Divine Determining, part 12, 10-08-14
When we look at our being we realize that human beings need training whereas animals do not need training. With training we are capable of doing more tasks than animals. For example, a cow knows how to find food, they know from their creation, but human beings have to learn how to harvest and bring food on the table. Even if you want to start selling street food, you need to learn how to do business and sell street food. Similarly, when it comes to belief and religion, it is not just information accumulation or physical activity but we must train and learn to inculcate within our whole being. It takes time, and we must be consistent.
Recap: The understanding of what is good and bad are all from God is what people are struggling with? If good is from Him, and bad is from me, what am I then doing here? Most people either fall into despair (substance/behaviour addictions) or fall into laziness (a laissez-faire attitude). The point is that the choice is mine.
فَأَمَّا مَنْ أَعْطَىٰ وَٱتَّقَىٰ وَصَدَّقَ بِٱلْحُسْنَىٰ فَسَنُيَسِّرُهُۥ لِلْيُسْرَىٰ وَأَمَّا مَنۢ بَخِلَ وَٱسْتَغْنَىٰ وَكَذَّبَ بِٱلْحُسْنَىٰ فَسَنُيَسِّرُهُۥ لِلْعُسْرَىٰ
“There is one who gives, who is mindful of God, who testifies to goodness. We shall facilitate him towards ease. There is one who is niggardly/miserly, considers himself self-sufficient, who denies goodness, we facilitate for him the difficult end. ” Layl (92): 5-10
Whatever you see in creation points to its Creator. Do you see that your existence belongs to Someone else? There is no stopping point in existence, which means that I am not in control of anything, but Someone else is. Who is changing me? Whoever is changing the universe is changing me, because any part of the universe cannot have an effect on me. Everything in the universe is subject to change and is dependent on Someone else. No one can escape this reality. Everything is created by the Creator of the universe and whatever happens to me is within His decision.
Is the existence of the universe good or bad? Are you happy with your existence? Are you happy that the universe exists? Don’t you want the best for yourself? That is how you are created. The universe exists and we are conscious beings that are aware of the existence of the universe and everything else. I have to acknowledge that something is going on in this universe, and whatever is happening here is fulfilling the purpose of the existence of the whole universe. For example, the existence of a tree needs the whole universe to exist, The tree exists within the context of the existence of the whole universe. A tree cannot happen to be in existence by accident. There are no accidents in creation, everything is deliberately subject to change. Whoever is creating this universe is making it within an order as He wills and He sets us free to choose a perspective towards creation.
Do we like our existence? Are we aware that we exist? Our existence depends on the One who creates the universe and gives existence to us. Whatever He creates, He creates it for conscious human beings. Whichever way you perceive your life, you will be treated accordingly. This way of creation is from God i.e. that sense that you experience is from your Creator. For example, if you feel hardship in your life, that feeling is created for you by the Creator of the universe based on your perception of life. Feeling hardship or easiness in one’s life Is the choice of one’s own perception of creation. Is there any way that we can perceive creation in a negative way? When we do not see the wisdom of the Creator in the existence of the creation of an event, then we are perceiving it in a negative way. Ultimately, the result of any feelings is created by the Creator of the universe based on our choice of how we view existence. Similarly, if we choose to do bad, then the unpleasurable feeling is created by God to teach us that our choice was wrong. This verse is clearly saying that if you have a negative attitude towards existence which is contrary to the reality of existence, then as a result of your choices, you face the consequences according to what you choose. We may go through some conditions or difficulties that we do not like, which is good for us to fulfill the purpose of our existence, and therefore we must see the wisdom and beauty in the existence of anything. If you deny existence, then you suffer the consequences.
Are you happy that the universe exists? Are you happy that you exist because you do not want to lose your existence? If existence is good then the existence of anything is good. I have to interpret that and see what is happening to me. The purpose of existence is not limited to this world. We were brought here by Someone as a baby. Are you happy that you exist? Yes. Do you want to lose your existence? No. The One who brought you into existence is the same One who is gradually taking you away from this world and giving you “death”. Do you think that the One who created you as a human being gave you the sense to love existence and makes you realize that you are NOT independent in your existence? As you grow older, you are continuously being reminded that you are dependent on the One who gave you existence. If you are happy with existence, then you must understand that the same One is making you subject to continuous change. Hence, a reminder that you are not independent in your existence. The One who is giving me death is the One who is giving me birth. Do you think that the One who gives me existence wants to harm me or do something bad for me? Do you see any single cell in your body as meaningless? No. So, why would I label an event to be “bad”? Why don’t I think seriously that the One who gave me the ability to dislike this event is the One creating this event? What does He mean by creating this event for me? Look for the wisdom in its creation. The worst scenario is “death”. Don’t you see beauty in the existence of “death”?!
