Loh o Qalam [3]

Lecture 3

Preserved Scriptorium

Universe is such a program that existed and exists in the Mind of God. When God wished to get this program enacted and desired that countless creatures should display themselves according to His program, He told them to be, i.e. He said, “Be (Kun)!” When God uttered kun, all that was there in the mind of God, inscribed upon a screen in the form of definite features of the creatures. The screen upon which the whole program and the characters through which the program is to be carried out are inscribed, in the religious terms is called ‘the Preserved Scriptorium’ (Loh-e-Mehfooz).

Law:

The more one grows mature and gets involved in his surroundings, the closer he gets to the reality of the structural formation of things around him. It means that the whole programming of the universe is found in the human mind in a unified form but one cannot see this program only because one does not get a chance to be empty minded. The onrush of thoughts related to with the surrounding environment is permeating the mind and one seldom gets away from them to get a vacated mind, the only condition to acquaint with the higher level of intelligence. So as a matter of law, the more one concentrates consciously on an object, the more facts and realities are revealed upon him according to the degree of his concentration and ability to remain attentive in that particular direction.

When the Conscious is mentioned, the Unconscious automatically comes under consideration. The conscious, as we know of it, is to know anything, which is before our eyes in a solid [liquid, gaseous, plasma... etc] form. If something is therefore before our eyes, it exists for us and if something cannot be sighted, it is non-existing for us although we do have a sense about the non-existents as well. And, having a sense about something is evident upon the fact that that thing exists somewhere anyhow. Name of this feeling or the sense is the Unconscious. In order to get into the world of the Unconscious, it is necessary that we should be free from the grip of the conscious world.

The summery of the foregoing discussion is that there is one single deity that has complete programming about the universe in His mind [also His closest creation{s}, that is, the Imam ul Mobeen {Infallible Imam(s)} in whom is collected the Knowledge of "All That {/there} IS {All Things; All Existents; All Creations... etc. ("کُلُّ شئی")}" as foretold in verse 12 of Chapter Ya'seen in the Qur'an]. This program is such a complete program that contains all the characteristics of every urge of life; like hunger, thirst, shape, form, features, organs of sight and hearing, eyes and ears, love, affection, hate, cruelty, forgiveness, friendliness, etc. to name a few. This deity has inscribed the whole program in the form of a script of a drama or made a motion picture of all the characters of the drama of life. How this film is being displayed, this will be discussed later on. At the moment just bear in mind that the unified program of the universe is preserved in the form of a film and every individual of the cosmos, be it a goat, sheep, lion or a human being, is one of the characters of this movie. We do know that we are one of the characters of this movie but we are ignorant of the laws and rules that govern our role or about the lights that are causing us to play this role. To know all this, in spiritual terminology, means to have the ability of seeing things in their real perspective and remain aware of mental attitudes. In order to find out the exact position of our role in the scheme of events of the cosmos, we have to have an impartial and neutral approach of thinking. And, for having the impartial approach and a neutral mind, we have to enter the Unconscious realm, after liberating from the clutches of the Conscious and this thing can only be achieved when the ability of Detachment (Istaghna) [everything in it's "Absolute" sense belongs to Absolute Almighty Allah alone {even "Detachment" or "Absolute Freedom from All Attachments" is ultimately and truly only owned by Allah ("ْاللہُ الصَّمَد")}] is produced in a person.

True definition of Detachment or Istaghna is [to] have this realization that God, the Lord Creator is the Provider of subsistence resources for every urge, demand and the need of life. The method of having Istaghna can be explored by taking the 112th Surah of the Quran into consideration. 

“ (O’ Prophet} Tell that God is the One and Only, Above of all needs, He is neither begotten nor begets. And, there is none like unto Him.”

When the Creator and creature are compared with reference to the above text, five things become explicitly clear. In this text the Creator has been defined. And, from the definition of the Creator, the creatures would be defined inversely, i.e., if God is one, the creatures ought to be multifarious and many. God is not depending and the creatures are dependents; the Creator does not have a procreative source and the creatures have to have one, Creator has no family but the creatures do have one. Creatures are confined within the limits of their needs and they cannot get out of the needs. Every emotion and every step of creatures’ life is a need and necessity. Creatures cannot be associated [like in a "godlike" "godhead" position as being practiced by most at some point in time and space except the Infallible beings who never committed "Denial of God {کفر}" be it consciously, subconsciously &/or unconsciously] with the Creator because of their opposing and inverse features but out of these five attributes of the Creator they can associate themselves with the Creator if they could train themselves in considering Him the only one who is the Giver of sustenance [of all sorts].

