Audio Log Arabi Veils

Information
Localization: In the Monastery, in the panel with a guy kneeling, on the side of the Town.

Important detail: This is one of the six Orange Audio Logs.

About the author: Arabi is, with Niffari (also quoted in another audio log), the founder of Sufism.

Transcription
There is nothing in existence but veils hung down. Acts of perception attach themselves only to veils, which leave traces in the owner of the eye that perceives them. ibn Arabi, 1231

Trivial and unsatisfactory interpretations
The mention of "perception" can easily be interpreted in the context of the puzzles of the Monastery, which require to perceive a puzzle path in the environment (in a similar way than for Environmental Puzzles), before drawing the solution of a puzzle through it.

The idea of "veils" could also be linked to the shaders of the Monastery (as things that block the light and are flat surfaces), which reveal hidden scenes.

Deeper interpretation
When looking for this quote on Internet, there are only a few results, and the most relevant ones are books, two of them being written by William C. Chittick, who seem to be the person who translated this sentence of Arabi in English. It is very interesting to note that in one of these two books (Self Disclosure Of God Principles Of Ibn Al Arabi's Cosmology, full text available here), Al Arabi makes a quote a few sentences before the one in this audio log, which is exactly the content of the audio log by Sahib ibn ‘Abbad, which can be found only a few steps away from this one, at the entrance of the Jungle.

This book is a comment and partial translation of Al Arabi's work, and the chapter from which this quote is extracted is mostly a translation. The book is about the general question of how one can get closer to God during his lifetime? Al Arabi (like Niffari) answers this question by first introducing the notion of veils, which are God's creation, and prevent us from seeing God. The specific chapter that contains the quote in this audio log (and the one by Abbad) is a chapter about Revelation, when God "reveals" (that is, "unveils") Himself to an angel or prophet. The most relevant extract of this chapter is given below. One central question in this chapter is actually to find why some prophets such as Muhamed get shocked by the revelation, while others (such as Moses) are not. The answer lies in the notion of veils, that Al Arabi details in the chapter. I will now highlight the most important points of this text, in relation to the game

God behind veils
A basic idea in Al Arabi's philosophy is that everything that seems to exist in this world is a veil that hides God's true nature from us, and in the same time manifests His work. The first part of this idea (everything is a veil) is the topic of the quote in this audio log. A similar idea can be found in an audio log quoting Cusa, which is in the Peninsula nearby, and both quotes are linked to a reference to The Grail (more on this later). Both parts together are also similar to another Cusa quote in Symmetry Island.

To continue: the witness.

The Material Veils
Al Arabi discusses four types of material veils. Despite the use of words such as "material" and "eyesight", the definitions of material veils can also be used metaphorically with non-material things. Indeed, Al Arabi distinguishes two "eyes": the eye that perceives the physical world (and is not limited to vision, as it also concerns hearing, for instance) and the eye of imagination. So, what is "within the veil" should be understood as "what is veiling", and what is "behind the veil" should be understood as "what is being veiled". The four types of material veils are:


 * The "dense" veils are characterized by the fact that "eyesight sees nothing but the dense". We could equate this notion with solid, opaque objects.


 * The "subtle" veils are characterized by the fact that "eyesight sees what is within them and behind them" and are opposed to the dense ones.


 * The "translucent" veils are characterized by the fact that "eyesight sees what is behind them, but it becomes uncertain if it perceives what is within them".


 * The "mirrors and polished bodies" are invisible and hide what is within and behind themselves, but show something else, the movement of which is defined by the combination of the inner movement of the thing reflected and the movement of the reflecting surface (such as waves on the surface of water).

It's interesting to note that this audio log is found in the window panes of the Monastery, which provides examples of "dense" and "subtle" veils. The shaders (when they are closed) and the curtains are dense veils, as is the trunk of the bonsai tree in the puzzle that allows to open the shaders. Subtle veils are: the panels in the windows (when the shaders are open), the hidden scene with the Siren seen through the shaders, the boat seen through the leaves of plants, the grids with the + and squares patterns, and even the fact that the beams and pillars are made of two parts so that you can see through them.

