He Is the Almighty | Kernel of the Kernel - Allamah Tabatabai
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, th most Merciful. May God’s greeting be upon Muhammad and his immaculate Household and may God’s curse be upon all their enemies.
God, Exalted and Almighty, has said,
”We shall show them Our signs on the horizons and within themselves, until it will become clear to them that He is the Truth. Does your Lord not suffice, since He is Witness over all things? Behold! Are they still in doubt about the meeting with their Lord? Lo! Is not He surrounding all things?” 45:53-54
The profane human being lives in the dark wilderness of materialism, and dwells helplessly in the midst of the shoreless ocean of lusts and multiplicities. Every moment he is tossed by the waves of material attachments. Before he can recover from the injuries of one stroke and pull himself together, he is knocked down by another, a more frightening and terrorizing wave that arises from his attachment to possessions and wealth, and wife and children. The waves of these attachments constantly slap him in the face and draw him into the depth of the dark and terrifying ocean to the extent that his wailing and appeal fade away in the uproar of the waves. Regardless of which direction he turns, he realizes that anguish and remorse, which are indispensable characteristics of perishable matter, frighten and threaten him. In the midst of all this, occasionally he is caressed by the life-giving and refreshing breeze of Divine Attraction. He feels that this loving breeze pulls him in a direction and toward an unknown destination. However, the breeze of Divine Attraction is not permanent and only blows every once in awhile.
During such moments the traveler on the path of God feels new blood in his veins, and under the effect of that very Divine attraction, decides to go beyond the reals of multiplicity, and by all possible means, prepares provisions and starts a journey to free himself of this tormented and perilous tumult. In the terminology of the gnostics this journey is called sayr wa suluk (or, wayfaring and spiritual journeying). Suluk means traveling along the path, while sayr means observing particularities and marvels of stages and phases encountered on the way. The provisions required for this spiritual journey consist of spiritual and ascetic practices to discipline the soul. Since relinquishing material attachments to the realm of multiplicity little by little and leaves the world of physical nature behind.
Hardly before the traveler recovers from the exhaustion of this journey, he enters the intermediate world, which is the world of psychic multiplicity. Here, he clearly realizes how precious are the treasures that material and external multiplicities have stored within his corporeal nature. These are the same imaginal psychic beings that come into being as a result of the traveler’s encounter with and interest in external multiplicities and are considered its outcome and by products.
These thoughts and preoccupations hinder the traveler’s wayfaring and take away his serenity and peace of mind. When he wants to take repose in the remembrance of God for a short while, they besiege him like a deluge and threaten his whole being.
