Whatever you try to grasp from the macrocosm to the microcosm you are bound to fall into void. For when you try to grasp that which you call matter you’ll be faced with the non-existence of the body at the molecular level. And when you try to hold on to the molecular level you’ll find yourself in the emptiness between its atoms, and when you try to hold an atom, you’ll fall into the vast space around it’s nucleus, and if you try to grasp the nucleus you’ll only find more empty space, and just when you think you’ve reached the quarks, you’ll fall into the mysterious world of the strings, an abode in which you can only be a silent observer…
Ibn Arabi had claimed “I am the Reality” when he reached the Station of the Inspired Self. He described the Unity of Existence as a system and claimed, “Wujud (life) and existence are ONE, only He exists! So whether you say He exists or I exist (He is, or I am) the one who is making this claim is ultimately the Self.”
Imam Rabbani, on the other hand, talked about the Unity of Witness. That is, the existence that Ibn Arabi talks about is a divine form within divine knowledge, and that it is only a shadow or imagined existence. Both scholars and all others who claimed similar truths, articulated the realities that were expressed from their core ‘kernel’ according to their individual unique programming.
What was expressed as a metaphor in the past, such as “nothing exists besides Allah” (la mawjuda illa HU) is now being scientifically confirmed and expressed as “all perceived and unperceived phenomena are nothing other than the constantly changing various expressions of the strings (energy-data field) of which we are a part” Like the constantly changing shapes and colors of a kaleidoscope, at every instance It manifests Itself in yet another different way…
The Quran explains this truth with metaphors and symbols, the intimates of the Reality perceived this truth and tried to explain using the language of their times.[1]
Think of a computer…
Obviously you know the screen isn’t the computer itself, though there are some who actually think it is…
The infinite data comprising the Internet is nothing other than an endless sequence of zero’s and one’s in a hard disk… Or, you’re actually seeing pixels on the screen for example but you perceive it as a picture. If you can go inside the hard disk of a computer you’ll find nothing other than zero’s and one’s! In fact, beyond the zero’s and one’s, there is only a pulse of electricity, that’s all…
Similar to the points that come together in a sequence to form letters and pictures; if you were to zoom enough into a letter or a picture you’ll see an array of points or ‘dots’.
In my writings I often talk about “knowledge” as the primary building block or the quintessential element comprising existence. Some have understood this as “acquired knowledge” whereas I’m referring to “data” or in other words, bits of information that constitute a meaning. Just like a novel or a movie script for example is really only a compilation of data in a computer…
Everything that we perceive and can think and conceptualize within the multiverses is essentially a wave of energy or “data” at the level of strings…
This reality was conceived by all the Intimates of Reality and the Saints of Allah throughout history and expressed according to the understanding of their time, often with metaphors… nevertheless it is always the same truth being expressed in different ways, based on the programming of the perceiver and the conditions to which they are subject…
The bottom line is, all saints and scholars who have reached the reality claimed the “this world is essentially a dream” in fact some claimed it is “a dream within a dream.”
[1]Please read Al-Ghazali’s work“Mishkat al-Anwar (The Niche for Lights)” and Ahmed Hulusi’s book “The Great Awakening”.