I : The Heart in the Spiritual Traditions.

The variety of spiritual traditions are so many paths to the same experience of unknowing. They do not exclude one another, but form a caleidoscope or mandala of the hidden, implicate unity behind all things. They are so many wild & cultivated flowers in the vast, grand garden of the Divine and present themselves to celebrate the luring Vision of Beauty and Unity.

1. The Heart as Awareness & Shrine in Ancient Egypt.

The use of capitals in words as "God", "Deity", "Deities" or "Divine", points to a rational context, i.e. how these appear in a theology conducted in the rational mode of thought. Hence, when these words are used in the context of Ancient Egyptian ante-rational thought (which, as a cultural form, was mythical, pre-rational & proto-rational), this restriction is lifted. Hence, words such as "god", "the god", "gods", "goddesses", "pantheon" or "divine" are not capitalized.

1.1 Maat : the Order of Creation.

Numerous are the Egyptian texts, in particular the wisdom literature, explaining how the heart is the organ receiving & emitting Maat. In Middle Egyptian, the word "maat" ("mAat") is used for "truth" and "justice" (in Arabic, "al-haq", is both "truth" and "real"). Through the heart, the human being participates in maintaining the balance of the cosmic and the human order and this by allowing the free flow of life. Pictured as a vase (), but representing the heart of an animal (F34), the heart can receive and pour out Maat.

the goddess Maat

Maat is both a concept and a goddess, the daughter of the Sun-god Atum-Re. As a concept, she represents truth, justice, social order and ethical values based on the cosmic order. Maat turns out to be the fundamental idea constituting ancient Egyptian religion, for the various fields of nature and culture form a unity thanks to her. Indeed, state policy, the cults, science, art, sapience, ethics and even the private life of the individual are all rooted in the cosmic order represented by Maat, the ideal of cosmic & social solidarity. As the Egyptian religion was not based on revealed texts but on nature, all rituals and cults were aimed at energy renewal. Taking into account the immaterial side of things (the "ka"), the Egyptians offered this invisible part of all living things to their deities. Thus pleasing the gods, they received their ongoing blessings. This cycle lasted for three millennia !

"Speak Maat, do Maat,
For it is mighty ;
It is great, it endures,
Its worth is tried,
It leads one to reveredness."
The Eloquent Peasant, Eighth Petition.

Daily, in every temple of Egypt, the supreme offering was executed by the divine king (and his representatives, the high priests) : offering Maat to Re. By doing so, the divine king guaranteed the continuity of life and a "good Nile", i.e. an inundation neither too violent nor too sparse.

Seti I offering Maat to Re

Many text state one has to "hear Maat" through the heart. By doing so, one receives the energy of Re, the life force. To fill the heart with Maat is deemed essential, both in this life as in the afterlife. To receive Maat in the heart, is to participate in the eternal recurrent ("neheh") communication through continuous exchanges, participating in the immaterial world of life energy.

So the aim of "doing Maat" was to allow the just flow of the rich Solar energy of Atum-Re, creating abundance, prosperity & heath for all. Just as the divine king was a reflection of his divine father Re, the justice of the material world was a reflection of the divine exchange, one dealing with sharing a limited amount of goods.

Goddess Maat, Daughter of Re.

The duality of the balance represented by Maat can also be seen at work in the two-tiered edifice of Egyptian soteriology :

1. • STARTING WITH THE MOON : the (lower) sky of Osiris (the Eye of Horus) : the ultimate state of human blessedness is to live the life of an "Osiris NN", with a court, humbling servants and a kingdom situated in the vast darkness of the Duat (like creation is a bubble of moist air suspended in chaos). Even the smallest offer made with a sincere heart during earthly life might be enough to be helped by Isis or Osiris, and so the commoners made sure the holy family noticed them. This economy is inclusive of everyman, but conditional. The only exception to it was Pharaoh ;

2. • ENDING IN THE SUN : the (upper) sky of Re (the Eye of Re) : the sky of Osiris and the sky of Re are proximate, and after the highest spirituality of servitude has been fulfilled, the "Ba" or soul of the deceased is transformed, in the horizon, into an "Akh" or spirit of Re, sailing, among the other pure beings of light, on the Bark of Re, illuminating the beings of day and night, including the deities and the justified blessed dead of Osiris (who otherwise sleep). The sacred knowledge regarding this spiritual evolution was for the very few and, when first written down, portrayed in the tomb of kings only. This economy is exclusive of everyman, reserved to the deities (as the king and his high priests) and unconditional.

1.2 Balancing the Heart with Righteousness.

The heart, or "ib", was deemed lodged in the "net" of the "khat", the physical body. The word "ib", written as , or with a single hieroglyph representing a mammal heart + the determinative for "one" (a stroke) : It means : middle, interior, intelligence, thought, attentions, intentions, disposition, will, wish, mind, ego. It occurs in heart-expressions like : "heart of the soul", "the dictates of the heart", "heart's desire", "heart of my heart", "to eat the heart" (to be sorry), etc (cf. infra).

"O my heart which I had from my mother ! O my heart which I had upon Earth ..."
The Papyrus of Ani, 30A.

The heart is the state, quality or "mental" condition which the Egyptians associated with the physical heart or "hâti". This "ib" is a product of maternal education. The word "hât" means a member, the flesh of the physical body, the person in bodily form, a product of Earth. See also the expressions : "hâ", to rejoice, to be glad, glad ; "hââ", to rejoice, exult, to be glad ; "hââut", rejoicing, gladness ; "hâiu", those who rejoice and "hâa-t ha-t", the joy of heart, etc.

The heart is more a self-identical state of consciousness than a vehicle or component of man. Its conservation is deemed necessary for the general mastery & steering (of the bark of life) seated in the heart. During mummification, the heart was not removed and often the amulet of a beetle, symbolic of rebirth, was placed upon it, to facilitate its weighing against the feather of Maat.

The "ib" covers the main characteristics of what today is called "consciousness", namely intention, mind, free will & ego, associated with cognitive capacity, speech and the power of the word directed towards "body & belly".

"Le coeur-conscience conçoit, pense, donne des ordres aux nerfs, aux muscles, aux membres. C'est lui qui permet aux sens de fonctionner correctement. Tout part du coeur et tout lui revient, il émet et il reçoit."
Jacq, 1983, p.16.

The heart is the place of awareness, coordination and mental control. The heart is the mind. This cognitive feature is explicit, as in : "thought of the heart", "kat", meaning "thought" (cf. "kai", to think, to think out, to say).

The heart is also the seat of free will and hence responsible for a person's evil deeds or acts against Maat. These cause the heart to become heavy and dull (for everything said & done is recorded). In a good heart, the will steers the concert of physical, vital and emotional (imaginal) forces at work in the common human being well, and remains ever as light as a feather : flexible, strong but of nearly no weight.

The Feather of Maat

In a sick, evil heart, coordination & communication is lost and so consciousness has no strong focal point, is diffuse and isolated. The will is weak and one's expectations are spoiled by fear.

The Egyptian language of the Maxims of Good Discourse of Ptahhotep, the foundational text of Egyptian sapiental literature, captures the essence of the "state of heart" in a pictorial, metaphorical and poetical way, leaving room for many readings and an alternative "coupure" of the text. Instead of trying to give a good description, my translations mostly try to remain near the phraseology of the extant original. To understand an Egyptian concept one is advised to seek context before content. The latter may be isolated within a given set of connotative meanings, but can never be defined beforehand as in the linear and geometrical methods developed by the Greeks.

The Weighing of the Heart
Judgment of the Dead in the Papyrus of Ani

In the Book of the Dead, the heart appears in the context of being without blame, in harmony with Maat. When the physical body dies, the heart is left in the mummy, for in the afterlife, immediately after the mummy has been reactivated by the Ritual of Opening the Mouth, it was weighed against the Feather of Maat. The above vignette from the famous Papyrus of Ani has the heart on the left scale and the Feather of Maat on the right. We see how the psychopomp Anubis checks the plummet while Thoth records the outcome. Behind Thoth, the hybrid monster Ammut waits to hear the verdict, ready to eat the heart as soon as it is found to be heavier than the Feather of Maat. When this happens, the afterlife has been lost, for only the "justified" may enter the Kingdom of Osiris. So for a good afterlife, the trial of the balance was decisive.

Various Weighing Scenes

The deceased does not wish to loose his or her heart after judgment, for the "ib" was the seat of the "Ba". As a heart found to be heavier than the Feather of Maat was recycled, various protective spells were written in the tomb, on the coffin or inscribed on amulets placed in the mummy's wrappings. Often a Scarab Beetle, representing Kheper, the resurrected Sun-god, was placed on the heart itself.

And what caused the heart to be "too heavy" ?

"Vile is he whose belly is voracious ;
time passes and he forgets
in whose house the belly strides."
The Instructions of Kagemni, I.

The sapiental texts are very consistent : the fire in the belly causes one to forget Maat ! Unbridled emotions, harsh speech, violence, hatred, greed, pride etc. block the flow of vital energy, abhorred by the "ka", and so bring down the work of Maat, the free flow of Solar energy. This only puts oil upon the fire, making one follow the belly (the afflicted affects, emotions & feelings) instead of the heart in tune with Maat (the balanced mind).

"The trustful of heart does not vent his belly's speech."
Maxims of Good Discourse, 186.

Afflictive emotionality kindles the fire and makes one loose control over oneself, causing harm to others. In return, this causes harm to oneself, for the communicational loop between the two scales of the balance must not be broken, each human being part of a society, be it national, provincial or local.

