Introduction: God is the Time

“Don’t curse the Time, because Allah is the Time.” Hadith by Prophet Muhammed peace be upon him, Sahih Muslim 2246e (Book 40, Hadith 5)

“You should know that (divine) manifestations are of two types: the first is (eternally) endorsed by the Real, and that is none but the Perfect Human, while all other humans, animals, plants, orbs, angels, and everything else, are (temporal) manifestations that are not endured by the Real, because they are created for a specific purpose, while the Perfect Human (alone) is created for his own essence, since he is the (absolute) manifestation of divine Image. ... The reason why Allah created two pairs of all things is to remind them of the prominent rank of the Perfect Human, whose existence revealed the (outward) duality of the One Whose own Essence does not accept any (intrinsic) duality. The existence of the Perfect Human is endured because he manifested in the Image of the Real, so with this Image they became pair, ... just like the image of a person looking in the mirror; it is not himself nor any other!” Ibn al-Arabi, paraphrased from the Meccan Revelations, III.109.16

Because it naturally permeates many intersecting fields, the subject of time is extremely intricate and far more difficult to be discussed in any brief volume. Nevertheless, thanks to the Duality of Time Theory that emerged from the Single Monad Model of the Cosmos, the mystery of time will be vividly illuminated and many of its riddles will be convincingly unraveled in this short book, that is extracted from the previous three volumes in this series. The substantial conclusions and concrete principles established here are reaped from more than three decades of intensive investigation and reading through an extensive range of apparently unconnected topics.

Before we can dive into the subject of time, this short introduction will give the necessary background to understand Ibn al-Arabi’s unique view of the cosmos and his theory of perpetual creation according to the Oneness of Being, on which the Single Monad Model was founded. This theory is the only way we could understand the link between the apparent multiplicity of creation and the ultimate Oneness of the Creator.

After gaining a better and more comprehensive view of the whole picture, elaborated in the previous three volumes, it is now possible to recapitulate it in three chapters, that will make the body of this book, in addition to this brief introduction that is in turn summarized right in its concise title: “God is the Time” . But then we need to accurately and vividly differentiate between “the Time” , with the definite article and capital initial letter, in contrast with our modest and practical concept of “time” as a measurable extension during which some certain events may occur, that are then confined in some volume of “space” and described by some other quantifiable properties.

The first step towards understanding this substantial difference, between “time” and “the Time” , is to recognize that all physical objects and their corporeal or incorporeal properties eventually amount to some visible and invisible, or curled, geometrical dimensions of “space” , whose very abstract and dimensionless points are always being created, or re-created, in one chronological sequence that form the inner levels of time, and this is happening at every single instance of the outward level of time that we encounter!

In Ibn al-Arabi’s own words we can say that: “space is rigid time and time is liquid space” . Hence, “everything” is (eventually) reduced to “space” , and “space” is reduced to “time” , and “time” is nothing but a sequence of “(complex) numbers” . Therefore, on the most fundamental level, there is no “space-time” geometry, but “time-time” , or: “complex-time” geometry, with genuine imaginary and real parts that are the outer and inner levels of time, respectively.

If we could conceptually stop the “imaginary time” , in which we are normally living, or evolving, we shall see a still picture of the surrounding space, with its contents of matter and radiation. However, if we stop the “real time” , we shall see nothing but an unquantifiable point, that is called the Single Monad, that is the only entity described by real continuous existence, while everything else is (composed of) its temporal images, that are called the individual monads. The Single Monad is re-creating space and matter, in a certain chronological sequence, every instance of our normal time.

