#innermost kernel

[thepursuitofunderstanding]

Excerpts from Carl G. Jung's Memories, Dreams, Reflections: pgs 132 - 142,

"We must always be asking ourselves: How is our unconscious experiencing this situation?" pg 133

'Dreams are, after all, compensations for the conscious mind." pg 133

"it frequently happens that women who do not really love their husbands are jealous and destroy their friendships. They want the husband to belong entirely to them because they themselves do not belong to him. The kernel of all jealousy is lack of love." pg 137

"The collective unconscious is common to all; it is the foundation of what the ancients called the "sympathy of all things."" pg 138

"I never try to convert a patient to anything, and never exercise any compulsion. What matters most to me is that the patient should reach his own view of things. Under my treatment a pagan becomes a pagan and a Christian a Christian, a Jew a Jew, according to what his destiny prescribes for him." pg 138

"For she belonged to that class of human beings of whom spiritual activity is demanded." pg 139-140

"I had frequently seen people become neurotic when they content themselves with inadequate or wrong answers to the questions of life." pg 140

"The cure may be a poison that not everyone can take, or an operation which, when it is contraindicated, can prove fatal." pg 141

"Wherever there is a reaching down into innermost experience, into the nucleus of personality, most people are overcome by fright, and many run away." pg 141

"The risk of inner experience, the adventure of the spirit, is in any case alien to most human beings." pg 141 -142

[unicronnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnom]

What does affect this one?

The light of a White Dwarf. A shard of a Brown Dwarf. The innermost kernel of a Black Hole. A piece of space that has never been touched by existence.

Ambrosia. Pure Ambrosia. It does terrible things to it but it can't resist.

[hairstyleforteen]

Pink Privates Review – UPDATED 2023 – With Before & After Pictures

Glowy, bright and even skin tone is a dream that only a few are lucky to live through. Rest are those millions of women who throng the internet everyday to look for solutions that can even out their skin tone and make it lighter, brighter and what not. These searches become even more urgent and desperate when it comes to the intimate area. The urge to lighten dark and discolored private parts is a trend that’s here to stay. Apart from cosmetic procedures, there are plenty of creams and bleaches available in the market that claim to “whiten” your skin color. Some work and some don’t. The intimate skin lightening cream in the spotlight today falls in the former category and has proven to show visible results. Let’s get into the review and see what the fuss is all about. Pink Privates Review – UPDATED 2020 Pink Privates is a skin whitening cream specially designed to lighten the skin color on your private areas. This miraculous cream is hailed as one of the best bleaching cream out there by users who have actually used and benefited from it. Using Pink Privates, you can lighten any of the following sensitive areas- - Penis - Vagina - Anal area - Nipples - Scrotum - Underarms One major concern with skin whitening creams are the potential side-effects they might cause to the skin in the long-term. Pink Privates carefully addresses this concern and uses only skin-safe and natural whitening ingredients that do not harm the skin during the bleaching process. The effectiveness of this cream revolves around targeting the discolored areas and lightening them to blend in with the natural color of the entire body. Pink Privates Bleaching Cream – How It Works? Most whitening products contain harsh ingredients like hydroquinone, mercury and steroids which causes rashes and sometimes even burning sensation. Pink Privates cream steers clear from all three of these ingredients and works in the most natural way. The Pink Privates formula is skin-safe, paraben-free and uses only natural skin whitening and brightening ingredients which we will list down in the next section. Pink Privates Bleaching Cream – Ingredients Pink Privates is relatively safer to use than some of its competitors due to the use of all-natural, skin-safe ingredients. If skin safety is your concern and you are looking at all-natural ingredients, Pink Privates takes away the cake by including natural alternatives to harsh chemicals. Let’s take a look at the natural ingredients that Pink Privates uses in its formula. Alpha Arbutin - Derived from the leaves of bearberry bush, Alpha Arbutin is the main ingredient in Pink Privates cream. It is scientifically proven to contain melanin-inhibiting properties. Melanin is what causes the dark color in the skin. Many whitening products have switched the presence of Hydroquinone to Alpha Arbutin, making their products safer for the skin. Apricot Kernel Oil - Featuring anti-inflammatory properties, Apricot kernel oil is widely used for several beauty purposes. In the Pink Privates formulation, this oil works as a lubricant to nourish and moisturize your private area. Jojoba Seed Oil: This oil needs no introduction to a beauty enthusiast. The Jojoba plant is an indigenous American shrub that’s quite popular in the skincare world. The oil is carefully extracted from the nut of the jojoba oil and is widely used by native Americans. It serves as a natural moisturizer and seeps into the skin to make it healthy and plump. Squalane: Squalene is produced by our bodies naturally and it is also found in sugar canes and plants. It  is used to allow the cream to penetrate deep inside and work at the innermost layers of the skin. Hyaluronic Acid: An anti-aging warrior, hyaluronic acid is naturally produced in our bodies in a decent amount. Its anti-aging properties help keep up the collagen levels in our body and maintain our skin’s elasticity. It prevents water loss, inflammation and helps in keeping the skin lighter and youthful. Polyacrylamide: Polyacrylamide is yet another popular skin care ingredient used in a wide range of cosmetic products.The main purpose of this being added is to bind the ingredients together. Laureth-7: Laureth-7 is obtained and extracted from lauric acid. This mainly acts as an emulsifier and surfactant in beauty products. C13-14 Isoparaffin: Extracted from petroleum, this particular ingredient acts as a thickening agent to thicken the consistency of the cream. Phenoxyethanol: Pink Privates steers clear of parabens and uses phenoxyethanol as an alternative to parabens which is much safer. It is primarily used as a preservative to beauty products. Ethylhexylglycerin: Another alternative to parabens, Ethylhexylglycerin is added to incinerate the growth of bacteria. It also helps to enhance the execution of other preservatives and stabilizers in the product. Purified Water: Nothing but good old purified natural water. Knowing the ingredients not only gives you reeling confidence in the product but also gives you peace of mind. All the handpicked ingredients are added to make Pink Privates more gentle on your skin and to suit the nature of your intimate areas. By now, you can be fully assured that the Pink Privates formula stays away from harmful ingredients that could cause nasty and dreadful side effects such as severe irritation to the skin, redness and certain allergic reactions caused due to parabens and mercury. Pink Privates Bleaching Cream – How to Apply? With any topical cream, proper application is equally important to get effective results that you hope for. Here’s how to get started with this whitening cream- - Shave or wax your intimate area 2 to 3 days before the application. This ensures the cream penetrates deeply into the skin without unwanted hair blocking its way. - Before application, take a mild scrub and exfoliate the area gently to take away dead skin cells resting on the surface. - Wash off the scrub and dry the area with a gentle towel. Make sure there is no sign of moisture present on the surface. - Apply a smooth layer and start rubbing the product in thoroughly. - Make sure the cream covers the entire area that you wish to lighten. - Wait for approximately 5 minutes and allow the product to work its magic. - Once the cream is completely dried, wash it off with warm water. - Repeat this process twice every day for upto 8 weeks to see best results. Pink Privates Before & After Pictures Pink Privates – Price & Where To Buy Aligning to the level of the result it shows, Pink Privates is effectively priced at $35 in Australia. You can easily find it at major retailer giants like Ebay and Amazon. It can be also sourced from your nearby cosmetic shop. However, there is always a limited quantity of stock at offline stores and they usually sell out quickly. Read the full article

