Saturday, January 07, 2012

Tawasin of the Circle


The first reached it. The second reached it & got cut off. The third got lost in the desert of truth’s truth.

The Bah is the second door in the circle, represented by ب . This door is for arrivals: whoso passes it arrives. The third door is the desert of the truth. The door represented by ب standing opposite the other doors & beneath the second circle -- that door is truth.

Whoso enters the circle – the way is blocked for him; whoso seeks is driven back. The high point is his intention. The low point is his return to origin. The middle point is his bewilderment.

The low point, returning him to the origin, seeks the right side; the middle point bewilders him – the way through the center leads to the left. 

The circle has no doors. The point in the middle of the circle is the truth. The meaning of the truth is that from which outward & inward aren’t absent, & that which doesn’t welcome forms.

If you wish to understand what I’ve thus shown, “take four birds & twist them towards you” -- for the True doesn’t fly. Jealously brought it after absence. Awe obstructed it. Bewilderment stole it. These are the meanings of the truth.

Subtler than that is the understanding of Understanding -- which, to Delusion’s shroud, appears around the circle, not beyond it.

As for knowledge of the truth – it’s forbidden & the circle’s been forbidden. For this, they named the Prophet “forbidden” (haram). He went beyond it, so he said “Ah!”

- al Hallaj