My dear friends,

Before I delve into the main topic of our book, I want to share some evaluations in light of modern science…

There’s a question that mankind has been asking for centuries that hasn’t been answered yet:

What is the universe, who am I, what is my relation to the universe?

Even though innumerous philosophers, scientists and Sufis have elucidated this topic in their own capacity, they’ve not been able to present a holistic answer to the world of thought that has satisfied everyone.

Here are some popular Sufi evaluations on the nature of the universe:

 

The essence of all the worlds is an illusion!

All of existence is a single makeup.

There is only the One in existence and that is Allah.

Seeing more than one is an optical defect, only the One exists.

 

To prevent misunderstanding, I choose to suffice with stating these are popular Sufi thoughts without referencing the names of those to whom they belong. Those who wish to may search the relevant works to find out.

Let’s now try to evaluate these statements in light of modern science.

We know that man perceives the universe with his five senses. Therefore, a universe perceived by the five senses of a human is different to a universe perceived by an animal or another being, who also perceives according to its capacity of perception.

Let me try to explain this with a simple example:

The human eye receives waves between 4,000-7,000 angstroms and sends these to the brain, which are then converted to images by the brain. We think these waves, which are converted according to the brain’s program, are existent, while those outside this range are nonexistent. This is where we fail to see the truth.

Even though our eyes are only able to perceive a tiny little snippet of an infinite scale of wavelengths, we confine the entire existence to that tiny section we perceive and think inside this limited box! Whereas in reality, the universe consists of an infinite ocean of waves, or quants, where what we perceive isn’t even a drop in the ocean!

The other point that needs to be considered well is, if the waves between 4,000-7,000 angstroms received by our eyes are meaningful, then the entire universe with all its infinite wavelengths and dimensions comprises a meaningful integrality. Unfortunately, however, the limitation of our tools of perception deprives us of duly evaluating the integrality of the universe.

This means the conditioning to which our brain is subject causes certain blockages and limitations. The five senses, and our conditioning that we must evaluate everything based on the five senses, prevent us from perceiving the One in the guise of many!

Even though we know scientifically that, if we had a sensory device that could perceive at the atomic level, we would all be ONE.

If, for example, you can remove the roof and ceiling from the room you’re in and observe it under a microscope with a billion times zoom capacity, the only thing you’ll see will be a field of atoms. Thus, all the objects that are currently in the room will disappear and only a homogeneous mass comprising various atoms, such as iron, copper, zinc, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen, will remain.

The brain that deduces numerous objects when looking through the eyes now sees a homogeneous atomic field when looking through an electron microscope, a field in which the ‘many’ objects are now reduced to a hundred or so different atoms!

But, what if we were able to zoom a trillion or even quadrillion times into the room?

We would come to realize that everything we think exists in the universe is fictional existence based completely on the capacity of the means of perception.

Indeed, everything that we think exists is ‘according to’ the brain’s limited perception, and so all the images we perceive are images of this limited range of data.

Where does this take us?

Matter – cell – molecule – atom – neutron – quark – quant –descending dimensionally to the essence brings us to such a point of oneness that nothing other than the ONE can be conceived.

In short, what we refer to as the universe is essentially such Oneness that, whatever we may call it, there’s no room for another beside it.

As much as we can perceive, one of the qualities of this Oneness, which we call the universe, is pure consciousness and the other is universal energy, and it continues its existence with its own system at every instance free from the concept of time.

What we need to do, if we can, is understand our place in it.