[yhwhrulz]

Wiktionary's word of the day: 9th October 2023

pith:

(botany)

The soft, spongy substance inside plant parts; specifically, the parenchyma in the centre of the roots and stems of many plants and trees.

The albedo (“whitish inner portion of the rind”) of a citrus fruit.

(by extension)

Senses relating to humans and animals.

The soft tissue inside a human or animal body or one of their organs; specifically, the spongy interior substance of a horn or the shaft of a feather.

Chiefly of animals: the soft tissue inside a spinal cord; the spinal marrow; also, the spinal cord itself.

(obsolete) Synonym of diploe (“the thin layer of soft, spongy, or cancellate tissue between the bone plates which constitute the skull”)

(obsolete, rare) The soft tissue of the brain.

(Ireland, Southern England, West Country) The soft inner portion of a loaf of bread.

(figurative)

The central or innermost part of something; the core, the heart.

The essential or vital part of something; the essence. Synonyms: crux, gist, heart, heart and soul, kernel, marrow, meat, nitty-gritty, nub, quintessence, soul, spirit, substance; see also Thesaurus:gist

Physical power or strength; force, might.

A quality of courage and endurance; backbone, mettle, spine.

The energy, force, or power of speech or writing; specifically, such force or power due to conciseness; punch, punchiness.

Chiefly in of (great) pith and moment: gravity, importance, substance, weight.

To render insensate or kill (an animal, especially cattle or a laboratory animal) by cutting, piercing, or otherwise destroying the spinal cord.

To extract the pith from (something or (figurative) someone). […] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pith

[alllinesarebeautiful]

Day 324 art meditation … May 4, 2023

The life assignment is to Enjoy the Ride, Enjoy the Process. Every time I swim I feel like I build another layer of my Heart, and the awareness that I’m building the courage to bring everything that is in my Heart out into the world.

I’m sharing both my Artist Statement for my Heart-Art Bundles and photos of my post-swimming, lying-on-the-grass, basking-in-the-sun contentedness.

Sending love, Anne

My Artist Statement for my Heart-Art Bundles:

The Story of Heart-Art

‘No mud, no Lotus’, said Thích Nhất Hạnh. This is the innermost kernel of how my own All-lines-are-beautiful Heart-Art emerged - organically through the mud. This landscape provided a growing, resting and nurturing period in my life, so that I could fully tap into my inner world to discover surprising new layers of creativity, strength and truth. But most of all - I became clear, and with this new clarity, there is so much new art blooming within me. I want to share this art with the world.

[gonuts1]

Grab A Handful Of Walnuts Now And Enjoy Your Purchase!

The importance of walnuts can’t ever be sufficiently glazed over. Aside from providing a mouthful burst of taste and a good snack to aid your hunger, walnuts supplement your nutritional deficiencies amiably as well. Buy walnuts online India now with amazing diversity and discounts!

A handy bunch of walnuts to start your day with a blast of energy!

The smooth, cool, and hard feeling you get upon touching the outer husk of a fully ripened walnut is worth marveling over. These sturdy little packets of energy are filled to the brim with millennia of textures. Beyond the hard shell, you get introduced to a brownish outer shell that’s mildly wrinkly. It will initially feel a little coarse to the touch and might involve more than one segment separating you from the edible delicacy. The innermost walnut component is the kernel which usually appears in a couple of halves. The intricate pattern detailed over the outer surface of the edible kernel’s wrapped completely by a mildly brown seed coat. Various regions have made use of modern tech and innovative mechanisms to introduce positive boosts to walnuts.

If you are interested in the nutritional values of walnuts, you must know that walnut oil, unlike all other derivatives of nuts, is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids. You can enjoy various health benefits from walnuts:

You will get a fair share of antioxidants from the thin shell that protects the kernel. So, you can fight oxidative damage with a sturdier hand!

Are you in the firing zone of heart disease? Befriend walnuts and avoid heart ailments with a fresh supply of Omega-3!

Inflammations are common in today’s generation. You can reduce all kinds of inflammations with a tidy dose of walnuts every day.

Walnuts inspire and encourage your healthy bacteria to live and provide you with ample nourishment, promoting better gut health.

There are some forms of cancer that you can avoid with the help of walnuts as well!

Getting habituated to a moderate intake of walnuts regularly helps you maintain a good weight for your body.

Walnuts maintain the overall healthy functioning of all your body parts and cast sufficient control over your blood pressure!

Let’s not forget the incredibly positive impact walnuts have on your cognitive health!

Start your online walnut hunt right now!

When purchasing edibles online, make sure that you check the manufacturer to find the one you trust the most. Browse through hefty deals and viable discounts to add to your profits. Make sure that you avoid all suspicious click baits here and there. Buy akhrot online now!

Grab your wits and start your chase!

Are you ready to fish out the best fistful of walnuts right now? Open your online shopping store now and get the best out of all the seasonal deals and eventful offers! We hope that you have a safe visit ahead! Here get the best deals online and buy walnuts from anywhere in India.

[maaarine]

The Innermost Kernel — Depth Psychology and Quantum Physics (Suzanne Gieser, 1995)

“To Jung it was self-evident that the neurosis had not only a cause but also a purpose.

Just as a physical illness makes us aware that something is wrong, this is the psyche’s attempt at self-help. (…)

The purpose of the neurosis is to increase consciousness or to contribute to insight and self-realization.

The neurosis shakes the laziest and most recalcitrant individual out of his apathetic unconsciousness. (…)

The Self has a function in the psychic sphere similar to that of the endocrinological system in the physiological: to maintain a balance that permits the survival and maturity of the organism.

