Where You Came From, and Where You Are Now

<div><figure><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!y9ZA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F221ba712-689e-4df5-bfdd-2b0ff99fb55b_1280x720.png"></a><div><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!y9ZA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F221ba712-689e-4df5-bfdd-2b0ff99fb55b_1280x720.png"></a><source type="image/webp"><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!y9ZA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F221ba712-689e-4df5-bfdd-2b0ff99fb55b_1280x720.png"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!y9ZA!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F221ba712-689e-4df5-bfdd-2b0ff99fb55b_1280x720.png" width="1280" height="720" alt=""></a></source><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!y9ZA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F221ba712-689e-4df5-bfdd-2b0ff99fb55b_1280x720.png"></a><div><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!y9ZA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F221ba712-689e-4df5-bfdd-2b0ff99fb55b_1280x720.png"></a><div><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!y9ZA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F221ba712-689e-4df5-bfdd-2b0ff99fb55b_1280x720.png"></a></div><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!y9ZA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F221ba712-689e-4df5-bfdd-2b0ff99fb55b_1280x720.png"></a></div><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!y9ZA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F221ba712-689e-4df5-bfdd-2b0ff99fb55b_1280x720.png"></a></div><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!y9ZA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F221ba712-689e-4df5-bfdd-2b0ff99fb55b_1280x720.png"></a></figure></div><p><em>Sirr al-Asrar — Chapter Three</em></p><p><em>On the descent to the lowest of the low, and on the places of the souls within the body</em></p><div><div><div><p>Spiritualrelief's Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><div><div></div><div></div></div></div></div><div><hr></div><p>Allah created the primordial soul as the most perfect creation in the first-created realm of the absolute being of the Essence. Then the One willed to send it to the lower realms.</p><p>Why?</p><p>So that the soul could learn to seek the way back. So that it could relearn the closeness and intimacy it had known with the Real. The One sent the soul down to the station of messengers and saints and lovers and friends.</p><p>On its way down, Allah sent the soul first to the realm of the Causal Mind, the realm of <em>tawḥīd</em>, of the Total Soul — the realm of the divine Names and attributes, the realm of the first light. The soul carried with it the seed of unity. Passing through this realm, it was clothed in robes of divine light and was called the <em>sulṭān</em> soul. Passing through the realm of angels — the medium of dreams — it received the name <em>rūḥ mutaḥarrika</em>, the moving soul. When finally it descended to this world of matter, Allah dressed it in a clothing of flesh made to fit its being.</p><p>The coarse clothing is necessary. If this world had direct contact with the primordial soul it would burn to ashes. In relation to this world, the soul came to be known as life itself — the human soul.</p><div><hr></div><div><div><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Wr4z5s2Gk_Y?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><h2>The Purpose of the Descent</h2><p>The purpose of the soul’s coming to this lowest of realms is this: to seek to return to its previous closeness while still in the form of flesh and bone. To come to this realm of coarse matter, and by means of the heart within the corpse, to plant the seed of <em>tawḥīd</em> and grow the tree of unity there.</p><p>The roots of that tree are where they have always been. The branches fill the void of bliss. There, for the pleasure of the Real, they bear the fruits of unity.</p><p>Then in the soil of the heart the soul plants the seed of religion — meaning, of the path, of all that orients you back — and tries to grow from it a tree whose fruits will lift it closer and closer to Allah.</p><div><hr></div><h2>The Geography of the Body</h2><p>Allah made bodies for the souls to enter. For each of them — and each has a different name — the One built a fitting space within the body.</p><p>The human soul, the <em>nafs</em> of life, sits between the flesh and the blood.</p><p>The holy spirit — the highest soul — Allah placed at the very centre of the heart, where a space of fine matter was built to keep that secret between the Real and the servant.