What are the bounties of God we have already received?
24th Word, Fifth Branch, SECOND FRUIT (page 370 continuation):
Recap: This paragraph is about the essence of God i.e. acknowledging the One that gives existence. How can we acknowledge God? In other words, how can I acknowledge my reality? Our problem is that we don’t realize who gives existence and life to us. Since worship is acknowledging our reality, when we do invocations we express our conclusions about our reality. In the process of concluding reality of this observable universe, we experience that our existence has been given to us. Also, we are given life and humanity unlike a pebble for example.
“Then, since He has given you Islam and belief, which require infinite bounties and are nourished through countless fruits of mercy and are supreme humanity, He has opened up before you a table of bounties, pleasure, and happiness which includes the sphere of contingency together with the sphere of His sacred Names and attributes.”
The most important aspect that a human being has been endowed with is our consciousness which is trained and supported by guidance of the Creator called revelation (transferred by people employed to represent the Speech of God). Religion cannot be defined easily. Religion is the practice of the worldview that one develops as a result of confirming what s/he believes in. Belief is confirmation of consciousness. Islam means belief i.e. confirmation of the message we receive through our consciousness.
- Religion= belief +practice of this belief
We are always presented with two options. When you choose an option, you act a certain way. Hence, you train your feelings and your body acts accordingly. We cannot create anything by ourselves. We just ask by obeying the order in creation. We have to use our given body as a trust from the One who gives. Can you even kill yourself? No. Death is given to you when you choose the option of pulling the trigger towards your head for example.
Life is a trust given to us. Think about the psychology of suicide, why do some people choose to end their lives? Is there a belief issue? Yes. Since consciousness is an awareness of all human senses and feelings (e.g. reasoning), it leads one to believe in something.
Belief necessitates paying attention to everything around us. Example: I cannot treat a pebble as I like by disregarding the purpose in its existence. There is a purpose in its existence and it needs to be respected. Similarly, there is a purpose in the existence of suicidal thoughts and feelings and hence it needs to be addressed by reasoning and then becoming conscious of one’s existence.
What is supreme humanity?
Potentialities are intrinsic human qualities. When they are used they become abilities. Every human being is given the potentiality to swim, but only those who practice can swim. A seed has the potentiality to grow into a tree. If it does not go through processes or the order set in creation, it does not become a tree. Similarly, human beings have the potentialities which need to be learned and discovered in order to grow into abilities. Thus, people who practice their belief in the Creator develop better in their acknowledging the Source of their human qualities.
Acknowledgment of the Creator needs a process as well. Human qualities need to know who their owner is. My human consciousness is required to practice my humanity, they are all given. Religion means supreme humanity or developed qualities. Nothing is extra to our being. One has to use human qualities to acknowledge the Source. Without messengers (teachers who are appointed and trained by the Creator to instruct human beings to teach how to use their potentialities,) you cannot reach supreme humanity. Under the guidance of a teacher, you learn how to perform a good action in the best way i.e. you develop your human qualities better.
Religion is not unknown to me. That is why one should not turn religion into something they do not understand. Religion is nothing but to discover yourself i.e. your reality.
Example: the sense of being just towards others is given to you. You have to consult your consciousness by reasoning about where did the sense of justice in you come from. That is the only way to seek the reality. When it comes to valuing our existence, we are totally ignorant. We never have time to think of our reality. When it comes to developing our human values we are not serious.
- Have you thought of how you are going to develop your human qualities?
The conditions of this world are good for here only until we die. Prophets do not teach worldly life. They teach you how to utilize the conditions of this world as a means of realizing the Absolute Source. Example: if you love hiking, use it in order to know that the Creator is the Compassionate One. Thus, use everything to know that you belong to an Absolute One.
Nothing is accidental here. We are perfectly aging here i.e. body is getting old but our desires for seeking the Absolute One as the Source of our existence is as fresh as before.
The Compassionate one says that the Quran is easy to understand and remember. Whoever prays to get to know the Absolute One will be given what is asked for. Prayer is nothing but the act of acknowledgment of our reality. Example: when you are ill, you desire health. Illness is given to you to make you realize the Source of existence of health. As a result, you desire to be with the Source of existence regardless of whether health is given to you or not.