But it is even more interesting to note how the four types of material veils are used in the game for the puzzles that use the environment as a clue:


 * Dense veils:
 * Most puzzle panels are dense, but we also have "dense" environmental clues, such as the apple trees in the Orchard or the last two puzzles of the Monastery (in which branches show you the solution path, instead of delimiting it).
 * "dense" elements are also used as distractors to make the puzzles harder, such as:
 * in the Shady Trees area (orange corrugated plates in the pine forest and in the roof of the part that give access to the quarry),
 * ground level of the Desert ruins,
 * some puzzles in the optional set of Symmetry Island (in which the symmetry of the solution allows to compensate the non-visibility of the hidden elements),
 * some puzzles in the room with the model of the Monastery in the Mountain.
 * "dense" elements are also used as part of the constraints for the puzzle, such as with the bonsai tree in the Monastery, the puzzle opening the door at the top of the Mountain, and four floor puzzles with a pillar in the middle in the Caves.


 * Subtle veils:
 * This is exactly the principle of the puzzles in the optional set of Symmetry Island, where we both see the grid within the panel and the rocks and palm trees behind it.
 * It also relates to the puzzles in the Monastery, where you have to see a puzzle path within another element such as a window pane or the branches of a tree or rocks, but also see the puzzle panel behind this element. These types of veils can also be related to the nearby audio log quoting Lao Tzu at the entrance of the Jungle: "We work with being, but non-being is what we use."
 * This is also the principle of the puzzles in the Shady Trees area, as you can both see the shape of the shadow and have to look for a path within it, but you can still see the puzzle grid that is in (or behind) the shadow.
 * In the Mountain, the orange set of puzzle at the top floor uses grids in the puzzle which are subtle veils as you have to see the puzzle through the grids.
 * Somehow, the sound-based puzzles are also subtle veils, as you can hear the sound ("within" the veil) but in the same time look at the puzzle panels.


 * Translucent veils:
 * This is obviously the principle of the puzzles in the Greenhouse, wether they are seen through a colored glass (do we see the glass? this is exactly the question asked in Abbad's quote that Al Arabi cites here) or through the lightning color.
 * The invisible lines in some symmetrical puzzles are also translucent veils.
 * Some environmental puzzles in the underwater rooms of the Marsh also rely on this type of veiling.


 * Mirrors and polished bodies:
 * This type of veils correspond to the principles of the puzzles in the Desert Ruins, both by the use of specular reflexion and by the use of reflection on the surface of water. Note how the puzzles in the desert ruins require you to either change your point of view, change the position of the mirror (moving panels and water level), or change the position of the reflected object (light source reflected in panels, panel reflected in water).
 * Reflection on the surface of water is also used in Symmetry Island for some environmental puzzles and for the optional set. It can also been related to an audio log found here that mentions the reflection of the Moon in water.

The Shock of Revelation
To do.

The Suprasensorial Veils
To do.

Extract of the chapter (Context of the quote)
One of the most marvelous things that happens in wujud is what I want to speak of — that the angels are thunderstruck when God speaks to them through revelation "like a chain across pebbles." When revelation came down upon the Messenger of God "like a chain across pebbles," he was thunderstruck, and that was the most intense revelation for him. Gabriel brought it down upon his heart [26:193-94], and the Prophet would be annihilated from the world of sensation. He would froth, and they would cover him until he regained his composure. Sometimes revelation would descend upon him on an intensely cold day, and his sides would drip with perspiration.

As for Moses, God spoke directly [4:1641 to him while lifting the intermediaries, yet he was not thunderstruck, nor did he depart from sensation, He spoke, and he was spoken to. And this station is greater than the station of revelation through the intermediary of the angel. So here is an angel thunderstruck by speech, and here is the most noble mortal thunderstruck by the descent of the Spirit with revelation, and here is Moses who was not thunderstruck, and nothing happened to him, even though the intermediaries had been lifted. Yet the mountain was thunderstruck by that.

You should know that all this derives from the traces of the veils, for the ruling property belongs to them wherever they become manifest. Since God created them as veils, it is impossible for them to do anything but veil — there is no escape from this. If they did not veil, they would not be veils.

God created two sorts of veils — suprasensory and material. He created the material veils as dense, subtle, or translucent. Eyesight sees nothing but the dense. As for the subtle, eyesight sees what is within them and behind them, And as for the translucent, eyesight sees what is behind them, but it becomes uncertain if it perceives what is within them. Thus it has been said [by Sahib ibn ‘Abbad],

The glass is transparent, the wine transparent — the two are similar, the affair confused. There seems to be wine and no glass, or glass and no wine.