This psychic self-regulation strives towards wholeness and balance in each individual and its tool appears to be expanded consciousness. (…)

Pauli regarded the relationship between conscious and unconscious similarly to the relationship between measuring instrument and object in quantum physics.

He therefore made the influence of consciousness the key point in his consideration of the matter,

but also asserted that every expansion of consciousness results in an irreversible transformation of the psychic system as a whole.

To Pauli it was essential to underline that mental content can only be changed if it is observed –

or, expressed differently: the archetypal patterns can only undergo change by means of an intervention from consciousness.”

[batvalentinworld]

“Suddenly I had a remarkable feeling experience. The <observation> of microphysics appeared to me to be a kind of black mass and I felt remorse. Remorse to regard with matter, which appeared to me a maltreated living thing. (Biological implication.) - […]”

Wolfgang Pauli, letter to Aniela Jaffe, [August, 1954]

[gatheringbones]

[“It is also, in part, due to low self-esteem that people do not reach their full potential, do not strive to locate within themselves fonts of creativity and self-expression, do not venture to embark on activities and projects where success is in doubt. They feel safer not trying, because their poor self-regard is terrified at the risk of failure. Much of my initial counseling with people is to help them recognize that in many ways the problem is not in what they have done in life but in how they view themselves. There live human beings afflicted with far more debilitating impairments who do not necessarily hold the low opinion of the self prevalent among ADD adults.

The deep shame of adults with attention deficit predates any recollections of poor achievement. The association between low self-esteem and attention deficit disorder is not that the first arises from the second, but that they both arise from the same sources: stress in the parenting environment and disrupted attunement / attachment. Healthy development of self-esteem needs the atmosphere of what Carl Rogers called “unconditional positive regard.” It requires that the adult world understand and accept as valid the child’s feelings, from which kernel the core self will grow. A child taught to disregard or mistrust her innermost feelings and thoughts assumes automatically that there is something shameful about them, and therefore about her very self.

Absolutely universal in the stories of all adults with ADD is the memory of never being comfortable about expressing their emotions. When asked whom they confided in when as children they were lonely or in psychic pain, almost none recall feeling invited or safe enough to bare their souls to their parents. They kept their deepest griefs to themselves. On the other hand, many recall being hyperaware of the parents’ difficulties and struggles in the world, of not wanting to trouble them with their own petty and childish problems. The sensitive child, writes the Swiss psychotherapist Alice Miller, has “an amazing capacity to perceive and respond intuitively, that is unconsciously, to this need of the mother, or of both parents.” When I explore with my clients their childhood histories, emerging most often are patterns of relationships that required the child to take care of the parent emotionally, if only by keeping her inmost feelings to herself so as not to burden the parent. ADD adults are convinced that their low self-esteem is a fair reflection of how poorly they have done in life only because they do not understand that their very first failure—their inability to win the full and unconditional acceptance of the adult world—was not their failure at all.

Although low self-esteem springs originally from the disrupted attunement/attachment relationship with the parent, the belief that it is exacerbated by poor achievement is not wrong. Only, the link is not a direct one. In the majority of adults I have interviewed, it was evident that the inability to accept themselves was heavily reinforced throughout childhood by their parents’ expectations of better performance, and by their disappointment and disapproval at the absence of it. Superimposed on the parents’ anxieties were the contemptuous judgments and shaming that, throughout their childhoods, many of these ADD adults had experienced in school. Not performance as such but the attitudes of the adult world toward performance defined how many children learned to value themselves.

At our second session, I asked Andrea, the fifty-year-old self-confessed failure at the game of existence justification, if she had truly never done anything worthwhile in her life. She was silent for a while. “I have tried to be kind to people,” she finally replied. “I have tried not to hurt people. I am creative in crafts. I teach people. I do a bit of gardening. But to me those things come easily. That’s just who I am. I didn’t have to work at them much. I mean, I’m not an accountant or a lawyer.”

“Would you want to be an accountant or a lawyer?”

“It’s not that I feel like doing those things,” Andrea said, again after a moment’s pause. “It’s that I think I should feel like doing them. I am still trying to get my father’s approval.”]

Gabor Maté, Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder

[funkymbtifiction]

I was literally looking at the post on your blog about Melanie from the birds being a 3w4 ISFP sx/sp and I was floored because I didn’t think it was a possible combo. And everything lined up for me and I’m like that’s the missing piece. I’ve been going off of 4w3 but still feeling something wasn’t adding up and now I think that’s it. Can you explain the brokenness term I see used a lot to make sure I’m clear? Sorry I have to read things a few times to understand

I'm convinced of her being a sexual 3, but I think she has a 2 wing as I think about her (attempting to entice his attention, for example, by buying and giving him the canaries -- a 2ish transaction, and in a way, she moves toward him assertively and eager to get his attention). I haven't seen The Birds in a long time. But anyway, she's not the only IFP 3 in the archives.

3w2 ISFPs: https://funkymbti.com/search/isfp%203w2/

There's one 3w4 there, one 3w4 INFP, and one 3w2 INFP.

Brokenness relates to "I can't be fixed and I don't want to be fixed, because being fixed would make me plebeian (normal)." If the problem is "solved," then the 4, as a frustration type, has nothing to feel frustrated about; they tend, through their own decisions, to create an ongoing, low-grade sense of "frustration" (nothing is ever quite good enough, based on their "core sin," which is ENVY).

Here's some stuff out of John Lucovich's article on 4s:

Type Fours are over-certain about their identity. Their introspective attention leads to an overly-fixed and narrow experience of identity that they constantly reinforce through narrow emotional reactions and a cultivated, specific personal aesthetic.

They make strong, often too-strong, distinctions between what is “self” and what is “not self”. Fours assume a state of deep separateness from everything is their baseline state, something their personality deems as a desirable, if frustrating, state.

Fours over-do individuation, but from a highly limited lens. Nines typically experience a broad range of emotions, whereas Fours limit their emotions to a particular, yet strong, range of emotions. Fours unconsciously amplify and exaggerate emotional states, which provides motivation and a sense of being distinct and gives their interior life a heightened reality. Fours have little to no self-censorship about their negativity or “bad” feelings.

The core struggle of Four is rooted in overly-limiting, overly-specifying, and attempting to perpetually mentally and emotionally “pin down” this innermost self through a fixation on being different from others, on what makes them unique. They effectively “paint themselves into a corner” and become attached to a very limited palette of emotional patterns that are internally amplified by thought in order to give this limited range more “gravity” and specificity.

