Seedbed of Light (continuation page 59)
“Look at our memories, the fruits of trees, and the seeds of fruits and flowers, so that you may understand the comprehensiveness of the law of recording and preserving. The Owner of these creatures is infinitely careful about His acts of Sovereignty, and records whatever happens in His Kingdom. Everything is so perfectly ordered and measured in His Lordship that He records (or has recorded) the most insignificant event and [His servants’] least service. Such recording and preserving require an eventual reckoning. This is especially true for the comprehensiveness acts done by humanity, the noblest and most honorable of creatures, who witnesses all acts of Divine Lordship, heralds Divine Unity in the realm of multiplicity, and observes the glorification of creatures. Due to this and innumerable other virtues, we have been honored with the Divine Trust—the human self distinguished with free will, knowledge, speech, and the Divine Religion—and God’s vicegerency on Earth.”
Through our faculty of memory, we understand that a comprehensive recording is going on in the world. The first sentence is just an introduction to the previous paragraph and what will be covered in this paragraph. We witness that there is a law of recording and preserving applied in this world. Why is this so? The word “Kingdom” implies the Dominion of God or Divine Authority/Ownership/Lordship manifested in the world. Everything is recorded by the Kingdom of God. If there is a law of preserving practiced in this world, we need to ask the questions how about my actions, thoughts, belief…they should be ordered as well, that is the universal principle but for what? In other words, why are things recorded?
Comment: They form your understanding on which you can apply your free will to understand on the significance of the connection to your existence.
How do you relate yourself to it? Why are things recorded?
Comment: It helps me connect the Source of existence of all those memories and understand that story for me.
What is the purpose of my existence? Am I aware of it or not? What does it have to do with the One who records or preserves it? Example: The life stages of a tree is preserved in the seed, what is the seed going to do with this order? Take the lesson from it or what?
Comment: It grows accordingly.
But it does not grow itself. Is the tree aware what is written in its seed? No. The order of existence in this way is purposeful, so why is such an order out there? Why is there such an order? From my perspective, why has He created the world with the fact that there is a recording going on in this world? Why does the Creator do this? I understand from one side of my human perspective that I should know what is going on in my life but if it is only for this world, I am going to die so why bother?
Comment: I feel it has to do with the continuity of existence.
If everything is recorded, it means for a future purpose. As far as I am concerned, until I die, I will use my previous experiences (because human beings have freewill) in order to check myself for my future that I should not repeat this mistake or, if it was good, then I should carry on doing that. But until I die, it is alright. However, after I die, my concern has finished. Look at the creation’s perspective, why is the creation set up in this way? That is, why does the Creator keep recording everything in the world and showing me that it is being recorded? After I die, it must have to do something with me. It is the sign of reality that the continuation of existence will definitely take place so I will be treated after I die according to my records. Example: What do you do when you are taking a course in a school? You record it and learn it. Why do you record it? After I graduate, I will use it. But as far as my life experiences are concerned, what is in my memory is what I am recording. That is how I am created, which is the universal law in the universe i.e. everything is recorded. If everything is recorded, after I die, what is it good for? Why is the seed of the animate beings recorded? Why is it created in this way? I have to think about it as far as what I observe here: “The Owner of the universe is telling me that It is recording everything because I have realized it”. Do we understand that It must be recording my actions as well something that has to do with my life after I die otherwise it would be pointless if everything is recorded and when I die it ends. In other words, it contradicts the purpose of creation and the reality that I see in this world that everything is deliberately and purposefully created. Hence, there must be an ultimate purpose to my learning here. Otherwise it does not make sense to learn in this world and then die or graduate. Graduation is from the life of this school of the universe. We have the professional life after graduation. However, we have developed our abilities, after death we will experience it.
Comment: The purpose of creating things in an order. I can see that things are created for my own education/training in order to teach me the qualities manifested here and now. The whole purpose of the universe is created to teach me the qualities manifested all around me and that is why everything is recorded.
