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When a person walks, the movement of the earth aligns with the rhythm of their steps in harmony with the state of their mind, and they perceive that movement in proportion to their level of awareness. While walking attention does not turn to the fact that space is being divided, yet it is, Without the division of space, no journey can take place. One step is taken, then another, and the distance between the two steps becomes the person’s journey. They describe this journey in the patterns of time and distance, moving through space and calling it time, though time itself is not distance. Within time lies nearness. It is the workings of space that entangle a person in distances, creating the illusion that much time has passed. But where has time passed? It is lost in the labyrinths of space.
What is space? Everything that exists is space. Reflection on the definition of space reveals that even the space which seems empty is nothing but space, this is why it appears empty. Space is a dimension that shapes emptiness1 (that which we mistake for nonexistence) into distance and forms a shell around it. A person, deceived by the shell, gives it various names, while the shell is empty from within. (The shell is empty from within means it has no movement of its own. It only serves as a medium that shows distance). All of this is the working of space.
Another way to describe this is that the limited mind is nothing more than the division of space and distance. The space that appears undivided is considered empty, and the space seen as fragmented into pieces is given a name. This happens because a person experiences life through patterns of division. If you remove the hands of the clock, time still exists, but beyond a person’s way of defining it. Time exists in such a way that whether the clock’s hands move or not, life flows towards the same direction from where it originated.
An example of the division of space is the alternation of night and day. God wraps the night into the day and the day into the night. From the night, He brings forth the day, and from the day, He brings forth the night, and He acquaints whomever He wills with timelessness.
The Creator of night and day, God, says:
“Thou makest the night to pass into the day and Thou makest the day to pass into the night, and Thou bringest forth the living from the dead and Thou bringest forth the dead from the living, and Thou givest sustenance3 to whom Thou pleases without measure.” (Quran, 3:27)
For those who reflect on the coming and going of night and day, there are signs. Consider this and open the doors of insight. When day emerges from night, is it separate from night? When night appears within the day, has it become separate from the day? The light that illuminates night and day is one. When a person perceives it in limited patterns, it is called day; when perceived in unlimited patterns, it is known as night.
What are night and day?
Look towards the horizon. When we move away from the sun, we say that night has come. When we draw relatively closer to the sun, we say that day has appeared. We live within such nearness and distance, whose meanings differ for other beings living on the same earth. Each one’s observation is different, and neither is correct, because we are not seeing within. We see the earth moving away from the sun, we see the earth moving closer to the sun. But where does the sun receive its light from? The mind does not pay attention to it.
Every setting sun carries a message: when you look at me, you are deceived into thinking I am bright. If the sun is truly bright, and if its light held its own heat, then how does the eye rest upon it at dusk, but during the day, even a few minutes of looking at it affects the vision.
A person looks at the sun but does not see the angles of the earth’s rotation around it. When the part of the earth we dwell upon moves away from the sun, where does the warmth and brightness of sunlight that we feel in it go? Does this not reveal that the sun itself is not bright, but the earth is bright? At the angle it faces the sun, the Earth reflects sunlight back toward the earth, and as the part of the earth where we or anyone resides moves away from the sun, the reflection from the sun becomes almost non-existent for that region. The part of the earth that faces the sun is what we call day and the part far from the sun is understood as night. The inner eye sees that the sun is not bright but the earth is bright, and it is the earth that makes the sun appear illuminated. What is all this then? Is it the division of angles, or the angle of division, that forms vision into a view?
Dear readers, there is a space that nature has created, and another that is the illusion woven by a disobedient mind. God Almighty says in the final heavenly book, the Holy Quran:
“And Whatever hardship befalls you is the result of your own deeds. God pardons many of your sins.” (Quran, 42:30)
When one turns away from the space of nature, they dwell within the space of distance, division, and separation. What then, is the space of nature? One reflection of it is the world of Paradise, where resources are countless and the thought of division within space does not exist. The prevailing space in Paradise presents trees as trees, flowers as flowers, rivers as rivers, and comforts as comforts, but the mind does not become divided upon seeing them. This is because, in Paradise, the mind is centered upon the Supreme Being which is One. The perspective of the dwellers of Paradise is obedience to God’s command, submission to His will, and the feeling of closeness to Him who has created both us and the resources of our sustenance. On earth, however, people focus on the resources themselves, and thus the mind becomes divided.
How are angles formed? When the mind gives importance to a thing, every object becomes an angle. Even the act of considering it important is itself an angle; the very perspective through which it is seen. In this way, countless angles are created. But when a person turns their attention toward the Creator, things continue to exist, yet the angles of illusion begin to break. What remains is a single prevailing thought – the thought of God.
“Then set your face upright for religion in the state – the nature made by God in which He has made men; there is no altering of God’s creation; that is the right religion, but most people do not know.” (Quran, 30:30)
Respected ladies and gentlemen, the ‘Message of the Day’ is a flowing ocean, filled with pearls of truth. Wave upon wave, thoughts rise and unfold, revealing the hidden secrets within their depths. These secrets are shared with you.
May God protect you..
KHWAJA SHAMS-UD-DIN AZEEMI
Articles of 'MESSAGE OF THE DAY' from Qalandar Shaoor Monthly
