The Improvement of Human Reason: Exhibited in the Life of Hai Ebn YokdhanIbn Tufayl, Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Malik
Islamic
The Improvement of Human Reason: Exhibited in the Life of Hai Ebn Yokdhan
Ibn Tufayl, Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Malik
Islamic philosophy -- Early works to 1800
Beauty, Glory and Splendor, that is above all Splendor and Beauty; so
that there is no Perfection, Beauty, Brightness, or Comliness, but flows
from it. Then certainly he that shall be depriv'd of the Sight and
Knowledge of that Thing, after he has once been acquainted with it, must
necessarily, so long as he continues in that State, suffer inexpressible
Anguish; as on the contrary, he that continually has it present to him,
must needs enjoy uninterrupted Delight, perpetual Felicity, and infinite
Joy and Gladness.
Sec. 65. Now it had been already made plain to him, that all the Attributes
of Perfection belonged to that Being which did necessarily self-exist,
and that he was far from all manner of Imperfection. He was certain
withal, that the Faculty by which he attain'd to the Apprehension of
this Being, was not like to Bodies, nor subject to Corruption, as they
are. And from hence it appear'd to him, that whosoever had such an
Essence as was capable of apprehending this _Noble Being,_ must, when he
put off the Body at the time of his Death, have been formerly, during
his Conversation in the Body, first, either one who was not acquainted
with this necessarily self-existent Essence, nor ever was join'd to him,
nor ever heard any thing of him; and so would, at the separating with
the Body, never to be join'd to him, nor to be concern'd at the want of
him. Because all the Corporeal Faculties cease when the Body dies, nor
do they any longer desire or linger after their proper Objects; nor are
in any trouble or pain for their absence; (which is the Condition of all
Brutes, of what shape soever they are.) Or else, secondly, such an one,
who while he continu'd in the Body, did converse with this Being, and
had a sense of his Perfection, Greatness, Dominion, and Power; but
afterwards declin'd from him, and follow'd his vicious Inclinations,
till at length Death overtook him whilst in this State; he shall be
depriv'd of that Vision, and yet be afflicted with the Desire of
Enjoying it, and so remain in lasting Punishment and inexpressible
Torture; whether he be to be delivered from his Misery after a long
time, and enjoy that Vision which he so earnestly desires; or,
everlastingly to abide in the same Torments, according as he was fitted
and dispos'd for either of these two, during his continuance in the
Body. Or lastly, were such an one, who convers'd with this necessarily
self-existent Being, and apply'd himself to it, with the utmost of his
Ability, and has all his Thoughts continually intent upon his Glory,
Beauty, and Splendor, and never turns from him, nor forsakes him, till
Death seizes him in the Act of Contemplation and Intuition: Such a Man
as this shall, when separated from Body, remain in everlasting Pleasure,
and Delight, and Joy and Gladness, by reason of the uninterrupted Vision
of that self-existent Being, and its intire freedom from all Impurity
and Mixture; and because all those Sensible Things shall be remov'd from
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