Creation is Love – Part 7

Pre-halaqa: Do I take a bossy attitude? I need to check myself in terms of how I perceive my being in this world. Do I see myself as a created being? I am the one who is created to acknowledge who the “Real Boss” is, my Owner and Lord. I am the one who is asking my Owner to give me comfortable weather eternally, for example. When you get impatient with something in your life, what happens? You take the bossy attitude in order to get things done the way you want. Can I change the order of things? I may think that but when things are not under my control, I get frustrated because I cannot change the order.

I am subject to the order established by the Order Giver. I must submit to the order= use of freewill. Absence of submission= no belief. We should not get impatient when we cannot fulfill something because we are needy and impotent. I need to try my best to follow the order and if something is not getting created, instead of getting impatient, I need to work on finding the best way to follow the order in the creation. If it is not in the order of the creation that means it is not within the Will of the Creator. It will not be created anyways. If we find a way to fulfill our expectations within the order, then, our duty is to follow this way by acknowledging the Owner of this universe. Be happy and say that is good, this is from my Owner. I understand it is not me who is fulfilling my needs; the One who gave me the sense of perfection is the One who fulfills my needs. From my weakness, I understand the reality. I get to know my Lord. That is submission.

The 24^th Word (page 368 continuation)

“Whereas the Cause of Love is either perfection because perfection is loved for itself, or it is benefit, or it is pleasure, or it is goodness, or causes like these.

John goes to the store and buys the perfect watermelon. Why does he want to get the perfect one? It seems that John loves perfection.

Why do we love perfection? When I desire something to be perfect, I do not need to give it any reason because that is how I am made.

If I am made in a way that likes perfection, is there perfection in this created world (universe)? Let me rephrase my question: Are you fully satisfied in this universe i.e. does this universe satisfy your human expectations? Yes. Are you sure? No. Wait. I am thinking. Well, let me ask you: Do you want to die? No. There we go. No one wants to die. It seems that we want more than what this type of universe offers us. That is how we are made. This desire for wanting to exist eternally corroborates with loving perfection.

For the purpose of its own existence, this universe is perfect if you study it. But to satisfy human expectations, it can never be perfect.

Do you love perfection? Yes.
Do you want everything to be perfect i.e. no worries in life about any matter (finances, family, illness,…) Yes, I want to be “stress-free” always but the universe is not presenting this perfection to me. Why am I put in this position? That is, someone made me with the sense to love perfection but the way this universe functions cannot satisfy this love for seeking perfection in me. What does it mean?

It means that I want a type of creation where every desire within me is satisfied. Since this type of creation (universe) cannot satisfy my human expectations for seeking Permanent (Eternal) perfection, I need to analyze this situation. Why? For I am given the sense that the universe does not satisfy my need for seeking Eternal Perfection. If I am given this sense, then I must search for a solution. There must be a solution to solving this situation otherwise being given life would be meaningless. Life that we experience in this universe is interesting because we are summoned to look for a solution because this need to look for a solution is within us. We should not deny it. Therefore, it does not make sense to criticize this universe because one needs to use this universe and his/her human qualities as a means to find solutions.

If someone says I am satisfied with this universe, then he is not using his human qualities.

This universe is perfect in its creation but when I refer my expectations to the universe it does not satisfy my innate human expectations; how can I be satisfied?

I should not expect getting perfection from this universe BUT in reality, I should expect getting perfection as a human being because I am created with the need to satisfy my human expectations for seeking perfection.

After analyzing this contradictory situation (i.e. I am in need of Eternal Perfection and the universe cannot give it to me), I realize that whoever made me, made me with the capacity not to be satisfied with this type of existence. Such a perfect arrangement which highlights the reality of this created world. That is why we are dragged into questioning: who is going to satisfy my needs as I am made?

It is easy to find the One that creates this sense of wanting Eternal perfection within yourself.

How can I be aware that this desire is given to me by the One who has consciously prepared me to go through certain processes/events here? The very fact that we face this dilemma (the contradictory situation) is a sign that it is a deliberate act. If there was no dilemma, then I would be non-reactive to experiencing suffering or dying. If I was not given a sense which would make me unsatisfied with the reality of this type of creation and thus look for a solution, I will never search to find who the Source of my existence is or I will never think beyond this creation (i.e. never seek Eternal life).

If the reality of this creation was perfect, there would no need for me to seek out the Perfect One.

This conflict in creation is the best form for me which motivates me to look for a solution.
That is why we are made to experience calamities and injustice to agitate us because we do not want them and it teaches us that perfection cannot be found in this universe.

