ong time. This is their decisive proof and their plain argument--at least,
of the savants of the Sufis and the Theosophists.

But the question of the Real Existence by which all things exist--that is
to say, the reality of the Essence of Unity through which all creatures
have come into the world--is admitted by everyone. The difference resides
in that which the Sufis say, "The reality of the things is the
manifestation of the Real Unity." But the Prophets say, "it emanates from
the Real Unity"; and great is the difference between manifestation and
emanation. The appearance in manifestation means that a single thing
appears in infinite forms. For example, the seed, which is a single thing
possessing the vegetative perfections, which it manifests in infinite
forms, resolving itself into branches, leaves, flowers and fruits: this is
called appearance in manifestation; whereas in the appearance through
emanation this Real Unity remains and continues in the exaltation of Its
sanctity, but the existence of creatures emanates from It and is not
manifested by It. It can be compared to the sun from which emanates the
light which pours forth on all the creatures; but the sun remains in the
exaltation of its sanctity. It does not descend, and it does not resolve
itself into luminous forms; it does not appear in the substance of things
through the specification and the individualization of things; the
Preexistent does not become the phenomenal; independent wealth does not
become enchained poverty; pure perfection does not become absolute
imperfection.

To recapitulate: the Sufis admit God and the creature, and say that God
resolves Himself into the infinite forms of the creatures, and manifests
like the sea, which appears in the infinite forms of the waves. These
phenomenal and imperfect waves are the same thing as the Preexistent Sea,
which is the sum of all the divine perfections. The Prophets, on the
contrary, believe that there is the world of God, the world of the
Kingdom, and the world of Creation: three things. The first emanation from
God is the bounty of the Kingdom, which emanates and is reflected in the
reality of the creatures, like the light which emanates from the sun and
is resplendent in creatures; and this bounty, which is the light, is
reflected in infinite forms in the reality of all things, and specifies
and individualizes itself according to the capacity, the worthiness and
the intrinsic value of things. But th