§ 88. And here methinks I fee one of those Batts, whose Eyes the Sun dazzles, moving himself in the Chain of his Folly, and saying, This Subtilty of yours exceeds all Bounds, for you have withdrawn your self from the State and Condition of understanding Men, and indeed thrown away the Nature of Intelligible Things, for this is a certain Axiom, that a thing must be either one, or more than one. Soft and fair; let that Gentleman be pleas'd to consider with himself, and contemplate this vile, sensible World, after the same manner which Hai Ebn Yokdhan did, who, when he consider'd it one way, sound such a Multiplicity in it, as was incomprehensible; and then again considering it another way, perceiv'd that it was only one thing; and thus he continu'd fluctuating, and could not determine on one side more than another. Now if it were so in this sensible World, which is the proper place of Multiplicity and Singularity, and the place where the true Nature of them is understood, and in which are Separation and Union, Division into Parts, and Distinction, Agreement and Difference, what would he think of the Divine World, in, or concerning which we cannot justly say, all nor some, nor express any thing belonging to it by such Words as our Ears are us'd to, without insinuating some Notion which is contrary to the Truth of the thing, which no Man knows but he that has seen it, nor understands; but he that has attain'd to it.
§ 89. And as for his saying, That I have withdrawn myself from the State and Condition of understanding Men, and thrown away the Nature of Intelligible Things: I grant it, and leave him to his Understanding, and his understanding Men he speaks of. For that Understanding which he, and such as he, mean, is nothing else but that Rational Faculty which examines the Individuals of Sensible Things, and from thence gets an Universal Notion; and those understanding Men he means, are those which make use of this sort of Separation. But that kind, which we are now speaking of, is above all this; and therefore let 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;
§ 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,
§ 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 all the Spheres he observ'd distinct, immaterial Essences, every one of which was not any of those which went before it, not yet different from them; but was like the Image of the Sun reflected from one Glass to another, according to the Order of the Spheres. And he saw in every one of these Essences, such Beauty, Splendor, Pleasure and Joy, as Eye hath not seen, nor Ear heard, nor hath it enter'd into the Heart of Man to conceive; and so downwards, till he came to the lower World, subject to Generation and Corruption, which comprehends all that which is contained within the Sphere of the Moon.
§ 92. Which he perceiv'd had an immaterial Essence, as well as the rest; not the same with any of those which he had seen before, nor different from them; and that this Essence had seventy thousand Faces, and every Face seventy thousand Mouths, and every Mouth seventy thousand Tongues, with which it praised, sanctified and glorified incessantly the Essence of that ONE, TRUE BEING. And he saw that this Essence (which he had suppos'd to be many, tho' it was not) had the same Perfection and Pleasure, which he had seen in the other; and that this Essence was like the Image of the Sun, which appears in fluctuating Water, which has that Image reflected upon it from the last and lowermost of those Glasses, to which the Reflection came, according to the foremention'd Order, from the first Glass which was set opposite to the Sun. Then he perceiv'd that he himself had a separate Essence, which one might call a part of that Essence which had seventy thousand Faces, if that Essence had been capable of Division; and if that Essence had not been created in time, one might say it was the very same; and had it not been join'd to the Body so soon as it was created, we should have thought that it had not been created. And in this Order he saw other Essences also, like his own which had necessarily been heretofore, then were dissolv'd, and afterwards necessarily existed together with himself; and that they were so many as could not he number'd, if we might call them many; or that they were all one, if we might call them one. And he perceiv'd both in his own Essence, and in those other Essences which were in the same Rank with him, infinite Beauty, Brightness and Pleasure, such as neither Eye hath seen, nor Ear heard, nor hath it enter'd into the Heart of Man; and which none can describe nor understand, but those which have attain'd to it, and experimentally know it.
§ 93. Then he saw a great many other immaterial Essences[25], which resembled rusty Looking-glasses, cover'd over with Filth, and besides, turn'd their Backs upon, and had their Faces averted from those polish'd Looking-glasses that had the Image of the Sun imprinted upon them; and he saw that these Essences had so much Filthiness adhering to them, and such manifold Defects as he could not have conceived. And he saw that they were afflicted with infinite Pains, which caused incessant Sighs and Groans; and that they were compass'd about with Torments, as those who lie in a Bed are with Curtains; and that they were scorch'd with the fiery Veil of Separation[26]. But after a very little while his Senses return'd to him again, and he came to himself out of this State, as out of an Extasie; and his Foot sliding out of this place, he came within sight of this sensible World, and lost the sight of the Divine World, for there is no joining them both together in the same State. For this World in which we live, and that other are like two Wives belonging to the same Husband; if you please one, you displease the other.
