In the struggle between the self and conscience, the self ultimately arrives at profound gratitude, realizing that among the greatest things worthy of gratitude in this existence is the presence of conscience and inner awareness. For without conscience and inner awareness, what would the world be like? The mere thought of a world devoid of conscience and inner awareness is terrifying, because conscience represents, in this conception, the most complete thing that can manifest in the human being in terms of recognizing and distinguishing truth.
The ultimate goal is the Creator, as the Cause, while the means is the Perfect Human.
Truth and the Means
If a human being wishes to encounter the Truth, there must be a means that guides him toward it; the Perfect Human is the beacon and lamp, the ideal means and the safest path to the door of Truth.
Long reflection upon the various means of reaching the Creator has led to the conclusion that the multiplicity of means does not necessarily lead to Truth itself. Whenever different means are examined, it becomes apparent that some may lead to something other than the Creator, or to an incomplete conception of Him. From here arises the question: Are there multiple means of reaching the Creator, or does the Unique Creator have a unique means?
Contemplation of the origin of creation leads to the same question from another perspective: On what basis did the Creator create this creation? Were there multiple tools, eternal materials, or independent principles that the Creator used in the act of creation? Was there anything else alongside Him that He relied upon?
At the end of this contemplation, a conception emerges according to which the Creator was accompanied by no one and possessed no multiple tools. Rather, there was one instrument: the instrument of unity and singularity; a single instrument through which creation could come into being.
But what is the true nature of this means?
No Knowledge Without Mediation
Everything occurs through something, by means of something, or through the agency of something. From here emerges the most important question: Can a human being see Truth without mediation?
A person may stand before something that is real without knowing that it is the Truth. He may see the thing before him, yet not know its reality or how to distinguish it from anything else. If there is nothing that introduces him to that thing, from where would his knowledge of its reality come?
Therefore, knowledge of Truth is not merely seeing; seeing alone is insufficient to determine what is true and what is not.
From here, two forms of truth can be distinguished: Absolute Truth, which is Truth itself, the very Truth and its essence, the ultimate object of every direction, intention, and quest; and a truth derived from this Truth, which is not Truth itself, but rather the means through which Truth introduces itself.
The idea can be illustrated through the example of speech. When I speak to you, my words are my means of reaching you. You come to know me through my words because I have chosen speech to express myself. Speech is not identical with the speaker, but it is a means through which the speaker becomes known.
Likewise: the word points to its speaker, creation points to its Creator, conduct points to its possessor, form points to its Maker, an idea points to the thinker behind it, and a feeling points to the one who experiences it. The means here is not an independent end; rather, it is the path through which its source becomes known.
Thus the question becomes more precise: If a human being wishes to know Truth itself, the Truth that exists through itself, does he not need to open his ears to the means through which Truth introduces itself?
The Wise One Reveals Himself Through Wisdom
If a wise being wished to make himself known, the trace of his wisdom would appear in his speech. If we heard speech that was wise and incapable of absurdity, we would recognize through it that its speaker is wise. But if we did not hear his speech and no trace of him reached us, how could we know him?
From here comes the conception that knowledge of God cannot occur without mediation, but rather through the means by which Truth introduces itself.
If the Creator wishes to make Himself known, the ideal means is to create a perfect creature in whom the Creator's mastery, precision of creation, and perfection of design are manifested. The Perfect Human, in this conception, is the locus in which the effects of creation reach completion, revealing the precision of the work and manifesting the traces of the Creator.
Just as a person cannot truly know a speaker except by listening to his speech to its conclusion, knowledge of Truth requires comprehending what points toward it and not being satisfied with an incomplete fragment. Whoever listens to speech until its end can grasp, understand, comprehend, and become conscious of its meaning, while whoever takes only a fragment and leaves the rest may arrive at an incomplete truth.
The Summit of Servitude as the Path to Knowing Divinity
From here emerges another, deeper idea: the reality of divinity cannot be known except upon reaching the summit of servitude.
