Heart as the fundamental characteristic of the Universe

In the text by Ibn Arabi «Fusus al-hikam» in the first chapter “A Gem of the Divine Wisdom in Adam’s Word” the following description of the universe structure with its relation to dispensation of a man: «Humanity of him (man) is in universality of his dispensation in the fact that he grasps all truths... He is the receptacle of the inscription, he is the sign the Almighty seals His treasury with. Thus He named him His successor as the Almighty protects His Creation with him like the seal protects a treasury: while the treasury has the seal of its owner nobody dares to open it except for his permission becoming in this case his successor in protecting the treasury. Therefore the world is intact while this Perfect Man is in it. Do not you see that if he disappears and will be removed from the treasury of the world there will be nothing left in it which was put by God, but deviations and collisions and the whole world order will move to the other world and become the seal on that world forever?»

In the first case the term «treasury» can be translated as «an object treasure are kept in», for example, a chest which is sealed from the outer side. In the second case when we read about the removing a man from the «treasury of the world», this «chest» becomes a «coffin» and the seal from its outer side moves to its inner side. A question arises here about the geometric pattern on this «seal» which is directly relevant to the universality of human constitution.

In the theory of the architecture there is a concept of the “honeycomb arch” or «muqarnas» - a honeycombs dome. Originally it was placed on the interior surface of arched tombs. This pattern if we take its conical and not spherical shape is similar to the structure of Zhōu Dūn-yi’s diagram of the «Supreme Ultimate» in the centre of which there is a human heart oriented to the Absolute («Inherent truth» - Zhong fu, 中孚). Considering in human constitution only the heart can embrace all truths we can suppose that “the sign sealed the Treasury” is the heart of a man. The proof of this is preserved in semantics of the root of the word «muqarnas», which has the meaning of «a witness in a court». In the case with the diagram of the «Supreme Ultimate» this pattern is “the seal” on the treasury, while in the case with spherical shape which can be seen in a mosque or tomb “the seal” goes to the interior surface of the dome which symbolizes the heart.

In its turn comparing a man with a pupil of the eye - «He (a man) for the God is what a pupil is for the eye...» - makes us go back to the spherical pattern where the eye structure and the structure of the «honeycomb arch» have a common geometric pattern. The octagonal base of muqarnas structure does not contradict hexagonal structure of the «honeycomb arch» because an octagon is a hexagon with truncated upper and lower corners. On the diagram of the «Supreme Ultimate» these corners are oriented to the Absolute. These corners disappear on the spherical structure of muqarnas and the heart orients to the Absolute being in its centre.

The distant echo of this structure is coincidence of two meanings in the word “octagonal” in the Arabic language which has another meaning of «precious». Perhaps, the second meaning of this word appeared in coincidence of octagonal faceting of a precious stone being polished and manifesting the clarity of the «mirror of the world» in ontological sense which is the first man (his heart). These facts do not make it possible to agree with the opinion that «honeycomb arch» pattern are quasicrystal structures because the symmetry of quasicrystals at its core does not contain precise «hexagon» structure or pattern of the «Supreme Ultimate». In this case we can say about the triangulation theory of space by Danish physicist Jan Ambjorn.

The idea of the heart oriented to the Absolute in the centre of the structure of the Universe becomes more than just a beautiful metaphor if we consult the text of the Chinese «Book of Changes» Yi Jīng, which structure makes it possible for us to disclose understanding of the heart as an important element of Ontology. The text of the Book of Changes includes several levels: semantic, structural and geometrical, as many hieroglyphs serving as names of hexagrams lined up in the right order, have the function of informing about the events of the past, but also describe geometry the purpose of which is to be understood. While having reserved attitude to various speculations on the idea of quantum theories of the Universe unless they remain on the level of physical sciences and do not move to the level of philosophical categories, we will make an attempt to describe the structure of the Book of Changes as comments to the lost manuscript showing correlation of philosophical categories and «technical» terms to avoid mistakes in interpreting cosmos as chaos and the heart as a quasicrystal structure.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-26