Creation is Love – Part 1

The Words, Pg. 367, 24^th Word, 5^th Branch

“O My self-worshiping soul! O my world-worshiping friend!”

From one’s observation of the universe, one can see that everything is made in pairs. One observes night/day, heat/cold, male/female, love/hate…etc. Then there are one’s egotistic tendencies which are opposed to one’s pure spirit. One’s spirit and one’s egotistic tendencies form a pair, which is what makes one a being.

In this world every being exists with its counterpart. Spirit has real existence; it is pure and has the capacity to know its Creator. However its counterpart (egoistic tendencies) is “the lack of purity”. Human beings have the choice to accept or deny the real Existent One. It is like either accepting light (spirit) or accepting darkness (ego) while exercising freewill. Human ‘free will’ swings between confirming the existence and denying it by following its counterpart, which does not have a real existence. This non-real existent one is defined as “nafs” (soul) as opposite to “ruh” (spirit.)

The Spirit, in its pure form (‘ruh’), has been programmed to know the Creator. Our pure spirit is put into practice through our given freewill because in every decision/action, we use our ‘free will’.

• Without using freewill, I cannot do anything. It is as if there are two levels to freewill:

1. First Level: I choose between given options.
2. Second Level: While attempting to choose I either acknowledge its Creator or deny it.

• Nothing happens accidently by itself. Every moment I am using my freewill.

Example: I chose to drink water.

Example: I chose not to take the bus…etc.

All human qualities (senses, feelings, and consciousness) are tools endowed in my being and are given to me to be utilized. Our tools are means to get to know who the Creator is. In other words, the spirit uses the material (biological) body and all human qualities to communicate with the objects in the universe. Here is a formula to internalize:

• HUMAN BEING = material body + Spirit (i.e. all human qualities + Consciousness)
• Consciousness = Accepting or Denying the Real Existent One.
• When I exercise my freewill consciously, I acknowledge the Real Existent One. That is my SPIRIT acknowledging = Human Being.

The above definition of SPIRIT is really one’s perception of what makes them a human being. Thus, the notion of “death” is defined accordingly. That is, if you perceive your existence to be consisting of only the conditions that you are subject to in this universe, then you reduce your life to that of an animal being. Although our spirit is bound to the conditions of this universe, one can easily conclude that there must be more to life that I experience here. I cannot just happen to have been given existence accidentally. I was given existence out of a germ cell inside the womb of another created being. Now I am here in this universe and I know that I will leave this universe at any given moment. After a thorough reflection on the sequence of one’s life, the questions dancing on anyone’s mind are more or less as follows:

• What am I doing here?
• Why am I given existence?
• What is the purpose of my life here?

While attempting to get these questions answered within myself, I conclude that my existence cannot consist of experiencing this universe only. There must be an extension to this universe, that is, I must have been made to experience this universe for a specific purpose. Let us journey into this discussion to find out what that specific purpose is.

My spirit uses tools to get in touch with the universe. I question the purpose of these tools. What are they given to me for? Therefore, in order to know the purpose of my existence, I first need to know myself i.e. who am I? To know oneself and acknowledge reality (i.e. I am needy and created) is not an easy endeavor. It is also an often neglected endeavor. We may live here for a hundred years but if we do not get to know ourselves, then we waste our life here.

Being aware of my spirit is what makes me a human being. When my spirit leaves the body, my material body may still continue to have life in physical terms like a plant life for a short period. When spirit leaves the human body, life loses its support to renew the body. When spirit is in the body, it uses the bodily tools to communicate with the universe.

Example 1: The eyes do not ‘see’.

• The eye, as an organ, is just a tool.
• It is the ‘spirit’ with the ability given by its Creator that enables us to see.
• The spirit sees through using the eyes.
• As humans, we can use our consciousness to come to the realization that our Creator is enabling us to see through giving us the power of sight when we use our eyes, which are also created for us.
• When we die (spirit’s departure from our body), our organs are useless because it is our spirit that was made to enable our physical body to function.