To sum up, I love perfection because that is how I am made and I cannot deny this reality. I should not look for an external factor to justify this reality. I need to use this reality as a means taking me to another existence. That is how I find my Creator from myself: I am not made to fit in permanently in this universe. This universe is just a means to acknowledge something beyond it. My capacity is much wider than what this universe offers me.

Now, O soul! In several of the Words, we have proved decisively that your essential nature is kneaded out of fault, deficiency, poverty and impotence, and like relative degree of darkness and obscurity shows the brightness of light, with regard to opposites, you act as a mirror through them to the perfection, beauty, power and mercy of the Beauteous Creator. That means O soul, that it is not love you should have for your soul, but enmity, or you should pity it, or after it is at peace, have compassion on it. If you love your soul because it is the source of pleasure and benefit and you are captivated by their delights, do not prefer the pleasure and benefit of the soul, which is a mere jot, to infinite pleasure and benefits. Do not resemble a firefly. For it drowns all your friends and the things you love in the darkness of desolation and suffices with a tiny glimmer in itself. You should love a Pre-Eternal Beloved on Whose gracious favors are dependent all the pleasures and benefits of your soul together with all the benefits and bounties of creatures of the universe with which you are connected and from which you profit and through whose happiness you are happy, so then you may take pleasure at both your own and their happiness, and receive an infinite pleasure from the love of the Absolutely Perfect One.”

Why is the author shifting the subject suddenly? I love perfection but my reality is that I am weak and impotent, so how can I get perfection then?

Why is the author bringing this contradiction?

The author wants to let us know that we are made to disapprove certain events that we experience i.e. we are made not to like them. However, we may fail to see the reality of these events because of societal cultural inculcations. Centuries ago, people faced tribal wars while competing over blood money and disagreements. In this day and age, we are facing cultural wars. One culture colonizes billions of people under its ideologies, technologies, financial superiority. Billions of people are enslaved with the psychological oppression that invade the minds, including young children indoctrinated with artificial needs i.e. tech gadgets, junk food… It becomes almost impossible to defend yourself, to spare yourself from the influence of monstrous societal imperialism.

Why do events such as calamities, earthquakes and other catastrophic events occur which I disapprove? That is our reality, we cannot stop this contradiction. For instance, we cannot stop from dying or getting old. It is a contradiction, we want to live and at the same time, we do die.

Getting back to the initial question, I want eternal perfection and at the same time I cannot achieve it by myself i.e. I am weak and impotent. Again, this is a contradiction. Being aware of the contradiction is the only way to go on investigating (i.e. go beyond this universe) and find the deliberate conscious Agent who made us in this contradictory position in this universe: I did not ask this sense of wanting perfection to be given. I found myself given existence with this sense of wanting perfection. Thus, after analysis of this contradiction, I conclude there must be something beyond this universe.

Some people struggle within themselves to overcome this contradiction rather than going to the Source i.e. seeking the Creator to fulfill this promise in creation. For example, within the order, I can try to stop injustice but this sense of disliking injustice is given to me for a purpose i.e. to acknowledge the Creator and know that it is the One teaching me not to agree with injustice. When I do some actions, Quranic teaching emphasizes to do it in the name of God not in the name of yourself. Example: Fight hunger in the name of God not yourself. Fight hunger in the name of the One who created you with the desire not to like hunger. That is the main distinction between a believer (Paradise) and non-believer (Hell). One acts in his Creator’s name while the other acts in his own name to acknowledge himself, but they both do the same thing action wise. The result is created accordingly for both. However if I act in my name then that is not according to the purpose of my creation. The purpose of my creation is to acknowledge the Source and attribute my existence to the Source. I cannot claim that it is me who is giving existence to this sense of “not liking the hunger.” Everything is a call for us from the Creator letting us know that we want perfection and we should do all that we can to seek perfection without forgetting that the drive to perform an action is from the Source that creates me. NEVER say: “I am a good man.” INSTEAD say: “my Creator is motivating me to do this act.” That is BELIEF in God (without any cultural interferences) If you feel it, that is your reality.

Whatever I claim I believe this claim must have its root in recognizing my own existence. If it is external, it is not belief. Rituals are waiting to be confirmed through my own consciousness. Belief starts from within, questioning from within.

The concept of “resurrection” also develops with the recognition of an Eternal Source because it is inevitable for me to wonder that the One who created this universe, has not completed/satisfied the act of creation according to my capacity of expectations. If It gives me the capacity to expect Eternal perfection and I realize that this expectation cannot be completed/satisfied here in this universe, then it means that It is a promise to be completed. That is, I want perfection and there is no perfection in this universe. This universe is just an introduction that I am in need for my Eternal needs to be completed/satisfied. I cannot accomplish my human expectations/desires here; they go far beyond the limits of this type of creation. This type of creation is just a preparation for me to get ready to meet the One who will fulfill the promise.