"His lips are sweet, his tongue is bitter.
A fire burns in his belly.
Do not leap up to join such a one,
lest a terror carry You away."
Instruction to Amen-em-apt, 33-36.

One speaking and acting against Maat will eventually no longer be in touch with the life force of Re and will as it were be disconnected from the universal energy circulation, lacking exchange with it and hence blocking the heart. This leads to a "heavy" heart, for due to the absence of exchange, the negative (blocked, non-circulatory) energy builds up, making the heart sluggish and solid. This is like tightening the knots, stopping further interaction with the larger whole, with the environment and with the gods.

As this condition of the heart determines a person's "last thought" when leaving this plane of existence, turning the mind towards the belly instead of the sky, towards egoistic & afflictive emotionality instead of the lightness of the Feather of Maat, the heart is a crucial organ, both physically as metaphysically.

"Earths rightness lies in Maat !
Speak not falsely - You are great,
Act not lightly - You are weighty ;
Speak not falsely - You are the balance,
Do not swerve - You are the norm !
You are one with the balance,
If it tilts, You may tilt."
The Eloquent Peasant, Third Petition.

This whole procedure of weighing refers to the exchange between the divine and human. The pair of scales involves the natural and automatic functioning of a natural, divine law.

"Said he (Anubis) that is in the tomb : 
'Pay attention to the decision of truth
and the plummet of the balance, according to its stance !'"
Papyrus of Ani, Plate 3
 (note how the plummet hangs as a heart on the Feather of Maat)

In this short exhortation, a practical method of truth springs to the fore : concentration, observation, quantification (analysis, spatiotemporal flow, measurements) & recording (fixating). This with the purpose of rebalancing, reequilibrating & correcting concrete states of affairs, using the plumb-line of the various equilibria in which these actual aggregates of events are dynamically -scale-wise- involved, causing Maat to be done for them and their environments and the proper Ka, at peace with itself, to flow between all parts of creation. The "logic" behind this operation involves four rules : 

1. • inversion : when a concept is introduced, its opposite is also invoked (the two scale of the balance) ;

2. • asymmetry : flow is the outcome of inequality (the feather-scale of the balance is a priori correct) ;

3. • reciprocity : the two sides of everything interact and are interdependent (the beam of the balance) ;

4. • multiplicity-in-oneness : the possibilities between every pair are measured by one standard (the plummet).

1.3 Entering the Shrine of the Heart.

"Whosoever puts Thee in his heart, O Amun !
Lo, his Sun dawns."
Prayer to Amun, Ostracon (BM 5656a).

The spiritual role of the heart was not limited to the afterlife, nor to the mere psychology of a person. In Ancient Egyptian thought, morality, psychology and bringing in an awareness of the divine order (spirituality) were not disconnected. Hence, besides its psychological & moral role, "to let his heart enter its shrine" (Instruction of Amen-em-apt, 9) was deemed necessary to lead a spiritual, religious life. This "shrine" of the heart was the sacred place of the "inner god", a concept developed in the Late New Kingdom, when personal piety became fully part of Egypt's cultural form (cf. Hymns to Amun). This "inner god" was the presence of the divine within each individual, i.e. the potential of each and everyone to be in direct touch with the god. Although the priesthood remained crucial to maintain the stability of the unity of Egypt by way of a "good Nile" (cf. the Daily Offering of Maat in the temples), a direct, personal and intimate experience of the divine was not excluded. Their religion accommodated Egyptians to communicate with their deities without mediation ! This would persist in Greco-Roman times.

By entering its "shrine", the heart (mind, desire, will) was brought before the god, enabling the latter to dwell in the person. The spiritual and religious dimensions were emphasized.

"Amun-Re, I love You !
My heart has been filled by You.
I have placed You in my heart,
for I know Your Name."
Prayer to Amun, Ostracon (BM 5656a).

What have we learned ?

According to the Ancient Egyptians, the heart is more than a physical organ generating a pulse. Circulating life force between the physical and vital parts of the body, it is also the seat of our psychological, moral and spiritual functions. During life on Earth, it records what we have heard and said and is the seat of our intentions, will-power and thoughts. Moreover, it acts as the foundation for our this-life experience of the "inner god". Next, it plays a crucial part in what happens to our consciousness in the afterlife. It we care about its lightness, it being constantly in touch with the Solar force and the ability to circulate this, then nothing bad accumulates and the heart remains light. During weighing, it will have little intensity, power or force to keep us from moving to the next level of existence.

The heart is our mind, our morality and our "shrine". Without it, we would not be aware, act properly, experience the divine and guarantee our own afterlife. It is directly linked with the order of the cosmos, the eternal circulation of life power. The heart is the receptive and motoric organ par excellence.

2. The Organ of Abrahamic Mysticism.

The three "religions of the book", namely Judaism, Christianity and Islam, form a single monotheist tradition rooted in the revelations of Abraham, their arch-patriarch. The obvious differences between them do not eclipse their overarching substantialist concept of God. This superstructure was inspired -in various meandering courses- by Heliopolitanism and the Ancient Egyptian heritage, and evolved into an onto-theology, i.e. an ontology of an objective, self-subsisting, substantial Supreme Being. The latter was conceptualized (a) in terms of the (neo)Platonic tradition, i.e. as a "summum bonum" (cf. Philo of Alexandria, Al-Kindi, Augustine) or (b) in tune with the Peripatetic emphasis on empirical reality (cf. Maimonides, Averroes, Thomas Aquinas). Epistemologically & apologetically, these theologies uncritically accepted Greek concept-realism.

This ultimate God-as-substance created the world "ex nihilo", and is believed to be the ontological "imperial" root of all possible existence. Only in the more mystical traditions of these faiths do we find another, less positive affirmation of this substance-God's necessary supremacy : the negative veils "Ain", "Ain Soph" and "Ain Soph Aur" in Qabalah (Luria), the ineffable hyper-existence of God in negative theology (ps.-Dionysius the Areopagite, Marguerite Porete) and the unknowability of the Divine essence in Sufism (Ibn al-'Arabî). But these refined mystical "apophatic" speculations were muted by the overall "katapathic" noise produced by the theologians, as always preoccupied by apologetic concerns and their manipulative, power-based mass-indoctrination.

By identifying the mind of God with Plato's world of ideas, the Platonists had to exchange Divine grace for intuitive reason. The Peripatetics introduced perception as a valid source of knowledge and so prepared the end of theology, the rational explanation of the "facts" of revelation. There seemed to be little or no facts after all !

When Peripatetic metaphysics got integrated in monotheist theology, the end of fundamental theology could not be far off. Indeed, how to assimilate the more empirical approach of Aristotle without harming the God of revelation ? As soon as the natural world became focus of attention, the "facts" of revelation could no longer be believed at their face value. The most clear example of this is geocentrism. All three faiths claimed the Earth to be at the center of the universe. Embracing Copernicanism threw humanity off its self-proclaimed pedestal and paved the way to prove most "facts" of scripture were manmade literary fictions. Not only were the so-called "scientific miracles" found in the holy books explained in a secular way, but literary criticism proved how these texts themselves are merely historical compositions adapted to the circumstances of their time. Moreover, only few authentic (original) texts could be identified ! How to erect a strong conviction or faith on nothing more than stories and remain a sane, rational human being ?

Moreover, Aristotle's concept of the "Unmoved Mover" reaffirmed the general Greek prejudice against relationality, identifying objects entertaining relationships with other objects as of "lower rank" compared to objects removed from empirical actuality, looking down at the world from their unmoved Olympic heights.

Indeed, for Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274), like Averroes (1226 - 1198) influenced by Aristotle, the relation between God and the world is a "relatio rationis", not a real or mutual bond. This scholastic notion can be explained by taking the example of a subject apprehending an object. From the side of the object only a logical, rational relationship persists. The object is not affected by the subject apprehending it. From the side of the subject however, a real relationship is at hand, for the subject is really affected by the perception of the object. According to Thomism, God is not affected by the world, and so God is like an object, not a subject ! The world however is affected by this object-God, clearly not "Emmanuel", God-with-us. Hence, the relationship between God and the world cannot be reciprocal. If so, the world only contributes to the glory of God ("gloria externa Dei"). The finite is nothing more than a necessary "explicatio Dei". This is the seen as the only way the world can contribute to God.

In this line of reasoning, the monotheist God, like a Caesar of sorts, is omnipotent and omniscient. This means God knows what is possible as possible, what is presently real as real and also the future of what is real (predestination). Moreover, God can do what He likes and so is directly responsible for all events (cf. "insh'Allah"). These views make it impossible not to attribute all possible evil, like the slaying of the innocent, to God ! Such a theology turns the good God into a brutal monster or proves the point He cannot exist (cf. Sartre). Finally, free will cannot be combined with this view of God as the sufficient condition of all things, for freedom only harmonizes with a view of God as merely the necessary condition.

The mystics of these faiths tell another story. Their direct experience of God "in their heart", unhindered by the dry bones of Greek logic, proved to them an interaction (and thus relation) with the Absolute is indeed possible. Mostly leading to savage reactions from the religious populace enraged by angry theologians, these fine flowers of faith were rare. To listen to their silent song and often paradoxal enunciations is therefore the more challenging.

2.1 Beauty in Qabalah.

“You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with all your mind."
Deuteronomy, 6:5.