Example 2: I do not have eyes.

• Even if I do not have a working organ, the spirit still yearns to see. However, the spirit does not experience the power of sight but can conclude that the Creator must be the All Seeing One through the need to see.

We are given consciousness so that we may know that our Creator is the All-Seeing One, who is the Source of existence of the power of sight in all beings.

• When I am in a conscious state, I am able to realize that my Creator has enabled me to see.
• When I am not in a conscious state, I do not qualify as a human being (as per definition above) because I am not realizing anything. In this state of mind, I am living just as any animate being.
• All my qualities are given to me so that I consciously realize where my spirit is coming from i.e. who my Creator is, which is what makes me a human being.
• My consciousness needs to be utilized and I have to use my freewill to decide to use my consciousness.

From all the examples (above), one can conclude the following: My Creator has enabled me with the desire to see. Through this need, He is telling me that He is the All-Seeing One. He manifests His quality of ‘All-Seeing’ in my own existence so that I may experience and realize Him as the All-Seeing One.

• Only as a result of being aware that I have been given the quality/power of sight, can I acknowledge Him as the All-Seeing One.
• Through my experience of seeing, I know that my Creator sees everything.

The qualities of the spirit are the created samples of the qualities of the Maker. My given ability to “see”, “memorize”, “comprehend”… are all samples of the Absolute qualities of the Maker i.e. where the spirit is coming from. (Absolute means that after investigation, I discover that I cannot attribute these qualities to anything in the universe or the universe itself.) The Maker must have Absolute qualities that is why he is manifesting it in my being in a way that I may communicate through it (for example my ability to see) in order to acknowledge my Creator as the All-Seeing One. Additionally, I can observe the power of sight of other created beings and realize that my Creator is the All-Seeing One.

• I am free to use these samples in order to get to know the Source of my spirit.

I may only know the Source of my spirit at a level suited perfectly for me. As long as I am given the ability to see, what I experience is that my Creator must be the All-Seeing One. He must be seeing me right now as well and He lets me experience this consciousness at the level of my own perception. Let’s say my vision is dissipating. Then similar to Example 2 (above), my spirit still yearns to see clearly. Based on my limited vision, I experience the All-Seeing One accordingly. That is, I can only experience the All-Seeing One (Creator) within a limited capacity but the Creator must have an All-encompassing capacity to see. How do I come to the conclusion that the Creator must have an All-Encompassing capacity to see? Through my experience of seeing things, I know that the ability to see needs to be given existence by a Sufficient Cause. I can see nothing in this universe that I can attribute the existence of my power of sight. In order to be able to give existence to my sight One must be not of the nature of this universe, every piece of which needs to be given existence. Thus, I conclude that the Creator must be an Absolute Being, thus, my Creator, Who must be Absolute, sees everything right now that is my conclusion. I can experience the All-Seeing One only through the capacity given to me. Similarly, through my experience of “understanding”, I know that my Creator understands everything right now.

Let us apply this reasoning process to all our abilities i.e. speaking, hearing, comprehending… We thus understand that the Creator does not only speak to a few good men but speaks to all created beings. The problem is that we may not experience God’s speech in our being just because we take our ability to speak for granted.

Example 3: How do I speak?

• My ability to speak is given to me by my Creator
• As I speak, what must I experience?
• When I speak, I should consciously experience that my Creator has given me the ability to speak and hence I conclude that My Creator is the All-Speaking One.
• As I speak, I ought to realize that God’s Speech must be manifesting everywhere and all the time now.
• I should experience that my Creator is the Absolute Speaker and His Speech is ever-present. Through my ability to speak, I should be conscious that my Creator must have the ability to speak to me at the level of my own perception. As He speaks, he lets me experience Its Speech.
• The Creator is speaking to me as much as I am aware of Its Speech.

Our Creator speaks to us at every moment based on how much we have trained and developed our capacity. The Speech can be in the form of a melody, word, act of creation or any other form that I experience in this world. God is speaking to me with words right now. I can experience it from my own capacity but it needs a decision from my side i.e. I have to choose between denial and acceptance.