When we analyse our conscious life, it is observed that our mind remains dishevelled and unkempt because we are tied to with small or large desires and needs in such a way that we cannot get ourselves free from them even for a moment and this leaves no room for the mind to be ever vacant. Our mind remains in pursuit of earning livelihood, making house for us, or to get married and raise children. When a spiritual associate after liberating from the clutches of the conscious grip deliberates, it becomes his certitude that, in actual effect, God is the sole provider of the sustenance. In this regard thousands of examples are taken into consideration. For instance, the life in the womb of mother and after birth the life of infancy, childhood and boyhood, in which no individual exercises any authority or exerts his mind. Similarly, when the life of countless birds is looked at, it also provides an irrefutable proof of the fact that God alone is catering their needs and requirements.

A farmer or a peasant, after harvesting the yield of the crop, gathers all the grains, even the waste are also picked up for the consumption of cattle. This invites us to think, when the farmer collects every grain of the crop then from where do these billions and trillions of birds are pecking their feed?

In order to have an established affinity with God as the Lord Creator, it is necessary that we should get this approach of thinking established in us that God caters for our needs as caringly as He has created us. When this approach starts taking shape in a person, that is, he starts actually believing that there is someone who is catering for our needs and is taking every care of us, then, after getting away from the Conscious, one starts heading towards that One.

When this thinking is established in a person that I am merely a toy in the hands of someone else then his mind sets in one direction. All the lessons that are taught in spiritualism, all the exercises and austere practices that are considered necessary for learning spirituality are aimed only on this one thing that somehow or the other man should be able to negate himself after becoming neutral and learning to be impartial. Self-negation is nothing but to have a vacated and free mind. The more one involves in the program of self-negation, the more features of the Unconscious life are known to him, so much so that he even manages to know the features of the Unseen realm. In order to enter the Unconscious life it is important to perform Muraqba for having a vacated mind.

There are many types of Muraqba that are successfully practices by the spiritual associates. The direct method of performing muraqba is to sit with close eyes and the performer imagines that he/she is a dot of light. This muraqba is to be performed either after mid night or early in the morning before the sunrise. For performing this muraqba, the spiritual associate sits in a relaxed and comfortable manner facing the North and, it is imagined by the performer that a black spot is circulating in his/her heart. Success in this muraqba makes the spiritual associate see that all the signs of life have terminated and he/she is existing only in the form of a dot of light. When this dot becomes clear, the darkness of the dot is replaced by the brightness and the dot starts expanding, finally to take the shape of a screen upon which the whole program of the universe is displaying. It is the very same screen that has been denominated as the ‘Preserved Scripturum’, in the Quran.

Ethereal Realm

God willed to create the universe so that there could be others who could cognise Him, that is, the Lord Creator desired to be cognised and as soon as it was desired, a movement took place in the Mind of God and, with that movement, the whole universe came into being. It was necessary for cognition that, besides the Creator, someone other than Him must also be there and must enjoy the abilities required for the cognition as well. Abilities for cognition means that the creatures are required to be able to identify, comprehend, understand, hear, see and perceive through its senses. Since God is a collection of Attributes [un/known; un/seen un/heard...], therefore when the Will of God was activated, the whole program of the creation of the universe along with the rules governing the creation, came into existence in the same order and arrangements as was in the Mind of God.

The first display of the creative program of the universe was made on the Preserved Scripturum [Scriptorium?], which in Sufism is known as the First Scripturum [Scriptorium, that's what they mean, probably different vocabulary, myself not familiar with this word, please let me know if someone knows].

First phase of the creation of the universe is the Preserved Scripturum. All the impressions of every movement that is taking place currently have already occurred or will ever happen, are preserved upon the First Scripturum, which is a collective program, that is, every individual of the universe is existing there, collectively, in the form of pictorial features.

Example:

Let us take the example of a movie film pertaining to various forms, shapes and characters. Before the film is exhibited on a screen, all the shapes, forms and characters exist on the surface of the celluloid film. At this stage the pictures of the characters are static and are not moving but when these pictures are carried over to the screen where these pictures are displayed, they appear to be in motion. It means that in actual effect, there are two screens. One upon which the pictures are found existing but not moving and the other where these pictures become moving. Viewers take these pictures as talking, laughing, dancing, playing and moving characters.

