* Journal ofthe Muhyiddin tbn ‘Arabi Society, Volume 41, 2007 www bnarabisociety.org, The Time of Science and the Sufi Science of Time* Caner K. Dagli Physics used to teach us that space isa kind of absolute container, separate from the flow of time, In this classical or Newtonian conception, objects traveled through or remained stationary in space, which itself was not subject to change or to internal vari- ations. The three dimensions of space were the same, always and everywhere. Galileo's observation of the moons of Jupiter would eventually lead to the fundamental assertion, so damaging to the prevailing Christian or traditional cosmology of the time, that in fact the laws down here on earth and the laws up there in the heavens are the very same. Our “space” as we experience it on earth, according to its inviolable coordinates of width, height, and depth, or the famous 2, y, and z of the Cartesian coordinate system exists uniformly throughout the universe and is governed by the same rules. With the dismissal of the ether (the fifth ele- ‘ment the celestial spheres were thought to be made of) and the adoption of an atomist theory, the physical vision of the uni- verse was one of billiard balls colliding in a uniform and static vacuum, with things like electromagnetism and thermal energy thrown into the mix. In this conception, time was a measure and nothing more, and was itself assumed to be constant and unchanging, One used time in frequency and velocity values, but time itself had nothing essentially to do with the nature of space and certainly noth- ing to do with physical objects themselves. The great paradigm. shift in physics came with Einstein's special theory of relativity, which was later to be expanded upon in his general theory of * This paper was fist presented, under the title “Levels of the Soul and the Levels of Time”, at the Society symposium “Time and Non-Time” held in New Yerk in October 2005.76 Caner K, Dagli relativity." In addition to showing that there is no absolute frame of reference for physical measurements, the theory also demon- strated mathematically that what we ordinarily think of as space and time are actually intertwining realities ~ or two aspects of ‘the same reality. How we move through space changes how we move through time, at least depending on the point of observa- tion. If I travel from Barth for a period of time near the speed of light and then return, a much longer period of time will have elapsed from Earth’s frame of reference than will have elapsed from my own frame of reference, In some sort of space vehicle for example. Time also changes depending on how close Iam to a strong gravitational field. A clock in orbit high above the earth, for example, will run slightly slower than an identical clock on the surface of the earth. Now, many books have been written in the last few decades claiming that the teachings of Eastern religions such as Bud-