Plate XI
The Lamp in the Niche
The wick, the glass, and the light it sheds on seven waiting things.
“Recognise that we now have a fundamental account of Kufr, which, by definition, is concealment, insincerity, and therefore, primordially occludes the possibility of virtuous expression or the disclosure of the Divine through the self.”
A lamp hanging in a pointed stone niche above a small constellation of dark beings
Drag anywhere on the lamp or its ring: up trims the wick, down lets it slump, sideways bends the flame. Release, and it relaxes on its own over several seconds — untended, it will not stay steady. With the figure focused, the Up and Down arrow keys step the wick the same way, partial and repeatable.
Fig. XIa — Drag the lamp or its ring: up trims the wick, sideways bends it. Untended, it slumps.
Three motions, none lit by anything the frame draws. The wick, trimmed inward — and , willed straight, never a state once held. The glass, cleared upward — Fidelity and Humility, receiving a light it did not make. The light shed downward, onto the graph below — Mercy and Wrath: to what depends on the flame above it.
“But if Adam does not reach, he certainly will never find God.” The Moral Subject