"... the voice of the living God speaks from within the fire, and it dwells within the heart, and thus is the speech there."
Abulafia, A. : Ozar 'Eden Ganuz, MS Oxford, 1580, fol.12a.

"Bear in mind that before the emanations were emanated and the creatures were created, the upper simple light had filled entire existence, and there was no empty space whatsoever."
Luria, I. : The Ten Luminous Emanations, 1-4.

In the Old Testament, the "heart" also plays a moral, psychological and spiritual role. To love the Lord with one's heart, soul and mind is designating three functions :

• Psychological as in : "Pharaoh hardened his heart ..." (Exodus, 8:32), "I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart ..." (1 Samuel, 17:28), and "I kept the matter in my heart." (Daniel, 7:28).
• Moral as in : "And these words, which I command You this day, shall be in your heart ... " (Deuteronomy, 6:6).
• Spiritual as in : "... in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it." (Exodus, 36:2) and "Now therefore, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst, and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel." (Joshua, 24:23).

In Judaism and Qabalah, both in its Jewish and Christian form, the heart plays a pivotal role.

"What is the Heart ? It is the 32 hidden paths of wisdom that are hidden in it. In each of their paths there is also a Form watching over it. It is thus written (Genesis 3:24), 'To watch the way of the Tree of Life.'".
Sepher Bahir, part one, 98.

"... serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind ; for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts."
1 Chronicles, 28:9.

In the Jewish Qabalah, the heart ("Lev"), is also taken as a metaphor for the Tree of Life as a whole, representing the totality of Divine wisdom available to (re)connect the human world with God.

Directly linked with our spiritual nature, the wisdom of the Tree of Life feeds our supraconscious awareness and a direct experience of the Divine Presence ("Shechinah"). The heart is the connecting point between the first and the last Divine Enumeration or Sephiroth (the Ten Divine Mathematical Spheres constituting the Tree of Life).

"... the Heart is actually the primary point of the spiritual dimension that connects Kether-Crown to Malkuth-Kingship."
Sepher Bahir, part two, 106.

As the tenth Sephiroth situated underneath the lower Abyss, Malkuth is the pinnacle of the World of Manifestation (Assiah), the potential "Kingdom" of the Divine on Earth. This is the "Fallen Daughter" which the qabalists needs to "raise" upon the Throne of Understanding ("Binah", at the top of the Left Pillar of Form), entering, via the act of Divine Love ("Daleth" the 14th Path) Wisdom ("Chockmah", at the top of the Right Pillar of Force) and thus Divine Presence ("Kether", the crown of the Tree of Life).

This act of restoration ("tikun") is done by acquiring living knowledge ("Da'at"), processing negative (black) but passive (-) energy (the black pseudo-Sephirah in the Lower Abyss) by way of the "code of life", and transforming it into active (white), positive (+) energy (the white pseudo-Sephirah in the Upper Abyss). Retrieving the "sparks of the Divine" being the fundamental operation aimed at by Jewish mysticism. In this participation of the human spirit in the Jubilee of Jubilees (the Eschatological End when God sees God), the Tree of Life, the "heart of heaven" plays a fundamental role. For a sanctuary has to be build in the heart, a place of Divine indwelling and communion ...

"... the Shechinah that is called 'heart' ..."
Sepher ha Zohar, Tezawa, volume IV, 179b.

Associated in the Christian Qabalah with Tiphareth, the heart represents the Beauty of the dynamical harmony between form (the intellectual side) and force (the intuitive side). Tiphareth, the seat of the "higher Self", is linked with all Sephiroth except Malkuth, showing its central and fundamental role in the work of the Christian qabalists, the establishment of the Kingdom of God, again able to receive the Light of God.

"... God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
1 Samuel, 16:7.

The active equilibrium between the extremes represented by the Left and Right Pillars of form & force respectively, constitutes the Golden Middle Way trod by the sages, who does not reject understanding & wisdom, but know how to integrate both in the heart, creating a powerful intuition of past, present & future.

"And You shall speak to all that are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom ..."
Exodus, 28:3.

Representing the indwelling of Divine intuition ("gatlut"), the Sephiroth of Beauty holds the key to the whole edifice of the Tree of Life. In this Divine Enumeration, all Divine powers - except materialization- enter, circulate and exit. Just as the Lunar Yesod is the foundation of egoic life, the Solar Tiphareth is the seat of the life of the soul ("ruach" or "wind") rebirthing life after life to continue her task of reuniting the material world of Assiah with the Divine worlds of Yetzirah, Briah and Atziluth.

"Since I know, O my God, that You try the heart and delight in uprightness, I, in the integrity of my heart, have willingly offered all these things ..."
1 Chronicles, 29:17.

To realize this, both Lunar and Solar Operations are necessary. Together they constitute the Great Work ("Magnum Opus") :

• Firstly, without a strong foundation ("Yesod"), rooted in the various realities of material life ("Malkuth") and the living knowledge gathered by confronting the demons of personal existence (Lower "Da'at"), the Tree of Life cannot be climbed and the restoration remains ineffective.  This Lunar Operation involves building a genuine, living spiritual foundation. It calls for four major steps : (1) purifying the four elements of our material existence, the Four Cardinal Quarters of Malkuth, namely "Air" -thought-, "Fire" -intention/volition- ; "Water" -affectivity- & "Earth" -actionality/sensation-, (2) accepting, naming, confronting and transforming the personal demons (the empty shells -"qlipoth"- exiting from the Lower Abyss, triggering authentic, living knowledge concerning one's own personal life), (3) establishing an objective, practical intellectual basis ("Hod") & (4) intuitively realizing genuine love and compassion for others ("Netzach").

• Secondly, after a genuine spiritual foundation has been erected ("Yesod"), the higher levels of the Tree of Life (beyond Tiphareth) cannot be touched without having first fastened the "button" of the heart-centre, for if they are, the psyche may split, with as possible results sudden death, the denial of all things spiritual or insanity (permanent possession by the demon of the Upper Abyss). So the Solar Operation calls for an integration of one's personal spiritual foundation ("Yesod") at soul level ("Tiphareth"). To achieve this, a "Watchtower experience" is needed.

"I was asleep but my heart was awake."
Songs, 5:2.

The ego has to be transcended and a panoramic perspective established. Not only does the Higher Self (on the Throne of Beauty) overlook the Lunar ego, but it also becomes aware of the history of the soul of the individual, i.e. the crucial experiences gathered by numerous rebirths in various lower vehicles (Assiah and Yetzirah). When "Paroketh", the "veil of the temple" (between Yetzirah and Briah) has thus been lifted, consciousness is no longer unifocal (with Yesod as its sole centre), but bifocal, circumambulating both the Lunar ego (at Yesod) and the Solar Higher Self (at Tiphareth). A constant pendulum-movement between both foci is now possible.

"Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad."
Psalm, 105:3

With the birth of Adepthood, the higher journey towards Godhead can be commenced. The Adept communicates with and has experience of his or her "Holy Guardian Angel". The latter is a bridging spiritual entity symbolical of the "Divine spark" within (the "Imago Dei"). Guiding (like Dante's Beatrice) consciousness on the higher, heavenly planes, it protect it from any possible relapse into spiritual selfishness.

"I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds."
Jeremiah, 17:10.

Indeed, especially when the work of Adepthood (in the Briatic World of Creation) has been ended and the "Adeptus Exemptus" (by composing a "Book of the World") is free to finally cross the Upper Abyss, he or she will have to void the throne of the Higher Self ...

Indeed, not "my" will (i.e. the intent of the Higher Self) but "His" Will (i.e. the Will of God) must be done ! In this final consummate phase, the Higher Self itself is experienced as empty of inherent existence, i.e. impermanent, and only if the Adept sheds this last fetter, namely that of his own spiritual Self, can his (her) consciousness enter the "Holy of Holies", witnessing God "face to Face".

"They that are of a fraudulent heart are abomination to the Lord, but such as are upright in their way are his delight."
Proverbs, 11:20.

Even the tiniest rest of Self-preservation will bar the Adept from realizing this Chockmah-consciousness beyond the Neshamah. Hence, the Holy Guardian Angel, first encountered in Tiphareth, leads the way and assists the Adept in Self-denudation, irreversible annihilating any vestige of permanency below the Upper Abyss. The demon of the Upper Abyss (the archetype of evil itself) is precisely this self-powered (not other-powered) sense of inherent existence as a Higher Self. At this level, Adepthood itself becomes a danger.

In this complex "scala perfectionis" sketched by the Christian Qabalah, involving the alchemical process of "purificatio" (negrido), "illuminatio" (albedo) and "Deificatio" (rubedo), being nothing less than the Solar throne of spiritualization, the heart-centre plays a central role. After first having erected a firm foundation, it is necessary to then establish a comprehensive picture of the soul and the world.

Tiphareth, as the establishment of an authentic spiritual Self or soul, is however not the ultimate target. Deep within this Temple of Beauty, the "voice of the silence" may be heard, a "spirit", holy angel or "Imago Dei" guiding one beyond the heart itself, transcending it to realize the highest and ultimate aim : doing the Loving Will of God on Earth, i.e. realizing the Kingdom (Malkuth) of the Divine Presence of Love (Aziluth), precipitating the Perfect Man, the Messiah. He saves creation as a whole, restores it to the point of perfection and allows the Creator to witness Himself in His Kingdom.

2.2 The Pure in Heart & Poor in Spirit.

Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God."
Gospel of Matthew, 5:8.

