THE SEVEN WAY-STATIONS OF PILGRIMAGE are these:[46]
The first degree consists of penitence, obedience, and meditation, and in this degree the light is, as it were, green.
The second degree is the purity of the Spirit from satanic qualities, violence, and brutality, because as long as the spirit is the slave of satanic qualities, it is subject to concupiscence, and this is the quality of fire. In this state Iblis evinces his strength, and when the spirit is liberated from this, it is distressed with the quality of fierceness, which may be said to be flashing and this is conformable to the property of wind. Then it becomes insatiable (lit. eager after anything to excess), and this is similar to water. After this it obtains quietness, and this quality resembles earth (i. e. apathy or cessation from all action). In the degree of repose, the light is as it were, blue, and the utmost reach of one’s progress is the earthly dominion.
The third degree is the manifestation of the heart, by laudable qualities, which is similar to red light, and the utmost reach of its progress is the middle of the upper dominion; and in this station the heart praises God, and sees the light of worship and spiritual qualities.
The fourth degree is the applying of the constitution to nothing else but to God, and this is similar to yellow light, and the utmost reach of its progress is the midst of the heavenly Malkat “dominion.”
The fifth degree of the soul is that which resembles white light, and the utmost aim of its progress is the extreme heavenly dominion.
The sixth degree is the hidden, which is like a black light, and the utmost reach of its progress is “the world of power.”
The seventh degree is “the evanescence of evanescence,” which is “annihilation” and “eternal life,” and is colorless. It is absorption in God, non-existence and effacement of the imaginary in the true being, like the loss of a drop of water in the ocean. It is eternal life as the union of the drop with the sea. “Annihilation” is not to be taken in the common acceptation, but in a higher sense, “annihilation in God.”
SUFI SYMBOLICAL LANGUAGE.
The Sufis inculcate the doctrine, “Adore the Deity in his creatures.” It is said in a verse of the Quran—“It is not given to man that the Deity should speak to him: if it does so it is by inspirations, or through a veil.” Thus all the efforts of man should tend to raise the veil of divine love and to the annihilation of the individuality which separates him from the Divine essence; and this expression “raise up the veil,” has remained in the language of the East as expressive of great intimacy.