I will be experiencing however I have developed and improved my human abilities here. Let’s take the school example again. John and Jane graduate from the university with a degree in Electrical Engineering. John has a 3.75 Grade Point Average (GPA) whereas Jane has a 3.0 GPA. They both have the degrees and start practicing Electrical Engineering in the field. Both of their practices will be different because John learned 85% of the skills while Jane only learned 60% of the skills. Both are Electrical Engineers by profession and you can tell that, however, capacity wise, John has developed more skills than Jane and thus he will be able to apply that much on the field as oppose to Jane whose capacity is only 60%. Similarly, when we talk about people of Paradise, don’t you think that there will be a difference between individuals who trained their capacity to a certain level? Yes, just as John and Jane, everyone will be treated according to how much they trained their human qualities to get to know the Source of their Existence here. There is definitely a difference in experience between people who train themselves at a maximum level versus those who train at a minimum level. Don’t say that I believe that I will be in Paradise. Yes, we will be in Paradise but everyone’s experience will be based on the capacity s/he has developed his/her human capacity to the maximum in acknowledging the truth i.e. reality. To go to Paradise is very easy! The promise of the Quran and the Prophet makes it clear that if one believes that the universe is created and there is a Creator, then that person is on the way to Paradise. Sure, a person with a 2.5 GPA can enter Paradise which makes a great difference from the person with a 3.85 GPA. Most people that believe in God will be in Paradise but their experiences of the manifestation of Mercy and Beauty of God will be different and according to their capacity as it will be the consequence of their training here. That is, how much does one develop their human qualities, educate themselves, prepare themselves and train themselves to get to know who this God is in their practical life in order to communicate with the Source of their existence. Mostly that does not happen.
We understand that this recording shows that we are going to experience what we learn here. Example: every year, we take midterms, quizzes and finals. What are they for? Based on that performance, we get a final grade. If we have not studied Electrical Engineering properly, then we cannot get a good grade moving forward. Example: If during freshman and sophomore years, you get C, can you get an A during Junior/Senior year? No, there is no base as you have not prepared yourself. If you have not grasped the subject well, then you cannot get a high grade going forward. But what you can do is go back and establish the base again.
If you get A during freshman, sophomore and junior years, the likelihood of you scoring a B or C is high even though you did not pay attention to the classes. The result of your previous accumulation will increase your likelihood. What does this mean?
If you do not prepare yourself from now, it means you are investing your future in failure i.e. you will never get an A because the base is missing. If you do not prepare yourself while you are young, after the age of 30 and 40 years you will never make it because you have been praying I will fail and the Creator says OK, you will fail. People make excuses that they are busy now with school, job or family but I will make some money and I will guarantee my life in the world and then I will start praying five times a day and obeying the rituals. Every day that we postpone it, we are investing in our failure. Not because we have a bad intention. Most followers of religion say that I am busy right now with my job, school or family but definitely when I become financially stable, I will concentrate on studying the Quran or on religious life. It means that you have been investing in your failure during your youth and when you get to a certain age, it becomes difficult to change, especially after the age of 40 years old. Example: when you learn something at the age of 7, it stays with you as oppose to learning something after the age of 50 years old, it is as if you are writing on water because it does not register as it disappears. That is reality! God says that I have given you so many years (freshman, sophomore, junior and senior) and you never prayed to develop your abilities and now it is too late. BUT THERE ARE EXCEPTIONAL CASES! Let’s say if a person lives in a desert and does not know what education is and realizes that s/he has to go to learn Electrical Engineering and registers with a school at the age of 50 years old. Takes his classes and education seriously and starts his first year with a good success, s/he will probably end up with a 4.0 GPA. But if a person is already in the school which has a limited end (because you cannot be in the school as much as you want as that is the rule in this world), if s/he starts school at the age of 16 years old and stays in the school for 4 years and does not study, what happens? The person fails. If he starts freshman year without preparing himself, then sophomore and junior year really studying and then senior year wanting to study the base properly, then it is too late because that is the end of the tenure.
Now, the 50 years old who does well his freshman year, that was the secret of the Companions of the Prophets, they might have received only two classes and died. It is narrated that someone approved the message of the Prophet (pbuh) and confirmed it, on the following day s/he died. What does it mean? The first day of the freshman year he fully attended and he was ready to continue on this way and it is rewarded according to his intention/decision. Even if he did not study the rest of the years. That is why the companions are at the highest level of Paradise. Whoever accepted the message of the Prophet and did not deny that there is an education system i.e. there is a purpose in this life. People thought about it, do you think that we have to educate ourselves or live like an animal? If someone decides that we should not live like an animal, we have to do something more because we are conscious beings, it means registering with a school. As soon as you register with the school, your training starts. Before registering with the school, you are not training yourself. Let’s say when you register with the school and that is the graduation date as well i.e. you are given death as per your limited time. Then, hypothetically speaking, you tell your Creator: “Look you did not let me study. Creator says I know and your intention was to continue as soon as you registered.”