A human being cannot judge the Divine or describe God as wise, beautiful, just, or otherwise unless he assumes the position of servitude; for assuming the position of servitude is equivalent to allowing divinity the space to manifest itself and reveal itself.
But for one who does not assume the position of servitude, how can divinity manifest itself to him? How can God reveal Himself to someone who has not opened the space for this relationship in the first place?
Therefore, servitude becomes necessary in this conception; it is not merely one state among the states of the human being, but rather the means that allows divinity to appear in its complete meaning.
Whoever resists servitude is, in another sense, resisting divinity itself, because the relationship between servant and God is the strongest relationship in this conception. The absence of one side entails the absence of the other in terms of their designation and relationship: if there were no creation, would there be a Creator? The Creator is called Creator because He creates, and the created is called created because it was created.
Thus the emergence of the meaning of Creator is connected to the existence of creation, while the emergence of the meaning of servant is connected to the existence of God.
Thus reaching the summit of servitude becomes, at the same time, reaching the highest realization of the meaning of divinity.
What Is Mediation?
When the question is raised: What is the definition of this mediation?
The answer here is: servitude, the summit of servitude, or servitude itself.
Thus the entire sequence becomes clear:
Absolute Truth is Truth itself, and there is a truth derived from it, which is the means through which one reaches Truth. And how is the reality of Truth realized in relation to creation? Through the reality of servitude.
Therefore, according to this conception, every human being must pass through the reality of servitude; if he does not pass through it, he is prevented from reaching the reality of divinity.
The Perfect Human and the Reality of Servitude
Here the Perfect Human returns to the center of the matter.
If the cause of creation, in one possible conception, is for the Creator to realize His purpose through creation, then this purpose reaches its completion in the Perfect Human. He is the servant who has reached such a degree of servitude that he becomes worthy of the manifestation of this meaning.
But reaching this level requires understanding the question of limits.
Limits, in this conception, are not a deficiency. Not everything that limits a thing diminishes it; rather, limits themselves may be signs of elevation, sublimity, and perfection. Whatever exceeds the limit is deficient, and whatever falls short of it is deficient, and therefore limits become the locus of perfection.
God deals with all creatures within certain limits and veils. All creatures, regardless of their degree, are dealt with through particular limits and a particular veil.
But who is the being with whom God does not deal in this same manner?
It is the Perfect Human.
The Perfect Human: The One Who Does Not Challenge Divinity
The Perfect Human is the one who has reached the summit of servitude, and what does reaching the summit of servitude mean?
It means that he never challenges God in divinity. Indeed, he does not even turn his attention toward divinity for himself. He has neither a claim to it nor an inclination toward it. Rather, he sees himself as a servant and is completely satisfied with his servitude.
Here the secret of the relationship between the Perfect Human and the veil becomes apparent.
The Perfect Human is veiled by servitude.
This means that he understands that the veil is not his enemy, but that the veil itself can be a form of protection and perfection.
The Veil Is Not the Enemy of Truth
If God's veil is His image, then the image is not the Essence itself; rather, it is its veil.
Here the Perfect Human becomes aware of something extremely subtle: he himself is a veil, and he himself reveals Truth. He veils Truth from illusion, so that Truth is veiled from deluded perceptions, because they see only the veil. But for the realized eyes, when they see the veil, they see the image of Truth.
This is what makes the veil a central concept in this conception.
A person may believe that removing the veil means reaching Truth, but removing one veil may lead to the appearance of a greater veil.
This can be approached symbolically: imagine a veiled person. If we remove the veil from him, we may think that we have seen his reality. But what lies beyond the veil we removed may itself be a greater veil. Therefore, removing the veil does not necessarily mean reaching Truth.
The opposite may occur: the more a veil is removed, the greater the veil that appears.
The Open Path and the Closed Path
From here comes the paradox: the path that appears open may not be the path that leads to Truth, while the path that appears closed may be the true path.
For this reason, some knowers may encounter an abundance of veils along their journey. They believe they are approaching, only to find veil after veil, as though they are unwelcome, as though the path itself is driving them away.