Having negative perception about creation is similar to criticizing God as if I know better than Him, the One who creates the universe. If you have a constant fear of making the mistake of not acknowledging your Creator in a positive way, it means that you are in a constant state of asking for forgiveness. This is a beautiful state of being. Congratulations!
Whatever is created in this universe is good, but my perception of creation may be bad. When I have a bad attitude towards creation, the negative feeling is automatically created by the Creator which is a blessing from the Compassionate Creator letting me know that I am doing something wrong. When I criticize creation, it is as if I am letting God know to hire me as His consultant because I know better. With such an attitude, we do not see wisdom in the creation of events, and we impose our egoistic expectations on the Creator of the universe. As a consequence, we are reminded by God through the creation of pain that we are transgressing our limits. This system has been established by the Creator of the universe, and that is why God says that everything created is from Him. You feeling unhappy is created by God as a result of your choice, letting you know that you are doing something wrong.
Belief in God is not contradicting yourself. If you do not contradict your human reality, you will find yourself as a perfect believer in God. It means relating yourself to your Creator the way it ought to be, otherwise we contradict ourselves. For example, why does God allow such atrocities to take place? Here we are criticizing God for being absent minded about the reality of our existence. The reality of our existence in this world is to get to know that I am created, I am a dependent being, and my existence is dependent on the One who creates the universe. Therefore, use every quality that you are given to get to know Him. If you use your human abilities not to get to know your Creator, then you are bound to topple down. If you use your feelings for your own benefits, then you will lose the purpose in its existence. The purpose in the existence of anything is to get to know the Creator. For example, John volunteers at a nursing home. If John does not use the sense of helping the elderly to get to know His Creator, and appropriate the act of compassion to himself rather than His Creator, then John is the good guy and His Creator is the bad guy for not helping the elderly. John must realize that the sense of compassion is given to him to know that the One who gave him this sense is the Compassionate One. With this attitude, as John takes care of the elderly, he lives with the realization that His Creator is the One who takes care of the needy ones by giving him this sense of helping others. By employing John and giving him the sense to help others, God is the One that is taking care of the elderly, not John. We have to be more appreciative and grateful towards the Creator, otherwise by contradicting our reality, we are misusing the trust given to us by our Creator. Nothing belongs to me, everything belongs to its Creator.
If something wrong is going on around the world, use that sense to connect to your Creator and realize that my Creator opposes such wrongdoing. From the sense my Creator gives me, I can experience what is wrong. That is how the universe is set. Whatever we choose, the result is in it. That is the Creator’s plan. That is, if you criticize the goodness in creation, you will be given sadness. If you are happy and confirm the goodness in creation, you will be given a good result. That is how the universe is organized by its Organizer.
If you live one day without asking the question, why do I exist, that day is wasted. There are endless purposes in your existence. The problem of human beings is not that people are not following a religion and thus not staying consistent with religious rituals, which are the results of one’s belief; rather, the main human problem is that we do not think about our existence. We do not think that we exist. We do not value existence. If we do not value existence then how can we value the Creator of existence? Thus, believing in a Creator becomes a fake claim then. The existence of all human qualities need to be taken seriously, and one must ask everyday, why do I exist? For example, while combing your hair, ask why does hair exist? For any claim that we utter, it must start from existence right now. If you claim that you believe in the hereafter, then without starting from existence here in the universe, that belief in the hereafter is just a claim. If you are not aware of the existence in which you are living then how can you be aware of the existence somewhere else? That is just living in an imaginary world and labeling it as “belief”. Unfortunately, that is not real belief, rather it is “culture”. We must revise ourselves from the base. For example, why do you pray? If you do not explain why you pray starting from the reality of your existence, then you cannot come up with a solid convincing answer, rather a cultural imitation. That is why we must train ourselves in this way.
Let us get the framework of the message from this verse, and see how to analyze it in our practical life, rather than going into the details of the vocabulary.
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُوا۟ رَبُّنَا ٱللَّهُ ثُمَّ ٱسْتَقَـٰمُوا۟ تَتَنَزَّلُ عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةُ أَلَّا تَخَافُوا۟ وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا۟ وَأَبْشِرُوا۟ بِٱلْجَنَّةِ ٱلَّتِى كُنتُمْ تُوعَدُونَ
“Those who say, our Lord is God, then continue in the right way. The Angels keep coming upon them, saying, fear not, nor be grieved, and receive good news of the Paradise which you were promised.” Fussilet (41): 30
We acknowledge that my Lord is God, the One who sustains me, and takes care of me. In this context, God means the Creator of the whole universe. Do you see the relationship between the One who sustains and the Creator of the whole universe? For example, who made me able to hear? The Sustainer of my Power of hearing is the Creator of everything in the whole universe. Let me see how my hearing is working with the whole universe. We do not see the relationship between the ear functioning and the whole universe. If there was no atmosphere, no air molecules and the solar system was not as it is, you would not be able to hear. We must look at everything within the whole context of the universe. Let us take one cell in your body. Who is feeding it? The One who is taking care of the whole universe is feeding this cell.