§ 94. Now, if you should object, that it appears from what I have said concerning this Vision, that those separated Essences, if they chance to be in Bodies of perpetual Duration, as the Heavenly Bodies are, shall also remain perpetually, but if they be in a Body which is liable to Corruption (such an one as belongs to us reasonable Creatures) that then they must perish too, and vanish away, as appears from the Similitude of the Looking-glasses which I have us'd to explain it; because the Image there has no Duration of itself, but what depends upon the Duration of the Looking-glass; and if you break the Glass, the Image is most certainly destroy'd and vanishes. In answer to this I must tell you, that you have soon forgot the Bargain I made with you. For did not I tell you before that it was a narrow Field, and that we had but little room for Explication; and that Words however us'd, would most certainly occasion Men to think otherwise of the thing than really it was? Now that which has made you imagine this, is, because you thought that the Similitude must answer the thing represented in every respect. But that will not hold in any common Discourse; how much less in this, where the Sun and its Light, and its Image, and the Representation of it, and the Glasses, and the Forms which appear in them, are all of them things which are inseparable from Body, and which cannot subsist but by it and in it, and therefore the very Essences of them depend upon Body, and they perish together with it.
§ 95. But as for the Divine Essences and Heroick Spirits, they are all free from Body and all its Adherents, and remov'd from them at the utmost distance, nor have they any Connection, or Dependance upon them. And the existing or not existing of Body is all one to them, for their sole Connection and Dependance is upon that ONE TRUE NECESSARY SELF-EXISTENT BEING, who is the first of them, and the Beginning of them, and the Cause of their Existence, and he perpetuates them and continues them for ever; nor do they want the Bodies, but the Bodies want them; for if they should perish, the Bodies would perish, because these Essences are the Principles of these Bodies. In like manner, as if a Privation of that ONE TRUE BEING could be suppos'd (far be it from him, for there is no God but him) all these Essences would be remov'd together with him, and the Bodies too, and all the sensible World, because all these have a mutual Connection.
§ 96. Now, tho' the Sensible World follows the Divine World, as a Shadow does the Body, and the Divine World stands in no need of it, but is free from it, and independent of it, yet notwithstanding this, it is absurd to suppose a Possibility of its being annihilated, because it follows the Divine World: But the Corruption of this World consists in its being chang'd, not annihilated. And that glorious Book[27] spake, where there is no mention made of Moving the Mountains, and making them like the World, and Men like Fire-flyes, and darkning the Sun and Moon; and Eruption of the Sea, in that day when the Earth shall be chang'd into another Earth, and the Heavens likewise. And this is the Substance of what I can hint to you at present, concerning what Hai Ebn Yokdhan saw, when in that glorious State. Don't expect that I should explain it any farther with Words, for that is even impossible.
§ 97. But as for what concerns the finishing his History, that I shall tell you, God willing. After his return to the sensible World, when he had been where we have told you, he loath'd this present Life, and most earnestly long'd for the Life to come; and he endeavour'd to return to the same State, by the same means he had sought it at first, till he attain'd to it with less trouble than he did at first, and continu'd in it the second time longer than at the first. Then he return'd to the Sensible World; and then again endeavour'd to recover his Station, which he found easier than at the first and second time, and that he continu'd in it longer; and thus it grew easier and easier, and his Continuance in it longer and longer, time after, time, till at last he could attain it when he pleas'd, and stay in it as long as he pleas'd. In this State he firmly kept himself, and never retir'd from it, but when the Necessities of his Body requir'd it, which he had brought into as narrow a Compass as was possible. And whilst he was thus exercis'd, he us'd to with that it would please God to deliver him altogether from this Body of his, which detain'd him from that State; that he might have nothing to do but to give himself up wholly to his Delight, and be freed from all that Torment with which he was afflicted, as often as he was forc'd to avert his Mind from that State, by attending on the Necessities of Nature. And thus he continu'd, till he was past the seventh Septenary of his Age; that is, till he was about fifty Years of Age, and then he happen'd to be acquainted with Asâl. The Narrative of which meeting of theirs, we shall now (God willing) relate.