Type Four treats each nuance, impression, and personal reaction almost like a precious insight into the self, leading to an over-whelm brought about by hyper focus on self. In a sense, Fours can’t escape from themselves; thus, Fours struggle more overtly with narcissism and have little self-judgment about this.

The “unique kernel of identity” highlights a key component of Type Four typically overlooked or misunderstood: much of Four’s alien, melancholy attitude and their persistent drive to differentiate themselves stems from feeling a deep incongruence between authentic identity and reality. It is a feeling that one’s identity exists on another plane of reality, and the mundane aspects of life, personal changes, and even one’s own body are deeply out of sync with this identity. Envy, the Passion of Four, can then be understood as the emotional reactivity and strife produced by this experience of incongruence. Envy is rarely longing for something represented in material reality, but it is instead a frustration and self-hatred of being unable to actualize or sufficiently represent their interior sense of identity.

Four’s inner sense of identity that is at odds with the world creates a profound feeling of frustration as well as a disdain directed towards things that are considered normal or common by most people. Thus, Fours shun things that are common and seek to push away from the surface of things, feeling that it is all grotesquely artificial, and that they themselves, too, are something broken and estranged from this life they had no choice to participate in.

Taking this sense of alienation further, Fours reflexively resist being “on the same page” as others; Four is not committed to the well-being of the collective or at are fundamentally disagreeable with people or even reality as a whole.

Everyone wants to be understood on some level, but characteristic of Four is feeling shame and disgust when they are too well understood or understood by too many people. In other words, similar to others or having too much in common produces shame for Fours because it would seem to detract from the Four’s unique and specific identity.

[mangocheesecakeicecream]

Lacan’s “God is unconscious” should not be confused with the opposite Jungian New Age thesis “the Unconscious is God”- the difference between the two, that of the Hegelian inversion of subject and predicate, concerns the opposition between a lie and the truth. (The opposition here is exactly the same as the one between “A dream is life” and “Life is a dream”: while the first statement aims at a Nietzschean assertion of the dream as a full-blooded life-experience, the second expresses the attitude of melancholic despair a la Calderon: what is our life but a worthless dream, a pale shadow with no substance?…) Lacan’s “God is unconscious” reveals the fundamental Lie that constitutes a person’s fantasmatic unity: what we encounter when we probe the innermost kernel of our being is not our true Self, but the primordial lie [proton pseudos] -secretly , we all believe in the “big Other”. In contrast, “the Unconscious is God” means that the Divine Truth dwells in the unexplored depths of our personality: God is the innermost spiritual substance of our being, which we encounter when we delve into our true Self.

[sparrowwritings]

Final Fantasy Writing Challenge Day Twenty-Eight: Infinity

Day Twenty-Seven -- Masterpost -- Day Twenty-Nine

The city was just a facsimile. An illusion solid enough to pass casual inspection, but ultimately contained nothing deeper than the bare bones of what once was. 

Sure, he’d had power enough to build the place--to string lights and lay paths and fashion structures--in an almost picturesque manner. Every twist and turn of metal, every pane of glass, every leaf of every tree that had existed in Amaurot, he remembered perfectly and could recreate it as such. Emet-Selch was known as the Architect for a reason.

As always, however, it was people that gave him the most trouble.

The best he could manage to do, even for all his power, was create approximations of people. He had at first attempted to remember various people he knew back then and populate the city that way. Too quickly, he’d found that beyond those he had been closest to (whom he refused to create as a matter of principle) he could barely remember how they were. Thus, when let loose upon the city, the shades would end up breaking the illusion in various ways until in frustration Emet-Selch would dismiss them. Eventually he settled for making the puppeteered populace walk simple paths and spout lines depending on which place he had assigned them to. Set this way, he could almost believe that he was walking the streets of his old home. So long as he didn’t stop to speak to anyone. Or think too hard about the fact that he’d created this place.

Really, he was putting far too much effort into creating this elaborate playground for people who would be too pained or too incensed to care. If they managed to show up at all. There wasn’t even a good reason to recreate Amaurot. It satisfied some whim of his, nothing more. A backdrop by which he would impress upon the Warriors of Darkness how much better the world had been one final time. The fate of the star, and all of the other worlds left would be decided where it all began.

One way or another.

Emet-Selch wasn’t sure where that thought came from, nor why he was suddenly weary. Perhaps he should have taken a nap. The temporary oblivion of sleep seemed far more inviting than completing his plans. Suddenly remembering the man he’d brought to torture until all he knew spilled forth, Emet-Selch made a mental note to check up on him in a short while. He was fairly certain that the Crystal Exarch would reveal all of his mysteries once the Warriors of Darkness had perished, but pain and the promise of more could help expedite the process. Not that he’d needed to be the one to directly perform the torturing in centuries, mind. He hated doing the dirty work. It’s why he was more than pleased to take over nation building for the Ascians; so that he could force others to do it for him.

So distracted by his own thoughts, he didn’t realize he’d sat down at a bench until another figure had sat down with him. Emet-Selch blinked, then sneered. He must have added in a routine for the puppets to sit when others did so. That might lead to problems down the line. Better to fix it now, then have it destroy the act he was so intent on creating.

Just as he was about to reach into the mechanics of the figure sitting next to him, it spoke in a voice that made his blood turn to ice. “I thought it ironic that you made your way to the park where we first met while wrapped up in your own thoughts, so I had the impulse to join you much like I did that day.” The figure inclined its--his? No, it was impossible. It couldn’t be--head towards him. The people he set in the city were all faceless except for their uniform white masks and dark grey robes. Despite this, Emet-Selch could still sense the smile in his old friend’s tone. “I suppose you’re going to erase me now,” Hythlodaeus said as casually as if he were commenting on the weather.

“You can’t be--I wasn’t going to--” His voice was rough. Perhaps from how unused to his native tongue he was, or perhaps from something to do with how his eyes were starting to burn. Either way, Emet-Selch cleared his throat and made himself speak more clearly. “You’re not supposed to be here.” 

“And yet, here I am.” Again Hythlodaeus--no it was not him--seemed to smile. “You look tired, my friend.”

Emet-Selch was exhausted. “There’s been a lot happening lately. You know how it is.” He should just erase it. It wasn’t real. Couldn’t ever be. It would hurt all the more to keep up the charade. He flexed a hand as if to try...but instead he closed it once more to settle at his side. “Or perhaps you don’t. I find I’m not really sure.”