But the problem is not necessarily the existence of the veil; it may be the choice of the path.
The true path is not necessarily the path of continuous opening; it may be the closed path, because the open path may be the path that leads to illusion, while the closed path returns the human being to his limits and servitude.
The more a person removes the veil, the more veiled the Creator becomes. The more he violates the limits, the more severe the limits become. And the more he thinks he can reach the Creator by removing boundaries, the more completely the opposite occurs.
But if he does not remove the veil, but instead becomes veiled by the very veil itself, and regards the Creator's veil as his own veil, then at that moment the equation is reversed:
The Closed Is Opened, and the Open Is Closed.
The closed path here is the path that the human being believed was forbidden, while it is actually the path he should follow. The open path is the path he believed would lead him forward, while it was the path that should have been closed.
Mercy Within the Veil
In this sense, the veil can also be seen as mercy.
There are many people lost along the paths to God. Their intention may be present, their desire may be present, and their search may be sincere, but the means remains unclear.
From here comes mercy: that the means is revealed to the human being through its concealment.
The person who seeks to remove the Creator's veil may fail to realize that removing the veil itself can result in the establishment of an even greater veil. But if he regards the Creator's veil as his own veil, he ceases to desire the violation of boundaries.
Here suffering is returned to those to whom it belongs.
The one who suffered because the path was closed and wanted to enter it discovers that the closure was not a curse, but protection from transgression. The closed door is not necessarily a rejection of the worthy; rather, it rejects the transgressor, the one who wishes to enter what is not his place.
As for the people of God, in this conception, they do not need to open the veil because they do not attempt to force their way through it in the first place.
They leave the veil as a veil.
When the Creator's Veil Becomes One's Own Veil
When a human being regards the Creator's limits as his own limits, the Creator's veil as his own veil, and His identity as his own identity, his entire view of the matter changes.
Instead of seeing the veil as an obstacle, he begins to see it as an image of his elevation, protection, dignity, value, distinction, and sanctity.
Here the true reversal of concepts takes place.
What was once seen as hell is seen as bliss; what was once seen as a closed path is seen as protection; and what was once believed to be an opening toward God begins to be understood as something that should be closed.
Therefore, the secret in this matter should not be treated as something that can simply be exposed in the ordinary manner; for attempting to reveal it may erase its meaning, while keeping it within its veil may itself become a way of revealing it.
It is a secret that is not revealed as something public, but is revealed as a secret.
The Perfect Human: The Seeker Who Is Sought and the One Who Seeks Who Is Himself Sought
When all these meanings are brought together, the Perfect Human appears in a different form.
He is the seeker who is sought and the one who seeks who is himself the object sought.
He is follower and followed, a servant who does not claim divinity, but realizes servitude.
He is a true follower of Truth, one who pursues Truth.
Because he pursues Truth, he is pursued; because he seeks Truth, he is sought; because he follows Truth, he is followed; and because he desires Truth, he is the desired one.
Here the circle becomes complete:
Truth is the ultimate end, and the Perfect Human is the means; the means is servitude, and the summit of servitude is the station of the Perfect Human; the veil is not an obstacle, but may itself be protection; and the closed path is not necessarily a dead end, but may be the very path that opens the door to Truth.
In the end, the Perfect Human is no longer merely a human being who has reached a high rank. In this conception, he becomes the point at which all these meanings converge: he is the servant who is content with his servitude, the means through which Truth becomes known, the veil that conceals Truth from illusion while revealing its image to those free from illusion, the seeker who seeks Truth, the sought because he seeks it, the one who intends Truth, and the intended because he has intended Truth.
Thus the relationship changes from seeking to remove every veil to understanding the veil itself, from attempting to transcend every limit to recognizing the meaning of the limit, and from searching for an open path to knowing the path that ought to remain closed.
At this point, reaching is no longer found in removing the veil, but in knowing its proper place; nor is it found in transcending servitude, but in reaching its summit. For complete servitude, in this conception, is itself the means to complete knowledge of divinity.
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