- Registering with the school means that I accept that I have a Creator and that I am created for a purpose. Also, I am not an accidental being!
- Now the education starts!
As soon as we realize the above, we have to take it seriously. For how long? It is not up to us. When the school ends, then your education finishes. We have to take seriously whenever we realize this i.e. today I have to be serious for my existence because at the end I will be treated accordingly.
- Start here and now, not tomorrow!
When you say today I have something to do and tomorrow I will start. Example: I have to start studying the Qur’an but not today because I have something to prepare. You already failed! When you postpone it for tomorrow, it means that you will not be consistent at all and that is the sign of your sincerity of registering with the school. Example: you registered with a school and you say that I am a student but I will start attending the classes next week. What does it mean? You are not serious! If you realized that you are a student why don’t you start now! Go to school! “I am a student but not now”. That is exactly what is happening here and we will be treated accordingly in the next creation which is definitely going to take place.
The recordings show that death is definitely not the end of existence here. Things are recorded for a further purpose, especially for human beings who are conscious beings. As the text describes that human beings are aware of the Divine Lordship because we are aware of it. Compared to our situation, it seem to be to us that the trees are not aware, they are just woods but we human beings are aware of the fact that this world is the manifestation of the acts of the Owner of this world, Divine Lordship (i.e. something is really operating in this world, giving existence and we are observing and we are aware of what It is doing and what is happening in this world). If the tree’s life is preserved, then my life will definitely be preserved but not for now. If it was to be preserved for now, then this creation would be meaningless because at the end we die.
Example: pictures of wedding ceremonies are preserved in albums or digital frame. What happens? If you are not going to watch it or use it, then why record? Eventually, we will all die and throw all belongings.
We have to be careful with all the celebrations that we celebrate. Why am I doing this? Is it the tradition? If you imitate the general public without thinking, then you are not a human being!
We are able to realize the acts of Divine Lordship so our actions and our abilities are more important to be preserved and recorded, more than animal life which is recorded in their cells. Hence, human capacity must definitely be recorded!
What does “Divine Trust” mean in the text?
It has to do with our human faculties that we are endowed with. It is a trust given to us to be utilized for the purpose of our existence i.e. the purpose of existence of our qualities. Example: you are given the sense of love, aspiration, hope…
What is the purpose of having been given the sense of love?
Comment: To show you the qualities of its Creator.
This is the manifestation of its Creator so acknowledge that my Creator also loves.
Let us look at the matter from the flip side. You are created and have a sense of hatred towards something unpleasant. Example, you see someone in a certain situation and you do not want that to happen to you. Ideologically or physically we have a sense of not wanting unpleasant events and objects. This sense of hatred or not wanting something bad is given to you. What does it mean?
Comment: In its existence, I realize that I am being told something.
This is also a sign that your Creator does not like it. In other words, your Creator is letting you know that you should not love that. Not because the Creator created something and hates it, He lets you know that He wants you not to like that unpleasant event. It is a sign that the Creator is teaching you or instructing you not to like that event. When you do not like something, it is a message from the Creator. It is perfect to look at the matter from an existential point of view.
We are given the Divine Trust means that we are enabled to acknowledge what my Creator wants me to do and what my Creator does not want me to do. It teaches me both sides. Example: approve the truth and reject the false. That is, take a stance. If someone says that this is false, what should I do, my mother in law wants it? But I cannot do it because the society says so. That is the reality! We have to love/hate something and act accordingly i.e. take a stance.
Comment: The sense of love is given. I love the brownie, means that my Creator loves the brownie, I am just wondering, so who am I?
Your Creator is enabling you to love the brownie demonstrating that is why He has created it for you to love the brownie. That is your responsibility.
Comment: But He is not the One who loves the brownie.
You can say: “consequently, God is the One who makes you love the brownie but as far as you are concerned, you are informed to love the brownie by your Creator.
- What is belief?