“Technically, I know nothing much beyond that I am Hythlodaeus, and that I and this city was created by you for a purpose all your own.” The shade fixed his gaze forward, leaning back in much the same manner as what Emet-Selch was doing. “But I can extrapolate quite a lot from the information I have and what I can observe.”

They sat in silence for several beats. “Well?” Emet-Selch gestured a hand in a small circle to his right, indicating the street next to them. “What do you think, then?”

Hythlodaeus made a show of looking around, in spite of what he’d said before. “An impressive feat of artistry, and quite solid for a glamour.” His mask turned towards the sky--or, well, the water high above the city. “We’re under some sort of sea, yes?”

“The ruins here made for a good foundation. The magic can hold for far longer with minimal to no effort to keep it up.” A part of him was pleased that this likeness of his old friend nodded along in places exactly like he used to. Another coldly reminded Emet-Selch that it wasn’t real, that it was just part of the false Amaurot. The first part shushed the second, if only to enjoy this moment while he could. “Even should I leave it behind, the city will last for some time afterwards. Even unappreciated, Amaurot will shine beautifully for a while yet.” 

That seemed to draw the shade’s full attention. Hythlodaeus’ mask tilted curiously, aimed at Emet-Selch’s face. “Is this a planned sort of exit?” His expression must have shown something, for the shade continued, “I ask because, whether you know it or not, you’re setting the stage for a confrontation. It’s not like you to be so cavalier about what the outcome could be, regardless of what condition you expect your opponents to be in.” 

He stared at Hythlodaeus in wonder. His subconscious had added his long-dead friend to the city, that much was for certain. But was he so observant because Emet-Selch remembered him being so, or was it because he had arrived in this replica of Amaurot from the innermost workings of his mind? Something in him wanted to stay like this, to talk and experiment until he could find the flaws in this puppet whose strings he couldn’t see. 

Alas, there were more things he needed to prepare for, as Hythlodaeus inadvertently reminded him. He should wrap up the conversation before too long. If he knew the Warriors of Darkness as well as he thought he did (and while he wasn’t always good with people, having spent centuries around them did wonders for being able to suss out behavior), they would be arriving soon enough. Given the choice between turning into monsters in front of their friends, and turning into monsters attempting to save the Crystal Exarch? Emet-Selch knew exactly what choice they would make, and what the result would be.

And yet...as he thought over his plans he realized that a kernel of doubt had indeed taken root. It was something to do with the color of their souls. Some part of him was braced, ready to see and experience the impossible. Even with his victory assured. Almost especially so.

Emet-Selch put a hand over his face with a groan. “I hate it when you’re right.”

“It’s only because it happens so often.” The smile returned to Hythlodaeus’ voice, even the grey behind his white mask showed nothing of the sort. “So. What will happen should you lose?”

He’d never consciously thought of it before, so he spoke through the steps aloud. It was something he and his friends had done with each other to work out an especially trying problem. Something that stopped when all of the other participants had gone. Sitting like this, in even a reflection of the city he loved so dearly it never left his mind for long, had brought it back. “Then our plans for the First will have failed. There won’t be an Eighth Umbral Calamity.” Thinking of Elidibus, he amended, “Or at least not from my efforts.”

“Then what will happen?”

“Well I’m sure Elidibus would have something up his sleeve.” Emet-Selch waved a hand as if to dismiss the thought when he paused. “...But he would be alone in his efforts. With Lahabrea and myself gone, he’d be the only one left unsundered.”

“A lonely existence indeed.” Hythlodaeus wouldn’t have known what an unsundered was, but he was also just as likely to pretend as if he knew what Emet-Selch was talking about if only to keep him chatting. “I might not be real, but I still can’t imagine what it would be like to be the last one left of anything. And for poor young Elidibus to be alone while his brothers were gone…”

The Emissary hadn’t been young in literal ages. Still, the idea of him facing eternity as the sole bearer of the burden of bringing back all of the lives that had been lost in ages past made Emet-Selch’s brow furrow. “...he might take revenge.”

“A reasonable conclusion.”

“I can’t be sure what form it would take, but...he doesn’t even remember why we are attempting to bring back Zodiark in the first place.” The pieces were coming together in his head. Prophecy wasn’t something he’d ever been interested in. Logically figuring out what path someone, particularly someone whom he’d come to know entirely over the millenia, was a different matter. “Even should he succeed, he wouldn’t understand the why of it.”

“So what do you propose to do about that?”

A memory struck, and Emet-Selch snapped his fingers. Thirteen colorful crystals materialized in between Ascian and shade. Each of them held the symbols of the position in the Convocation that they represented. Unlike the rest of the city, these were entirely real. He reached out for them before hesitating. Heaving a sigh, he snapped his fingers again. A fourteenth, orange crystal, settled next to Hythlodaeus. The shade picked up this one, fingering the symbol of the sun carved within it. “Memory crystals?”

“The very same. And the fourteenth, illegal, one to lead him back on the path.”

“How legal can anything be, so far away in time from when such laws were created?” Hythlodaeus mused as he pressed in both sides of the symbol at once. The crystal fell in half, leaving two even pieces in each of his hands. “And made to be certain neither would feel left out. How clever.”

He ignored what his friend was saying and spoke over him. “I’m going to erase your memory of our meeting here,” Emet-Selch tried to meet eyes that he knew didn’t exist. Hythlodaeus kept the eye contact anyway, as if sensing how serious his friend was. “Otherwise you’ll be free to roam the city as you see fit with your personality intact. I’ll leave these instructions with you should my plan fail. If I die, you must be certain these crystals make their way into the hands of the Warriors of Darkness. If they’re clever and strong enough to take me out of the picture, they’ll be ready enough to make Elidibus follow.”

“I understand.” Hythlodaeus nodded. “I hope you get some rest soon, Hades.”

“I hope so too, old friend.” Hades then snapped his fingers. Once to erase the memories of the shade of Hythlodaeus, once to return to where the Crystal Exarch was being held. 

There was much to prepare. He had no more time to waste wallowing in emotion.

[askagamedev]

Any thoughts on the Denuvo AntiCheat? Regardless of review bombing of Doom Eternal I fail to see what possible reason it could have to install itself at Ring 0 of the operating system. Is this lazy programming, like in the good old days when everything ran as root, or is there some reason that what Denuvo is trying to do cannot possibly be done without this level of access to the OS?

I really wish I knew why one of the first responses from gamers to anything new seems to be calling the developers lazy. We build game experiences with painstaking details that most players aren’t conscious of but we’re the ones who get called lazy at the drop of a hat when gamers don’t understand something.

