this plane can never be the object of our
perception, nor can we espy in it the signs or traces of the
divine nature, it can only open up to our awareness through divine
revelation.

            For the wise, nothing appears as a 'discrete entity'
but everything is seen as: 
"the face of reality"  -  
IBN 'ARABI

            Ibn 'Arabi gives His disciples the clue as to how to
hoist themselves to this sphere:

            "Then the spiritual traveller leaves behind in each
world that part of the world which corresponds to it."
IBN 'ARABI


LAHUT. The sphere of the archetypal attributes.

            The Sufis describe the next sphere (lahut) as being
the level where the divine essence (the quintessentia of the
alchemists) permeates all living things by imprinting each sphere
in the descending order with the seal of the attributes with which
it is predicated. The Wazaif are the names of these attributes.

 "So the glories of the Face are lights pertaining to the Essence;
between us and them are the veils - the divine name...the divine
names are relations, (not ontological realities) occasioned by the
entities of the possible things." ...The essence never reveals
itself as such but only to a causal quality."
IBN 'ARABI

            We are referring here to a, so to speak 'vertical
causal chain' instead of the usual causal inference based upon the
inexorable advance of the process of becoming. Looking down (as it
were) from His/Her lofty vantage point the Sufis recognize by
analogy the hallmark of these archetypes (the divine attributes)
in the forms that express the divine intention in the language of
beauty.

            This recognition comes both in the scenes of nature
and in their own personality. The clue is to try and imagine how
things would look from the divine vantage point whereby God
discovers His/Her attributes through our participating in this
discovery by earmarking the traces of those attributes in our
personality and moreover actuating them in our personality.


ALAM AL HAHUT. The divine essence behind manifestation

            Ultimately, the Sufis refer to a level (Hahut) at
which the divine essence eschews any predication and therefore
appears as a void, which is described as darkness. At this level,
the Sufi mystic grasps the cognizance that God has of the
principle of His/Her being unmediated by the attributes,
qualities, names, forms and potentialities which convey some clue
as to His/Her essence by qualifying it. This is the secret
treasure.

"The real Being is exclusively God as essence (dhat) and His
initial expression pure spirit ('ayn) beyond His names ...The one
who is immersed in the vision of multiplicity is in the world in
the aspect of the divine names, and the names of the world; and
the one who is immersed in the divine unity is with God in the
grasp of His unity irrespective of the worlds... When that which
has never been vanishes (from your sight) and that which has never
cease."
IBN 'ARABI

            At this level the mystic grasps the cognizance that
God has of Him/Herself in the principle of His/Her being whereas
by the mediacy of the attributes, names, and qualities which
manifests His/Her essence by qualifying it, it becomes known in a
somewhat derived manner.

            "The one who is immersed in the vision of multiplicity
is in the world in the aspect of the divine names, and the names
of the world; and the one who is immersed in the divine unity is
with God in the grasp of His unity irrespective of the
worlds...All that one knows of reality is through the qualities
which are relations occasioned by the entities of the possible
things. If these veils were lifted, unity would erase the
existence of the entities of the possible things, and they would
cease being described by existences, since they only become
qualified by existence through these names."
(IBN 'ARABI)

            "When that which has never been vanishes (from your
sight) and that which has never ceased to be remains, then the sun
of the ultimate proof by actual vision arises."
(IBN 'ARABI)

            "Knowledge is a veil upon the known and vision the
door at which one halts...You were the veil over your own eye."
IBN 'ARABI

            The journey upwards as it were is reversed downwards
whenever one has reached the highest level that one is able to
relate to. The Sufis attach more importance to the descent whereby
one embodies the states of consciousness attained.

            "Thus he continues to pass through the different sorts
of worlds, taking from each world that (aspect of himself) which
he had left there and reintegrating it in His self, and he
continues to appear in each successive stage (of being) until he
arrives back on earth."
IBN 'ARABI

    
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[ Editorial Note (sa), "More of Less"  (Celso, Celso's Bar and
Grille, Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico, near New Buffalo commune ]

Here's a bit of boilerplate, Mate:

[ 'SOS' = 'divergent text from the SO SURESNES KIT' ]

[ Skimming only, I find no significant divergence in the Kaivan
KIT XX text from the SOS KIT XX text ]* 

* I have cross_checked this Kaivan KIT 62 against the SOS KIT 62
only by skimming the starts and stops of the paragiraffe (1), not
by reading the sentences.
(1) A 'paragiraffe' (singular, 'paragraph') is, obviously, an
extended paragraph, eg a KIT.  ]

Kaivan KITs 61__72 are published as SOS KITs 61__72 (with Kaivan
KIT 30, published as SOS KIT 31 ) in a booklet by the SOS, long
flogged or peddled , as Everyman progresses, at Zenith Camp, it
should only evolve indeed into an 'Institute'. ] 

[ I also happen to have at hand, thanks to Rinatya Nachman (24
HaShalom, Rosh Pina 12000, Israel, renatia@bezeqint.net ) xeroxes
of the following KITS, which I hope similarly to skim if not
precisely peruse:  SOS KIT's:  96, 97, 98, 101, 102,  105, 106,
107, 110 ]

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