"The beatitude does not consist in knowing God (Matthew, 5:8), but in having God in oneself."
Gregorius of Nyssa : De Beatitudo, 6.

In the New Testament, the tradition of attributing psychological, moral and spiritual functions to the heart is continued.

• Psychological as in : "... grieved at their hardness of heart ..." (Mark, 3:5), "Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life ..." (Luke, 21:34), and "For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears ..." (2 Corinthians, 2:4).
• Moral as in : "But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance." (Luke, 8:15).
• Spiritual as in : "Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." (Matthew, 22:37), "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith ; that You, being rooted and grounded in love ..." (Ephesians, 3:17) and "So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which You do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts." (2 Peter, 1:19).

The "pure of heart" able to "see God" do not witness God outside themselves as a kind of Supreme Being, but experience the inner Lord residing in the heart. Insofar as the mystic moves out to find the Divine, his or her ipseity is a hindrance. But when the eyes are turned inwardly, the spiritual search is rewarding.

"Out of myself a stumbling block, into myself as fulfillment."
Hammarskjöld, D. : Markings, 1957.

This experience is a gift of God by way of His grace, made possible because the bride of God, the soul, prepared the nuptial bed properly by works of virtue, accumulating merit. So in this spiritual communion, a reciprocity is at work, for both the soul and God are at work. Insofar as the heart is pure, what is found is Divine. But as long as the heart is burdened by attachments to outward objects of mind & sensation, what is found will turn the soul away from its Beloved (Satan, identifying his ego with God, being the extreme example of this).

"He who wills sacrifice will be sacrificed - according to the measure of his purity of heart."
Hammarskjöld, D. : Markings, 1950.

This mystical view contrasts with the concepts of theologians, who, driven by an exaggerated perspective on the Fall and inherited, original sin, exalt the exclusive nature of Divine grace hand in hand with man's wretchedness. By thus complementing God, they nurture a radical difference between God and man. Such radicality harms the humanity of the Bridegroom of the soul, the fact the Word was born in a stable. The Nativity of Christ confirms He did not intent to be a Caesar or a feudal Lord towering above groveling servants & slaves. The Incarnation had not a "top-down" intent, but works "bottom-up" !

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."
Gospel of Matthew, 5:3.

Interpreting this verse in terms of a traditional urban and spirito-social theology, the phrase "poor in spirit" is necessarily viewed in negative terms, depreciating our humanity. Then it refers to a realizing sense of our fallen spiritual state, seeing in a true light the tendency in us to do evil, a conviction of being shut up to the grace of God, being shut up to God for faith, bound to an abiding sense of our absolute need, given our wickedness, for a Savior, or worse, a setting aside of ourselves, a self-loathing and self renunciation in all respects, casting away our hope in and dependence upon ourselves ... In this view on spiritual poverty we realize we cannot save ourselves and we have a keen sense of our own sinfulness.

If this interpretation, turning spiritual poverty into a poverty-mentality, is correct, then how to understand that in such a depraved, spiritually bankrupt condition the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to us !? Moreover, in this view, the ego has not vanished out of view, but is depreciated, humbled, abased and rejected. Turned into a slave, it can only look up, fear the Master and totally submit to Him as the Supreme Hierarch. Such a Pharaonic divide does not create space and openness, but the crampness felt in the narrow cave of repression. The ego is abased to exalt Christ, brought down to value an extreme contrast. Such a poverty-mentality brings down the soul's work of virtue & merit, leaving everything to Divine grace. Clearly, a reasonable exegesis is then replaced by blind fideism, and Christ's humility becomes the omnipotence of a Caesar or a feudal Lord.

"Never has a man been made to fall by one thing or another ; it always came to be because he did not give any attention to the ground of his soul and had allowed himself to be deceived by the external."
Eckhart : Predigten, Von der ewigen Geburt.

Being "poor in spirit" is indeed the foundation of the Beatitudes because authentic spiritual poverty is not a poverty-mentality but the prerequisite for eternal life. True, nobody who thinks they have cause to be there, other than Christ, gets into heaven. Our hands have indeed to be empty before they can be filled by God. There must be nothing there, except the space for God to fill. True, this is not something we do alone in and of ourselves. It is evidence of God’s work in us we may see ourselves for who we are and therefore, truly humble, are willing to turn to Him because He has turned our hearts toward Him. But it is the bride who whitens the nuptial bed. True, we have nothing to lay claim to Him. But genuine humility is not only rejecting more than what we are, but also accepting nothing less than what we are ! It is an awareness of what we truly are, nothing more and nothing less.

"Humility by itself is nothing else than a true knowledge and a true consciousness of oneself as one truly is."
The Cloud of Unknowing, chapter 13.

"So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him ..."
Genesis, 1:27.

"I have said, You are gods ; and all of You are children of the Most High."
Psalms, 82:6.

"This first way is a desire that most certainly originates from love, for the good soul that wants to follow faithfully and wants to love durably is being drawn on by the craving for this desire -to be loved and to be guarded most strongly- in order to exist in purity and freedom and nobility in which she is made by her creator, after His image and to His resemblance."
Beatrice of Nazareth : Seven Ways of Holy Love, First Way, § 1.

The Kingdom of Heaven in the Gospel of Matthew belongs to those who denude themselves completely. Those who become empty of themselves. Genuine love of God eliminates the strongholds of the ego and its mental & sensate constructions. The "poor in spirit" are those who end the conceptual activity of the mind, voiding the tyranny of the domination of the fortified, solid and permanent sense of ego and of all thoughts, feelings and actions associated with this narcissistic egology. They create openness for the Bridegroom to enter. They stop this being satisfied by oneself alone, this seeking happiness by making oneself happy.

Without destroying the ego, the "poor in spirit" empty its fixations. Indulging in the esthetic appeal the static ego has of itself, it looks into the mirror to be gratified, horrified by any sign of decay and loss of permanent self-satisfaction. Confirming its own ethical stance, this petty ruler forgives itself, charmed by its own fictions. Puffed-up, the hallucinating ego is a sinner uttering his own absolution, taking no risks, seeking control & domination. Thus masturbating itself to the manipulated & unspontaneous heights of a surrogate orgasm, this false ego sows the seeds of unrelenting anxiety and fear. Burdening the heart, this poison makes it turn hard, dark, bitter & spiteful.

"... without risk, no faith, the more risk, the more faith ; the less objective credibility, the more deeper possible inwardness becomes."
Kierkegaard, S. : Concluding Unscientific Postscript, chapter 2, 1846.

The poor in spirit are wholly turned towards otherness. By making others happy, they invite the radical other, opening up their heart for Divine love and making room for the Bridegroom to enter.

"For the incomprehensible marvel which resides in this love eternally transcends the understanding of all creatures. But where one understands and savors this marvel without astonishment, there the spirit is above itself and is one with the Spirit of God, and it tastes and sees, without measure, even as God, the richness which itself is in the unity of the living ground where it possesses itself according to the way of its uncreatedness."
Van Ruusbroec, J. : The Spiritual Espousals, Book III.

In the heart of these humble souls, no negative passions can linger for the very ground upon which these feed has been voided. Empty of afflictive emotions, total openness towards all beings is made possible.

"Never have I suffered to remain in my heart a thought that angered me."
Verba Seniorum, Book XI, XXX.

By emptying the hands, they become vessels in which Divine grace may pour the gifts of the Holy Spirit. As these gifts find nothing fixed to adhere to, they can be fully engaged in the work of charity, the activity of effectively ending the suffering of others, actualizing the potential of Divine love in others, assisting all human beings in the work of acquiring spiritual nakedness.

"Not I, but God in me."
Hammarskjöld, D. : Markings, 1953.

"For we men have one book in common which points to God. Each has it within himself, which is the priceless Name of God. Its letters are the flames of His love, which He out of His heart in the priceless Name of Jesus has revealed in us. Read these letters in your hearts and spirits and You have books enough. All the writings of the children of God direct You unto that one book, for therein lie all the treasures of wisdom. This book is Christ in You."
Boehme, J. : Libri Apologetici, Book 1.

This emptying of the hands is a simile of stopping the conceptual mind, ending its "monkey talk" and endless chatter. It is daring to be without the securities offered by social conditioning and intellectual prowess. Jumping into the abyss or falling without knowing who is catching us.

"The boy in the forest,
Throws off his best Sunday suit
And plays naked."
Hammarskjöld, D. : Markings, 8.9.1959.

But there is more. The "poor in spirit" are "pure in heart", encountering the Bridegroom directly within, in the "shrine of the heart". They embrace Him and exist for, with and in Him.

"In this embrace, in the essential unity of God, are all inner spirits one with God in loving transport, and they are the selfsame one that the essence itself is in itself. And in this sublime unity of the Divine nature, the heavenly Father is the origin and the beginning of every work that is done in heaven and on Earth. And He says in the immersed hiddenness of the spirit : 'See : the Bridegroom cometh, go out, to meet Him.'"
Van Ruusbroec, J. : The Spiritual Espousals, Book III.

The Divine transport strengthens the soul beyond any possible measure, giving it élan and confidence. Such enthusiasm and assured vigor and liveliness makes the pure soul, in the wild storm of the self-powered afflictive emotionality of others, a protecting beacon. Due to the activity of the Holy Spirit, living in the depths of the heart, and the total denudation of the soul by the work of virtue, a fire with the name of Love is able to move about unseen, transforming the soul.

