1 Corinthians 15:49 Meaning As We Have Borne the Image

You have worn one image so far, the earthy one, the self shaped by body and senses, the man who takes the visible world as the whole story. That image was never the end of you. It was the sleeping form, universal man with God at rest inside him, wearing the mask of flesh. A second image is coming, the heavenly one, and you will wear it as surely as you wore the first.

The heavenly image is your own imagination awake to itself as the power behind everything you have ever lived. The change is not added from outside; it is the same being shedding the outer self and rising as what it always was. A person passes from the likeness of a creature bound by circumstance to the likeness of the creator who was asleep as him. You are no longer the made thing but the maker.

When I have shaped him and breathed into him of My spirit: a person is made of two things at once A line from the Quran describes the human being formed from clay and then given something of God's own breath. Most people know the heavy half well, since it shows up daily as tiredness, appetite, and the pull toward the easy choice. The light half stays quiet for years, but it was put in at the start, which means a person's weakness is only half the story.

God created Adam in His own image: the likeness came before any effort of ours A saying of the Prophet that Ibn Arabi returns to constantly. Nobody earns this likeness by good behavior, since it was set in place before anyone had a say in the matter. When someone feels too ordinary or too worn down to reflect anything above them, the stamp is still there under the wear.

Jilāʾ al-qalb: Polishing the heart until it is clear Al-Ghazali compares the heart to a mirror that has gone dull. The image never left it, but grudges, self-deception, and small appetites settle on top like grime on glass. Clearing them off is slow, unremarkable work, and the face that finally shows up was there the whole time.

Takhalluq bi-akhlāq Allāh: Taking on God's own qualities Al-Ghazali's phrase for the aim of the entire path. Coming to carry a higher likeness happens in unglamorous places: being generous when it costs, patient when nobody is watching, forgiving when you have a strong case against someone. Each of those wears a groove, and after enough of them a person's first reactions begin to match the qualities they were reaching toward.

Al-Insān al-Kāmil: The complete human being Ibn Arabi's name for someone who carries the whole likeness without gaps. Such a person still eats, sleeps, and gets tired, since the dust half stays; it simply stops running things. Knowing that a human being can get there keeps someone from treating whoever they are today as the finished version.