I’ve heard this argument about Valorant and now I’m hearing it about Doom Eternal. Most of it is the same - frightened people who don’t understand what a Ring 0 driver is or what this all means. Allow me to explain. Software on your personal computer is installed at various privilege levels. 

The innermost ring has the highest level of privilege - it can access your hardware and such. This is usually reserved for things like your kernel - the core computer operating system stuff that runs your computer. Other things that need access to your hardware also live at ring 0 like drivers for your video card, your USB interface drivers, your sound drivers, your network drivers, and so on. Most software lives on ring 3, where it doesn’t have access to the things allowed to the kernel. 

Think of it like a one-way mirror. You can see everything outward from your ring but not inward. Because of this, any process running on Ring 3 cannot see any processes that are running in the lower rings. This makes the lower rings a great place to run cheat programs because any cheat detection software on Ring 3 can only check stuff running within Ring 3. This is why Riot and id want to install a Ring 0 driver - it's like installing a small, lightweight camera inside the deepest part of the computer that their cheat detection code living on Ring 3 can peek through. Any cheats hiding in Ring 0, 1, or 2 can be spotted via this special driver camera and appropriate action can be taken against the cheater.

Performance is generally not affected by a Ring 0 driver because they aren’t active unless they’re told to be. Have you ever worried about the printer you aren’t using affecting your game performance? How about your USB microphone or webcam that you’re not actively using? They don’t actively consume system resources unless you’re using them. Similarly, the anti-cheat Ring 0 driver won’t do anything unless it’s being used by the program authorized to use it. The only performance issues that may occur is the actual running of the entire game package on Ring 3. The Ring 0 driver is essentially separate from everything. If there really was a significant performance hit, we’d pull the patch back and fix it because we want players to play the game and not cheat.

Some people are also concerned about privacy issues - a Ring 0 driver allows its software to get a deep look at your computer’s internals. This requires a significant amount of trust from some folks. However, this is actually no different than the same drivers you choose to install for your video card, for your motherboard, for your hardware, and so on and so forth. For example, [click here] for a list of known common software vulnerabilities and exposures you’ve chosen to allow by using nVidia’s drivers. nVidia, AMD, MSi, Asus, etc. can already do all of this to your home PC. You’re exposing yourself to some or all of these vulnerabilities by using nVidia’s drivers, yet I haven’t seen any gamers complaining about nVidia. You also really don’t have an option not to use their drivers for their hardware short of writing them yourself.

I think it’s also important to separate these elements - the Denuvo name is a bit of an industry bogeyman because of its past unperformant copy protection system. However, this isn’t copy protection or DRM, it’s anti-cheat software. A Ring 0 driver isn’t necessary to take your personal information - Google and Facebook have already done plenty of that without ever needing a Ring 0 driver. It’s no different there, unless you believe that Zenimax Games or Riot are inherently even less trustworthy than those companies. If that is the case, there should be no reason for you to trust their software on Ring 3 any more than you trust would them on Ring 0. The only reason for a Ring 0 driver here is to catch cheaters that try to cheat by making sure they have nowhere to hide. If your concern is privacy, you should probably not play any modern games at all.

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[putres-cente]

A similar obscure ambiguity surrounds the role of Judas in Christ’s death: since his betrayal was necessary to his mission (to redeem humanity through his death on the Cross), did Christ not need it? Are his ominous words during the Last Supper not a secret injunction to Judas to betray him? “Judas, who betrayed him, said, ‘Surely not I, Rabbi?’ He replied, ‘You have said so’” (Matthew 26:25).The rhetorical figure of Christ’s reply is, of course, that of disavowed injunction: Judas is interpellated as the one who will hand Christ over to the authorities—not directly (“You are the 15 one who will betray me!”), but so that the responsibility is put onto the other. Is Judas not therefore the ultimate hero of the New Testament, the one who was ready to lose his soul and accept eternal damnation so that the divine plan could be accomplished?6 In all other religions, God demands that His followers remain faithful to Him—only Christ asked his followers to betray him in order to fulfill his mission. Here I am tempted to claim that the entire fate of Christianity, its innermost kernel, hinges on the possibility of interpreting this act in a nonperverse way.That is to say: the obvious reading that imposes itself is a perverse one—even as he lamented the forthcoming betrayal, Christ was, between the lines, giving the injunction to Judas to betray him, demanding of him the highest sacrifice—the sacrifice not only of his life, but also of his “second life,” of his posthumous reputation. The problem, the dark ethical knot in this affair, is thus not Judas, but Christ himself: in order to fulfill his mission, was he obliged to have recourse to such obscure, arch-Stalinist manipulation? Or is it possible to read the relationship between Judas and Christ in a different way, outside this perverse economy?

Slavoj Zizek, “The Perverse Core of Christianity”

[tawakkull]

Spirituality in islam: Ma'rifa (Knowledge of God)

Ma'rifa is a special knowledge that is acquired through reflection, sincere endeavor, using one’s conscience and inquiring into one’s inner world. It is different from (scientific) knowledge (‘ilm). (Scientific) knowledge is acquisition reached through study, investigation, analysis, and synthesis, while ma'rifais the substance of knowledge attained through reflection, intuition, and inner perception. The opposite of (scientific) knowledge is ignorance, while the opposite of ma'rifa is denial.

Knowledge means comprehending or encompassing something thoroughly, while ma'rifa means familiarity with or recognition of something-that something may be the Divine Being- in some of its aspects. For this reason, the One of Unity is called the All-Knowing ('Alim), but He has never been called the One having familiarity with something ('Arif). In addition, the exacting scholars of truth view ma'rifa, which also means information, talent, and skill, as the culture acquired by conscience or one’s conscious nature. It has other meanings such as the ability to feel something with the spiritual faculty that humanity has been endowed with, the image of something known in the mind, and the knowledge kept in the memory which gains strength through repetition. From another perspective, it is consciousness, perception, and sufficient information which helps distinguish one thing from another. Ma'rifacan be summed up as having concise knowledge about something or someone through their acts or works and attributes-knowledge which can be developed and detailed.

In order that one can be among those who have knowledge of God and who are regarded by God as being one of such people, one should know God and the ways that lead to Him, recognizing the obstacles on the way, and knowing how to overcome these obstacles. One should also have enough will-power to apply what one knows. One who has true knowledge of God is a perfect human being who knows the Unique One, Who is the Eternally-Besought-of-All, with His Acts, Names and Attributes, and is a person in whose everyday life this knowledge shows itself. He or she is also one who always keeps the heart purified and pursues sincerity and purity of intention, who can remain free of negative moral qualities as far as possible, overcoming whatever dark emerges from the spirit and threatens to darken one’s horizon, and thereby demonstrating loyalty to the All-Protector. Such a one can bear everything that befalls on God’s way to obtain His approval, and invites others to the way of the Prophets, which shows itself through God’s confirmation in every step, and whose lights he or she always feels with pleasure.

