THE BRANCHES OF THE DOCTRINE 35

exist ; it is what it is. But discontinuity is barely con-
ceivable apart from a principle of unity which bridges
the gap and without the background of a continuity
which manifests it. Thus, for instance, the apparent
discontinuity between individuals, the isolation of their
Tespective centres of consciousness, is only the mark of
their unique Essence which ‘vertically” transcends the
“horizontal” plane of their common nature. As for
the d1scont1nu1ty between individual consciousness in
general and the levels of Intelligence which are beyond
form, it exists in terms of the quasi-material level of
consciousness which links it “horizontally”’ with other
consciousnesses that are on the level of form but at the
same time also separates it from their unique Essence.

Thus reality isregarded according to different orders
of continuity depending upon the point of view adopted
or imposed on us by the very nature of things, and meta-
physic alone can embrace all these various perspectives
and give to each its proper place in that web of visions,
the universe.

In itself cosmology is an analytical science in the
original meaning of that term, for it reduces every aspect
of the cosmos to the underlying principles, which are,
in the last analysis, the active and the passive poles,
the “informing” principle that moulds and the plastic
substance or materia prima. The integration of these
complementary principles in the primary Unity belongs
to the realm of metaphysic and not to cosmology.

It has just been stated that Sufi psychology does not
separate the soul either from the metaphysical or from