- Being consistent with your creation because your creation is the message from your Creator.
- Don’t speculate on the Creator but take it as a lesson from the Creator. That is your responsibility as you are taught.
Quran keeps saying that Satan is your enemy and Hell is bad for you and you cannot stand it. “Look God, if Hell is bad for me why did you create it then?” If I jump to God’s perspective, then I am messing up. “If Satan is enemy for me then you are the Creator and Owner of everything, get rid of this guy. Why do you keep telling me that Satan is bad for me, don’t create it!” These kinds of arguments have fallacy in it because we are looking at the matter from God’s perspective. We have to look at matter from our perspective. God is informing us what to do and what not to do. Stay within your own realm. God tells me that I created Satan for you and it is your enemy. It means that I have to watch out for Satan, which are misleading and wrong inspirations, false whispering and not real. I have to watch out for it! God is letting me know for what I have to watch out. Always look at the matter from your own perspective. If you go into God’s perspective you are messing up your reality. Rather than taking notice of your reality, you ignore your reality and jump to speculating God. Anything said about God is speculation!
Don’t we say that God is all Knowing? Yes in your prayers, but only after you reason and say that I am created and I have a Creator. While reasoning and experiencing life that is speculation. You experience the life through your experiences. Most people confuse this matter because they confuse the realms. I am not in the realm of the Absolute world but rather in the created world.
In this created realm, I study and come to the conclusion that God must be the Creator. While performing ritualistic activities, you present your conclusions. When you are getting ready to reach the conclusions, you do it for yourself. It is as if the teacher asks what is the answer and you present your answer. When you speak to the Creator, you say your result but while you are studying you struggle to reach the result. When you get the result, you are done as far as your responsibility is concerned. You just tell your result to the teacher. During ritualistic activities, we present our results. Apart from this, we have to try to do exercises to get the right results. When you are trying to get the right results, you cannot use the already conclusions because you do not have the conclusions. Example: you are solving a problem step by step and you heard a person say that the answer is 10. Can you write x= 10 instead of working on it because your friend told you who knows better than you? No. Is it my conclusion? Did I learn anything by saying there is One God? Those people who are scholars told me that “lailaha illallah” is true, they are professional people and I trust them so I must admit that I do not know. Community tells me that we are Muslims and lailaha illallah is true and I know. Tongue uttering lailaha illallah does not make me a believer.
People usually do not want to make the common people disappointed so they do not emphasize on these points. Some of the scholars are also nothing more than common people. Some try to understand the reality and some go along with the flow of the common people to let them feel comfortable. As a strategy, this works out. If a person has already settled down in his mind about a conclusion and is just focusing on worldly gain such as school, job… without any intention of learning how to reach this conclusion, then this person will keep imitating the community and stick with the community. However, if a person has capacity and intention and investigate and do exercises to learn how to reach this conclusion, then we have to encourage these people to make sure how to get conclusions: You can do it!
We have to watch out our attitudes towards people. Speak to people according to their capacity.
Never waste your time now!
Keep track of your interactions. If you waste 30 minutes of your life, ask yourself, what did I do? As far as the purpose of my existence is concerned, I did nothing in 30 minutes. Be harsh to yourself for even 5 minutes if you waste it. It means being true to yourself: “I realized that and I am aware of it.” Not tomorrow! If you realize something now, do it now. Every day has a tomorrow. Tomorrow never ends until you die. The time you postpone, you are increasing the effect of atrophy in your abilities. Atrophy: deteriorates and dies out in time
If you cannot do it when your ability is 100% now, tomorrow it will be 99% because you did not improve it. If you postpone it for another 10 years until you go on Hajj and come back as a fresh baby, then it will be too late because you go back to your previous gossip stage such as talks about how the Arabs are dirty… The ability has already atrophied, you cannot develop anymore. Just like the disease gangrene, it keeps killing all the potentialities. Every time we postpone, we are praying for gangrene. Don’t be late!
Divine Trust requires that we have to look at ourselves and see the qualities manifested in ourselves and say that my Creator acts in me according to the qualities that I can perceive and understand. Example: Would you like to eat from garbage bag? No. This sense says that I have to dislike it this way; I am not saying it by myself. Similarly, anyone who takes ownership of their senses are deserving of Hell because the senses are given to us.