''Open the Floodgates''
When one is at the Gateway, the beginning of the journey to the Absolute, there are various states which descend upon the spiritual traveller. Each one is itself a gateway orienting the seeker to the journey ahead. Ansari (Islamic mystic) has described the stages or houses as being ten tens.
This is also know as the Chart of the Virtues, it corresponds to the stages of the journey in accordance with Quranic references from which their names are drawn.
First stage: The gateway
1 awakening
2 repentance
3 recon with
4 conversion
5 reflection
6 meditation
7 hold fast
8 fleeing
9 ascetism
10 audition
This of necessity leads to the doors which must be entered. these are the second stage of the journey.
Doors
11 sorrow
12 fear
13 concern
14 humility
15 enjoying quiet
16 self denial
17 scruples
18 devotion
19 hope
20 yearning
The minuite one enters the door, one comes in need of action, one meets these with conduct which relates to the states one feels and to this the third stage.
Conduct
21 vigilance
22 focus
23 respect
24 sincerity
25 amending
26 rectitude
27 trust
28 commitment
29 reliance (on God)
30 full submission (in God)
After encountering ones more perfect self, one learns good habits and dispositions from others and thus builds character by creating praiseworthy forms of self; this is the fourth stage.
Character
31 patience
32 satifaction
33 gratefulness
34 shame/bashfulness
35 being true
36 preference
37 firmness
38 modesty
39 generosity
40 largesse
From this stage one is readied for the best forms of purity, and a goodness of character has been created which is really the fruits of ones conduct. It this stage, it is necessary that priciples be followed, which come from foundations of one's life; this is the fifth stage.
Principles
41 purpose
42 resolution
43 will
44 discipline
45 certainty
46 intimacy
47 invocation
48 poverty
49 spiritual richness
50 without earthly desires
In the motion of acting and seeking the way, one comes upon obstacles, difficulties will occur in the stage of the valleys. After this the sixth stage
Valleys
51 goodness
52 knowledge
53 wisdom
54 spiritual sight
55 sagacity
56 reverence
57 inspiration
58 tranquility
59 peacefullness
60 spiritual power
One reaches the level of the various accidental spiritual states; this is the seventh stage
Mystical States
61 love
62 jealousy
63 nostalgia
64 anxiety
65 thirst
66 ecstasy
67 bewilderment
68 distraction
69 flashes
70 spiritual taste
The eighth stage, known as sanctity, is the stage where spiritual powers make their appearance. This is gathering after seperation, where one is dominated by good human qualities and they are aquired.
Sanctity
71 secret glance
72 a moment
73 purity
74 joy
75 the secret
76 breath
77 exile
78 drowned
79 absence
80 stability
In the next stage, realities, one becomes negligent in oneself and is immersed in one's Lord and the Divine self, where one's actions are all directed towards the Absolute. This is the ninth stage of the journey.
Realities
81 unveiling
82 contemplation
83 beholding
84 life
85 contraction
86 expansion
87 intoxication
88 sobriety
89 union
90 separation
The tenth stage is the stage of subsistence in God, the Supreme Goal, the stage of union.
Supreme Goal
91 gnosis
92 annihilation
93 subsistence
94 realization
95 concealment
96 discovery
97 subtraction
98 solitude
99 gathering
100 unity
The stages are descibed in other terms by Simnani, who relates the macrocosmic Descent of creation to the microcosmic Ascent of the return.
From the Divine Essence to the world of Nature-Man, there are seven levels, from light to shadow. On the return, one passes these seven stages in reverse order, ascending through seven subtle, non-physical aspects of the self.
These 7 subtle stages relate to the 7 major Prophets of semitic monotheism,
Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, and Muhammad (blessings and peace by on them).
These stages also correspond with our own Subtle bodies. When one reaches the Truth of one's Being, one has become the universal prototype, having being transformed to the Muhammad of one's being.
These 7 Prophets and 7 stages correspond to seven colours, described by the various orders. The Adam of one's being is the aquiring of an embryonic mould of a new body, a subtle, non physical form.
The psychological colour of this stage is black moving toward grey.
The second organ newly activated corresponds to the animal soul, the battlefield of vital and organic operations, which is the center of desires and evil passions. This corresponds to the Noah of ones being, because Noah faced the same situation in dealing with hostility of his people. The colour of this stage is blue.
The third subtle organ is the spiritual Heart, which exists in an embyonic form in the potential mysticas the pearl within the shell. It is none other than the true I, the personal individuality. The spiritual I relates to the Abraham of one's being, as Abraham was the intimate friend of God. This stage is red. The Abraham of one's being travels the subtle centers of the supraconsciousness.
The fourth subtle organ is the inner microcosmic secret, the point of Supraconsciousness, and is the stage of spiritual monologues which correspond to those in which Moses participated. The colour of this stage is white.
The fifth subtle organ is the spirit, which because of the nobility of it's rank is invested as the vice-regent of God, the David of one's being, it's colour is yellow.
The sixth subtle organ is that which recieves inspiration. It is the Jesus of one's being, because it is this organ which announces the name. The colour of this stage is luminous black.
The seventh subtle organ which is activated is the Muhammad of one's being, which corresponds to one's divine center or Eternal Seal, as Muhammad was the Seal of Prophecy. The colour of this stage is green.
In the stages of ascent and descent Macrocosm Microcosm
The world of Nature-Man The mould of the body The Adam of one's Being The world of forms The Vital senses The Noah of one's Being
The world of spiritual perception The Heart (spiritual) The Abraham of one's Being
The world of imagination The edge of supraconsciousness
The Moses of one's being
The world beyond form The Spirit The David of one's being
Divine Nature Inspiration The Jesus of one's Being
Divine Essence Truth The Muhammad of one's Being The need for Divine Law is often compared to Noah's Arc, which one must, like Noah, build out of planks and dowels.
The planks are 'Knowledges' and the dowels are 'Actions'. Without the Arc, one is drowned in the flood of materiality, as was Noahs son who refused the Law delivered by his father, from God. Standing on the circumference, one relates in an outward direction through the manifest world.
The motion inwards is through the spiritual methods which lead to the center, Secret or Spirit which resides in a state of potentiality in all things. If we remain unaware, the spirit remains passive and unactivated, only an allusion to the potentality we contain.
Sources: Inner Islamic tradition, The Quran references: Expressions of a mystic quest by Laleh Bakhtiar