In the verse, rabbunAllah, means a person who sees every single being in terms of a universal dimension. When we say God, we mean the One who gives existence to the whole universe. God does not mean something simple. When we say God, it must connect everything with its universal relationship. That is, nothing can exist without being in connection with the whole universe. In any discipline that you are studying, pay attention to how creation is reduced to studying a limited area of what is seemingly observed, rather than studying within the context of the whole universe. As a result, one may see creation is reproducing itself, and the studies do not see the event within the whole context of the universe, and thus, the meaning of God is lost. The Old testament and the Quran emphasize what God is, the Creator of the whole universe and the Heavens and the Earth. In the Scriptures, humanity is being referred to as Children of Israel, and we are reminded constantly that our Lord is the One that maintains our cells, hearing, and hair follicle for example, who is the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth. It means that we must all come to our own conclusion of who God is.
This verse refers to human beings that have concluded who God is. It is inevitable not to conclude who God is, but we must work on confirming this reality for ourselves. If someone confirms this, and does not contradict his/her human reality i.e. has the right attitude towards creation, then continuing in the right way means to be consistent in your conclusions. When we utter “guide us to the straight path” in our daily prayers 5 times a day, we are asking to stay consistent in our conclusion of confirming that I acknowledge that the universe is created by a Conscious Creator, I am His product, and I live according to this conclusion. That is how I am created and I am happy with my Creator. “Please God, keep me on the path that I have decided to conclude, help me be consistent there.” In the prayers, I am just declaring what I have concluded, and the event becomes a reminder for me. The rituals are just an expression of our consciousness of what we have concluded, otherwise it becomes some sort of pride about being a good religious man and better than others. All the religious rituals should be turned into reminders of why I exist and what my human reality is? Our human qualities are endless and cannot be reduced to only getting a profession, spending 8-10 hours behind a desk and making a living. We are given endless treasures in our human qualities, and we need to uncover that with proper training and education. Just as a musician trains for hours to get better at his/her performance, similarly, we must learn to educate ourselves by living with belief in God, having awareness of Him when confronted with situations.
We must also bear in mind not to hide ourselves behind certain concepts that we do not know what they mean. For example, the word “intention” can be used to mean that I am doing something to acknowledge my Creator. Rather than using “intention”, use, not contradicting my reality, my existence, consciousness, and awareness. We should build our understanding of heard concepts by starting from “existence”, not from a culturally borrowed religious background. For example, I am Muslims and I believe in the hereafter. Such language does not make me a Muslim, because I do not know why I am a Muslim. Therefore, the language, words and vocabulary that we use needs to be checked. Some words are worn out and are misused in the culture. It does not mean that the word is wrong, rather I should not use it the way it is commonly understood, rather, I should use sentences to redefine it.
The verse implies that those who have consciously concluded that the One who sustains me is the Existence Giver of the whole universe, and are consistent with this awareness in this life; as a result, the angels keep coming upon them. What does it mean? Angel is the aspect of creation which receives the command from its Creator and transfers it to the universe as we see it. Angels coming to you means that you will be exposed to the angelic side of the creation, so you will be absolutely happy because you will see that everything is directly from your Lord. For example, John offers you a brownie, and that makes you “happy. From your awareness of the understanding of the universe, can you imagine that everything is given to you from the Creator of the universe?! “O God! I am so precious and you love me because you give me this universe as a present”. This awareness needs acknowledgment of your Lord, the Lord is the Owner of the whole universe, and the consistency with this understanding takes you in the presence of the angelic side of the universe. That is, everything is reminding you of your Creator. For example, a bird flying by is a present from your Creator. The air molecules are a present from your Creator. Your body and your human feelings are a present from your Creator. You are in the presence of your Creator, and He is treating you by giving you the universe. That is, everything makes you happy in relation to the One that gives existence.
If only I recognize that my Lord is God, the Creator, and if I am consistent in this recognition, I will be living in the presence of Angels and thus God. Who has set this universe like this? It is His decision, and I need to be taking up my position. That is, if you have a negative perception towards creation, then you are dealing with Satan (bad feeling), whereas if you carry a positive attitude, then you will be entertained by Angels. That is how we can see the relationship between human freewill and God’s determination. There are so many verses in the Quran that exemplifies the human position before their Creator, but we must really train ourselves in reading and understanding the Quran to make it applicable in our lives.