As for mirrors and polished bodies, neither the site of the forms within them nor anything behind them is perceived. Rather, forms that are absent from the eye of their perceiver and are not within the object are perceived. Thus the seen forms are a veil between eyesight and the polished object. It is not said that these forms are subtle or dense, but eyesight witnesses them as dense. Their shapes change with the change in the shape of the polished object. When it is wavy, they are wavy. When the thing whose form they are moves in the outside world, they move, and when it remains still, they remain still, unless the shiny object is moved. For example, when water is wavy, the eye sees the form moving, even though the object whose form it is remains still. Thus the form has two movements — one derived from the movement of the object whose form it is, and the other derived from the movement of the polished object.

There is nothing in wujud but veils hung down. Acts of perception attach themselves only to the veils, which leave traces in the companion of the eye that perceives them. The greatest of the veils are two — a suprasensory veil, which is ignorance; and a sensory veil, which is you over yourself.

As for the greatest suprasensory veil, that is indicated by the words of God's Messenger when he was taken on a night journey in a tree, within which were two bird nests. Gabriel sat in one nest, and God's Messenger sat in the other. When they reached the closest heaven, something like a cushion of pearls and rubies came down to them. It was one sort of the Real's self-disclosure, The Prophet said, "As for Gabriel, he swooned at that," because of his knowledge of what had come down upon him. But the Messenger of God "remained in his state," because he did not know what it was, so it had no ruling authority over him. When Gabriel regained consciousness, he reported to the Prophet that it had been the Real. Then the Prophet said, "So I came to know his excellence over me in knowledge," that is, the excellence of Gabriel. Thus knowledge had caused Gabriel to be thunderstruck, and the lack of knowledge had kept the Prophet in his state, even though both of them had the vision. Thus ignorance is the greatest of suprasensory veils.

As for the fact that you are a veil upon yourself and that this is the densest of sensory veils, this is the poet's words, A mystery has appeared to you that has long been kept secret, A morning has dawned whose darkness is you. You veil the heart from its absent mystery. If not for you, it would have no seal. If you absent yourself from the heart, a dweller will come whose tents will be pitched on the guarded plain of unveiling. Words will arrive that you will never tire of hearing— Their prose and poetry will meet our desires. So He placed no veil over you save yourself.

Now let us return to our problem. As for Moses, he was exerting himself fully in seeking fire for his folk. It is this that brought him out striving for his family, as he was commanded to do. The prophets are the most severe of all people in making demands upon themselves to undertake the commands of the Real. So there was nothing in Moses’ soul save that for which he had come. When he saw his need — the fire that was shining from the tree from the right side of the Mountain [19:52]— God called to him from his need itself as was appropriate to the moment: I am thy Lord, so put off thy two shoes; thou art in the holy riverbed Tuwa. I Myself have chosen thee, so listen to what is revealed. He did not say, "to what I reveal." Verily I am God [20:12-14].

He made Moses firm through the first address, which was the calling, for he had come to borrow a firebrand or to find guidance at the fire. That is Moses' words, I may bring you news from it [28:29], that is, someone who would lead him to his need. Thus he was expecting the call. He had prepared his hearing and his eyesight — [his eyesight] for the vision of the fire, and his hearing for someone who would lead him to his need. Hence, when the call came to him with something appropriate, he did not deny it and he remained firm.

When Moses came to know that the caller was his Lord, while he was already secure in his firmness, and when the call came to him from outside, not from himself, he remained firm in order to give courtesy its full due while he was listening. After all, every sort of self-disclosure has a ruling property, and the ruling property of the call of this self-disclosure is to be prepared for listening to what it brings. So he was not thunderstruck, and he did not become absent from witnessing, for this was an address that underwent binding for the sake of what is heard by the ears, and it was a differentiated address.

That which keeps human beings firm in their sensation and in witnessing sensory objects is their heart that governs their body. But this divine speech to Moses had no face turned toward the heart, so here the heart had nothing but what it received from its hearing, eyesight, and faculties according to habit. Thus, for Moses the state did not transgress its ruling property.

As for the situation of Muhammad, that was a descent on the heart and an undifferentiated address, "like a chain across pebbles." So turn your attention to this simile. The heart was occupied with what descended upon it so as to receive it, so it became absent from the governing of its body. This is called "swooning" and "being thunderstruck." The same is true of the angels. (HI 214.9)