• We are always given options. Without options, I cannot use my freewill. Without freewill, I cannot function as a human being.
• Our freewill is essential for us.

The author is referring to the “nafs” (i.e. our egotistic tendencies) when he starts off saying: “O my self-worshipping soul!” Our egotistic tendencies are what make us deny the Creator’s act within our actions. The nafs is what wants to act independently with no reason. Thus, the self-worshipping soul attributes existence to itself or something meaningless.

We need to experience God’s speech for ourselves instead of historicizing His speech with relevance to the Prophets only. Everything that I experience is within the order of the universe. If something happens that I do not like, I feel that I am unlucky. Do events exist by themselves? Is there such a thing as “luck”?

• Commonly heard: “Fortunately, I have this.”, “I got lucky”, “I accomplished this by myself”
• What does this even mean?
• Anything that is created has been given existence by the Creator. Similarly, anything that is not created did not occur out of luck.
• In any event, I should reach the awareness that it has been consciously created/not created for me. If I do not come to this realization, I will step into the realm of being a ‘self-worshipping’ soul “nafs” i.e. the alternative of the reality.

If something is created, it is deliberately created. If something is not created, it is deliberately not created as well. How should we handle the second statement? We have to focus on the created-ness of every event. I should not ignore that anything I experience in this world is in reality an act of creation. In every event, the Creator is communicating to me through the creation of the event. When something is not created, it is still a chosen option not to be created.

In general, I should not question what is not created but I am given the ability to ask the question why it is not created to extract wisdom from it. Wisdom that I extract from it would be according to my worldview i.e. I can only reason at my level. Since the order in the universe is mostly fixed, I can learn how to follow the order. If something is still not created despite my following the order, then that is still part of its created order. For example, I can follow the order in the universe, but ultimately I cannot save myself from dying. I can never know the real wisdom since no one can get access to the knowledge of the Creator (as previously studied in the Ayat-ul-kursi verses). Hence, it would be a false question to ask: why did you not create this for me? It would be false, because within my created conditions in this universe, as far my observation of the order of the universe goes, I cannot question the Creator directly but go through the creation/experience/events I am exposed to. That is, I can only investigate what is given to me within the order of the universe as far as I can discover the order otherwise I cannot be aware of it. Usually, it is my expectation that wants something to be created and when it is not created, I am left to get the lesson from it within the order of the universe, not within the capacity of God. I cannot question why did you do this to me? The order is set by Him and through this order I understand, that my Creator is teaching me something for my benefit.

• Every event is part of an order and is within the will of the Creator. I cannot say that God has a better plan for me and stop further investigating the order because I have to use my given freewill and investigate within the order of the universe and ultimately realize that the order is set by Him, i.e. everything is under His will.

As said above, I cannot question the Creator directly but when I am in a dialogue within myself, I am in fact communicating to the Source of my being directly? For example: I see a beautiful flower on the street and my thoughts are: “hey you are made beautiful and I am made to like you. I thank You, O the Source of our being to let me experience this.” Now I desire for the flower to be in my garden. Since my desires and wishes are from Him, I communicate with the Creator through this wish: “Hey Creator of the flower! I wish to have this flower in my garden because you have given me this wish.” Then I follow the order in creation and plant the seed in my garden. I conclude by acknowledging that if the flower blossoms in my garden, the Source of existence of my happiness can only be attributed to the Source of existence of the flower, which happens to be the Creator of the whole universe. As a result of my conclusion, I add one more drop to my conviction that my Creator is the All-Beauteous One.

When we conclude about the qualities of the Creator, the quality itself goes beyond the realm of this universe. It is not of the nature of the universe i.e. Absolute Creator. I am unable to comprehend what Absolute is but I can convincingly conclude that there MUST be an Absolute Creator (the existence of the Absolute). While we are unable to understand the Essence of Absolute-ness of the Creator and how He creates His principles, we are able to learn His order as displayed in this universe to get to know Him more i.e. to consolidate our conclusion

Our sad reality is such that we start questioning the Creator when we label an event as negative. There is no negativity in creation except that it exists in my perception.