Let’s say someone leaves a bouquet of flowers at your house. As soon as you realize the sender and the purpose that she is sending that gift to you, you feel happy. That is the Angelic side of creation. Similarly, the Creator of the universe presents us with innumerable gifts every moment. Isn’t your garden filled with flowers and your kitchen filled with beautiful fruits and vegetables?! What a loving Creator He is! This attitude depends on your recognition of where the bounties are coming from. If the attitude is that his universe is accidental, then you do not experience the angelic side of existence.
When you are consistent in your recognition of your Creator, as soon as you take this positive attitude, angels start treating you. That is, you start seeing your purpose in existence and understand the reason God gives you existence. The inevitable conclusion is, “I belong to the Creator of the universe”.
Belief is not an ideology, it is your reality. When you react to something that is going wrong, and you have a sense to repel, there are 2 ways of doing it:
- I do not like this to happen, I will stop it.
- This sense of repelling belongs to my Creator, and my Creator does not like it. I am going to use this sense in the Name of its Real Owner, and I am not going to let my egoistic desires interfere into it. So I will act in the Name of my Creator. This way corrects me and puts me in the right direction.
We always use the sense given to us by our Creator and we obey our Creator. For example, when it is cold outside, the sense to wear warm clothes is given to us by our Creator. Hence, we wear a coat or jacket in His name to acknowledge Him as the giver of this feeling and sense, not my name to fulfill my egoistic desires.
Our duty is to be aware that all my existence including my senses do not belong to me, I cannot control it. As the days pass, your senses and feelings change and you cannot change that. I have to be in acknowledgment that all these senses are given to me by the Creator of the universe. I have to concentrate on my consciousness of my conclusion. The first word of the verse, “my Lord” means the Owner and the Sustainer of this sense is God, not me. Don’t try to judge yourself either if you are genuine or not, it is not our duty, the judge is God, leave it to Him. Your duty is to know that this sense is given to you. Be consistent with the acknowledgment of this reality.
Our responsibility is to have the awareness that all my feelings and senses are given by God. And this awareness colors every action that we take including the rituals. That is, the rituals will function as a reminder for you of your reality. This existence is continuously changing. Every moment, we are encountering another type of creation. Every moment, you have to confirm your reality, and that needs a consistent consciousness. Belief does not happen once, every moment is a new opportunity to decide on what is going on. Yesterday was another universe created by the Absolute Being, and it is gone. How about today? It is another opportunity to conclude what you have experienced.
Belief is consistency and keeping our awareness of our dependency on our Absolute Creator consistently. Why do you think that the universe has been established in this form where everything is subject to change at every moment? Why do you keep getting hungry throughout the day? Every meal is a present from your Creator and serves as a continuous reminder that you are being sustained. Life becomes beautiful because the universe is subject to continuous change. As a result of this continuous change you are getting old, are you happy with it? As a result of getting old, you are going to die, are you happy with it? The continuous awareness that everything is subject to change must be alive. That is why in the Prophetic narrations, the last moment in your life is very important, i.e. how do you end up? For example, if you say I am happy with my Lord on day 1 and day 2, but then on day 3 you say what is going on here something is wrong, I don’t like it. It means that you are discarding everything from day 1 and day 2. That is why consistency is important, so that as the time of death comes, you say this is the creation from my Lord who is the Creator of the universe, and He is taking care of me. When you die, you are not losing your life, your life is given to you by the Creator of the universe anyways. Your grandparents died, but the One who gives death is He not here?! The One who is giving life and death is keeping the universe existing, He is eternal.
If I train myself that I am in the presence of God, then I become a happy person. The purpose of existence is to know that you do not own yourself. You are created by the One who owns the universe. You are given the opportunity to live by your belief. The act of creation is His part, asking what you want to be created is your part. So ask! I have to do whatever God gave me to do. For example, to prolong your life, you must follow good healthy habits. These feelings are given to you to be exercised. I am happy with whatever He gives me, I am happy with the freechoice that He has given me. We have to be happy with whatever He creates for us because we know that in His creation, everything that He creates is wise.
The One who gives you this beautiful universe, makes you happy and entertains you with His creation. He created this universe and left for us to use it. If you know that the Source of existence of this universe is eternal, do you have any worries about what will happen to you tomorrow or after death. He is the One who gives you existence and then brings your death, why worry? If I live in this world with the satisfaction in my existence, pleased with my Lord in whatever He creates for me, that is how I would feel being in Paradise. What is happening in the universe is that the Creator is manifesting His Mercy, Generosity, Compassion and Wisdom to you. Thus, you start feeling Paradise and have hope from your Creator that Her never mistreats me or makes me disappointed or leaves me alone. Never! That is why I confirm the message of the Prophets because what they say is consistent with my reality. We must confirm the scriptures as a result of our experience. We don’t use scripture as a point of reference, rather we use it to confirm our reality. As a result of my life experiences, this verse is compatible with my reality and we confirm each other i.e. I approve of this message.