Revising the Anthropological Foundations of the Doctrine of Perfection in Theoretical Mysticism

From the viewpoint of theoretical mysticism, the ultimate goal of creation is perfection of all creatures, and the most desirable way for it is known to be through the perfect man. In explaining this view, the present study uses a descriptive-analytical method to revise the anthropological foundations of the ‘perfect man’ in theoretical mysticism and conclude that the approach of this domain on the basis of these special foundations, including the dichotomy of the man’s existence, the man’s true ‘heart’ and his state of ‘godlikeness’, is a god-centered approach. The man’s special characteristic in the theoretical mysticism is enjoying the power of ‘godlikeness’. The godlike man is the perfect God-seeking man who knows God and has achieved the status of proximity to God. In the literature of theoretical mysticism, proximity to truth is called wilāyat, meaning elimination of the servant’s ‘self’ and I-ness and his achieving the status of annihilation in God as the criterion for human’s perfection. The educational way of theoretical mysticism is educating a man through a man, based on which the souls who seek sufficiency get help from the sufficient souls through heartfelt wayfaring to elevate in the path to proximity to God, create a strong link between the godly refined life (ḥayāt ṭayyiba) and reasonable life in proportion to acquiring divine names and keeping on divine attributes in their actions and words, cover the right path of servitude to God, and become godlike. Achieving godlikeness, which is a graded concept and is the origin for objective effects, is the ultimate goal for the man’s creation and his existential perfection.