The Plane ┌ 1. The Plane of Intellects--the of Primal │ parent of the heavens, Light. │ 2. The Plane of the Soul. └ 3. The Plane of Form. │ │ ┌ 1. The Plane ┌ 1. The Plane of │ │ of ideal │ the heavens. └────┤ form. ────────────┤ │ 2. The Plane │ 2. The Plane of │ of material └ the elements:-- └ forms:-- (a). The heavens (a). Simple elements. (b). The elements:-- (b). Compounds:-- 1. Simple elements I. Mineral kingdom. 2. Compounds:-- II. Vegetable kingdom. I. Mineral kingdom. III. Animal kingdom. II. Vegetable kingdom. III. Animal kingdom. Having briefly indicated the general nature of Being, we now proceed to a more detailed examination of the world-process. All that is not-light is divided into:-- (1). Eternal e.g., Intellects, Souls of heavenly bodies, heavens, simple elements, time, motion. (2). Contingent e.g., Compounds of various elements. The motion of the heavens is eternal, and makes up the various cycles of the Universe. It is due to the intense longing of the heaven-soul to receive illumination from the source of all light. The matter of which the heavens are constructed, is completely free from the operation of chemical processes, incidental to the grosser forms of the not-light. Every heaven has its own matter peculiar to it alone. Likewise the heavens differ from one another in the direction of their motion; and the difference is explained by the fact that the beloved, or the sustaining illumination, is different in each case. Motion is only an aspect of time. It is the summing up of the elements of time, which, as externalised, is motion. The distinction of past, present, and future is made only for the sake of convenience, and does not exist in the nature of time.[137:1] We cannot conceive the beginning of time; for the supposed beginning would be a point of time itself. Time and motion, therefore, are both eternal. [137:1] S̱ẖarh Anwāriyya fol. 34a.