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RENEWING OF CREATION AT EACH INSTANT 79

permanent Being—the revelation of the one Essence—
and then there are activities and individuations suc-
ceeding one another with the ‘breaths’ which proceed
from the Divine Names...” (commentary on The
Wisdom of the Prophets).

As for the ““breaths” or ‘““exhalations” (anfas) re-
ferred to in this text, they are modalities of the ‘ Exha-
lation of the Merciful > (Nafas ar-Rahman or an-Nafas
ar-Rahmani), this term being understood in the sense
of the divine principle which ““dilates” (nafassa)?! or
deploys relative possibilities starting from the arche-
types. This “dilation’’ only appears as such from a
relative point of view in which the state of  inwardness ”’
(butun) of the possibilities appears as a *‘ contraction >’
(karb). The Divine  Exhalation ” is connected with the
total Mercy (ar-Rahmah) because it is through this
Mercy that the superabundance of Being ‘“ over-flows
(afada) into limitless essences. At the same time the
idea of ““exhalation ” or * breath ” relates to the symbo-
lism of the Divine Word, for, just as the different
sounds or ““letters ”” (hurif) * which make up the sayings
of the revealed Book are analogous to the archetypes
which are reflected in the cosmos, so the breath which is
the support or “carrier” of articulated sounds is
analogous to the Divine Principle which deploys and
supports the possibilities of manifestation.> The

1. The same verb also includes_ the meaning of ‘‘ consolation® in
contrast to the “‘ constriction ** (karb) induced by distress. ‘ Consolation *’
clearly comes from the Divine Mercy (Rakmah).

2. Since Arabic writing is strictly phonetic the  letters ** also designate
sounds.

3. In this lies a foundation of the science of invocation.