The Single Monad can be conceived as an absolute point of space that has no dimensions, yet it is the only real entity that exists at every real instance of time, and all other entities are its instantaneous images, each of which pop into existence for a mere one single instance of time, to be replaced by a possibly similar entity, so that the total physical objects may appear to persist in existence for various time durations, when in fact they are being re-created at every single instance. Therefore, there is no infinitesimal transmutation, but an apparent change of position that causes the illusion of motion and continuity. Moreover, because of the re-creation process that is taking place at every instance of the outer time that we encounter, which is the only way we could explain how the multiplicity of things is emerging from the ultimate oneness, entities in the outward level of existence, including both the physical and psychical realms, cannot execute motion by themselves, since they do not subsist in existence for more than the moment of the present time, before they are re-created again in the following instances. This means that the cause of any physical as well as psychical activities must be extrinsic to these worlds, yet it is also intimately connected with every individual entity in them. These direct causes of all kinds of motion are called the spirits, because they are responsible for all dynamic activities that are described by life, or living, not only in the biological sense, but literally all kinds of motions on all the fundamental microscopic and the outward macroscopic levels, including also the internal abstract feelings and emotions.

Therefore, in addition to explaining both the quantum and relativistic phenomena, the Duality of Time Theory can be extended further to describe the incorporeal worlds. In other words, whereas Relativity was able to explain gravity in terms of space-time curvature, the Duality of Time Theory explains all the five fundamental interactions between the physical (corporeal) microscopic particles and macroscopic objects, as well as the structure of incorporeal worlds, including the psychical, spiritual and divine realms; all based on the same discrete and genuinely-complex time-time geometry, whose spatial dimensions are dynamically being generated, in the inner levels of time, from one single metaphysical point, before they start evolving in the outer normal level that we encounter.

Understanding time provides the key to crack all the three conclusive realms of the “physical” , “psychical” and “spiritual” worlds, that involve the human beings. Furthermore, since all these worlds are constructed on the same complex-time geometry, and since the Human is created on the Image of God, a proper understanding of time is necessary to approach the ultimate divine Presence. Therefore, when understood correctly, “God is the Time” , conceived as all visible and invisible manifestations from “Eternity” a parte ante to “Eternity” a parte post, or “the Age” that encompasses all instances of creation all over space and throughout all times.

Based on this remarkable success of the genuinely-complex time-time geometry in reconciling between Relativity and Quantum theories and providing elegant solutions to many of the major persisting problems in physics and cosmology, the basic questions on the nature of time are addressed in this book in a simple manner and straight statements that are aimed at explaining our daily observations of natural and mystical phenomena, including both the visible and invisible realms.

Therefore, the Chest of Time will provide clear answers to the common questions about time and creation, such as:

• What really is time?

• Does it have a beginning, or an end?

• Can we stop time, or reverse it?

• What is the definite structure of time?

• Are space and time continuous or discrete?

• What is the definite relationship between time and space?

• What does the word “now” or “moment” mean?

• Why does time only move into the “past” ?

• What is the reality of the “future” ?

• Are the past and the future somehow existing somewhere?

• Is time-travel possible, to the past or to the future?

In addition to these common questions, many deeper and more scientific issues and major persisting problems are now easily understood based on the new complex-time geometry, including:

• Entropy and the arrow of time, or the second law of thermodynamics.

• The constancy and invariance of the speed of light.

• The wave-particle duality.

• Causality and non-locality.

• The horizon Problem, or why the Universe is homogeneous?

• Dark matter and energy, or the Cosmological Constant problem, also known as the Vacuum Catastrophe.

• The hierarchy Problem, or why the force of gravity is extremely weak?

• Parity breaking in weak interaction, or the CP violation.

• Quantum Gravity.

• Yang-Mills Existence and Mass Gap.

• Color confinement, or why Quarks cannot exist as individual particles.

Many great philosophers, such as Parmenides and Ibn al-Arabi, insisted that despite the apparent multiplicity and changes, reality is timeless and unchanging One. In trying to explain his teacher’s eccentric views, Zeno formulated the problem in terms of what later came to be known as Zeno’s Paradoxes of motion and plurality, which are simple thought experiments that lead to various kinds of infinity contradictions, whether we adopt the discrete or the continuum notions of space or time. Despite long centuries of research and mathematical analysis, and despite the evident success of modern mathematics and physics, these paradoxes have never been refuted.

Time is the sole key that provides the link between the ultimate reality of oneness and the apparent multiplicity of creation. If Zeno’s paradoxes were taken more seriously and given the required attention and analysis, we could have been able to explain, much earlier, these current puzzling phenomenological dualities, such as: space-time, energy-mass, wave-particle and continuity-discreteness.

