Are God's names and attributes manifested and show up as creation? And are God's names and attributes a part of Him? When we remember God, we are told that His essence can never be known, so what is the proper way of thinking about Him?
Bismillah
Thank you for your question. God is unlimited and superabundant. His Attributes, such as power, knowledge and beauty have no limit or cause and so in Shii theology they are considered to be the same as His Essence. What is discouraged in hadith is to think of His Essence in and of itself as a human is unable to comprehend anything without a point of reference. The Essence is therefore completely unknowable as there is no point of reference with which we can understand it. Rather, we have been encouraged to reflect on His creation and the aspects of the Attributes that are reflected in creation, like His power, knowledge and beauty, while realising that creation can only manifest a limited amount of perfection due to its limitations. When we speak of creation manifesting the Attributes of God, that is because nothing created essentially owns any perfection. Nothing is essentially powerful, knowledgeable or beautiful, let alone existent without God as the source of those attributes. They cannot have those attributes even momentarily without God and so they manifest what truly belongs to God alone. This framework of manifestation is accepted among many philosophers and mystics but other scholars may have different ideas on the issue.
May you always be successful