Main Page

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part I The Necessary Existent

Chapter 1. Cultural terms

Ahura Mazda • Allāh • Aten • Baha • Brahman • 'Ēl • Father • God • God the Father • Shangdi • The One • Unconditioned Reality • Vishnu • Waheguru • Yahweh

Chapter 2. Epistemic framework

3. Law of identity

3.1 Law of non-contradiction

3.2 Law of excluded middle

Chapter 5. Oneness

5.1 Cultural terms

Henosis • Monism • Monotheism • Nondualism • Oneness • Samadhi • Tawhīd

Chapter 6. Necessary simplicity

6.1 Cultural terms

Divine simplicity

Part II Immaterial dimension

Chapter 1. Cultural terms

Intelligible dimension • Intelligible realm • Intelligible world

Part III Immaterial dependent existents

Chapter 1. Ontologically first dependent existent

1. Cultural terms

First creation • First intellect • First light • Image of God • Imago dei • Mashīyya • Nūr Muhammadiyya • Pen • Perfect creation • Qalam • Universal intellect

Part IV Material dimension

Chapter 1. Cultural terms

Cosmos • Dunyā • Material realm • Material world • Multiverse • Olam HaZeh • Physical world • Sensible dimension • Sensible realm • Sensible world • Universe

Chapter 2. Actualising potential

Cultural terms

'Ibādah • Islām • Servitude • Submission • Worship

Part V Material dependent actualised rational existents: Homo perfectus sapiens

Chapter 1. Cultural terms

Demigod • High-Conscious Individual • High-Integration Individual • Hujjah • Imām • Infallible • Insān al-Kāmil • Insān ‘alā Khuluqin ‘Adhīm • Integrate • Ma'sūm • Messenger • Meta-Conscious Agent • Nabī • New Man • Perfect human • Perfect rational animal • Philosopher king • Prophet • Rasūl • Transhuman • Übermensch

Chapter 6. Intellect

6.3 Terms and usage

'Aql • Nous

Chapter 7. Information: Ungraded acquisition

7.3 Terms and usage

Anubhava • Enlightenment • Ilhām • Nirvana • Perfect knowledge acquisition • Revelation • Wahī

Chapter 8. Information: Ungraded dissemination

8.5 Nominees

Bible • Hadīths • Qur'ān (Mushaf of 'Alī) • Qur'ān ('Uthmānic codex)

Chapter 9. Information: Graded dissemination

Cognitive reframing

9.3 Terms and usage

Intellectual dissimulation • Taqīyya

9.5 Nominees

Bible • Hadīths • Qur'ān (Mushaf of 'Alī) • Qur'ān ('Uthmānic codex)

Chapter 12. Candidates

Confucius (551–479 BCE, China) — Philosopher, educator, ethicist. Advanced consciousness expressed as ethical cultivation and the idea that harmony in the individual extends outward into society, shaping relational and collective awareness.

Socrates (469–399 BCE, Greece) — Philosopher, teacher. Embodied radical self-examination, dialogical truth-seeking, and the courage to die for principle, making consciousness of virtue the measure of life.

Plato (428–348 BCE, Greece) — Philosopher, writer, founder of the Academy. Elevated abstraction and the reality of universals, treating consciousness as participation in the realm of forms, an early theory of mind’s reach beyond perception.

Zhuangzi (369–286 BCE, China) — Philosopher, Taoist sage. Emphasised fluidity of perspective and dream-consciousness, dissolving rigid distinctions between self and world in a proto-nondual mode.

Aristotle (384–322 BCE, Greece) — Philosopher, scientist. Analyzed mind (psyche) as structured layers of life — vegetative, animal, rational — anticipating systematic study of consciousness.

Ashoka (304–232 BCE, India) — Emperor, Buddhist reformer. Dramatic transformation from conquest to conscience: renounced violence, spread ethical edicts, showing consciousness as a basis for political life.

Jesus (c. 4 BCE–30 CE, Judea) — Preacher, reformer. Preached radical inversion of social norms (“the last shall be first”), extending consciousness into unconditional love and inner purity, even at cost of crucifixion.

Plotinus (204–270 CE, Egypt/Rome) — Philosopher, founder of Neoplatonism. Articulated the ascent of consciousness from sense to intellect to mystical union with “the One,” framing awareness as ontological participation.

Augustine of Hippo (354–430 CE, North Africa) — Bishop, theologian. Pioneered introspective analysis of memory, time, and will, treating consciousness of self as the site of encountering truth.

Muḥammad (570–632 CE, Arabia) — Philosopher, mystic, merchant, orator, poet, revolutionary, statesman, military commander. Combined contemplative withdrawal (Ḥirā) with revolutionary vision: transformed fragments of oral, poetic, and legal consciousness into a unifying moral-legal system.

