Word 16: The one who has not thought deeply about oneself and has not spiritually passed the Methal world to reach the Intellectual world, what has he achieved?

Last updated Dec 23, 2021

Word 16: The one who has not thought deeply about oneself and has not spiritually passed the Methal world to reach the Intellectual world, what has he achieved?

In the introductory part of the self-knowledge article, we explained that the existential worlds from low to a high level are:

1- Material World, which has form and matter.

2- Methal or Khial or Barzakh World, which has a form but lacks matter.

3- Intellectual World which has no form or matter.

4- Super-Intellectual World, which is above Intellectual World, with no limitation.

To see Methal World beings, we need eyes, ears, and a body different from this material body. Methal or Barzakh or Khial world is one of the strangest existential worlds because everything that exists in the Intellectual world or Material world has a proper form there. For example, our actions take an appropriate form. It is called “Embodiment of Actions”. In fact, our actions and deeds will be the material of forms in the Methal world. For example, Prophet Muhammad (S) saw in the Ascension that some people had their lips and mouth cut off, and his companions asked him what it meant. He replied, these people were gossiping and slandering in worldly life. Even a small smile to parents or friends will convert to a form or shape in the Methal world.

Beings in the Intellectual world also can take a form in the Methal world. For example, knowledge does not have a shape in the Intellectual world but will be seen as water/river/ocean in the Methal world. Another example is a blessing, it does not have a shape in the intellectual world but when it comes to the Methal world, it became like wheat or bread (like the dream of Feron in Surah Yusuf). “The king said, “I see seven fat cows being eaten by seven lean ones, and seven green spikes, and others dried up. O elders, explain to me my vision if you are able to interpret visions.” (43) “Joseph, O man of truth, inform us concerning seven fat cows being eaten by seven lean ones, and seven green spikes, and others dried up, so that I may return to the people, so that they may know.” (46) He said, “You will farm for seven consecutive years. But whatever you harvest, leave it in its spikes, except for the little that you eat.” (47) Then after that will come seven difficult ones, which will consume what you have stored for them, except for the little that you have preserved. (48) Then after that will come a year that brings relief to the people, and during which they will press. (49)” (Yusuf:43, 46:49).

So, anything that enters the Methal world will get an appropriate form. If our Methal vision becomes open, then we would see things that others would not be able to see. Great Mystic Ibn Arabi said: “I met some perfect humans before the Prophet Muhammad (S) and they told me their names and taught me some truths. The name of one of them was “cure for afflictions” and the name of another was a “passerby”, … (This vision happens in Methal world).

Plato said, “During austerities, I sometimes left my body, and went to the Methal world, and then went to the realm of my Lordship. There was so much light that I cannot describe it then I came back to my physical body”.

Sheikh Ja’far Mujtahedi (One of the recent great mystics) said, “Man can go out of time and go to the past or future and meet the spirits of the Prophets and Guardians of God. But here, people only see their surroundings, but in the Methal world, they can go to the past and the future and gain knowledge and truths”.

How can a man enter these worlds? The way to enter these worlds is through self-knowledge, as Allameh Hassanzadeh said, “The one who has not thought deeply about oneself and has not spiritually passed the Methal world to reach the intellectual world, what has he achieved?” Man must find himself first. Have we lost ourselves? We do not realize now that we have lost ourselves. When we find ourselves, then we only are able to realize this fact.

Allameh Hassan Zadeh had an instruction that instructed his student to have a “First View” of the world. That is, think that you have not been until now and you have been created with the same body at this moment. Think that for the first time you see humans, you see birds, you see trees, you see fruits, you see plants, you see sun and moon, you see light, water, and mountain, you hear the sound, you see your hand, you see your feet. Look carefully at each fruit as if you were seeing it for the first time. Look carefully at your fingers. Think about who are you, where you came from, where you are going. Practice this for a while.

All praise is to God to the extent that He deserves it.

Tag: God, Prophet Muhammad (S), Allameh Hassan Zadeh, Ibn Arabi, Plato, Self-knowledge, Sheikh Jafar Mujtahedi, Methal World, Intellectual World, Barzakh, Khial World, Material World.