• When I burn my hand deliberately, this event is not bad or negative. Rather, I am learning the order of creation that fire’s purpose is to burn and I need to be watchful.
  • When I feel pain from the burn, again this event is not negative. I am created to not like pain and I am learning that burnt hand causes pain.
  • I have to make a decision not to choose the way which creates pain. This sense of disliking the pain should not lead me to label the creation of fire as “negative” or “bad.”
    • I am the one that labels the event as something bad for me. I learnt the order and should avoid it in the future.
    • Instead, I need to thank the order Giver because the order teaches me what to do or what not to do i.e. I am made not to like pain so I need to stop burning my hand.

I have to be thankful for anything created for me. All good and bad (bad is from my perspective i.e. what I label) is from the Creator of the universe. Creation of death, volcano, and tsunami…are all good as well. My disliking death is given to me and so I avoid death. But when death is created for me, its creation is good. If I deliberately choose death i.e., throw myself from the window and if I am dead, that creation of the action is based on the order in the universe. When I throw myself out of a window, my choice is bad for myself BUT the act of creation, itself, is perfectly good because it is part of the order in creation that teaches me not to throw myself from the window if I prefer not to die.

We are given the ability to know what is bad for us, just as we are given the ability to know what is good for us. However, when we are happy, we mostly never question this sense. We never say that God is the Creator of everything good. When you are happy does it come to you that the sense is created by God? It is an event created by God within an order set by God. Only when we are unhappy, we question. Why did this bad thing happen to me? God why do you give me pain? Rather we need to ask this question “What do you want to teach me?”

If I am not given food for one day of my life, I begin rebelling and start labeling Him as being bad to me. As a result, I never question all the ‘good’ things that I’ve received throughout my life. Human nature is such that whenever we are faced with a calamity, we are fast to question the Creator, yet when we receive something we consider good, we think we are ‘lucky’.

• The reality of the matter is that we are created with qualities to acknowledge the Creator
  • We should acknowledge all actions and events to the Creator.
    • My ability to see/hear/taste/feel is all from my Creator.
    • It is not I who sees but my Creator who enables me to see.
  • Only when we acknowledge the true Creator can we steer clear of being egotistic

All my qualities are given to me in order to know who my Creator is. My freewill is given to me to acknowledge the Creator or deny It. When you deny It, you attribute everything to yourself or to other things which themselves are in need of being created. Man is ever ungrateful to His Lord. We have to be thankful for any and everything that is created for us. Being thankful is a state opposite to being egotistical. Imagine the universe is created accidentally, I would feel very uncomfortable, and nothing to satisfy me permanently, the universe would be meaningless. Try it! Reflect!

If you attribute all your qualities to yourself (ego), it means that you will also attribute all the qualities displayed in others, to themselves too. This is how we end up with claims that attribute qualities of beings to themselves by saying “these qualities are in their nature.” Everything starts from how I see myself. It is crucial that we understand our reality accurately. Being aware of our true identity is extremely necessary. Start with your physical body. We have to constantly question our existence // our limbs // our faculties // our emotions….. We have endless qualities that ought to be questioned. When you question, you will find the right way.

• Those who tread on the path of misguidance do so because they have not questioned their own identity and existence.

If someone is a materialist, he is necessarily an egoist. An egoist always attributes qualities to himself. When an egoist helps others, he does so to feel good himself. However, if someone helps with the consciousness of his/her reality, the person realizes that empathy is from the Creator and helping others does not originate from him. In reality, everything is given to me by my Creator, I have no claim over it.

• When someone praises us, we should seek refuge with Allah from wrongly misappropriating the ownership of that act to us and then praise Allah for He is the Creator of that act. Also, it is the One that made me realize this wrongdoing.
• Say Alhamdulillah: “All good in this action belongs to Him.”
• We have to acknowledge that we do not create anything. We are nothing but consumers of all that has been given to us.