</p><p>These souls are in different parts of the body. Each has a different duty, a different work — like different merchants in a city, each buying and selling their own goods. Their trade brings them always plenty, in the form of the bounty and blessing of Allah.</p><blockquote><p>Out of what We have provided for them, secretly and openly, they hope for a commerce that will never fail.</p></blockquote><p><em>Qur’an 35:29</em></p><p>It is worthy of every human being to know his business within the universe of his own existence, and to understand its purpose. Understand that you cannot change what has been judged right for you and hung around your neck.</p><blockquote><p>Does he not know, when that which is in the graves is raised, and that which is in the breasts is made manifest?</p></blockquote><p><em>Qur’an 100:9–10</em></p><blockquote><p>And We have made every one’s actions to cling to his neck.</p></blockquote><p><em>Qur’an 17:13</em></p><div><hr></div><h2>The First Soul: The Human Soul</h2><p>The first soul — the <em>nafs</em> of life, the human soul — lives in the breast. Its place is connected to the senses. Its business is the outer path. Its work is to follow what has been given for everyone to follow. With these precepts the Real keeps the visible world in harmony.</p><p>This soul, acting on what it is given, does not claim its actions as its own. It knows it is not separate from Allah. Its actions come from Allah. Between it and the Real there is no separation in its actions and its devotions.</p><blockquote><p>To meet his Lord, let him do righteous work, and let him admit no one as partner in the worship of his Lord.</p></blockquote><p><em>Qur’an 18:110</em></p><p>Allah is One, and the One loves what is united. The One wants all worship, all righteous action, to belong to the One alone. So a person should not take other people’s approval or rejection into consideration. His actions should not be for worldly benefit. They should be only for the sake of Allah.</p><p>What you get in return are inspirations — seeing the proof of the Real in this visible world, the manifestation of the divine attributes, the unity within the multiplicity, the truth behind appearances, closeness to the Creator. These are the rewards for selfless righteous acts.</p><p>And these rewards still belong to the first level. From the ground under your feet up to the heavens, what you receive here — even the miracles of walking on water, of flying in the air, of knowing hidden thoughts, of traveling great distances in a moment — belongs to this world. Even the rewards you find in the hereafter — palaces, companions, rivers of honey and milk — these are the bounties of <em>Jannat al-Maʾwā</em>, the earthly paradise, the first home.</p><p>Do not mistake these for the goal.</p><div><hr></div><h2>The Second Soul: The Moving Soul</h2><p>The second soul — <em>rūḥ mutaḥarrika</em>, the moving soul — lives in the heart. Its business is <em>ṭarīqa</em>, the inner path. Its work is with the first four of the Beautiful Names of the Essence. These four, like the rest of the twelve Names of the Essence, have neither sound nor letters. They cannot be pronounced.</p><blockquote><p>Say: call on Allah, or call on the Merciful. By whatever name you call on the One, to the One belong the Most Beautiful Names.</p></blockquote><p><em>Qur’an 17:110</em></p><blockquote><p>And to Allah belong the Most Beautiful Names, so call on the One by them.</p></blockquote><p><em>Qur’an 7:180</em></p><p>The divine words themselves point to what must be your principal occupation: to know the divine Names. This is the knowledge of your inner being. Obtaining it brings you to <em>maʿrifa</em>, divine wisdom, where the knowledge of the Name of Unity is complete.</p><p>It is said: <em>Allah has ninety-nine Names. Whoever learns them enters paradise.</em></p><p>It is said: <em>knowledge is one. Then the knowing made it a thousand.</em></p><p>The Name that belongs to the Essence is only one. It is reflected as a thousand attributes in those who receive it.</p><p>The moving soul sees the angelic realm constantly. It sees the paradises of that realm, their inhabitants, their light, all the angels within them. It speaks in the speech of the inner world, without words, without sound. Its thoughts are always on the hidden meanings. Its home in the hereafter is <em>Jannat al-Naʿīm</em>, the garden of delight.</p><div><hr></div><h2>The Third Soul: The Sulṭān Soul</h2><p>The third soul — the <em>sulṭān</em> soul — reigns from the centre of the heart, the heart of the heart. Its business is <em>maʿrifa</em>, divine wisdom. Its work is all of divine knowledge, the medium of true devotion, spoken in the language of the heart.