Sufi cosmology

Sufi cosmology (Arabic: الكوزمولوجية الصوفية‎) is a general term for cosmological doctrines associated with the mysticism of Sufism. These may differ from place to place, order to order and time to time, but overall show the influence of several different cosmographies:

Emanation

The following cosmological plan, explaining a creation by successive emanation of worlds, as taught by Plotinus, is typical:[1]

Planes of existence

Gross and subtle bodies

Theosophy
Rosicrucian

The 7 Worlds & the 7 Cosmic Planes
The Seven-fold constitution of Man
The Ten-fold constitution of Man

Thelema
Body of light | Thelemic mysticism
Hermeticism
Hermeticism|Cosmogony
Surat Shabda Yoga

Cosmology

Jainism
Jain cosmology
Sufism

Sufi cosmology

Hinduism
Talas/Lokas - Tattvas, Kosas, Upadhis
Buddhism
Buddhist cosmology
Gnosticism
Seven earths
Kabbalah
Atziluth -> Beri'ah -> Yetzirah -> Assiah

Sephirot

Fourth Way

Ray of Creation
The Laws
Three Centers and Five Centers

The Human Realm is supervised by:

On every planet with life on it, life exists in three different planes of existence, the Plane of Angels, the Plane of Jinns and the Plane of Humans. On the other hand, it is surrounded by another realm known as Alam-e-Araf or Barzakh (Astral plane), where humans stay after they die (when the soul disconnects from the physical body). Humans can also visit the astral realm during sleep (while dreaming) or during meditation.

Temporal finitism

In cosmology, in contrast to ancient Greek philosophers such as Aristotle who believed that the universe had an infinite past with no beginning, Medieval philosophers and theologians developed the concept of the universe having a finite past with a beginning (temporal finitism). This view was inspired by the creation myth shared by the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The Christian philosopher, John Philoponus, presented the first such argument against the ancient Greek notion of an infinite past. His arguments were adopted by many, most notably; early Muslim philosopher, Al-Kindi (Alkindus); the Jewish philosopher, Saadia Gaon (Saadia ben Joseph); and finally the Sufi thinker Al-Ghazali. Philoponus proposed two logical arguments against an infinite past, the first being the "argument from the impossibility of the existence of an actual infinite", which states:[2]

"An actual infinite cannot exist."
"An infinite temporal regress of events is an actual infinite."
"∴ An infinite temporal regress of events cannot exist."

His second argument, the "argument from the impossibility of completing an actual infinite by successive addition", states:[2]

"An actual infinite cannot be completed by successive addition."
"The temporal series of past events has been completed by successive addition."
"∴ The temporal series of past events cannot be an actual infinite."

Both arguments were adopted by later Christian philosophers and theologians, and the second argument in particular became more famous after it was adopted by Immanuel Kant in his thesis of the first antimony concerning time.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Sufi Cosmology". Kheper.net.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Craig, William Lane (June 1979). "Whitrow and Popper on the Impossibility of an Infinite Past". The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 30 (2): 165–170 [165–6]. doi:10.1093/bjps/30.2.165.

External links