They are the realities (their very selves). (Kāshānī, 31; Jāmiʿ, 76)
The ayn-i thābita (fixed archetype) is the reality of a thing at the level of knowledge. It does not exist in actuality; rather, it is a fixed non-existent (maʿdūm) in Allah's knowledge. It is the second level of true wujūd (existence). (Kāshānī, 134; Jāmiʿ, 90)
O son, listen to this secret, which is difficult to comprehend! The essential perfections (kamālāt) that are exceedingly exalted and transcendent at the level of the Essence (Ḥaḍrat al-Dhāt) are the very same as the Essence itself. For example, at this level, the attribute of knowledge is the very same as the Essence of Ḥaḍrat al-Dhāt. Likewise, will, qudra (power), and the other attributes are also the same. Again, at this level, Ḥaḍrat al-Dhāt is entirely knowledge and entirely power; that is, it is not that one part of the Essence is knowledge, another part is power, etc. At that level, division and partition are impossible. When these perfections are abstracted from Ḥaḍrat al-Dhāt, at the level of knowledge (ʿilm), tafṣīl (differentiation) arises (that is, these kamālāt are set forth in detail by virtue of His knowledge), and thus, along with the perpetuity (baqāʾ) of the exalted and transcendent Ḥaḍrat al-Dhāt (without any increase or decrease in His Essence), a distinction appears between these two levels. In comparison to the undifferentiated simplicity (ijmāl) of the first level, which is waḥdāniyya (unity), in this (second) level, there is nothing that is not included in this tafṣīl (detailed knowledge) and distinguished (differentiated, made distinct from one another). On the contrary, all the perfections, each of which is individually identical with the Essence, have entered the level of knowledge, have acquired a shadowy existence (zillī wujūd) in this second level, and have been named as attributes. The existence of this shadowy existence is possible only through its origin, which is Ḥaḍrat al-Dhāt.
According to the author of the Fuṣūṣ (Ibn ʿArabī), the aʿyān-i thābita (fixed archetypes) are precisely these detailed perfections that have acquired an existence of knowledge at this level. In the view of this humble one, however…