He says of man who is the whole world: “By the time, Lo! Man is in a state of loss.” The “time” [‘asr] is a perfect man; it is the Imām of the Time (‘a). That is the essence [‘usārah] of all creation. Swearing by the essence of all creation is swearing by the perfect man. “Lo! Man is in a state of loss.” The “man” that is being referred to here is the man with a head and two ears that we call a human being. It is addressed to us. We are at the junction. One way is that of humanity, which is the “straight path”. At one end of the straight path, there is nature, and at the other, divinity. The straight path begins from the “clot”. Some of them, however, are natural. But what is important is that which is voluntary. One end of it is nature and the other end is divinity. Man begins from nature in order to reach the place where “I” or “you” does not enter: “I will become that which you cannot imagine.”
sahifeh-ye-Imam. V 8. P 289-290