"Gain or loss, honor or shame,
Consolation at being with God in heaven
Or in the torture of hell :
This Fire makes no distinction.
It burns to death everything it ever touches :
Damnation or blessing no longer matter."
Hadewijch : Poems, 16:95-100.

And in this fire is heard : "O dulcis Jesu, o amor cordis mei !"

"Where perfection of the soul is,
there also is the habitation of God."
Richard of St.-Victor : Mystical Ark, Appendix, 2.

So the "poor in spirit" vacate space in their souls and open the inner recesses of its organ, the heart, to the quickening powers of the Divine spirit. Of course they are aware of their own initial sinfulness, but this too they lay at the feet of their Lord. They do so not to humiliate themselves as footstools, but because their absolution comes from Him. Moreover, they cannot uplift themselves without Him. But He is already in them, and when they go out they are confident to meet Him. Denudation is a necessary step in this process.

"And the truth of His rich open Heart says to their spirit that He shall be totally theirs. With this confidence they fly through all the heights of Love. These soul consume without being satisfied."
Hadewijch : Letters, 22:201.

Besides a naked ego, i.e. a humble personal focus of consciousness truly in tune with its own true ipseity, the soul needs to constantly remember the Divine presence. This heart-based living is another necessity. Not forgetting the omnipresence of my Lord, I walk with Him and He with me. Denuded I stay naked. Clothing is always loose and cast off as soon as its purpose is fulfilled. Ideas, volitions & thoughts come and go, indeed talking about the outer world and its ways. Charity listens, but nothing cleaves unto it. It does not resist separation from remembering the Lord is an Eternal Witness.

"You should bear God in your heart with constant remembrance, and embrace Him lovingly with an open and expectant heart ; and always long for the sweetness coming from His Heart, and the inner affection of His inner sweet Nature."
Hadewijch : Letters, 24:64.

Although Christian mystics focus on the heart, and consider the Divine Love harbored there to be the primary motor of the Divine transport, they nevertheless point to a secondary organ, namely the mind. Heart and mind are both addressed.

Influenced by the Greek apophatic tradition, and its mysticism of the unknown God ("Deus absconditus") the envisaged denudation not only affects a person's existential, wholehearted wholeness, but also the emptying of all thoughts of their potential hold on the Divine. All concepts of God fail, and even the name "God" fails.

"God is so great that she cannot comprehend. And through such nothing, she is fallen in to the certainty of knowing nothing and into the certainty of willing nothing. And this nothing, of which we speak, says Love, gives her all."
Porette, M. : The Mirror of the Simple Souls, 81:3-11.

Nameless, the Absolute can only be given "hyper" names, pointing to a transcendence beyond polarity, opposition and the tyranny of affirmation and denial, of nearness and farness. The "Loingprés" cannot be grasped.

"There is no speaking of it, nor name nor knowledge of it. Darkness and light, error and truth - it is none of these. It is beyond assertion and denial. We make assertions and denials of what is next to it, but never of it, for it is both beyond every assertion, being the perfect and unique cause of all things, and, by virtue of its preeminently simple and absolute nature, free of every limitation, beyond every limitation ; it is also beyond every denial."
ps.-Dionysius the Areopagite : The Mystical Theology, chapter 5, 1048B.

Through Divine Love, heart and mind are fused and their functions mingle. Where normally the mind is lucid and the heart is loving, the mystical Fire transforms both to the point of mutual, reciprocal reflection. The mind apprehending the beauty of God's creation is a loving mind ("amor intellectualis Dei") and the heart living the perfection of Love is lucid !

"He had no need for the divided responsibility in which others seek to be safe from ridicule, because he had been granted a faith which required no confirmation - a contact with reality, light and intense like the touch of a loving hand : a union in self-surrender without self-destruction, where his heart was lucid and his mind loving. In Sun and wind, how near and how remote - How different from what the knowing ones call Mysticism."
Hammarskjöld, D. : Markings, 1955.

The work of Divine Love in the soul, changing heart and mind, bringing both to closeness, is the work of perfection, and its three stages : purification, illumination and Deification. In the last phase, the soul is totally adopted by its Lord, and the Divine Presence never leaves. Total confidence and reliance is established between both, and the soul is transported by the Divine embrace again and again like a child jumps into the lap of its mother. Total recognition and similitude are realized. The soul constantly remembering its Lord and the Lord permanently taking His seat in the heart. What a life as a "son of God" !

"Forgetting the created,
reminding the one who created,
attentive to what is in You,
giving love to the Beloved."
St.John of the Cross : Short Summary of Perfection, Poems, XIV.

2.3 The Heart as the Tent of Allah.

"He it is Who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the believers that they might have more of faith added to their faith."
The Victory, 48:4.

"If the characteristic of Allah is explicit for Allah, why would the place where it manifests among men (= yourself), remain hidden to them ?"
Hallâj, Husayn Mansûr : Dîwân, Maqatta'a, 63.4.

"He is my Friend,
and through Him am I,
for my heart has embraced Him,
so I am His tent."
Ibn al-'Arabî : The Meccan Openings (Futûhât al-makkiyya), chapter 370.

Again in the Koran, the heart has psychological, moral and spiritual functions :

• Psychological as in : "There is a disease in their hearts ... (The Cow, 2:10), "Then your hearts hardened after that, so that they were like rocks, rather worse in hardness ..." (The Cow, 2:74), "... their hearts shrinking from fighting you or fighting their own people ..." (The Woman, 4:90), and "Your God is one God ; so (as for) those who do not believe in the hereafter, their hearts are ignorant and they are proud." (The Bee, 16:22).
• Moral as in : " If Allah knows anything good in your hearts, He will give to You better than that which has been taken away from You and will forgive You, and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful." (The Accessions, 8:70).
• Spiritual as in : "Say : Have You considered that if Allah takes away your hearing and your sight and sets a seal on your hearts, who is the god besides Allah that can bring it to You ?" (The Cattle, 6:46), and "Those who believe and whose hearts are set at rest by the remembrance of Allah ; now surely by Allah's remembrance are the hearts set at rest." (The Thunder, 13:28).

Islam's mystic tradition is known as "Sufism". The Arabic term "sûfî" or "mystic" derives from "sûf" or "wool", probably in reference to the woolen clothing worn by the first ascetics of Islam. Sufism (appearing in the ninth century CE - the third Islamic century) is the totality of mystical practices rooted in Islam. These enable Muslims to attain Divine knowledge (cf. Hermetical "gnosis") & love through the direct experience of "Allah", The God ("al-ilâh"). Hence they were called "followers of the Real" ("ahl al-haqq").

Sufism consists of a variety of mystical paths. The most prominent of these being "remembrance" ("dhikr"), or the continuous awareness of the all-comprehensive Name of The God : Allah. In the textbooks, Sufism is divided into three dimensions : knowledge ("'ilm"), works ("'amal") and reality ("haqîqah"). First comes the Law in its widest sense, embracing all theoretical teachings of Islam. Then comes "the Way", the method of putting the Law into practice. Finally, the spiritual realization of the ascending stages of human perfection results in proximity to The God. Sûfîs take their orientation from the third dimension and maintain a balance between all dimensions, taking Prophet Muhammad, peace with him, as their spiritual example.

More than one Western scholar claimed Sufism to be an organized movement arising among pious Muslims as a reaction against the worldliness of the early Umayyad period (661 - 750). Yearning for individual union with The God on the basis of the Koran (Qur'ân), the Sunnah of the Prophet and the example of the great saints, these mystics found the externalities of the law, divorced from a genuine living spirituality, unsatisfactory and so increasingly asserted a Way ("tarîqah" or "path") and Realities ("haqîqah") other than those proposed by the Sharî'ah, the traditional law. Sufism similarly opposed its intuitionism ("ma'rifah" or "interior knowledge", "gnosis") to the rational deductions of philosophers, formal theologians & legalists ("'ilm").

These three approaches of Islam, namely law, philosophy & mysticism are discernable in the Koran itself. Islam and Sufism can be distinguished by the fact the latter takes it orientation from the third aspect : spiritual emancipation (liberation) and mystical annihilation (realization through survival & sobriety). Sufism is the Living Water of Islam, the proof unveiling is unending. Based on the Hâdîth of Gabriel, Sufism is therefore the "spirit" of Islam, for archangel Gabriel came to teach the Arabs their religion ("din").

The three foundations of Islam are "submission" ("islam"), "faith" ("iman") and "doing the beautiful" ("ihsan"). The last was not mentioned by the jurists ("fuquha'"), nor by the theologians ("mutakallimun"), the lawmakers, but became the object of the mystics. 

1. • The jurists focus on the Five Pillars, voicing the testimony of faith ("iman"), meaning "to acknowledge with the heart, to voice with the tongue, and to act with the limbs". This constitutes the "body" of Islam, telling people what to do and what not to do, namely voicing the testimony of faith ("shahadah"), five daily prayers, paying alms tax, fasting during Ramadan & making -if possible- the pilgrimage to Mecca ;

2. • The theologians, or experts in dogmatic theology ("kalam") articulate & defend creedal teachings ("sharia"). Together with the philosophers they help understand the world and can be seen as the "mind" of Islam ;

3. • Jurists & theologians show little interest or competence regarding "doing the beautiful", defined by the Prophet as to "worship Allah as if you see Him, for even if you do not see Him, He sees You." This is the object of Sufism which teaches people how to transform themselves and become what they fundamentally are. It is the "spirit" of Islam.

