Brian Flynn: Meaning of Nūn
Nūn is the unique source from which all forms of creativity flow. The word itself is the sound made by the pronunciation of the Arabic letter N. It is also the name of the ancient Egyptian neter* nūn, closely associated with nu, the primordial waters from which everything in Creation emerged.
The greatest Sufi master of all time, Ibn Arabi, wrote extensively about the science of letters and how the very shape and formation of each letter, as well as the sound associated with it including the place of origin of that particular sound, form part of a great revelation of sacred science that was recorded long ago by the great sages of antiquity.
According to the Sheikh, the Arabic letter nūn is written in a way that characterizes its spiritual and intelligible nature. It consists of a dot placed over the center of a semicircle. Ibn Arabi writes that the dot is the supreme letter A (alif, written like I in Arabic) seen from above, therefore appearing in perspective as a single dot. It can be seen as the point of a compass which begins the entire process of the Creation of the universe, and after scribing the lower half of the circle, the final mark or dot where the pencil line ends represents the head or uppermost point of the letter A (alif). Thus together the dot and the end of the scribed semicircle reveal the entirety of the supreme letter A.
To Ibn Arabi, "the letter nūn signifies human eternity." He further explains how "the manifestation of the secret of eternity is established in the letter nūn."
Essentially the Arabic letter nūn is half of the ancient Egyptian hieroglyph for RA - a dot inside the center of a circle - with the upper part of the circle non-manifest, and in the hermetic tradition, the numerical value of nūn is 50. The RA hieroglyph, which is also the symbol for sacred geometry, represents both the Creator (dot) and the entire Creation (circle) and therefore the letter nūn can be seen as the Creator hovering over the cradle of all Creation.
Meanwhile, in ancient Egypt, the words nūn and NU are very closely related. Both are phonetically spelt with the hieroglyphs n, which is the wave symbol representing energy, and w, the chick, an untainted new beginning of life with the potential for rapid growth and development. Nūn has two waves, meaning it contains more of the N energy. According to the great master of the Egyptian temple teaching Rene Schwaller, NU is primordial water and nūn is the primordial ocean.
Nūn or NU is the source that exists outside of time and space at the very beginning of all Creation myths. Described as the dark, endless waters infinitely stretching out in every direction, these waters already contain all possibilities, though none of them has yet manifested. It's like a pregnant possibility that exists outside of time and space and the hieroglyph for the neter* NU is a simple round pot. The pot serves to contain: nothing more. And this perfectly describes NU, since every possible thing lies within the pot but they are hidden from our view and therefore unknowable in their un-manifest state. The pot is like the womb, a sacred and most secret place where things are held in suspended animation until their time comes to be made manifest at birth.
As a cosmic law, nūn represents the creative faculty of imagination, which is most lucidly accessible to us through the dream state; that enchanting and enchanted landscape where everything is possible without barriers or restrictions. It is the ideal neter* for artists or mystics to dive into, searching for new creative potentials which exist conceptually but haven't yet taken any bodily form. It is the neter* that oracles or modern-day channels use to receive messages directly from the source. Nūn is an endless source of inspiration.
Nūn Art Gallery is registered under Egyptian law with the no. 562 845 194