</p><p>It is said: <em>knowledge has two parts. One is on the tongue, which is the confirmation of the existence of Allah. The other is in the heart. That is the one necessary for the realization of man’s goal.</em></p><p>The truly beneficial knowledge is only the heart’s work. It is said: <em>the Qur’an has an outer meaning and an inner meaning.</em> Allah revealed the Qur’an in ten layers of hidden meaning, each deeper than the last, because each is closer to the source of truth. The twelve divine Names belonging to the Essence are like the twelve fountains that gushed from the stone when Moses struck it with his staff:</p><blockquote><p>And when Moses prayed for water for his people, We said: strike it with your staff. So there flowed from it twelve springs. Each tribe knew its drinking place.</p></blockquote><p><em>Qur’an 2:60</em></p><p>The outer knowledge of appearances is like rainwater — it comes and it goes. The inner knowledge is a fountain whose source never dries.</p><p>It is said: <em>if someone spends forty days in sincerity and purity, the source of wisdom will gush from his heart to his tongue.</em></p><p>The benefit of the <em>sulṭān</em> soul is the rapture and love it feels in beholding the manifestation of the divine beauty, grace, and perfection.</p><blockquote><p>One mighty in power has taught him, the Lord of strength. So he attained perfection, and he is in the highest part of the horizon. Then he drew near, drew yet nearer, so that he was the measure of two bows or closer still. So the One revealed to the servant what was revealed. The heart was not untrue in seeing what he saw.</p></blockquote><p><em>Qur’an 53:5–11</em></p><p>It is said: <em>the faithful is the mirror of the faithful.</em> The first faithful is the heart of the one who believes. The second faithful is the Real, reflecting in it.</p><p>The home of the <em>sulṭān</em> soul in the hereafter is <em>al-Firdaws</em>, the heavenly paradise.</p><div><hr></div><h2>The Fourth Soul: The Holy Spirit</h2><p>The fourth soul — the holy spirit, the <em>rūḥ al-quds</em> — reigns in the centre of the centre. The secret place Allah made for the One’s own self in the middle of the heart, where the <em>sirr</em> is kept in safekeeping.</p><p>Its state is described in the <em>ḥadīth qudsī</em>:</p><blockquote><p>Man is My secret, and I am his secret.</p></blockquote><p>Its business is <em>al-ḥaqīqa</em> — the truth obtained by achieving unity. That is its work. It brings multiplicity into unity by continuously reciting the names of unity in the language of the divine secret. This is not an audible, exterior language.</p><blockquote><p>And if you utter your saying aloud, surely the One knows the secret and what is yet more hidden.</p></blockquote><p><em>Qur’an 20:7</em></p><p>Only the Real hears the language of the holy spirit. Only the Real knows its state.</p><p>The benefit of this soul is the vision of the first creation. What it sees is the beauty of Allah. To it belongs the secret vision. Seeing and hearing become one. There is no comparison, no resemblance to anything in what it sees. It sees the divine attributes of might and wrath as one with the attributes of beauty, grace, and mercy.</p><p>When you find your goal, your home, as you find the Causal Mind, the worldly mind that led you until then comes under its command. Your heart is in awe. Your tongue is tied. You have no power to give news of these states, because the Real is beyond any resemblance to anything conceivable.</p><div><hr></div><p>When these words reach the ears of those who know, let them first try to understand the level of their own knowledge. Let them bring all their attention to the true reality of the things they already know before they raise their eyes to further horizons, before they seek new heights. May they not deny what I have said. May they seek the wisdom to find unity. Oneness. That is what is essential.</p><p>James Fleming for SpiritualRelief</p><div><div><div><p>Spiritualrelief's Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><div><div></div><div></div></div></div></div> <p><a href="https://spiritualrelief.substack.com/p/where-you-came-from-and-where-you" target="_blank">- Enlace a artículo -</a></p> <p>Más info en https://ift.tt/RqowcVX / Tfno. & WA 607725547 Centro MENADEL (Frasco Martín) Psicología Clínica y Tradicional en Mijas. #Menadel #Psicología #Clínica #Tradicional #MijasPueblo</p> <p>*No suscribimos necesariamente las opiniones o artículos aquí compartidos. No todo es lo que parece.</p>