The screen where these pictures exist in a static position is the First Scripturum and, the screen where these pictures are in motion, is the Ethereal Realm (Alam-e-joo) or the Second Scripturum. It means that the second pictorial realm is also in the form of a movie film but here the motion is voluntary and in collective form. Since God has authorised man to take decisions, therefore, the impressions that descend upon the Ethereal Realm (Second Scripturum) from the Preserved Scripturum (the First Scripturum) return back to the Preserved (First) Scripturum, after the individual and collective will of the creatures is included into their original form. The Preserved Scripturum, in the light of this definition, is the first allegorical realm and the Ethereal Realm is the second allegorical realm where the human will and commands are also included.

God has categorically mentioned five things to define Him and explained the relation existing between the Creator and the creatures. Creatures can find their relation by pondering and deliberating upon these things. The first allegorical realm or the Preserved Scripturum existed and exists in the Mind of God, the second allegorical realm or the Second Scripturum being the reflection of the first one, is also directly related to with God.

The question is that how the First or the Second Scripturum can be accessed?

One gets directly connected with God when one manages to have access to the First or the Second Scripturum. The only sure shot method to get this affinity with God, as defined in the Holy Scriptures, is to become dependent upon God. God is not dependent and the creatures have to be depending upon Him. Creatures are needy and indigent and are dependent upon God at every step of their life.

Five agencies have been mentioned in the 112th surah of Quran. First is the attribute of oneness of God, i.e. He is not multifarious like the creatures [neither is He "one {1}" as in a number which can be added or subtracted to something else {other than Him} as informed by Imam Ali {A}]. Second is the attribute of Independency i.e. God is not dependent upon anyone or anything. Third is that God has not fathered anyone. Fourth is that He has no procreative source and He is not begotten by anyone. Fifth is that He has no family. Everyone having any common sense can very easily comprehend it that the definition of the creatures would be certainly opposite to the definition of the Creator [according to Shi'i tradition He is out of description, His Attributes are out of description and not separate from His Essence, He Is His Attributes and His Attributes are not like as if they are separate from Him, as explained/elaborated in many a sermons of Imam Ali in Nahjul Blagha]. That is, the definition befitting God cannot be implied for the creatures.

When these five agencies are taken into consideration it is observed that there is only one attribute of God, which can be exercised by the creatures for developing an affinity with God [All Attributes of Allah can't be exercised by His creations, only He Is His Attributes and His Attributes are not separate from Him {like in many Hindu & other philosophies, where there is a godhead and his attributes are separated from him and have separate manifestations which is also practiced subconsciously or unconsciously by those who consciously say something but the condition of the heart is not pure}, He can grant His creatures His likeness in general terms and not in "Absolute" terms by bringing them in close proximity to Him or He can cause them to be in the degrees of darknesses away from Him {Among the concepts that some people do not comprehend is the necessity to have the same  characteristics as Allah, as urged by the Prophet (PBUH&HP), namely  gathering all elements of good inside one’s Self to achieve perfection;  hence the expression ‘obliteration of the self’, which means the  relinquishing of the mortal characteristics that contradict the divine  will regarding qualities and actions.}]. And, that is to develop a state of [spiritual] independency towards the other creatures [except His closest creations as in the case of all Infallible Imams; above all of His creations is Rasulullah & his perfected, purified, permanently pious progeny who are Divinely Chosen/Authorised by Him to attend to the needs by His Will and take care of them as they grow and mature and reach their perfect predestined potentiality] and to become solely dependent upon God. When a person detaches himself from depending upon the other creatures, he witnesses this fact that God is the only one worthy of fulfilling all the needs of all the creatures. Creator is the unity but the creatures cannot and they have to be in plurality. God is not dependent upon the creatures but the creatures have to be depending upon Him. Creator is not begotten by anyone whereas the creatures have to have a procreative source. Creator does not bear any offspring but the creatures have and lastly, the Creator has no family but the creatures do have.

In four of these five attributes, creatures cannot associate themselves with the Creator. There is only one attribute that can be used by the creatures for associating themselves with the Creator and that is to associate all their needs and requirements with God alone. This thinking approach is termed as ‘Detachment’ (Istaghna) [the peak of this can be witnessed in the Infallible Imams {Prophet & Purified Progeny} and not all creatures as they are His Greatest Proof {Hujjat (حجّۃُ اللہ)} but of course many have {spiritual} disease in relation to this truth as they are suffering from this denial].

It has been mentioned that when the movement was initiated in the Mind of God, the Elohistic attributes started existing in the form and shape of the universe. And, constituents of the attributes exhibited themselves in the forms of the various species of creatures. These existents or the creatures exist in the Preserved Scripturum, in the form of souls. The souls of the existents have been denominated as the Edict of the Lord.

In a nutshell, every individual existent of the universe is a living picture of the Elohistic Command of God, which is actively partaking in every sphere and ascend or descend of life and death.