Analogy: When I am invited to a palace to see the king, there is a reception area where I am asked to wait before meeting the king. Here, I am offered appetizers until I get the main entrée.
Similarly, we are here in this universe enjoying the appetizers and waiting to get the main entrée and meet with the king. While here, creation and everything we experience reminds us that we are consciously being taken care of.
WE NEED TO FEEL THIS!
Even if I am not satisfied with the appetizers (transient creation), I should work on building awareness that I am being ACKNOWLEDGED by the king, OWNER of this universe.

The Quranic worldview is just an introduction warning me not to be satisfied with the transient reception (universe). It is as if the Creator is letting me know not to fill my stomach with appetizers only because the main entrée is soon to follow. GET READY FOR IT! TRUST IT! Never criticize creation or say that I am not getting what I want, creation/universe is not giving me what I want, and I want to go back! INSTEAD, use the reception area (universe) to your benefit i.e. use the time here to acknowledge the Provider of the appetizers and thus patiently enjoy the wait to get the main entrée when you meet the king.

Don’t kill time but use time to acknowledge the king, OWNER.
Belief in the OWNER must be established in this universe.
Quran reminds us that after being taken away from this universe, repentance will not be accepted, it is as if I will be left with saying: “I thought there was no Creator, I made a mistake. I thought the Creator was crazy, I made a mistake”.
Think about it AND experience this reality while you are here in this reception/universe.
Use the time/opportunity to satisfy your human feelings which are endless.
We need to work on consciousness, almost endlessly: Every day, every event created for us is a means to develop our consciousness for us.
NEVER KILL TIME!

To sum up, contradiction helps me understand my reality better.

There is an apparent duality in creation, like darkness/light. Darkness does not have an independent existence. But we have to use our impotence as a criterion to understand darkness by questioning its opposite i.e. Source of light. Our impotence is the best way of acknowledging that I have no power but a power is operating on me. We should not get angry when we cannot fulfill something because we are needy and impotent. Try your best, if you cannot do it, say that is good, I understand, it is not me who is fulfilling my needs, the One who gave me the sense of perfection is the One who fulfills my needs. From my weakness, I understand the reality. Can I create one cell? No, I cannot create one particle. I only use what is given and created. Even freewill is given to me. I am not the Creator of anything in my life. I only choose what is created within the limits of my freewill as I am created.

Conclusion: Every human being is a mirror to its Creator’s Absolute qualities. The mirror reflects qualities (perfection, beauty…) of its Maker. As human beings, our senses are like mirrors. Example: my sense of helping others reflects that my Creator is the All-Helper. In and of itself, senses have no qualities but they reflect Absolute qualities of their Creator. Our senses/desires are endless and we always desire for more. That is why we can never get satisfaction from creation (appetizers) itself and be satisfied with it saying that I am done. We are always looking for God, (the Creator) from within.

Since particles cannot satisfy me, my given feelings and senses make me acknowledge that I have a Creator. I understand that my Creator has created me in a way to get to know It. It is reflecting Its qualities in me by making me impotent. My conclusion that I belong to the Absolute Source must be internal, that is confirmation.

Imitation is not confirmation.

I am the mirror. The qualities in me are reflections of my Maker’s qualities. I need to trust the One who created me perfectly INSTEAD of my egotistic interpretations of the reality. My reality is such that I am created perfect, I need to trust myself and use my human qualities. It’s hard to turn to oneself. It is easy to keep busy with outside work thinking that you are doing something good. Mostly, when something happens which goes against our expectations, we become alarmed and ask who is playing with me as in a cat chasing a mouse (a philosophical argument)? No one is playing with you but preparing you, giving you the opportunity to understand your reality. We usually miss the wisdom in the creation of happenings and as a result we rebel or runaway because we cannot fulfill our expectations. REMEMBER the following:

I am a mirror and through my weakness, impotence, I will acknowledge the One that can fulfill my desire.
I am subject to the order in creation, I am not the king. I cannot command the order.
My duty is to say: “Thank you for reminding me, O king, Lord of the universe!”

We are given qualities so we may use them in the name of the One who created me with them. That is, I should never do an act in my name. Example: If I am helping my mother, my Creator has employed me here to look after my mother. While I am looking after my mother, I remember that when I was a baby, I was taken care of for my needs. Who is employing who? Mother was employed by her Creator to take care of me, now I am employed by my Creator to take care of my mother. DO NOT SAY: I am a good daughter or son!

There are verses in the Quran that mention that elderly parents are to be taken care of by the children. These verses remind me that I am not the king taking care of others.
I am employed as a created being to perform certain duties.
The above example is also a good reminder that I was taken care of by others when I was a baby. Now, when I get old, I will be taken care of by others under Conscious Will.

