Know thyself.
By Ibn al-Arabi.
Selected Verses.
The eyes do not perceive him.
That is,
There is no one,
And no one has sight,
Able to perceive him.
Even if we suppose that there is another than he in existence,
We must allow that the other perceives him.
But God,
Whose name is exalted,
Has warned us in his saying,
The eyes do not perceive him,
That there is no other beside him.
Meaning,
No other perceives him,
But he who perceives him is God.
So there is no other except him.
He it is who perceives his own essence,
Not another.
So the eyes do not perceive him simply because the eyes are nothing but his own existence.
And if anyone say,
The eyes do not perceive him only because they are of recent origin,
And what is recent does not perceive what is old and permanent,
He does not yet know himself.
Since there is nothing and there are no eyes except him,
He then perceives his own existence without the existence of perception and without quality.
I know the Lord by the Lord,
Without doubt or wavering.
My essence is his essence in truth,
Without defect or flaw.
There is no becoming between these two,
And my soul it is which manifests that secret.
And since I know myself without blending or mixture,
I attain to union with my beloved,
Without far or near.
I obtain gifts of the Lord of affluence,
Without upbraiding and without recrimination.
I did not lose to him my soul,
Nor does it remain to the Lord of dissolution.
Then if one asks,
You posit God and deny the existence of everything else,
What then are these things which we see?
The answer is,
These discourses are with him who does not see aught beside God.
And them that see ought beside God whose name is exalted.
We have no question and answer with them,
For they do not see other than what he sees.
And he who knows himself does not see other than God,
And he who does not know himself has not seen God.
And every vessel exudes that which is in it.
And we have explained much above,
And if we should explain more than that,
He who does not see would not see,
Nor understand,
Nor perceive.
And he who sees,
Sees and understands and perceives already.
A sign is sufficient to him who attains.
And as for him who has not attained,
He would not attain by teaching,
Nor instruction,
Nor by reiteration,
Nor by learning,
Nor by intellect,
But only by the attraction of a sheikh who has attained and an intelligent instructor,
Traveling on the path,
Being guided by his light and walking in his strength,
And so attaining to the end if it be the will of God.
May God grant success to us and you in all that he desires and loves,
Of word and deed,
In theory and practice,
And light and guidance.
Truly he is over all things powerful and fit to answer.
