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CREATION

‘“ Behold what shows to thee His Omnipotence, (may He be
exalted) : it is that He hides Himself from thee by what has
no existence apart from Him.”

(Ibn ‘Ata’illah al-Iskandari, in his Hikam)

HE idea of creation, which is common to the three
monotheistic religions,! in appearance contradicts

the idea of the essential Unity of all beings, since
creatio ex nihilo seems to deny the pre-existence of
possibilities in the Divine Essence and in consequence
to deny also their subsistence in It, whereas the idea of
manifestation as taught in Hinduism relates relative
beings to Absolute Essence as reflections are related to
their luminous source. However, these two concep-
tions or symbolisms approach one another if we con-
sider that the metaphysical meaning of the ‘“nothing-
ness”” (‘udum) whence the Creator “draws” things can
only be the ““nothingness”’ of ‘““non-existence”, i.e., of
non-manifestation or the principial state, since the pos-
sibilities principially contained in the Divine Essence
are not distinct in It as such before they are deployed
in a relative mode. They are also not ‘“existing”
(mawjud), for existence already implies a first condition
and a virtual distinction of “knower”” from “known ”’.

1. The conventional term ‘‘ monotheistic’’ is used here for want of a

better, for indeed every true tradition recognises a single supreme principle.

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