The essence of worship is what gives meaning to rituals. Otherwise performing rituals is just the body doing acts with no spirit.

Spirit is what makes me a human being!

Physical actions are not religiosity. Additionally, feeling elevated through doing rituals is not a sign that you are on your way to religiosity. One can argue that they feel elevated after coming out of an intense yoga workout. What is the difference then?

The understanding, consciousness and awareness in the physical action is what makes up religion, a worldview.
Establishing belief in our personal life, submission to our Creator through our personal experiences is what religion is.

Spirit is created in a body. Body needs to do something physical as well. The function of sprit depends on your consciousness, awareness i.e. how much are you aware of your soul (nafs) or your position? That is called belief (imaan) i.e. How much am I utilizing myself to acknowledge the perfect qualities of the Maker manifested in my being?

Do not love the soul (the egotistic desires) because the soul is not the source of anything. In the text above, the author is addressing egotistic feelings that I have to rebel against which is by ALWAYS REMEMBERING that nothing is mine, everything is given to me. Satan is the representation of the negative side of creation which is needed. I have to repel it. That is why Quran describes Satan as the One who is to be stoned i.e. repelling the negative idea i.e. you are not right. In order to exercise freewill, we need to be given options, one is baseless, the other is the right one, just as we are given multiple choice exams at school. Therefore, we should always remember the following:

Reject egoistic interpretations of our life (I am a good human…)
Ego says you are the best; I need to say that is wrong. When I say it is wrong, I am rejecting (stoning) the “idea” and expressing my enmity towards the “idea”. We are rejecting something every moment. (When we learn something new about our reality, we are rejecting ignorance).
We mostly seek refuge in religiosity to seek comfort, INSTEAD work on consciousness and try to make rituals meaningful. (Fake religiosity is my enemy. At least Atheists do not pretend or act, they openly declare: “I don’t believe”).

Belief is based on rejecting egotistic interpretations of existence. If someone does not say lailaha, this person cannot say illallah. Impossible! That is what our reality is. Quran teaches nothing but this process. Without going through lailaha, I cannot go to illalah.

Don’t get angry with someone telling you that you are wrong. INSTEAD, say let me check, go through lailaha illallah. Always check yourself, your position when in a situation. Renew your belief; don’t trust your already claimed faith.

It is said that during the Medinan period, some people believed and then became deniers, what does it mean? It means that belief is not a onetime deal. Since I cannot guarantee holding on to my belief, I need to confirm again and again.

Why do I like to help others?

Don’t lose yourself in the pleasure, use it to question why does it exist in me? Why do I like helping needy ones? Who gave me the sense? Why do I love and enjoy it? Someone gave me the sense and by doing it, I enjoy it. It means that I act as a mirror to the qualities of my Maker. By recognizing that I cannot be the source of this feeling, I cannot create it. In fact, nothing that I observe here can create it. I cannot find anything in this world as the source of existence of this feeling because they are not of the nature of the universe. I question: Who is the Maker of these feelings? Where did I get them? Without experience, we cannot question.

Human consciousness + questioning require me to investigate further.

In the text, the example of the firefly shows that I need light. Is that light (human qualities attributed to myself) enough for me? No. Just the fact that I experience the tiniest source of light means that there must be a huge source of light. If I have never experienced light, how would I question the need for light i.e. who provides light?

I need to get pleasure from everything I experience such as eating, learning so that they can be used as starting points and lead to become aware of where the feelings come from.

Without questioning the source of the feelings we have, we cannot go anywhere. We will fall into despair. Why? As stated above, feelings requires more than temporary satisfaction.

In every situation, I need to question the Origin of all these senses and need to find out that they are given to me by the Eternal Beloved One who is the Absolutely Perfect One. I cannot be and others of this universe also cannot be the source of Real light which enlightens my day i.e. gives comfort to my human inquiries. I need a perfect life. I need One who can take care of my needs and all of humanity. What can it be? Stars? Galaxies? No. It can only be the only One who takes care of this universe.

Scenario: You hear about people in an impoverished country been deprived of food. Through the sense of empathy, you acknowledge that there must be something that takes care of the needs of all human beings, the Perfect One. We all are in need of the perfect One because no one is perfect. That is why we need an Eternal life, Absolute creation according to my needs. Only the One who takes care of my needs can guarantee it for me.

Seek refuge in It= trust It.

Since my need is there, it is a sign calling me to acknowledge the Creator. The Creator of this need is showing me that It is the One who can do it, It will do it, it is a promise. If you think there is no such Source, you deprive yourself of its Mercy. It means you have not introduced your spirit to this Compassionate and Perfect One.