Law, philosophy & mysticism are the spirito-social embodiments of the life of the servants of God, namely as work/law (body), thought/philosophy (mind) & imagination/mysticism (emotion, intuition). Only if the specialists of each expression (i.e. the lawyer-theologians, the scientist-philosophers and the mystics) solidify their positions in dogmatic extremes and subsequently attack each other, may divisions occur justifying the distinction between "orthodox" & "heterodox". And unfortunately for Islam, this happened. According to some later historians because of the so-called "heretical" teachings of the champion of speculative mysticism, the Greatest Master of Sufism, Ibn al-'Arabî.

"To become what one was before one became."
Junayd

Abû Bakr Muhammad ibn al-'Arabî (1165 - 1240) was a celebrated Muslim mystic-philosopher who gave the esoteric, mystical dimension of Islamic thought its first full-fledged philosophic expression. His major works are the monumental al-Futuhat al-Makkiyah ("The Meccan Revelations") and Fûsus al-hikam ("The Bezels of Wisdom"). The literary career of Ibn al-'Arabî, also called : "The Greatest Master", "The Animator of the Religion", "Doctor Maximus", "The Son of Plato", "the Seal of the Saints" or "The Platonist" is enormous. Yahia (1964) in his two-volume history & classification of his works, estimates he wrote 700 books, treatises & collections of poetry of which 400 are extant. Some works are impressive. The Futûhât al-makkiyya, a vast encyclopedia of the Islamic sciences within the context of unity (cf. "tawhîd"), includes 560 chapters and ca.17.000 pages in the critical edition. The texts of this major mystic philosopher are all of an extreme high level of sophistication.

It is impossible to identify the Absolute in its absoluteness with the Unity of the 99 Divine Names or "Allah". Within the "worlds of absolute mystery" (or the worlds of "potentiality"), two Presences ("hadrah") or ontological dimensions of the Self-manifestation of the Absolute ("tajallî") emerge :

(1) the Absolute in its absoluteness : the One (or unity of essence), the Unique, the Real, ineffable, inconceivable, truth ;
(2) the Absolute as Divine Consciousness : the permanent, nonexistent fixed entities and their relationships : the archetypes of all possible things in Allah's Knowledge, the Divine Names & their Oneness (or unity of multiplicity) called "Allah".

"The God who is in a faith is the God whose form the heart contains, who discloses Himself to the heart in such a way that the heart recognizes Him. Thus the eye sees only the God of the faith."
Ibn-al'Arabî : Bezels of Wisdom (Fûsus al-hikam), I, 121, II, 146-147. 

The heart of the gnostic ("ârif") is colored in every instant by the color or modality of the form in which the Divine Being is epiphanized to him (her). So to each believer, the Absolute is He who is disclosed to him in the form of his faith. If He would manifest in a different form, the believer would reject Him, and that is why the dogmatic faiths (those who impose a common spiritual denominator) combat one another. So one's faith reveals the measure of the capacity of one's heart, explaining why there are many different faiths. The gnostic possesses a true "science of religions", and his "ecumenism" reveals to him the form in which he himself is known to Him who evoked his being (cf. the Divine Names and their traces, the possible things). The heart is the "tent" or form in which Allah appears to the soul.

"When the heart shines with the remembrance of God as a result of sincere contemplation, meditation and worship, Divine truth is reflected in it on the surface of that spot, for that spot belongs to the Kingdom of your Lord. Then an intense light is generated from it, a light which reaches to the deepest corners of the whole being, and the whole being is conscious and in awe. Then not a single member of the human being will move on its own, for none has it own will any longer."
Ibn-al'Arabî : Divine Governance of the Human Kingdom, Chapter 17. 

To know one's eternal Divine Name is to know one's individuality as it results from the revelation of the Divine Being revealing Himself to Himself before Creation. When a human "returns to his Lord", he returns to the Absolute in the form of one of His Names. This form abides in his heart. To deny every individual his or her Lord is nothing less than to deny one's "Angel". When this happens a man confounds his Lord with the infinite number of Divine Names, and so one particular Self-manifestation of the Absolute is imposed upon all other Divine Names (each having its faith & Lord). He confuses what can appear in his own heart with everything unable to appear in that specific form. Allah appears to him in a form his heart can bear, not in forms alien to how He knows the soul for all eternity.

"The diurnal Sun sets at night,
But the Sun of the heart never disappears."
'Abd al-Kader : The Book of Stops, I.14.

Having lost this bond with a specific Divine Name (and hence having lost his knowledge of himself) one may come under the sway of a spiritual imperialism which imposed a universal, i.e. the "same" Lord instead of each man his Lord. This is the God created in the faiths. Not our Lord, but my Lord revealed in my heart is what matters.

"He who knows his soul knows his Lord."
Hâdîth attributed to the Prophet.

"... in one's state of closeness or farness one must realize that there is nothing but Allah. Yet You do not know yourself, because You do not know that You are naught but Him. You are He without yourself."
Ibn al-'Arabî : The One Alone (Kitab al-ahadiyyah).

When one reaches what the waymarks of oneself allow one to reach, then He is seen in one's own form, in one's own heart He then appears. He discloses Himself to the soul only in the form of His knowledge of the soul. And these waymarks are the godwariness of the heart, the tent of Allah.

"Surely Allah is the Knower of what is unseen in the heavens and the Earth ; surely He is Cognizant of what is in the hearts."
The Originator, 35:38.

Allah knows the heart. Filling it with remembrance of its Lord, unites the soul with the specific "form" or Divine Name by which Allah knows it. This form is the tent in which He may appear and in which I can see him "as my own". Just as water takes on the color of the glass, His infinite Names manifest as the one Name in which He knows me.

"Each of us looks at Him as other,
and He is independent of us, the Great -
Except for me, for I see Him
as my own entity, and I am the
experienced."
Ibn al-'Arabî : The Meccan Openings (Futûhât al-makkiyya), chapter 384.

The spiritual process can be reduced to "remembrance" ("dhikr") of "Allah", the All-Comprehensiveness Name of the 99 Divine Names and the Oneness of Being.

Complete remembrance implies :

1. • "fanâ" : or the total annihilation of the sense of ego-identity within consciousness except for the Self-disclosure of the Absolute as my Self, His specific form in my heart as "my Lord". Then the phenomenal demarcations of objects disappear and an absolute stillness of mind & heart occurs ; 

2. • "baqâ" : after radical annihilation, "the passing-away of passing-away" ("fanâ-al-fanâ"), a new conscious identity observing multiplicity -except in the absence of Divine Self-disclosures- survives ! All forms are seen as so many Self-determinations of the Absolute Unity, the One Alone Itself. Before "fanâ", object & subject were definitely separated in ordinary consciousness, each object observed seemingly as a self-subsistent reality with an inherently existing essence of its own, independent of anything. But this was an illusion. Those with their two eyes open (the eye of reason & the eye of direct seeing) realize a consciousness transcending ordinary conceptual cognition, no longer based on duality (shaping multiplicity). They witness how each element within this variety is an expression of an implicate, underlying order or unity ... how the many waves are but Self-expressions of the single ocean.

"What ! Is he whose heart Allah has opened for Islam -so that he is in a light from his Lord- like the hard-hearted ? Nay, woe to those whose hearts are hard against the remembrance of Allah ; those are in clear error."
The Companions, 39:22.

Without remembrance, the mind will identify with its empirical ego and with outer objects seemingly fixed, independent and essential (identical and own-powered). This is the cause of ignorance. The only way out is to allow Allah to guide one's heart. Then and only then the fundamental insight of the unity of all things may rise, eliminating the fixed boundaries between subject & object and taking away the illusion of separate existence.

"... whoever believes in Allah, He guides aright his heart ; and Allah is Cognizant of all things."
The Mutual Deceit, 64:11.

The ultimate mystical experience does not touch the essence of Allah, for only He, the One Alone, has a unique "Face to Face" experience of Himself. We experience only that aspect of Allah by which He know our hearts. He is "my Lord" and I am His servant, but I become Him when I am no longer myself, but united with the Divine Name He placed in my heart. In the ultimate experience of unity, Lord and servant have therefore reciprocal and interchangeable roles. Insofar as the Moon only reflects the light of the Sun, the Moon is a "little Sun". Insofar as the Sun can only be seen without causing blindness as the light of the Moon, the Sun is a "little Moon". But without the Moon, the light of the Sun would, by lack of any other body, never reflect. Without the Sun, all would be darkness.

"Had I to You a path,
I would have nothing to signify You.
So You are an exalted Lord
and I the abased slave.
I marvel at a God and a servant,
in a high waystation that terrifies.
This is a correlation, for my words imply
that He and we are equal.
God said it -no engendered thing said it.
I said it because He said it."
Ibn al-'Arabî : The Meccan Openings (Futûhât al-makkiyya), chapter 384.

When Sun and Moon form this ultimate conjunction, the whole of creation is seen as subsisting thanks to God, and in this sense He is far. But simultaneously, God is experienced as manifesting in every part of His creation, and so He is also near. As the FarNear, Allah is the greatest deliverance and bliss, filling the tent of my heart with an incomparable bright light.

"The Sun symbolizes the Lord -may He be exalted !- just as the Moon symbolizes the servant. Their 'conjunction' symbolizes the degree of the 'union of the union', which is the ultimate degree, the greatest deliverance and the supreme felicity ; it consists in seeing at the same time the creation subsisting by God, and God manifesting Himself by His creation."
'Abd al-Kader : The Book of Stops, I.9.