Ali (601–661 CE, Arabia) — Caliph, jurist, philosopher-poet. Renowned for sermons that combined courage, self-awareness, and metaphysical reflection; model of integrating ethical action and contemplative thought.

Fatima (c. 605–632 CE, Arabia) — Daughter of Muhammad, moral exemplar. Remembered for eloquent sermons, advocacy for justice after her father’s death, and embodiment of moral integrity under political pressure. Represents advanced consciousness as ethical witness and personal sacrifice.

Hasan ibn Ali (624–670 CE, Arabia) — 2nd Imam, grandson of Muhammad. Praised for conciliatory leadership; relinquished political authority to avoid bloodshed, embodying consciousness of peace and ethical restraint in volatile times.

Husayn ibn Ali (626–680 CE, Arabia) — 3rd Imam, grandson of Muhammad. Martyr of Karbala, archetype of sacrificial consciousness: prioritised truth and justice over survival, becoming a symbol of resistance against tyranny across cultures.

Ali al-Sajjad (c. 659–713 CE, Arabia) — 4th Imam. Survivor of Karbala, embodied contemplative consciousness through supplications (al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya), integrating suffering with spiritual depth.

Muhammad al-Baqir (677–732 CE, Arabia) — 5th Imam. Scholar and teacher, expanded intellectual foundations of Islamic thought. Consciousness expressed through systematic transmission of knowledge amid political marginalisation.

Ja'far al-Sadiq (702–765 CE, Arabia) — 6th Imam. Renowned teacher of science, theology, and law; many Sunni and Shiʿi scholars trace knowledge to him. Consciousness here as integrative intellect bridging faith and reason.

Musa al-Kazim (744–799 CE, Arabia) — 7th Imam. Known for patience and endurance during repeated imprisonments. Advanced consciousness expressed as steadfastness and inner resilience under oppression.

Ali al-Rida (766–817 CE, Arabia/Persia) — 8th Imam. Engaged in public theological debates at Abbasid court; remembered for tolerance and intellectual breadth. Consciousness expressed as rational dialogue and openness.

Muhammad al-Jawad (811–835 CE, Arabia) — 9th Imam. Became Imam in childhood, yet led with intellectual precocity. Symbol of youthful consciousness applied to leadership and scholarship.

Ali al-Hadi (828–868 CE, Arabia) — 10th Imam. Lived under Abbasid surveillance, emphasised inner piety and guidance despite constraints. Consciousness here as quiet resilience and integrity under pressure.

Hasan al-Askari (844–874 CE, Arabia) — 11th Imam. Restricted life in military garrison (Samarrāʾ), yet produced a legacy of ethical teachings. Consciousness expressed as leadership through personal example amid political isolation.

Avicenna (Ibn Sina) (980–1037, Persia) — Physician, philosopher. His “floating man” thought experiment explored immediate self-awareness independent of the body, a foundational insight into consciousness studies.

Ibn Arabi (1165–1240, Andalusia) — Mystic, poet, philosopher. Elaborated the doctrine of the “Perfect Human” as the microcosm of all reality, theorising consciousness as the reflective mirror of the divine.

Dōgen (1200–1253, Japan) — Zen master, monastic reformer. Articulated “being-time” (uji), collapsing distinctions of time and consciousness, teaching meditation as direct embodiment of awareness.

Rumi (Jalal al-Din Rumi) (1207–1273, Persia) — Poet, mystic. Through ecstatic poetry and metaphor, expressed consciousness as love-driven dissolution of ego into unity.

Meister Eckhart (1260–1328, Germany) — Theologian, mystic. Taught detachment and the “birth of God in the soul,” centering consciousness as a formless ground of being.

Mulla Sadra (1571–1640, Persia) — Philosopher, metaphysician. Developed gradational ontology (tashkīk al-wujūd), equating degrees of being with levels of consciousness, anticipating panpsychist lines.

Galileo Galilei (1564–1642, Italy) — Astronomer, physicist. Shifted consciousness of the cosmos from geocentric certainty to empirical infinity, pioneering observational awareness of nature.

John Locke (1632–1704, England) — Philosopher, theorist. Defined personal identity as continuity of consciousness, influencing modern selfhood and rights theory.

Isaac Newton (1643–1727, England) — Mathematician, physicist. Unified celestial and terrestrial mechanics, expanding human consciousness to a law-governed cosmos.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778, Switzerland/France) — Philosopher. Probed conscience, authenticity, and freedom, reshaping consciousness of self in society.

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804, Prussia) — Philosopher. Explained consciousness as structured by categories of understanding; “transcendental unity of apperception” as ground of experience.

Thomas Paine (1737–1809, England/USA) — Writer, revolutionary. Voiced universal rights and democratic conscience, extending awareness of political selfhood.

Toussaint Louverture (1743–1803, Haiti) — Revolutionary leader. Transformed consciousness of enslaved peoples into political agency, leading Haiti’s independence.

