FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97  
98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   >>  
t every one that knows nothing but Sensible Things and their Universals, shut his Ears, and pack away to his Company, who know the outside of the Things of this World, but take no care of the next. But if thou art one of them to whom these Limits and Signs by which we describe the Divine World are sufficient, and dost not put that Sense upon my Words in which they are commonly us'd[23], I shall give thee some farther Account of what _Hai Ebn Yokdhan_ saw, when he was in the State of those who have attain'd to the Truth, of which we have made Mention before, and it is thus; Sec. 90. After he was wholly immers'd in the Speculation of these things, and perfectly abstracted from all other Objects, and in the nearest Approach[24]; he saw in the highest Sphere, beyond which there is no _Body_, a Being free from Matter, which was not the Being of that _ONE, TRUE ONE_, nor the Sphere itself, nor yet any thing different from them both; but was like the Image of the Sun which appears in a well-polish'd Looking-glass, which is neither the Sun nor the Looking-glass, and yet not distinct from them. And he saw in the Essence of that separate Sphere, such Perfection, Splendor and Beauty, as is too great to be express'd by any Tongue, and too subtil to be cloath'd in Words; and he perceiv'd that it was in the utmost Perfection of Delight and Joy, Exultation and Gladness, by reason of its beholding that _TRUE_ Essence, whose Glory be exalted, Sec. 91. He saw also that the next Sphere to it, which is that of the Fixed Stars, had an immaterial Essence, which was not the Essence of that _TRUE ONE_, nor the Essence of that highest, separated Sphere, nor the Sphere itself, and yet not different from these; but is like the Image of the Sun which is reflected upon a Looking glass, from another Glass placed opposite to the Sun; and he observ'd in this Essence also the like Splendor, Beauty, Loveliness and Pleasure, which he had observ'd in the Essence of the other highest Sphere. He saw likewise that the next Sphere, which is the Sphere of _Saturn_, had an immaterial Essence, which was none of those Essences he had seen before, nor yet different from them; but was like the Image of the Sun, which appears in a Glass, upon which it is reflected from a Glass which receiv'd that Reflection from another Glass plac'd opposite to the Sun. And he saw in this Essence too, the same Splendor and Delight which he had observ'd in the former. And so in al
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97  
98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   >>  



Top keywords:
Essence
 

Sphere

 

Looking

 

Splendor

 

highest

 
observ
 
Perfection
 

Delight

 
immaterial
 

opposite


Things

 

reflected

 
Beauty
 

appears

 
polish
 

separate

 
distinct
 
likewise
 

Saturn

 

Pleasure


Loveliness

 

separated

 

Essences

 

receiv

 

Reflection

 

cloath

 

perceiv

 

utmost

 

subtil

 

Tongue


express

 
Exultation
 

exalted

 

beholding

 

Gladness

 
reason
 

things

 
describe
 

Divine

 
Limits

sufficient
 

commonly

 
Sensible
 
Universals
 

Company

 

perfectly

 
abstracted
 

Speculation

 
immers
 

wholly