Arguments for Resurrection – Part 4

The Seedbed of Light, The Third Treatise

Arguments for the Resurrection (page 53)

“Has a small hospice, an ever-changing testing ground, filled and emptied daily with His subjects, despite His Sovereignty’s infinite splendor. They stay only for a short time in that place, which displays the marvels of the Ruler’s arts and Favor and is continually transformed. The implication is that behind this hospice, testing-ground and place of exhibition are permanent palaces, everlasting abodes and open treasuries filled with the original items.”

Why is the hospice small?

Well, we have endless desires and the universe with its transient nature cannot fulfill these desires. In fact, nothing here guarantees permanent satisfaction. That is why the hospice is considered small as compared to our human qualities which have endless capacity.

Our main concern should be to listen to ourselves rather than reading a book. WHY AM I HERE? WHAT AM I EXPECTING FROM HERE? Am I reasoning with legitimate evidence? Or am I just saying like a parrot: “we believe in the hereafter.”

We need to reflect on our reality.
We need to define “belief”.
Belief= my conviction, my certainty.
How am I certain about it?

This creation is just a sign which is an enough source of satisfaction for human beings that it points to whatever we are trying to get i.e. Permanence. Otherwise, this creation would be meaningless and contradicting to what our expectations desire. Compared to one’s human expectations, this creation is small i.e. what the author refers to as hospice. In summary, this creation is here to help conscious beings connect to the Eternity of its Maker.

How can you learn that this universe is an ever-changing training ground?

From your own experience of interacting with the universe, you get to learn that. No one can teach you the experience side as it is very personal and human.

Think about the existence of things first and then see how you can use it to fulfill the purpose of your existence. Example: What is the wisdom in the existence of anger? With this methodology of questioning the source of existence of everything. In this class we concentrate on the existential side of any matter. How to manage one’s anger or another sense is another topic outside the scope of this discussion? Also, one needs to have a criterion in order to manage any given sense, which is why we are given freewill.

Question: Why do I have anger? What does anger refer to? If we do not think about its wisdom and jump into how to manage anger, then we would never be able to solve our problems from the root. That is to say, we will never be eternally satisfied. Only after being satisfied with the mission of the sense of anger in our existence and realizing the cause of anger which is to fulfill the purpose of one’s existence, can we manage anger and use anger management for its purpose. We are made in a way that we get angry at things. The biggest question is: “Have you thought of the existence of anger?” Materialists (psychologists) do not touch on this. Only the Qur’an teaches us to solve our problem from its root.

We are expected to understand the existence of our senses. Example, why am I given anger? Why did my Creator create me with a sense of anger?
OUR REALITY AS OF NOW: We do not think about the existence of anything in our being.

Our problem is that we do not think about the existence of anything in our being. We need to question existence and try to understand the wisdom within its creation. Creator must guide me why It created me with certain qualities.

How should we handle existence?

Analogy: Dad is eating chocolate in front of the baby. He makes him/her taste the chocolate for a split second. The baby likes it and then cries when the chocolate is taken away. Similarly, in this universe, its Creator introduces to us different things and then takes it away because the things are temporary.

As we enjoy existence, it is gradually taken from us. Why does the Creator make me enjoy youth and then gives me death (just as the dad made the baby taste chocolate in the analogy above)? Since It is not giving me permanent youth here, why It is making me taste it? Alas, that is how the universe is. There is wisdom in this contradictory position that we are made to experience. It forces us to question the source of existence of everything. It is as if we have no option but to fill in an order form to desire things at a permanent level. The order form is your acknowledgment of your reality that you do not create anything and you are given senses to experience certain feelings temporarily which make you yearn for an Eternal Source of satisfaction. Hence, you attach your soul to such an Eternal Source. That is how our human feelings are prepared in this universe. Otherwise, we numb our feelings by occupying ourselves with artificial ways of achieving happiness. We are here temporarily to discover and decipher our human reality.

3 stages to discovering our human reality:

Realizing the Absoluteness of the Creator.
Realizing the Necessity of Messengership.
Realizing the Occurrence of Resurrection.

Quran is full of human psychological analysis as a guide for us on how to decipher our human reality. Analogy: Johnny has a breathing issue and hears someone speaking about the same breathing issue which got cured with a certain medicine. Since Johnny is listening carefully, he asks the person for the name of the medicine. Similarly, the scripture speaks to us outwardly and inwardly. But our reality is that most of the time we do not feel the need for guidance. From the analogy above, we may not even notice that we have lungs to begin with, so how can we even be aware that we have a breathing issue? We are mostly living in oblivion.

We cannot really get “the meaning” from the Quran if we did not pay attention to its objectives. The dictionary meaning helps us understand somewhat but it must be contextualized within the main objectives of the Quran. Here are the main objectives of the Quran which aligns with knowing the wisdom in your existence:

What is the point in God speaking to me?
Why does He speak to me?
Is it really true?

We have to go through this stage: If I am convinced that the One who created me must tell me what the mystery in this type of existence is, then the Quran speaks to me and I will get guidance from the Quran. This type of existence is full of contradiction but it is a beautiful training to fulfill the purpose of one’s existence i.e. get to know who your Lord is.