Although Relativity is usually connected with astronomy and cosmology, all dealing with large-scale structures and large gravitational fields and masses, we shall see by the end of this book that the main characteristic of the Theory of Relativity is connecting time with space and matter with energy, via the famous equation E=mc². We have already shown before that an exact mathematical derivation of this mass-energy equivalence is not possible without postulating the inner levels of time. With this novel postulate, this critical connection provides the transition between the fundamental concepts of discreteness and continuity, thus connecting particles with waves, or discrete symmetry with space-time diffeomorphism. So now it is more clear that, unlike the common understanding, Quantum Mechanics deals solely with particles, which are intrinsically quantized, rather than waves which should be studied under Relativity, not the least because they move at the speed of light and that is exactly why they are continuous phenomena. This will be clear after introducing the fundamental correction that brings back the classical concept of the luminescent aether, in a manner that does not contradict the constancy and invariance of the speed of light. In this way, vacuum, or empty space, will be the physical medium that conducts the waves of light, and gravity will be naturally quantized because the new complex-time geometry is intrinsically granular. Therefore, Quantum Mechanics will be a natural, and logical, consequence of the new genuinely-complex geometry.

In other words, although waves are usually manifest in quantized forms, they are actually continuous energy phenomena flowing in the real inner levels of time, but they only exhibit the particle behavior as they are confined in the quantized outward time, transcending into space between each two consecutive moments of the normal time that we encounter. From here comes the subtitle of this book: Particle-Wave Duality from Time Confinement to Space Transcendence, so because we habitually live in the outward imaginary level of time, we only observe its “Chest” , inside which we are confined, and if we could break-out, we shall transcend into space, that is the “Heart of Time” .

Ibn al-Arabi asserts that:

You should know that everything has a “chest” , and knowing it in this path (of mysticism) is one of the noble sciences. This is because the World, and every kind (in it), is created according to the image of the (Perfect) Human Being, who is the last existent, and the Human Being alone is created according to the divine Image, both in its inner and outer dimensions. Therefore, because Allah created the Human with a chest (or: front), thus between the Real, to Whom is the first-ness, and the Human Being, to whom is the last-ness, there are (many) “chests” whose number no one knows other than Allah. [II.652.23]

The “chest” of a thing is its front, that is the first thing to appear; which is why it is so important to know it. But also it is even more important to know the “heart” residing inside the chest, that is veiling it!

Ibn al-Arabi here applies and generalizes the verse in Quran that says: “Whomsoever Allah wants to guide, He expands his chest for ‘surrender’ (Islam, meaning submission), and whomsoever He wants to leave astray, He makes his chest narrow and constricted as if he is engaged climbing up into the sky.” (Quran 6:125). But then Ibn al-Arabi adds that “the chest is in the second state of each form” [II.652.27], since the first state is the essence (or the “heart” ) of the form itself and the chest is its first appearance or effect. Then he goes on to list many things and their corresponding chests, and he says that “the chest of time is the time (instant) of the Dust’s acceptance of the form...” and “the chest of days is Monday” :

For every “chest” there is a “heart” , so as far as the heart remains in the chest, the person will be blind because the chest is a veil over him. When Allah wants to make him truly seeing, he emerges out of his chest and sees. Thus, the causes are the “chests” of the existing things, and the existing things are like the hearts; as far as one is looking at the cause that he originated from, he will be blinded from witnessing Allah Who (actually, ultimately) created him (or indeed: is continuously creating everything at every instance). Thus when Allah wants to make (the person) truly seeing, he stops (or He causes him to stop) looking at the cause that Allah created him “with” (as opposed to “through” ; i.e. both the cause and the effect are created together, not that the effect is a cause of something else preceding it, as we normally conceive). When one looks (instead) at the “special Face” that is (uniquely connecting) between his Lord and him, he will be seeing the truth. [II.652.35]

Therefore, we are normally “imprisoned” in the chest of time, just as the heart of a person lacking faith is imprisoned in or “veiled by” his chest. To overcome the confinement of (the imaginary) time, and thus realize the transcendence of space, that is the real time, we have to break out (or into our inner dimensions) and perceive the reality of existence through the “heart” , and in particular the special inner relation or aspect between the “heart” and the Real.

