On the True Nature of Being: Love, Reason, Spirit, and Heart

When the gaze of that ancient, formless Essence rested upon its own attributes, from there the stirring of love became visible. If you seek the truths, know this. It kept its gaze forever on its own acts, seeing good and evil through its own qualities. From this gaze the exalted reason emerged; whoever has the eye to see, saw it. This gaze they named knowledge, and the other one, love, and that is all. From these two gazes the light of the spirit rose, and from them a hundred openings came to the world. When the sun of love shone upon the mirror of the spirit out of the very source of those openings, the heart, like a moon, came into being from this. It is pure knowing; look, if you are a man of insight. Without doubt, the reflection of each of those things I named shines upon the heart. After this, by the command of the Creator, these manifestations settle upon the self. If you carry even a speck of the ache of knowing, these words will be dearer to you than life. Even if you roamed a whole world end to end, few there are who know this discourse, if any. In the moment I was giving form to this tale, a sea of light was surging in my heart. This speech holds the pearl of the ocean; this speech is a guide for the truest of men. A tale that springs from the soul's delight cannot be reached except through the soul's delight. Do not say I am asserting my own self; I have already answered this objection in advance. Poor Qasim, from head to foot, without You is nothing but non-being drawn from existence. Since he has no being of his own, how could he speak of knowledge from the self, from reason, from soul? In truth my essence comes from His essence; when I affirm myself, it is Him I affirm. Who am I? A bewildered, helpless creature, a wanderer lost in the wilderness of annihilation. Neither a blessed servant nor a fortunate one, and by my own hand my feet are stuck in the mud. Not aware of learning or gnosis, no step in the path, no path beneath my step. Not a nurturer of wisdom, not ignorant, not a sage, neither of the people of heaven nor of hell. In form, I am not forever in the tavern, and in meaning I am neither a raw Sufi nor a common man. Leave us in non-being, unknowing; take up His name, and speak no name of ours.