Seedbed of the Light (page 58 continuation):
“Suppose you come across a splendid guest-house that a benevolent ruler has built and richly decorated for travelers to stay in for only one night. You see that most of the decorations are samples that visitors can taste only the food offered, that everything happening inside is recorded, and that the decorations are changed daily. You will conclude that its owner has limitless wealth and infinite generosity, and that it was built for a fixed period to arouse a yearning for the boundless and inexhaustible banquets prepared for all travelers in his permanent mansions.”
Some questions to reflect on since last time:
- Am I really seeing this world as a guest-house?
- Do I feel that I am a recipient of death?
Why do we say that things here are samples?
Because everything that we experience here is contradictory to our human nature. That is to say, nothing is permanent here. Furthermore, nothing satisfies my human needs which look for Eternal Satisfaction.
As far as this temporary universe is concerned, we are not expected to get full satisfaction here. We cannot do anything beyond tasting here. Example: when you eat a delicious fruit, it disappears. That is, all the qualities of the fruits and your senses of enjoyment vanish.
Everything is lovable and appreciated by human being here. There must be some reason behind the moment by moment temporary enjoyment. And so we look for the cause of such experiences. If things were permanent here, then we would never look for the Source of Existence of objects and events. We would not even question about it.
- The qualities here point to the Eternal qualities of the Source. That is, the qualities that I experience here in sample form makes me conclude that there must be such qualities in Absolute form. Otherwise, this existence does not make sense where I am put in just to get samples until I die. There is no satisfaction in this because my human expectations are not fulfilled with the transient nature of this universe. I need to experience these manifestations fully and because I am given this need, the One who has given it to me must fulfill it in Absolute form.
Paradise is created as a result of our conclusions here because my human feelings are dynamic not static. The only difference is that in this type of existence, we have to follow a certain order to expect the result to be created. But in that type of creation (i.e. Paradise) or eternal creation, everything will be renewed automatically. Example: Here, you have to till the soil to expect some fruits. Then you have to wait for the following season to follow the same order to get that same fruit. But in Paradise you get what you desire for right there and then without doing anything. That is, by acknowledging all the qualities manifested here, you must get the Eternal form of such qualities.
Learning by trial and error:
Sow seeds, put water and let sunlight in for the cherry tree to sprout. I learnt the order established in the universe. What is the wisdom behind this order? So, I question the Source of existence of this order. How? By making mistakes. That is, thinking that water has the qualities to make the cherry. Water has no qualities to make the cherry. I keep asking: “Hey soil/water/sunlight, can you be the Source of existence of the cherry; do you have the necessary qualities to be the source of the existence of the cherry?” It’s obvious that creation does not hold causal power. Although, I am following the order and I realize that nothing has the power to create. Without investigating and making mistakes, we cannot train ourselves.
- By making error, trying again and getting to the Source of Existence of the cherry is the learning process, which is actually the Quranic message (lailaha illallah) or nothing within this world has the power to give existence to anything.
- We should not be disappointed when we make a mistake. Mistakes may help us to acknowledge our Creator better.
- Mistake in and of itself means nothing. But benefitting from the mistake as a result can lead to Paradise.
Even think about your needs. Who is satisfying your needs? Without interacting with the Source of the signs, we experience only dependent beings. Human feelings are dynamics. Why do I feel the need of something new every moment? Just as every couple of hours, I am given hunger for example. Why? Do you just think that the order is just there by itself? Every time the universe is created, continuously renewed and we are given endless needs is an invitation for us to re-consider, re-experience and re-confirm our conclusion. So we will be sure of our Creator and live with our Creator. God consciousness means this.
Comment: Every experience makes us sure in our conclusions.
More surety is not enough because we are not repeating the same information every day. Example: you can teach the same Math concepts to a 5 years old child, a teen and an adult. Everyone will say that I am studying Math even if they do a doctorate on it because human nature and feelings are dynamic, never ending as long as we live in this world. The more you get information about something, the wider your knowledge becomes. As the student learns, the capacity expands and there is always space for more learning. That is progressing and together with God consciousness your capacity expands and you become more secure in your existence. The potentiality is there but because we do not use it, we do not realize that the potentiality is there. DANGEROUS! It means that you may start studying the beings and conclude that there must be a Creator and I believe in Him but then kill your potentialities: “There is God, Ok” but the potentiality does not have the capacity to stop here, it expands endlessly. There is no end, we have to interact with creation in order to experience our relationship with the Creator, introduce our Creator to our human side until we die. If you say I am done with belief, then you kill the rest of your potentialities.