William Blake (1757–1827, England) — Poet, artist. Visionary imagination turned consciousness into prophetic art, critiquing industrial rationalism.

G.W.F. Hegel (1770–1831, Germany) — Philosopher. Mapped consciousness through dialectical stages, culminating in self-realisation as Spirit.

Charles Darwin (1809–1882, England) — Naturalist. Altered consciousness of life by introducing evolution, dissolving static hierarchies of species.

Karl Marx (1818–1883, Germany) — Philosopher, revolutionary theorist. Exposed class consciousness as historical driver, insisting on praxis linking thought to transformation.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900, Germany) — Philosopher. Pushed consciousness beyond truth-illusions toward life-affirmation, the “Übermensch” as higher integration.

Nikola Tesla (1856–1943, Serbia/US) — Inventor, engineer. Harnessed visionary imagination, turning inner visualisation into scientific-technological breakthroughs.

Marie Curie (1867–1934, Poland/France) — Physicist, chemist. Expanded human consciousness of matter by revealing radioactivity, with extraordinary intellectual discipline.

Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948, India) — Lawyer, revolutionary. Embodied sacrificial consciousness through satyagraha (truth-force), nonviolent resistance, and willingness to suffer for justice.

Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919, Poland/Germany) — Revolutionary socialist. Integrated intellectual clarity with sacrificial activism, writing profound critiques while dying for her cause.

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926, Austria) — Poet, writer. Explored existential states and consciousness of finitude through lyrical intensity.

Carl Jung (1875–1961, Switzerland) — Psychiatrist. Developed the unconscious/archetypal model, framing consciousness as individuation toward wholeness.

Albert Einstein (1879–1955, Germany/US) — Physicist. Reconceptualised time, space, and relativity, demonstrating imaginative consciousness as scientific method.

Simone Weil (1909–1943, France) — Philosopher, mystic. Married mystical attentiveness with radical political conscience, lived sacrificial solidarity with workers and victims.

Ruhollah Khomeini (1902–1989, Iran) — Cleric, revolutionary leader. Unified metaphysics, mysticism, and political revolution, embodying sacrificial exile before seizing transformative power.

David Bohm (1917–1992, USA/UK) — Physicist, philosopher. Proposed implicate order, dialogue as expansion of shared consciousness, bridging science and holistic awareness.

Nelson Mandela (1918–2013, South Africa) — Revolutionary, president. Sacrificially endured 27 years in prison, then embodied reconciliatory consciousness over vengeance.

James Baldwin (1924–1987, USA) — Writer, activist. Articulated consciousness of race, identity, and love with radical clarity and eloquence.

Malcolm X (1925–1965, USA) — Minister, activist. Transformed his own consciousness through struggle, symbolising liberation through fearless self-reinvention.

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968, USA) — Minister, civil rights leader. Preached unitive, sacrificial love and justice, embodying higher ethical consciousness at great personal risk.

Ali Khamenei (1939–present, Iran) — Cleric, revolutionary, head of state. Blends political leadership with a philosophical-mystical lineage, navigating survival under immense constraint.

Vaclav Havel (1936–2011, Czechia) — Playwright, dissident, president. Coined “living in truth” as a form of political-moral consciousness in oppressive regimes.

Hassan Nasrallah (1960–2024, Lebanon) — Cleric, political-military leader. Charismatic orator, blends political struggle with sacrificial posture under constant threat.

Chapter 13. Reception

13.1 Hagiography

13.1.1 Other terms

Apotheosis • Deification • Divinisation • Ghuluw • Heroisation • Legendary accretion • Mythicisation • Myth-making • Mythologisation • Mythopoeia • Sacralisation

Chapter 14. Legends

ʾĀdām (Ādam, Adam)

Idrīs (Enoch or Hermes Trismegistus)

Nūḥ (Noah)

Hūd

Ṣāliḥ

Ibrāhīm (Abraham)

Lūṭ (Lot)

Ismā'īl (Ishmael)

Isḥāq (Isaac)

Ya'qūb (Jacob)

Yūsuf (Joseph)

Ayyūb (Job)

Shu'ayb

Mūsā (Moses)

Hārūn (Aaron)

Dāūd (David)

Sulaymān (Solomon)

Ilyās (Elijah)

Alyasa' (Elisha)

Yūnus (Jonah)

Ḏū l-Kifli (Ezekiel, Isaiah, Obadiah or Buddha)

Zakariyyā (Zechariah)

Yaḥyā (John the Baptist)

Muhammad al-Mahdī

Part VI Material dependent unactualised rational existents: Homo sapiens

Chapter 3. Terms and usage

Human • Imperfect human • Imperfect rational animal • Insān

Chapter 4. Mindfulness

4.3. Terms and usage

Dhikr • God consciousness • Meditation • Salāh • Taqwā