from Chapter 5 -- “The
Heart” -- of the text What is Sufism? by
Martin Lings:
When it is said that God is Love,
the highest meaning this can have is that the Archetype of all the positive
relationships—conjugal, parental, filial and fraternal—are Indivisibly One in
the Infinite Self-Sufficing Perfection of the Divine Essence. A less absolute
meaning is that the central relationship, namely the conjugal one on which the
others depend and in the background of which they are already present, has its
Archetype in the polarization of the Divine Qualities into Qualities of Majesty
and Qualities of Beauty. It results from this Archetype that mutual concord
depends on likeness and unlikeness, affinity and complementarity. Both the
Majesty and the Beauty are Infinite and Eternal, whence their affinity. But one
is Active Perfection and the other is Passive Perfection, whence their
complementarity. On earth the human pair have affinity through their
vice-regency for God, and they are complementary through being man and woman.
The harmony of the universe depends on analogous samenesses and differences not
only between individuals but also between worlds. …Thus it is possible to speak
of ‘the Marriage of Heaven and Earth’…