There is another approach to the meaning of ma'rifa, namely the ability to perceive something as exactly what it is in itself, in its quiddity, distinct from any and all things not directly connected with it. According to this approach, knowledge of God is knowing the Divine Being with His Essential and Positive Attributes beyond all conceptions of modality. This is different from comprehending, perceiving and establishing other things, and is based on perception and the feeling of conscience. This feeling and perception should not be confused with modern intuitionism. The Divine Being is beyond all concepts and cannot be comprehended, perceived or scientifically known, although a certain knowledge or familiarity can be acquired of Him through His acts, Names and Attributes.

The acknowledgment that The inability to perceive Him is the true perception, excellently expresses the inability of anything limited to perceive Him and the imperceptibility of the One Who is Infinite. The same meaning is exquisitely expressed in the saying, We are unable to know You, O Known One, as knowing You truly requires.

It is only God Whose existence is absolute, and the greatest truth is acknowledging His Existence and Oneness. The first step in acquiring knowledge of Him is the attainment of belief, being a Muslim, and excellence-worshipping Him as if seeing Him. In realizing such a blessed aim, one should continue one’s traveling to the True Source of all gifts and blessings without turning to anything else as a source. One should be able to feel a new joy of reunion in every gift and blessing with which one is favored, and as the final point, gain familiarity with the mysteries of His Names and Attributes, and, if possible, of His Being.

This consideration is expressed as follows in Lutfiya Wahbi:

Try your hardest and be one who has ma'rifa of Him,

One favored with knowledge of Him!

For the All-Loving One declared, “so that I may be known;”

Knowing God is the ultimate cause for the creation of the two worlds;

And knowing God is the adornment of humanity.

Those devoid of knowledge of Him are low in rank.

Knowing Him is a spiritual kingdom,

And Knowing Him is a Divine gift and blessing.

…………………………………………………………

When you, O moving spirit, receive this gift and blessing;

The two worlds will be yours.

The following words, which are narrated in books concerning Sufism as a hadith qudsi-a saying, the meaning of which is from God and the wording of which was inspired in the Messenger-are the gist or kernel of all explanations concerning knowledge of God:

O humankind! One who knows his self also knows Me; one who knows Me seeks Me, and one who seeks Me certainly finds Me. One who finds Me attains all his aspirations and expectations, and prefers none over Me. O humankind! Be humble that you can have knowledge of Me; accustom yourself to hunger so that you can see Me; be sincere in your devotion to Me so that you can reach Me. O humankind! I am the Lord; one who knows his self also knows Me; one who renounces his self finds Me. In order to know Me, renounce your own self. A heart which has not flourished and been perfected is blind.

Knowledge of God sometimes becomes a source of wonder and astonishment for an initiate, as has been said, “One who knows the Truth becomes dumbfounded and tonguetied.” But it sometimes becomes a means of expression for the traveler to the Truth, as has been said, “One who knows the Truth finds his voice.” The voice finds its overflowing expression in one’s excitement and speech and echoes in one’s ears. Although opposites, both the saying of Muhammad Parisa, “There is none who knows the Divine Being other than Himself,” and the saying, “I know none else save God,” are true.

There is none other than Him who has a true, substantial existence, and there are no true acts other than those performed by Him. Other beings have a relative existence when compared with Him, and other acts are also relative. Whatever takes place in the cycle of causality is of a relative nature. For this reason, knowledge of God is when an initiate melts away in the light of the Truth and gains a second, true existence. This may be viewed as self-annihilation in God and subsistence with Him. I think the author of al-Minhaj stresses this fact in these verses:

If you can see with the lights of certainty,

Then do not see one who knows and the One Known differently.

Fuduli expresses this depth of knowledge of God as follows:

One who knows God is not one who knows

the wisdom of the world with what is in it,

One who knows God is he who does not know

what the world is with what is in it.

Sufis have made other descriptions concerning knowledge of God. According to these descriptions, knowledge of God is knowing the truth of the Divine Names and Attributes, grasping the phenomenon of the manifestations in existence and the discovery of the existential mystery, deeply perceiving the truth of existence with its originality and shadows, and understanding and representing in life the truth of religion according to the Will of the Desired One, Who is the final goal of those who set out to reach Him. Each of these descriptions requires a voluminous work to explain and is therefore beyond the scope of this study. We will only cite here some verses from Diyaiya (“The Book of Light”) which point to some dimensions of the subject matter:

The third chapter is about knowledge of God, O valiant young one;

To describe it the wheel of speech is unable to work.

……………………………………………………………………………….

There is no scribe nor a pen to write about it;

One cannot get his tongue around it to express it.

………………………………………………………………………………

The mirror of reason is veiled from understanding it;

The ability of perception has nothing to say in it;

Only the bird of imagination can fly toward it;

There is no example that we can coin to explain it.

……………………………………………………………………………..

Here the gift comes only from God;

This is a light-diffusing, sacred rank.

…………………………………………………………………………….

The whole of creation is immersed in this realm,

Which is more spacious than all the worlds.

…………………………………………………………………………….

There is no true existent save He Who is the One,

Perceiving this is the real vision;

Do not interpret this vision in another way, or else,

It will mean unbelief and heresy, O one with body of light.

It is not the eyes in the head which have this vision;

The All-Loving One is all-free from vision by these eyes.

The innermost faculty-secret-discerns this truth,

When you find this faculty in you, you can understand it.

Human scientific knowledge and perception have nothing to say;

The merit is in wonder and helplessness in this field.

Perception of one’s helplessness is perception of the Truth;

Listen to what Abu Bakr, the truthful one, says concerning it.

