Fark-ı evvel (the first distinction) refers to being veiled from the Real (al-Ḥaqq, i.e., God) by creation, that is, becoming distant from the Real and perceiving created things; it is the persistence (remaining, being seen) of the signs pertaining to creation (the created) in their own states. (Kāshānī, 136; Jāmiʿ, 92)
The station (maqām) of fark-ı evvel (the first distinction) is the station of the people of ḥijāb (veil)—that is, those who are veiled from the Real and from realities. They cannot be present there except through causes, without the musabbab (that which is shown as the effect). They can infer the Creator only through the created.
Fark-ı sānī (the second distinction): Shaykh Maḥmūd Abū Shāmmāt said: This (station) is the station of the other (āghyār). They do not remain in this station by observing themselves or others. Their being in that station is due to remaining in that very station itself. (Rihla, 211)
Fark-ı sānī (the second distinction): To witness that creation (khalq) subsists through the Real (al-Ḥaqq), to see unity in multiplicity and multiplicity in unity—i.e., to see both at once—without being veiled from one by the other. (Kāshānī, 136; Jāmiʿ, 92)