“The diversity of the names can never sever the totality of the one. This is how the cosmos functions. With all its space, stars, planets and all the beings that reside in it, the cosmos is one whole inseparable being. Think of the energy in the cosmos as the cells in your body. Think of the consciousness in the cosmos that maintains the order as the consciousness or awareness within the human body. Think of space as the brain of the cosmic body and its depth as its memory center. Thus, my friends, your real I-ness is this ‘I-ness!
“Your real body is the whole of the cosmos. Your real mind is the Universal Intellect of the cosmic consciousness that is governing and maintaining the order that is present in the cosmos. And this earthly life that you are living is a dream that your real self, who is composed of the cosmic consciousness,is having! When you wake up and return to your self, your dream will end!”
“And those who can’t wake up?”
“For them, the dream will continue as worldly life or afterlife, heaven or hell, and with each of these dreams they will come closer to the reality until finally they wake up and find their true selves.”
“So how can we see the ‘One’?”
“Let’s leave that for our next meeting. It is late for you and your minds have become very tired! In Essence!”
“In Essence, Alph…”
Alph had disappeared once again. Jem and Gonul stared in each other’s eyes for a while and then Gonul said:
“If it were not for his extraordinary appearances and disappearances, I would think this guy’s a total lunatic based on the things he’s saying! I mean all this stuff he’s been talking about is so beyond anything we’ve ever heard in our lives, I just don’t get it! Do you understand the things he says?”
“Sometimes it feels as if I can see everything he says within me! As if I’m the driving force in the essence of the cosmos, directing and guiding it… As if all the planets and other bodies are like parts of me, my arms, my hands… But it doesn’t last long, I return back to this state straight away… Forget being in that sense, just this feeling is enough to give so much joy!”
“Jem, the things he’s been saying may be attractive to you, and he obviously knows how to influence people, but do the things he says actually make sense to you?”
“Gonul, I know it sounds weird and conflicting, but think about it – it doesn’t actually go against the intellect and logic per se, but our conditioned understanding! It contradicts neither today’s scientific findings nor the religious teachings from centuries ago…”
“Like what for example?”
“Like Mansur Al-Hallaj for example and his claim ‘I am the Reality[1]’ which led to his horrific execution! Or Yunus Emre’s words ‘I wrapped myself in flesh and bones and appeared as Yunus’ and the teachings of Mawlana Jelaladdin Rumi and countless others! Aren’t they all alluding to the same truth?”
“Yes, but they reached these conclusions through religious beliefs.”
“What matters is the conclusion, honey, not the path, not the name! The important thing is to find the truth, no matter what the path is!”
“But these people were saints! Nobody else made such claims. Doesn’t this suggest that the only way one can reach these truths is via sainthood?”
“Consider this first, Gonul… How many people do you know in your environment well enough to have insight into their views and ideas? Ten or twenty? Let’s say a hundred for argument’s sake. How about all the other people in our community, and everyone else in the city, and the millions in this country? How about the hundreds of millions of people who follow the same religion as you? How many of those people do you know and how much insight to do you have into their thought processes or to what kind of internal worlds they have? But we’re so quick to judge, aren’t we… Because everybody else thinks so! How unsubstantiated and groundless it is!
[1] Mansur Al-Hallaj’s original claim was Anal Haqq in Arabic, meaning “I am the Reality” denoting there is no other than the One existence, therefore I am no other than that.