The leaves of the book of the world are of varieties incalculable,
            Its letters and words, too, are of number infinite;

Inscribed on the workbench of the Preserved Tablet of reality,
            An embodied meaningful word, is each being in the world.

Study the lines of the universe; for they are missives to you from the Sublime Assembly.

FIFTH SIGN

The fifth Sign consists of two points.

F i r s t  P o i n t :  Since Almighty God exists, everything exists. Since they have a relation with Almighty God, all things exist for everything. For through the myster y of unity, through their relation with the Necessarily Existent One, all beings become connected with all other beings. This means that through the mystery of unity, every being that knows its relation with the Necessarily Existent One, or whose relation is known, becomes connected to all beings since they are connected to Him. This means that by virtue of that relation, all beings may manifest endless lights of existence. In that respect,  for them there is no separation or death. To live for a single passing second yields innumerable lights of existence. Whereas if there is no such relation or it is not known, the being or person manifests infinite separations and deaths. For in the face of every being with which he could have been connected, he is exposed to a separation, a parting, a death. That is, he burdens his personal existence with endless instances of non-existence  and separation.  If he were to remain in existence  for a million years even (without connection), it would not be equal to living for an instant with the relation mentioned above. The people of reality (ehl-i hakikat) have said therefore: “Illumined existence for a passing instant is preferable to a million years of profitless  existence.”  It is also  because  of this that  verifiers  of the realities  (ehl-i tahkik) have said: “The lights of existence become apparent through recognizing the Necessarily Existent One.” That is to say: the universe is seen to be full of angels, spirit beings, and intelligent beings, bathed in lights of existence. Whereas without them, the darkness of non-existence and pains of death and separation encompass all beings. In such a view, the world appears to be an empty, desolate wasteland.

Indeed, all the fruits of a tree have a relation with all the other fruits, and since through the relation they are all friends and brothers, each possesses accidental existences to their number. But if one of the fruits is plucked from the tree, it suffers a separation and death in the face of all the other fruits; they all become as though non- existent for it; it remains in the resulting darkness of external non-existence.