The rank of knowledge of God (ma'rifa) is a rank of wonder, utter astonishment, and awe. It is possible to see this in almost all the reflections of the scholars of Sufism on knowledge of God. Some of them see it in direct proportion to the excess of the feeling of awe and have concluded that the deeper one is in knowledge of God, the deeper one’s feeling of awe is. Others regard knowledge of God as being the base of serenity and peacefulness and emphasize that inner peace and self-possession increase in proportion to the depth of knowledge of God. Still others consider knowledge of God as the heart’s attainment of friendship with God and the initiate’s following a way to nearness to God. The approach of Shibli opens new windows on the knowledge of God. According to him, it means that an initiate has an essential relation with none save God, making no complaints when burning with His love, is a sincere, obedient and faithful servant of God who avoids any claims of superiority, and one who worries about his or her end. A person with true knowledge of God and who has a strong connection with the sources of this knowledge, one who has taken refuge in the guidance of the spirit and meaning of the Prophethood, and who has built sound relations with the truths that lie beyond human horizons, cannot feel any essential interest in transitory things nor does lower him or herself to feel attachment to other than the Lord. The Qur'an alludes to this highest point in (35:28), Only the knowledgeable among His servants have true reverence for God, reminding the traveler of the relation between knowledge and awe or reverence of God. The greatest of those who have knowledge of God, upon him be peace and blessings, said concerning the same point: I am greater than you in knowledge of God, and more intense in fearing Him.

In the books on Sufism, in which the intellect guided by Revelation is operative, and which contain numerous gems of wisdom concerning the “garment of piety” of those who have true knowledge of God, with Whom their hearts are deeply connected, we can find many gems concerning knowledge of God. The following are only a few of them:

In the view of one favored with knowledge of God, the world with its material aspect becomes so small that it seems no greater than a cup.

The souls that have gained profundity in knowledge of God expand to the extent that it is as if they have no limits.

Those who taste the pleasure of knowledge of God, which is regarded as the sweetest of all honey, pursue no other wealth than nearness to the Truth.

The richness of the honeycomb of knowledge of God in the heart is one of the most essential sources of love and zeal. An initiate burns with the zeal of reunion in proportion to how much this source overflows its banks, which he or she sees as the price of the favors received.

The following points which differentiate those who have a sound knowledge of God from others are important. The former have no selfish expectations from whatever good they do, never think of competition for either material or spiritual ranks nor feel jealous of anybody. They do not see themselves as being greater than anyone else, nor do they moan because of missed opportunities, anymore than they feel arrogant because of their accomplishments. Even if they were granted the kingdom of the Prophet Solomon, they would only seek God’s company, regarding it as futile to turn to other things. They feel no relation with beings other than the Almighty with respect to their worldly existence and corporeal self, and know that one moment of God’s friendship is worth the entire world. They consider being with God among people as a victory that has been granted to their will-power, and see the Divine Will reflected in the face of their determination, recognizing the help of the Lord in the result of their endeavor, alongside many other instances of wisdom and God’s extraordinary gifts. They observe the manifestations of the Divine Oneness in the multiplicity of the creation, and thereby they grasp how a drop is transformed into an ocean, and a particle into the sun. They witness in their conscience how nothingness or non-existence is a fertile land, to be planted with existence and live drowned in ecstasies and intoxication.

Self-possession, steadfastness, seriousness, profundity, and resolution are the clearest and most important signs of perfect knowledge of God. Those who have this degree of knowledge live under the shower of the manifestations of God’s friendship and company. No sign of any flaws can be seen in their inner or outer world, nor is any laxity witnessed in their behaviors. They never show impertinence or conceit, even when favored with the most abundant gifts. On the contrary, they always act in a self-possessed manner, trying to lead a self-disciplined, spiritual life.

Obviously, everyone cannot have the same degree of knowledge of God. Some travel on the horizon of perceiving the Attributes essential to the Divine Being and the favors that accompany His acts. They observe and avail themselves of His proofs that are found within themselves and in the outer world, with the result that their love of truth and their relation with the Greatest of Truths are witnessed in their manners. They travel between the Divine acts, Names and Attributes and are thrilled with the different melodies of belief, knowledge of God, love, attraction and the feeling of being attracted by God to Himself. They feel in their conscience the reflections of the Divine acts or operations in the universe and pursue more and more the pleasure entailed in observing ever new colors and aspects. This is a way bequeathed by the Prophets and it is a way that can be followed by everyone. One who travels along this way of objective truth travels toward the Truth under the arches of His compliments.

On this path there are others who feel all the dimensions in existence ending in one dimension, who feel that everything is annihilated in God. It is as if they have reached a point where the lights and manifestations of the Divine Being and Attributes come together and annihilate their very being in the Divine Being, attaining a new existence with the Self-Subsistence of Him Who is the All-Knowing and the Ever-Existent.

While those belonging to the former group travel in the realm of the Divine Attributes and Qualities, others have already directed themselves to the Source of these Attributes and Qualities. Therefore, their observations and sensations are not aimed at either the Attributes exclusively in such a way as to veil the Being in their minds or spirits, nor at the Being exclusively in such a way as to suggest the denial of the Attributes. For this reason, such an approach has been regarded as the way of the perfected and most advanced, and the main path that is followed by those who travel to the greatest nearness to God.

The Book, the Sunna, reason, and the Divine system in creation and human primordial nature bear witness to the truth of this way along which God’s works of art show themselves brightly. Initiates who have firmly established their feet on this path witness at every step that God witnesses His Existence and Oneness, and they cannot help but utter, God bears witness that surely there is no deity but He (3:18). They hear in their conscience the confirmations of angels and those possessed of knowledge as a reflection of God’s witnessing, and continue to utter: and the angels and those possessed of knowledge (also bear witness to the same truth) (3: 18). Then, they see that all means and causes that are not essential to His Being having vanished, and they are able to be at perfect rest and to find perfect peace.

There are others who have such abundant knowledge of God that proofs of God are no longer needed in their world; all the things that witness Him are humbled in the face of their being in the Presence of the True Witness; all the means tremble with the shame of making distant whatever is near, and all the heralds are silent and busy with correcting the words that they have uttered. At this point, where everything is seen by the conscious nature as witnessing Him beyond all concepts of modality, the eyes are dazzled by the brightest manifestations of the Face, and all other identities save His are lost. Those who have reached this point see that the True Source of existence and knowledge surrounds everything from all sides, tasting the pleasure of perceiving every being’s perception of Him according to their level, and feeling that everything is annihilated in Him. They sense the way in which the manifestations of the Divine Names are combined with those of the Being, Attributes and Acts. The conscience is saved from any feeling of dependence on causality and reaches the horizon of Surely we belong to God (as His creatures and servants), and surely to Him we are bound to return (2:156). But this never means, as some have assumed, “absolute annihilation” or “union with God.”

Our Lord! Grant us from Your Presence a special mercy and arrange for us in our affairs what is right and for our good! And may Your peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad, by whom the mysteries came to light and the lights shone brightly upon his pure Companions.