i me'âni (Sufi Terminology)

The realm of fixed archetypes (ʿayān-i sābita), the realm of spirits (arwāḥ), the realm of testimony (ʿālam al-shahāda), and the realm of the Perfect Human (insān al-kāmil), which encompasses all these realms within itself. The one referred to here—that is, the ʿārif (gnostic)—is never heedless; on the contrary, he is always in observation (mushāhada) of whatever spiritual station (maqām) he is at, and is intimately united with it. If the ʿārif, when he brings something into existence through his spiritual aspiration (himma), attains to an encompassing awareness (ḥāl) of it, then that created thing manifests in every station through its form. This is because the ʿārif has brought this being into existence from the station of union (jamʿ). Thus, this creation exists in every station in his form, to the extent of its share. The forms also preserve one another. (Sofyavi, 125)