No one can deny the transient nature of this universe. Seasons come and go, night is followed by day and every moment we are experiencing resurrection. Only through transience are we bound to understand our reality. There is a narration that goes as follows: Work for the world as if you were going to live forever and work for the hereafter as if you are going to die tomorrow. Regardless of how we understand this, we see that everything in this world is temporal. If we live in this world by realizing its temporality, every thing loses its importance in our eyes as their material value. The life that we experience in this universe is only a part of our existence because we know that our existence belongs to the Eternal Source that gives us existence. If we live in this world by using it to understand its eternal Source, then, we will be living in this world by turning it into an eternity.
According to the reality of our existence, our experience of this worldly life is like a dream. The creation of a dream is a sign for us to understand that such type of creation is possible and so this worldly life must be similar to a dream compared to eternal life. As far as our existence is concerned, we are sort of in a dream now; our past and future should be irrelevant to experiencing the moment. Some Philosophers say that we are thrown into this world, however our consciousness helps us understand otherwise i.e. that we have been given existence by an Eternal Conscious Source.
- My Creator must be Absolute, otherwise I cannot explain my existence.
- The nature of the existence of this universe is transient along with my life span here.
- We need to get rid of the fear of death; death is nothing but wakening up from a dream.
- Live in this world realizing that your real existence is Eternal because you belong to Eternity.
The way we are created is that we want perfection and so we have to be respectful towards this intrinsic feeling: I should do whatever I do perfectly, not for the sake of comfort in this world but for the sake of strengthening the bond with my Creator who loves perfection.
Saying of the Prophet: God makes everything perfect (Atqana kulla shay’in khalaqahu). Atqana comes from the word Taqna (technique i.e. makes everything in the best way). We are here to experience the qualities of the Creator in His name. I acknowledge as follows:
- “Since the Creator loves to make everything in perfect form, in order to acknowledge His qualities through my actions, I have to make everything perfect as much as I can”.
While we are living in this universe, we have to make everything perfect to prepare ourselves for Eternity. Our mission is to get to know our Creator better and experience His qualities better. Turn every transient action by attaching it to the Eternal Source and use it as a means of acknowledging the Source.
- Our duty is to experience the manifestation of Perfection through our actions and acknowledge the qualities of the Creator.
We are reminded of the transient nature of this universe through observing calamities. Example: An earthquake lasts for a few seconds and shakes us inside out. When it is over, we mostly forget about our reality. This type of routine makes us hypocrites.
- We do not need to wait for a calamity to get reminded of the Source.
- We need to know that this universe, through its transient nature points to the fact that the Source is permanent.
- Everything changes but the Cause of existence is permanent. It means that the act of creation is continuous.
We need to establish a permanent worldview for ourselves; this is the only way to get rid of hypocrisy. We cannot have a religious state of mind and a worldly state of mind separately. This leads to a split personality which is the cause of anxiety i.e. insecurities in our existence. Anxiety is the Source of all our problems where we do not have a stable understanding of existence to feel secure in our being. We need to have a secure understanding in our belief. In order to feel secure in our belief, we have to be comfortable about our reality here. We usually indulge in our religious activities to escape from our reality.
- We cannot secure our belief through our actions.
- Only through the consciousness of our belief do we secure our religious actions.
What does it mean to feel secure in our existence? It means to understand our existence “right now”. The qualities manifested in me are form the Creator to be used to get to know Him. I need to introduce my spirit to the Source i.e. where spirit has come from. My Creator is the Absolute One and I need to make sure my existence belongs to the Absolute One. That is how we feel secure in our existence. All qualities manifested in us are from Him in order to turn back to Him. As continuously emphasized in the Quran: we need to return everything back to the Creator.
- Quran helps me understand my reality and connects my being to the Source.
Our feelings, emotions are a trust from Him and expected to be returned back to Him through our freewill i.e. God consciousness (taqwa). Taqwa means to be extremely sensitive in not misusing His trust in our name.
- Quran keeps mentioning that human beings are given the most important trust i.e. the ability to know our Creator.
We need to work on feeling secure in our existence. Security is necessary for human being and it has to do with our belief (imaan). When the Quran mentions: “Oh you who believe!” It refers to people who feel secure in their existence by attributing all their abilities to a secure Source i.e. Absolute Creator. We need to use our abilities in His name in order to acknowledge His qualities manifested in our being.
- Belief (imaan) refers to this security i.e. I belong to the Absolute.
The transient nature of this universe cannot make us feel at home in this life. Moreover, we cannot describe ourselves as an independent entity from the rest of the universe. The continuous change that we observe, including our aging is a blessing. In this way, we cannot ignore our reality nor explain this world in terms of matter only. We cannot feel secure in our existence if we have a reductionist attitude (reducing matter to its elements only). A particle cannot be the Cause of existence of another particle. Our senses are not the Cause of our existence.
We need to try our best to seek a 100% security in our existence. Nothing is permanent as we observe: days, season and our life are all passing by. Everything that passes must have a beginning. If something is subject to change, it must have a beginning. If something has a beginning, it must have an end. Therefore, our life here cannot be the result of some random happening i.e. meaninglessness. Meaninglessness is the Source of stress, stress is the Source of depression; depression is the Source of all physical illness.
- We need to solve all our problems at the root level.
(Continuation) Principles (usool) of reading the Scriptures
8/ Thou shalt never attempt to understand the true nature of the Creator.
- It is always about being sure of His existence through signs.
- We can never understand the essence (zaat) of the Absolute in its entirety. Nothing can sustain its existence (lailaha); there must be a Source of existence of everything which cannot be of the nature of this universe (illallah).
- Through signs, we can make sure of His existence. Signs are not God but are pointers. Every being is a sign pointing to something else. Example: when we make something, it is a sign of the Creator’s qualities manifested in us. We have to utilize the universe in order to know the qualities of its Maker.
- When we read the Scriptures and see God described in it, we need to take it as a sign. Example: God is powerful over all things. It means His power is Absolute. This text is teaching me to look at the universe, I will see manifestation of Power, and then I will understand that the Source of the manifestation of this power is Absolute.
- The text is a guide for me to read the signs pointing to His existence rather than trying to understand His essence. Look at this world as the sign of the Creator. Everything is created continuously.