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THREE ASPECTS OF THE WAY 111

split consciousness which is the ordinary state of the
soul, in which man instinctively and inevitably intro-
duces between the world (including his own actions)
and God the pseudo-principle of the ego, instead of
seeing the world, and his actions, with the eye of
Divine Truth. He who is sincere (as-siddiq) is indepen-
dent in respect of congenital or spontaneous suggestions
of his ““I”; he takes no delight in this “I’> and leaves
his left hand in ignorance of what his right hand is
doing.

We have already seen that Muhyi-d-Din ibn ‘Arabi
puts total love at the top of his “ladder” of the dwell-
ing places of the soul. Love can therefore be consider-
ed as the synthesis of all the virtues, and indeed, if
every virtue is a form of the will, then spiritual love is
the will itself transfigured by the divine attraction.
Love of God is imperfect and is even inconceivable
apart from love of God in creation (in every aspect of
His Revelation including pure intellect) and without
love of (the very least) creature in God. In a sense it
can be said that man must love God first in creation, in
His Revealed Word and in His Truth, and then secondly
in Himself, in His transcendent Ipseity, and finally in
those ““least of His little ones” who require our charity.

Again, from another angle, all spiritual virtues may
be said to be summed up in sanctity (al-wilayah) which
is uninterrupted awareness of the Divine Presence.

It has been said above that doctrinal understand-
ing can achieve nothing without virtue ; the inverse of
this is only true in a lesser degree, always provided that