The Creation of Adam

The One whose great light shines upon this world and the next and through whose bounty Adam’s plain clay produced a rose garden. In the blink of an eye His boundless power shaped the universe, visible and invisible. He had only to speak Kun (Be!) and all matter became. This one potent word moved the Divine Pen, which drew infinite beautiful shapes and designs on the void’s pristine tablet. The sound of this one word created both worlds, including our father Adam’s first mortal breath. As well as the mind given Adam in order that he know the universe, in order that he seek and find all causes. When Adam first saw himself as a being distinct from the rest of creation, he plunged deep into thought to discover what he was. His thoughts traveled from his being out to the vast cosmos; then from the totality, his thought returned to this partial world. The material world around was a fraudulent trivial thing, single, Like the number one, spread around, with all numbers being but its repetition. The worlds of matter and the spiritual realms were born through that single sound – breath. It came, and returned from whence it came. But here, there is no coming and going back. If you watch carefully, you see that coming here is the route of your return. Everything returns to its origin. Both worlds, one hidden from the eye and one seen, become one and the same, and are gone. Praise be to God who is before all time, who decided the beginning and the end of the two worlds in one breath. From the Gulshani Raz of Shabistari (1317 CE)