In effect, the difference between being confined in the constraining time or released in the capacious space, is like perceiving the world through the mind or through the heart, after it is properly cleansed and purified!

The main difference between the heart and the mind, in this respect, is that the latter is inevitably directed and distracted by the diverse external sensations, while it is also bound by its own constrained intellectual and analytical abilities, which may seem to be potentially unlimited but practically become quickly exhausted, and quite often produce premature conclusions and rely on them to obtain wrong conceptions, which may become the principles for fundamental theories, or at least some predispositions that define our convictions.

In contrast to that, the heart is characterized by its intrinsic creative imagination and intangible inter-dimensional flexibility. Thus, one of the characteristic features of the Sufi comprehensive knowledge is that it is never achieved through reasoning, that’s why they normally describe it by “vision” and “tasting” , while comprehension may come later or may not come at all, but they don’t care, because: seeing is believing. Only they need to cleanse this subtle tool carefully before using it, otherwise they will also not be able to see beyond the usual dense physical boundaries. They usually spend decades in this long path, via the continuous concentrated contemplation, sometimes in strict seclusion and other severe spiritual meditation techniques under the guidance of an experienced master.

Observations, that rely mainly on seeing, hearing and other sensations, or any more accurate technological tools, since they are all eventually channeled through intellectual reasoning, are significantly limited in terms of the information that they may convey, and the observations can only be explained in terms of previous similarly incomprehensive observations. Therefore, we can only hope to understand the Universe through inner insight and the higher spiritual powers, which are at least outside its apparent physical composition.

When we look at the Universe, we are actually looking at our own image in a mirror that extends boundlessly in all directions; not realizing that it is a mirror, and not realizing also that we are actually outside, as metaphysical consciences or spiritual essences. The perceived dimensions of the image are therefore always fewer than the actual dimensions of the object. The differences between real objects and their reflected images are immensely huge.

The laws of causality and locality are a result of our own intellectual reasoning, which confines the mind into the physical world, while the heart is always breathing in the capacious realm of spiritual reality, that we then describe their phenomena as non-local weirdness.

Like the wave-particle duality, these two contrasting realms are complementary, and although the external world must be in the end subjected to the rules of rationality, it is the heart that ultimately generates the internal experiences or individual instances that are only some partial temporal images of the underlying reality.

The human heart is a unique cosmic observatory in whose mirrors the eternal reality is continuously being reflected in the various beautiful and most glorious forms, which had always been the actual source of inspiration for all poets, artists and even philosophers. When cleansed properly, the mirrors of this observatory may become capable of seeing deeply far and beyond the physical boundaries. It may be not so easy in the end to put these spiritual observations in any proper scientific manner that could create, for example, new inventions or commercial technologies, as artists could usually relatively easily create their immortal masterpieces out of momentary inspirations. Nonetheless, truthful heart observations could be invaluable banners that can be used in conjunction with the usual intellectual activities.

Therefore, the serious step that should be taken in order to put cosmology on the right track is to engage the heart in observation, and take advantage of its intrinsic non-locality, rather than relying solely on the confined mind. In other words: we must use insight rather than sight and other rational sensations. With insight, the heart is capable of crossing through the vertical hierarchy of the cosmos, rather than only observing its outward manifestations.

The difference between insight and sight is like the difference between seeing and hearing. Hearing can manipulate one-dimensional sequence of data, while seeing is two-dimensional. When we open our eyes we instantly see an image which would require long time to communicate to someone who is blind or not looking at the scene, and it is impossible to be comprehensive. Likewise, insight, which is more like three-dimensional images, is capable of instantly conducting the meanings of things and their internal relations, rather than only their outer shapes and colors. It is worth mentioning here that some Sufis can activate four further spiritual levels of perception beyond insight, which they call the levels of certainty, that is the ultimate true level of knowledge, while everything below that is channeled through some distorted reflections.