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Twenty-fifth window: A work of art shows an artist. Something
born requires the existence of something giving birth. Being below implies being
above. And so on. Like all relative things or qualities in pairs existing in
relation to each other and requiring the existence of each other, the
contingency of all that exists, whether the particular or the whole, shows
necessity, for it is equally possible for something to exist or not exist. The
being or becoming or being acted upon observed throughout the universe show
activity. Their being created shows the activity of creating. Their observed
multiplicity and composition necessitate unity. Necessity, acting, doing,
creating, and unity demand the attributes of being necessary, active, creative,
and one, all of which are not contingent, passive, multiple, composed, and
created. Given this, all contingencies, actions, formations, creations,
multiplicities, and compositions in the universe testify to a Necessarily
Existent One, One doing whatever He wills, the Creator of all things, One and
Single.
In short, contingency shows necessity, being or becoming points to the act of
doing or making, and multiplicity points to unity. In the same way, being
created and provided, as observed in existence, point to the existence of the
acts of making, creating, and providing. These, in turn, point to the existence
of a Compassionate Maker, Who is the Creator and Provider. This means that each
creature, through the tongues of its hundreds of attributes, bears witness to
hundreds of the Necessarily Existent Being's Beautiful Names. If this is not
admitted, then all such qualities also must be denied. |