3. The Indestructible Drop in Buddhist Tantra.

"Do not discriminate, do not reflect,
Do not alter, but let the mind be relaxed.
For the unmodulated mind
is the natural treasure of the unborn emptiness.
The nondual path of wisdom-gone-beyond."
Nâgârjuna (quoted in : Namgyal, T. : Mahâmudrâ, Wisdom Publications - Boston, 2006, p.275).

Historically, Buddhist Tantra was introduced by Mahâyâna Buddhism by the 2nd century CE. Some insist the Tantras are not actual teachings of the Buddha. Others, for good reasons, assert they originate from the Hindu tradition. Traditionally, the origin of Buddhist Tantra is supposed to be rooted in the Fourth Turning of the Wheel by Buddha Śâkyamuni and meant for superior practitioners. These teachings are said to have been given on the inner planes, during deep meditative equipoise.

Buddhist Tantra became a systematic body of teachings starting from the 8th century and, with the rise of the Pâla dynasty of Bihar & Bengal (760 - 1142 CE), entered Buddhist universities. At that point, Buddhist Tantra was "purged" from explicit sexual acts (internalized) and formalized. Antinomian elements were deemed part of a "logic of reversal" -steeped in doublespeak & a "twilight language"- necessary for speeding up spiritual evolution, while explicit sexual acts were replaced by a symbolism expounding the unity of compassion (the ultimate method to accumulate vast merit) and emptiness, realized by wisdom-mind.

3.1 Identifying the Three Minds.

According to Buddhist Tantra, working to transform the deluded body, speech and mind of humans into the enlightened body, enlightened speech & enlightened mind of a Buddha, the mind encompasses the whole range of psychological, moral and spiritual functions : sensations, feelings, volitions and thoughts all project into consciousness and find their final reflective form therein. The Five Aggregates are the functional basis of designation of all possible activity done by a human being, and all impermanent, driven by the unending process of arising, abiding and ceasing. Moment to moment they change and the continuity attributed to these phenomena is an untruth, i.e. merely a conventional projection concealing the ultimate nature of all phenomena : emptiness.

The root cause of delusion is identified as ignorance, the ultimate "poison" hindering the mind of observing itself and the world as they truly are, namely other-powered, dependent, interactive and non-substantial. Further conceptual analysis of ignorance, seeking the proper object to negate to eliminate it, identifies the innate and acquired sense of inherent existence as the culprit (cf. Tsongkhapa). The mind grasps at a selfhood or own-nature ("svabhâva") which, ultimately, is never the case. This illusionary observed ipseity of things, although conventionally (logically, functionally) valid, is mistaken, for making things appear otherwise as they truly are. In this illusion, phenomena seem solid, independent, self-powered and thus inherently existing, while they truly are evanescent, dependent-arisings, other-powered and empty of selfhood.

The non-conceptual, direct experience of the mind by advanced yogis points to its luminous, cognizing activity, the presence of the "nature of mind", said to be knowing, spacious Clear Light ... This is the "great seal" (Mâhamudrâ), evidencing the ultimate nature of all phenomena, the "Body of Truth" ("Dharmakâya") of a Buddha. It was advanced by Saraha, Nâgârjuna, Maitrîpa, Tilopa, Naropa and their Tibetan disciples Marpa, Milarepa and Gampopa.

As the mechanisms of Tantra have been explained elsewhere, we focus on the Three Minds : the coarse, subtle and very subtle layer of the mind. These three levels have been established on the basis of the direct experience of the dissolution of the mind during meditation and the meditative observation of the stages of the process of death, intermediate stage and rebirth. For dying forces the coarse & subtle levels of mind to vanish, unveiling its deepest level, the Clear Light.

Three levels :

• the coarse mind : this mind is our conventional, everyday waking sentient mind, fed by sensations (Earth), affects (Water), volitions (Fire) and thoughts (Air). Each of these inputs have their own logic & function and bring about co-relative effects :

(a) sensations : the coded data received from the five senses (perceptions) is processed in the thalamus and then projected upon the association-areas of the neo-cortex, forming visual, tactile, auditive, olfactory and gustatory sensate objects ;
(b) affects : processed by the limbic system and the non-linguistic hemisphere of the neo-cortex, lust, unlust and indifference are attributed to sensations, volitions, thoughts and states of consciousness, bringing about attracting, repulsing or neutral reactions (or affects, the emotions & feelings) ;
(c) volitions : processed by the motoric association-areas, action, non-action and absence of action are responses to various functional states ;
(d) thoughts : processed by the higher cortical systems, sensate objects are given names.

To identify the coarse mind, we have to understand its location, nature and function. Taking into account the vital body ("prânamâyâkośa"), the mind is not situated in the head (the brain), but in the region of the heart wheel ("chakra"), situated near the physical heart. Its nature is clarity, a formless continuum lacking shape & color, but possessing the cognitive power to perceive, understand and remember mental & sensate objects. Mental objects are objects of affects, volitions, thoughts & awareness (consciousness), whereas sensate objects are those given by perception & sensation. Clarity means the mind is clear enough to perceive, apprehend or cognize these objects. The simplest definition (given by Dharmakîrti) says the mind is "that which is clarity and cognizes".

The coarse mind is a conceptual, discursive mind, designating mental & sensate objects using a basis of designation upon which a concept is superimposed. For sensate objects this base of designation is perception, and for mental objects affects, acts of volition, thoughts and states of consciousness are used. Giving these a name, the coarse mind cognizes as if these objects are external to it, existing independently from it, cause of their own nature (self-powered) and self-subsisting. The most powerful of these various designations is the empirical ego, sense of personal identity, First Person Perspective or the "I". As the solitary focus of consciousness, the "I" sits on the throne of imputation, sensing ("I smell, see, hear, touch & taste."), feeling ("I feel good, bad, indifferent."), wanting ("I want this, not that, none of both."), thinking ("I think the affirmation or denial of this-or-that.") and being conscious of itself ("I am aware that I sense, feel, want, think and am conscious of myself").

There is not a single phenomenon perceived by the mind which is not imputed by the mind. This does not mean the extra-mental is non-existent. In fact, we cannot consistently think knowledge without accepting this is not the case (cf. Clearings, 2006). It merely points to the fact we cannot pull ourselves out of our own conceptual minds to witness the extra-mental directly. Not a single sensation is naked (or identical with perception). Not a single affect is unidentified or unnamed by the ego. Not a single thing wanted escapes the I. Not a single concept is without a subject. Self-reflection merely doubles the sense of personal selfhood.

Our own mind is directly identified when we attain meditative equipoise (complete concentration) observing it.

• the subtle mind :

The waking mind of Homo normalis is a gross mind. This because this mind is "mounded" upon gross inner "prâna" or winds, flowing through the left and right subtle channels of the Vajra body, running parallel with the spine. Nominally, subtle and very subtle minds are mounted upon subtle & very subtle winds and these manifest only during deep sleep or during the death process (the "bardos" or "intervals" of dying, intermediate stage and rebirth). These winds flow through the central channel, a flexible, soft & transparant subtle tube, exactly midway between the left and right halves of the body, closer to the back than the front. It begins at the point between the eyebrows, ascending in an arch to the crown of the head, and descending in a straight line to the tip of the sex organ.

The subtle mind manifests when the gross mind dissolves. Identifying the emptiness of the latter will naturally cause the gross winds to enter the central channel and so cease. We first cease Earth, then Water, next Fire and finally Air. This is seeking the subtle mind. With each cessation, specific mental processes manifest. When finally the emptiness of our thoughts is apprehended, an empty space is perceived and concentrated upon. This is holding the subtle mind. When seeking & holding are repeated, we train in remaining, accomplishing the identification of the subtle mind.

The subtle mind is identified as consciousness itself, the most subtle of the aggregates. As normal consciousness is poisoned by hatred, craving & ignorance, the subtle mind is characterized by the 33 conceptions of hatred (aversion) of the Form Realm (White Appearance), the 40 conceptions of craving (desire) of the Desire Realm (Red Increase) and the 7 conceptions of delusions (ignorance) of the Formless Realm (Black Near-Attainment). These 80 modes of conceptualization have to stop.

• the very subtle mind :

The "nature of mind" is the original stream-consciousness and so also called "ordinary mind". This deepest layer of the mind is unaltered and manifests upon the complete elimination of the self-delusion of the coarse and subtle mind, simultaneous with the blossoming of the Four Immeasurables (Joy, Love, Compassion & Equanimity) to their fullest extend. These Buddha-qualities are spontaneously generated when the emptiness of the coarse & subtle mind has been fully realized. Our Buddha-nature is merely the potential, by applying diligent enthusiasm, to do so. Without shadowy distortions, the light of the Sun of wisdom appears through the dark patches of clouds. Full awakening is then a clear blue sky, a mind empty of all sense of anything existing by the grace of its own power, ability, nature, essence ... The surface of the mirror itself, upon which all possible conditions (from pigs up to Buddhas) may appear ... A white crystal reflecting the color of the cloth upon which it has been posed ... Water taking on the color of the glass.

"The emptiness explained in Buddha's Sûtra teachings,
And the great bliss explained in Buddha's Tantra teachings,
The union of these two is the very essence of Buddha's
eighty-four thousand teachings.
May the doctrine of Conqueror Losang Dragpa (Tsongkhapa) flourish for evermore."
Guntang : Prayer for the Flourishing of the Doctrine of Je Tsongkhapa.

