The Ghayb Crystal Set - Seeing the Unseen

The Ghayb or Unseen is a state of Knowing the Unknown. For the student, the Guru or Sufi Master represents the Unknown. I never knew what would happen when I met my Master, Punditt Maharaj - he was and is a complete mystery to me. Punditt has now gone into ghaiba, or Occultation, Unseen. He is still in the world, but he has gone into silence. The Supreme Knowledge or gift of the Sufis is to find and enter the Ghayb, but to do is a prolonged test of character, of self-belief, having the ability to overcome invisible obstacles. The Ghayb is place without proof. The Ghayb is the Pathless Path.

To be in the Ghayb is to be lost to the world. This has a positive benefit. To all intents you are invisible; people will not understand your intents, words and actions. Being in the Ghayb protects you from black magicians, who cannot enter the ghayb, and so cannot find or harm you.

My teacher would use the phrase, 'knowing the unknown'. This is the supreme power, to know something that is unknown means that nobody can teach you, for otherwise it would be known!

The Ghayb is vast; in the West it is known as the Abyss, which is placed below the Supernal Triangle on the Tree of Life. Since the Tree of Life is concerned with the Known, the Abyss is a place of fear and danger. The problem is that the Tree gives us the illusion of orderliness and structure to spiritual realms that does not exist in reality. From the Unknown is projected the Known. In Tarot terms, the Fool card is closest to the concept.

To know that there is the Unknown is the first step, and it is experienced by all of us - we fear the Unknown. With the guidance of the Sufi Master, the student enters the Ghayb, but of course the Student does not know this! To be in the Ghayb in this state is to be lost - there are no signposts, no means of guidance, no means of knowing if one has progressed, and how far. There are no spiritual frames of reference. Meister Eckhardt wrote about the Cloud of Unknowing. To be in the Ghayb is to know that you do not know. In its negative psychological form, you know what you do not want, but you have no idea what it is that you do want. Many people are in this state - they have lost sight of who they are. Thus, the first stage is to know Oneself, which is beyond Knowing. Of course, this is not the Ghayb, but it approximates to the Ghayb.

In other words, there are relative levels of the Ghayb. Until recently, I thought that 'Knowing the Unknown', ie learning without being taught, was the primary understanding of the Ghayb, but there are other levels, so that the Sufi Master is able to go beyond the Ghayb. The experience (which I had during a dhikr), is that when one is in the Ghayb, it feels vast, there are no edges, just as astronomers have problems with grasping the size of the universe, and where it begins and ends. However, when the spiritual power and knowledge is strong enough within the Sufi, it is possible to go beyond the Ghayb, which is an area of knowledge, and knowing. In fact, once above and beyond the vastness of the Ghayb, the Unknown, into the Known, the Ghayb is perceived as contracting to something that is small in contrast to the vastness of the Known, and it is possible to go 'around' the edges of the Ghayb. To be in this profound Knowingness is still beyond the comprehension of others, since they of course are either outside or inside the Ghayb. Working at the levels beyond the Ghayb takes the Sufi Master into places where miracles can happen.

Sufism and Islam recognises that there is an Imam of the Time, who is associated with knowledge of the ghayb. Knowledge gained in the Ghayb is beyond time and space, and for the most part it is unverifiable to the seekers. Seekers who demand proof will be disappointed.

Perceiving the Unknown

There are three main perceptions of the Unknown:

1. Dreams
2. Ilham
3. Kashf

The Ghayb Crystal set works to strengthen and purify these three levels.

Dreams

When learning from your Sufi Master, dreams are a powerful method of learning and study. Dreams take the aspirant into realms that are not available in the waking state. In the early stages, and for many years, dreams often have a disturbing fearful quality, for it is here that the invisible spirits take form. The student learns how to deal with spirits in the same way that children learn how to deal with other children and adults as they grow up. Dreams take the student onto the Path of Right Action in Dreams. This crystal protects the Sufi during dreams.

Ilham

Ilham is intuition or direct perception. It is a state of knowing within one's being about knowledge that is impercetible to others. It is very easy to miss the knowledge from Ilham. Ilham takes the student onto the Path of Right Action in the Waking State. The inspiration of Ilham is found in Sufi Poetry. This crystal purifies, protects and strengthens the faculty of Ilham.

Kashf

Kashf relates to Unveiling or uncovering, here referring to the uncovering or unveiling of the Unknown. Higher levels of Kashf take the Sufi to see the Divine. This crystal brings the Sufi closer to the Ghayb.