He who has attained to this station journeys in the Real, by the Real, to the Real, and he then is a reality (_haqq_).[29] Thus travelling onward, he arrives at the station of the _Qutb_,[30] which is the station of Perfect Manhood. He becomes the centre of the spiritual universe, so that every point and limit reached by individual human beings is equally distant from his station, whether they be near or far; since all stations revolve round his, and in relation to the _Qutb_ there is no difference between nearness and farness. To one who has gained this supreme position, knowledge and gnosis and passing-away are as rivers of his ocean, whereby he replenishes whomsoever he will. He has the right to guide others to God, and seeks permission to do so from none but himself. Before the gate of Apostleship was closed,[31] he would have deserved the title of Apostle, but in our day his due title is Director of Souls, and he is a blessing to those who invoke his aid, because he comprehends the innate capacities of all mankind and, like a camel-driver, speeds every one to his home. [29] See p. 155 above. [30] See p. 123. [31] _I.e._ before the time of Mohammed, who is the Seal of the Prophets. In the _third_ journey this Perfect Man turns his attention to God’s creatures, either as an Apostle or as a Spiritual Director (Sheykh), and reveals himself to those who would fain be released from their faculties, to each according to his degree: to the adherent of positive religion as a theologian; to the contemplative, who has not yet enjoyed full contemplation, as a gnostic; to the gnostic as one who has entirely passed-away from individuality (_wāqif_); to the _wāqif_ as a _Qutb_. He is the horizon of every mystical station and transcends the furthest range of experience known to each grade of seekers. The _fourth_ journey is usually associated with physical death. The Prophet was referring to it when he cried on his deathbed, “I choose the highest companions.” In this journey, to judge from the obscure verses in which ʿAfīfuddīn describes it, the Perfect Man, having been invested with all the divine attributes, becomes, so to speak, the mirror which displays God to Himself. “When my Beloved appears, With what eye do I see Him? With His eye, not with mine, For none sees Him except Himself.” (Ibn al-ʿArabī.) The light in the soul, the eye by which it sees, and the object of its vision, all are One.