the side of existence over the side of nonexistence. Then I, the Commander, and the Speaker will come together and bring you into existence.” They sought refuge in the Name the Willing and said to Him, “We asked the Name the Powerful to bring our entities into existence. He made it depend upon You. What do You decree?”
The Willing said, “The Powerful has spoken truly. But I have no knowledge of what the Name the Knower has determined concerning you. Has His prior knowledge encompassed your coming into existence, so that I may specify you, or has it not? We are within the scope of the Name the Knower. Go to Him and present your case.”
They went to the Name the Knower and told Him what the Name the Willing had said. The Knower said, “The Willing has spoken truly. My prior knowledge encompasses your coming into existence. Yet propriety has a greater claim. There is a Presence that presides over us, the Name God. We must present ourselves before Him, for it is the Presence of Gathering.”
(The Presence of Gathering and the Command to Enter into Relation)
All the Names assembled in the Presence of God. He said, “What is the matter with you?” They told Him what had occurred. He said, “I am a Name that gathers your realities together. I indicate a Named, a sanctified Essence possessing the attributes of perfection and transcendence. Wait until I go in to the One whom I indicate.”
He went in to the One whom He indicates and told Him what the possibles had said and what had passed in discussion among the Names. He said, “Go out and tell each of the Names to enter into the relation with the possibles that its reality requires. For I am the One by Myself insofar as I am Myself. The possibles call for My rank, and My rank calls for them.
“The divine Names all belong to the rank. The One alone belongs to Me, for it is a Name peculiar
Notes
Translator’s note TN1305-1: “The Name God” is the Name that gathers the other Names. “The Named” is the Essence to which it points. The dialogue continues to distinguish what belongs to the divine rank from what belongs to the Essence considered in itself.