3.2 Entering the Heart Wheel.

"Those meditating on the drop
Always abiding in the heart,
Single-pointedly and without change,
Will definitely attain realizations."
Amibhidana Tantra.

The very subtle mind is mounded upon the very subtle wind. The latter is the very subtle body. Both very subtle mind and very subtle body are always together and both may become manifest during meditation. At the heart wheel, the left and right channels coil around the central channel forming six knots constricting it. At the very center of this knot, inside a small vacuole, is the "indestructible drop". Its two halves only separate until death and inside this very subtle drop is the union of indestructible very subtle wind (body) and indestructible very subtle mind. It is visualized as a tiny, reddish-white flame, symbolizing the Clear Light. The indestructible drop is like a house for this union of very subtle mind and very subtle wind.

Although the inner winds may enter the central channel through ten doors, of which the navel wheel, as explained in the Hevajra Root Tantra, is the most common (in the lineage of the Six Yogas of Naropa), in the school of Je Tsongkhapa, the heart wheel is used among the ten doors. In this way, the indestructible drop is aimed. In this uncommon Mahâmudrâ, the three yogas of the "isolated body" (practices to transform the impure body into the pure body of a Buddha) are : (1) penetrating the central channel via the heart wheel, (2) concentrating on the indestructible drop and concentrating on the union of the very subtle (indestructible) wind and the very subtle mind. These practices lead to meditations on "isolated speech", "isolated mind", giving birth to the "illusionary body", meaning Clear Light and union. Using this method, Buddhahood may be attained in three years.

3.3 The Clear Light.

In Hindu Kundalinî yoga, the heart wheel is the domain of the "âtman", the Divine within. This soul or self is identified with Brahman, the Absolute. Clearly Buddhism, discovering the wisdom-mind of emptiness, has to reject this notion as a wrong view, i.e. one allowing inherently existing entities to condition the mind. It is of course not a coincidence for Buddhist yoga to locate the ultimate nature of mind in the heart wheel ! Lacking the notion of soul or selfhood, i.e. an independent self-powered entity, Buddhist Tantra did not find the "âtma", but the Clear Light, the luminous & empty ground of all mental activity.

"... for what the natural light shows to be true can be in no degree doubtful ..."
Descartes : Meditations, III.9, my italics.

The very subtle Clear Light mind, constantly in union with the very subtle wind abiding in the deepest recesses of the heart wheel, is a union of bliss and emptiness, of wisdom-mind and the ultimate nature of phenomena. Bliss arises when the method of melting of "drops" inside the central channel is perfected though Bodhicitta (cf. infra), its function is the direct perception of empty like space and its location is at the very centre of our heart wheel. When qualified, i.e. resulting from the nearly complete end of the subtle mind, the mind experiencing great bliss with a generic image is called "ultimate example" Clear Light. This is merely an approximation of the final aim. Experiencing emptiness directly in a fully qualified sense, completely ending conceptualization, it is called "meaning" Clear Light. Then the mind finally rests in the union of emptiness and Great Compassion.

This Clear Light is the natural, ultimate and perfected nature of our mind. This deepest level of the mind can only be brought to the surface of consciousness when all adventitious contents are eliminated. Ending self-cherishing, gross (learned) self-grasping and subtle (innate) self-grasping, the mind recognizes its own nature and the Clear Light spontaneously dawns. While it is possible to experience this Clear Light while using a very subtle concept or generic image, directly seeing it only results when all gross and subtle conceptualizations have totally ended. This naturally happens at the end of the "bardo of dying", but can also be realized by advanced yogis.

4. The Tao and the Harmony of Heaven & Earth.

"In meditation, go deep in the heart."
Lao-tzŭ : Tao-te ching, 8.

"With an open mind, You will be openhearted.
Being openhearted, You will act royally.
Being royal, You will attain the Divine.
Being Divine, You will be at one with the Tao.
Being at one with the Tao is eternal.
And though the body dies, the Tao will never pass away."
Lao-tzŭ : Tao-te ching, 16.

"... the sage wears rough clothing and holds the jewel in his heart."
Lao-tzŭ : Tao-te ching, 70.

A summary of Taoism can be found here.

According to Taoism, the whole of the cosmos is infused with a subtle, pervasive yet invisible resource called "ch'i" or "qi". This fundamental, omnipresent Force, present as a seamless pool of pre-existent, infinite potential, is the universal, primordial Ch'i. Before emanating the cosmos, it is called "Wu Ch'i", the Great Limitless. In this dark potential, a "red" impulse stirred, exciting this active nothingness ("wu"), differentiating into "something". Suddenly light emerged, contrasting darkness, and bringing about cosmic Ch'i, or "Tai Ch'i", the macrocosmic Great Ultimate. Out of this cosmic Ch'i, on the basis of a fivefold process, gases, stars and planets were formed. Eventually, helped by Earth Ch'i, living beings were generated on this planet. So both emptiness (potentiality) and actuality are permeated with this ever-present "Ch'i", the Force running both the pre-cosmic, universal potential and the actual cosmos in all its parts. When Ch'i flows in a human being, health and longevity are a fact, but when it is stagnant or deficient, disease and a short life ensue. This flow of Ch'i is determined by practice and intention, i.e. by working with Ch'i ("Ch'i Kung").

4.1 The Three Elixir Fields.

The Chinese worldview associates the body with Earth (Yin) and the spirit with Heaven (Yang). From the universe, Ch'i of Heaven ("Tian Ch'i") enters into the human system. From the Earth, Ch'i of Earth ("Ti Ch'i"), an equally potent force, enters the body. The resources of the Yang Heaven gather in the head, and those of the Yin Earth in the belly. Both reservoirs are linked by the Central Tai Ch'i Channel, and this connection parallels the vertebral column (note the correspondence with Hindu & Buddhist teachings). It is linked with the flow of blood, lymph, cerebrospinal fluid & neurological activity.

The traditional way to investigate Ch'i in the human system, is to explain the difference between Body Ch'i, Mind Ch'i and Spirit Ch'i, the Three Treasures (Jing, Ch'i & Shen).

• Body Ch'i is "jing", productive energy. It is the most subtle aspect of the physical system, equivalent to neurotransmitters, hormones, DNA, sperm and egg. The body is local, material and operates through physiological interactions.
• Mind Ch'i is simply called "ch'i" or lifeforce and refers to the psychological system. Mind Ch'i is somewhat local, immaterial and works through memory, emotions, thoughts, intuition & creativity.
• Spirit Ch'i is "shen", spiritual energy, is transcendent, non-local & boundless. Being perfect, it is completely healthy, now and forever. It is used to help heal the mind and the body. It merges with the Tao.

In Chinese, "Tan T'ien" means "Elixir Field". It is a place where the energies of our own body, of the Earth, nature & the universe come together. Three Elixir Fields ensue :

• the Lower Elixir Field (Earth Treasure) : situated between the navel, the "kidney center point" or "gate of life" (in the spine between the second and third lumbar) and the prostate gland (top of cervix between the ovaries), this Elixir Field is the center of the physical body and its strength. It is also called "medicine field", "ocean of Ch'i", "sea of energy", "cauldron" or "navel center". Associated with the "jing", the productive energy of the physical system, and the Body Ch'i, it serves as the source of the lifeforce or "ch'i", related to the Mind Ch'i. Here this productive energy, healing the body, is collected, stored, calmed & purified (refined), ready to be transformed into this lifeforce. The rising of this subtle Body Ch'i or vital damp ("jing") to the Middle Elixir Field, where it is transformed into Mind Ch'i, is called "the blossoming of the lead flower" (Caterpillar).
• the Middle Elixir Field (Life Treasure) : situated around the heart area and the Plexus Solaris, this field has as main task to collect, store, calm and refine the lifeforce ("ch'i") mainly resulting from the transformation of refined productive energy ("jing"), but also from food & air. This heart Elixir Field is the residence of the mind. In Chinese, the concepts "mind" and "heart" are not differentiated. The concept "xin" (pronounced "shin") embraces both and so we may say it is the mind of the heart or "Heart-Mind". The Chinese characters for "thinking", "thought", "intent", "virtue", "listen" and "love" include the character for "heart". The Life Treasure Elixir heals affective and mental disorders. To work with this Elixir Field may well be the central key of spiritual growth, for when the Mind Ch'i is clear, the spirit ("shen") is revealed and a total integration happens, creating balance and radiation ("Jing Shen"). The rising of the refined Mind Ch'i to the Higher Elixir Field, to be transformed there into Spirit Ch'i ("shen"), is called "the blossoming of the silver flower" (Cocoon).
• the Higher Elixir Field (Heaven Treasure) : situated between the brows, this "Tan T'ien" collects, stores, calms and refines the Mind Ch'i or "ch'i" rising from the Middle Elixir Field. Here Mind Ch'i is transformed into spiritual energy ("shen") and then integrated in the primordial, universal Ch'i of the Tao itself. The mind is emptied of concepts, and the duality of subject & object is gone. This is called "the blossoming of the golden flower" (Butterfly). The three energies (Jing, Ch'i and Shen) now move upwards to the top of the head and become one single undifferentiated energy. This collection of the three flowers is called "the arising of the seed of the Tao". This goes down to the belly and forms the immortal embryo, the "golden pill", "golden elixir" or "great medicine".

4.2 Inner Alchemy : Transforming Body into Tao.

Chinese alchemy understands the process whereby the lowest lifeforce is transformed as the spiritualization of matter. The process of inner alchemy is divided into four stages :

Jing > Ch'i > Shen > Hsu > Tao