Necessary and contingent being

It is certain that the entire contingent world is subject to an order and a law which it can never disobey. Even man is forced to submit to death, sleep, and other conditions-that is, in certain matters he is compelled, and this very compulsion implies the existence of One Who is All-Compelling. So long as the contingent world is characterized by dependency, and so long as this dependency is one of its essential requirements, there must be One Who in His own Essence is independent of all things.

O divine friends! The reality of contingent existence is pure imperfection, while the essence of necessity is absolute perfection. That is, imperfection is inherent in the essential requirements of contingent things, while perfection is the reality and essence of the Lord of Names and Attributes.

Yet contingent being, in its existence and conditions, needs the outpouring from the Necessary Being. Thus the Impenetrable Unseen, transcendent beyond consciousness, has manifested to the realities of things through Names and Attributes. Nothing exists but has its portion of this divine outpouring and merciful manifestation, and "there is nothing but glorifies His praise."

3. "And as for the Third Proof , it is that they have said that the knowledge of Possible Being is necessarily dependent on objects of knowledge and is impossible without them. And if the Knowledge of Necessary Being were also dependent on objects of knowledge, it would be the knowledge of Possible Being. It is clear and evident that what is Possible Being cannot be part of the Absolute for no similarity, likeness, comparison or resemblance can there be between Creator and creature, between Necessary Being and Possible Being, and between the Absolute and the creation. For the attributes of the Absolute have always been Absolute Power, Might and Self-Sufficiency while the station of creatures and of Possible Being is that of lowliness, neediness and poverty. And whatever essential attributes are clearly proven for contingent and existent beings, that Essence of Essences and that Reality of Realities is free from them in the loftiness of Its Purity and the exalted heights of Its Sanctity. What relationship can there be then between Necessary Being and Possible Being, between the Absolute and the creation? Therefore the Knowledge of the Absolute is not dependent on objects of knowledge for it is the knowledge of Possible Being which requires these.

Were the Essence the Simple Reality for multiplicities, nothing would exist save His own manifestation, yet intuition testifies to the falsity of this through the limitations of creation, their weakness, and their need for the Bountiful Source.

But the truly learned among the Theosophists and Sufis have concluded, after deep consideration of this matter, that there are two kinds of existence. One kind is this common existence which is conceived by the mind of man. This existence is originated and is an accident among others, whereas the realities of things are the substances. But what is meant by unity of existence is not this commonly perceived existence, but that real Existence which is sanctified and exalted above all expression, an Existence through which all things are realized. This Existence is one; it is that One through which all things---such as matter, energy, and that common existence which is conceived by the human mind---have come to exist.

Who is there, O my Lord, that, when Thou revealest the first glimmerings of the signs of Thy transcendent sovereignty and might, hath the power to claim for himself any existence whatever? Existence itself is as nothing when brought face to face with the mighty and manifold wonders of Thine incomparable Self.

Contingent existence is pure imperfection and sheer nothingness - grant a gleam and effusion from the perfection of the Necessary Being and absolute existence.

Essential pre-existence is an existence which is not preceded by a cause; essential origination is preceded by a cause. Temporal pre-existence has no beginning; temporal origination has both a beginning and an end. For the existence of each and every thing depends upon four causes: the efficient cause, the material cause, the formal cause and the final cause. So this chair has a creator who is a carpenter, a matter which is wood, a form which is that of a chair, and a purpose which is to serve as a seat. Therefore, this chair is essentially originated, for it is preceded by, and its existence is conditioned upon, a cause.

Descent, division, transmission and transmigration in the stations of life are the conditions of the contingent beings, but the Eternal Reality is wholly beyond and above these conditions; for when you behold that a being is subject to division, descent and disintegration, this is a proof, of the contingency and impermanency of that being. The Ancient, the Ever-living, and the Omniscient Lord, who is above the comprehension of humanity and is qualified with self-existent perfections, will never descend to the stations of life, and will not be divided so that every man may become an atom or a part of Him.

Existence is of two kinds: One is the existence of the True One (God) which is sanctified above the comprehension of creation. He is the Unknowable Invisible. He is not preceded by any cause, but rather is the Creator of the Cause of causes. He is Ancient without beginning and absolutely Self-Sufficient. The second existence is that of creation. It is a general existence which is a mental concept that human reason can comprehend. This existence is originated, dependent, preceded by cause, and contingent. Therefore, the contingent cannot become ancient, and the ancient cannot become contingent. Creation cannot become Creator, and the Creator cannot become creation. The transformation of essence is impossible in the realm of existence.

And regarding proof for the temporal eternity of contingent beings in this transient world - briefly, divine sovereignty is eternal, and the existence of beings is from the eternal effulgences of the Sun of Reality. One cannot imagine the sun without rays. All divine names and attributes are eternal, and their requirements are also eternal. This is a brief answer - reflect upon it to derive detailed meanings, as there is no opportunity for elaboration.

Existence (vujud) is of two kinds: conceptual ('ilmi) and material ('ayni). Prior to being embodied in material forms, all created things existed on a conceptual plane, that is to say they were entities within the knowledge of God. They subsequently found material existence and became visible in the external world. Conceptual existence hath no impact on the eye; it can only be affected by material reality.

Catalogue reference: AB00954 · passage alignment is approximate; supplied wording retained.

Compared to God nothing has existence but this does not mean that even stones do not have being. It is speaking relatively. Moreover, God reveals Himself in all things in the sense that He is the source of their being and the Cause of their existence. Without Him all things will shrink down into nothing. This however does not mean that all things are parts of God as the pantheist believes. The pantheist says that only God exists, objects are mere modes of His attributes. Baha'u'llah however says that objects have a separate reality that is created by God.

Supplied quotation · catalogue passage not verified