- Awareness of God consciousness expands with every conclusion. We have to keep studying creation until we die otherwise we kill ourselves from that moment onward. There is no end to learning. Just as everyone has the ability to learn Math and the more you learn, the more your understanding of the subject expands. If we educate our spirit to a certain capacity, that is it then as far as our learning is concerned, which means that everyone will experience manifestations of His Lord as much as He acknowledges It. You know that something exists but you are not becoming acquainted with It and make your spirit increase in its learned capacity. Belief (imaan) is never static. What is static here? Nothing. Belief in God is a training. You graduate from this universe based on how much your spirit has been trained to acknowledge its Source of existence. As you graduate, accordingly you experience the new existence. We should not try to graduate with a low degree. Hurry and train yourself to get the higher degree.
Comment: In the new type of existence, will I get the opportunity to acknowledge the Creator?
This existence is the only training place we have to educate our being. There won’t be any learning in the new type of existence as far as acknowledging the Creator and experiencing His manifestations is concerned otherwise what is the purpose of this type of creation? In the new type of creation, it’s all about getting the pleasures out of our training here.
Human spirit has endless capacity and as we practice in this world, we see that in any sense, our capacity has no limit. Not only in acknowledging the Source of our existence but also in our professions. Let’s take a plumber for example. Is there an end in her/his experience as a plumber? No. One learns new skills every day. If the same type of experience were repeated for the new type of creation, why not here then?
Every soul will experience his/her God according to their capacity. Verse: “The faces of the believers will be bright shining looking at his Lord” (Qiyamah (75): 22). It means that everyone will experience manifestations of His Lordship as much as he acknowledges them. You can experience the manifestation of your Creator as much as you become acquainted with It within your capacity. That is why we are getting ready here to increase our capacity to acknowledge our Creator as much as possible otherwise if we say we believe in God, then we stop introducing our spirit to its Creator to make it more improved, learned and satisfied with an increased capacity.
Unfortunately, belief matter is ignored in Muslim tradition. The focus has been reduced to only performing rituals without training the spirit through the human qualities. Quran provides us to experience more and more with our Creator and get to know Him better. “Today I learned this and tomorrow I understand something else.” Just as you cannot only be learning operations in Math. You have to go deeper to Algebra and Calculus.
Question everything: Does this satisfy my human needs? You cannot educate yourself without training by just doing rituals i.e. copying rituals because human senses will not experience signs of the Creator while they are practicing rituals because rituals are performed as a result of previous experiences of the signs of the Creator.
Quran speaks new practices of belief system. That is, it gives new opportunities to practice belief system. There is no fixed information given in the Quran. You have to investigate for yourself and this investigation has no end. General statements are given making it open to interpretations endlessly. Example: People of the elephant (ashabulfeel). Who are they? Any idea wanting to destroy the truth (or Absoluteness of the Creator). How many such ways are there? That is why the Quranic message needs to be applied to our lives at every different moment and level. As a result of being a dynamic speech, we may have different interpretations. If the Quran was static, it would not be miraculous anymore. Hence, the Qur’an should be read on a dynamic approach. Remember that the Quran is an Eternal Speech of the Creator. If you get lost in historical context of events then it’s not an Eternal Speech anymore.
How do we know that everything is recorded here?
When I recall on my past moments, that phenomenon is evidence that such a quality exists.
What is the wisdom behind the creation being this way where everything is recorded?
To make me realize that nothing is wasted here. That is, however I have developed my human side here, I will be treated accordingly in the next type of creation. If you use the word “accountability” it should mean this otherwise it can be mistaken for rewards/punishments for actions, not for their bases, which is the consciousness of one’s acknowledging her/his Creator. Only among created things, the concept of reward/punishment is applicable, i.e. in the court any case decided by the judge. The Creator treats us according to our level of belief and acting according to it.