Whenever a child is born, a sun of consciousness begins to rise over life's horizon. The child comes toddling with all its gentleness and lack of awareness of of its presence's meaning. Then, step by step, each child tries to map out his or her universe, memorizing names as he learns to understand meanings and comprehend everything that has a connection with himself.
Constantly touching reality, with a tremendous sense of curiosity, one by one he unveils the mysteries of life until finally he becomes an adult.
After that, every time he begins to express himself within his universe, he starts having to take responsibility for the consequences of his actions. He starts to feel what a burden it is to exist in a really authentic way. But he keeps on with it. He knows there's no turning back. There's no place to run to. Furthermore, he even finds himself to be a responsibility in himself. It is as if this life has only been given to him on consignment.
All these things are understandable, because people do not all start out in life from the same place, grow up together, and find out together who they are. And people also start out with very different resources to fall back on. Starting from their personal aptitudes, their character, means, and opportunities, and continuing right up the problems they have to deal with, no two are alike. They differ in just about everything. And for that reason each individual is required to carry only the burden of his own universe, which matches his own strength.
The Scope
of Responsibility
After we understand the uniqueness
of each individual with the inseparable responsibilities
resulting from it, we turn to an examination
of the fields of responsibility. When the Qur'an identifies
the negligent ones, we can see depicted there the dimensions of the operational
fields of human responsibilities.
The above Qur'anic verse reveals the
existence of three dimensions of life, within which human
responsibility is placed in operation: the operational fields of our hearts,
eyes, and ears.
The Heart
acts as a guide for human beings in the life
process.
The life process,
the structure of the universe, and
life situations are the operational fields
of human responsibility. For this reason, God has been pleased to send
down His verses to these
places so that human beings can understand and express them in their
works.
The response of the human spirit to
life situations gives rise to works of art which are useful
for expressing the Subjective Truth.
At the same time the human life process
of traversing the path offered by the Qur'an gives birth
to religion, the true and sincere practice of which will lead its followers
to The Path of God, Hikmah (Divine Wisdom),
or Contextual Truth.
The struggle to express Contextual
Truth takes place in a process of self-development just like
that of the Sufis: a way out of the tension described above and at the
same time a way of synthesizing
the two truths also described above.
Being a synthesis, Contextual Truth
is singular, just like all the essential forms. This Truth
is not the product of human creativity,
but rather the form of God's participation in the human
race.
How could it not be like that? The
human past has mostly been determined by all kinds of different
worldly influences. The psychological effect is that human beings always
tend to choose the way that
feels good, that is pleasing, light, easy, and not too risky, with the
result that the experience of the process
of transcendence never occurs.
It has become more and more obvious
to us that every creator must take responsibility for his
works in terms of their success or the opposite in expressing the truth.
Can their creations inspire human beings
to attain a more peaceful, solid, and everlasting life
of higher quality? Or do they only drive other human beings to chase the
temporal, to neglect humanitarian
values, and to be egotists?
Our world has become a place of struggle
for power, of war, and of disorder which are hard for
people to understand, because earth dwellers have completely lost their
orientation toward the truth.
Even if a few followers of truth remain, most of them are no more than
one-eyed.
The Qur'an invites the faithful to
enter wholly into the realm of truth and prevents them from
following the blandishments of the devils
to become one-sided extremists rejecting the truth that,
only because of their own stupidity, they know nothing of.
What kind of global consciousness do
we have at present? Whose mandate are we carrying
out at this time? And whose caliphate are we setting up on the earth? Is
it the kingdom of a bunch
of dwarf supermen? Or are the cravings of the lower soul coming to the
fore at present to become, as Ibnu Arabi
of Andalusia said, the greatest of the world's godlings?
Before we move our lips in reply to
these questions, let the flute of An-Nifari whisper for a
while at the gate of our imagination:
"If you have
reached the peak of consciousness as a human (a globalist), but still able
to commit violation, then the punishment for you will be as much weight
as this universe, and the suffering will be the total of all sufferings".
If we, who have committed so many of
the transgressions which never seem to bore us, still have
not felt this punishment, then we are among those for whom God has eased
the process of self-identification. Allah is sufficient as Witness!
The Eyes
act as a tool to acquaint us with the structure
of universe, where human beings obtain the means for living
and self-development.
The ears
are instruments for capturing the information enabling human beings
to respond to the life situations
involving them at every moment.
And those who strive hard for Us, We shall certainly guide them in Our ways. And
Allah is surely with the doers of good. (Q.29:69)
The struggle to express Objective Truth
by means of scientific discovery and philosophy, as well
as Subjective Truths by means of art works, together comprise the human
race's participation in
God's Management. Each of these two human masterpieces is at the
opposite pole from the other, yet together
they form a zaujain (couple)
in the same way as the other
existential forms in this world.
And of everything We have created pairs that you may be mindful. (Q51:49)
Their interaction creates tensions which
give form to the development of human life. This is because
every dilemma demands an acceptable way out, one which neither sacrifices
any of the truths already
arrived at nor has the effect of dividing up the human race into two
gigantic blocks destined to oppose each
other until the end of time.
And He provides for him from sources he never could imagine.
(Q.65:2-3)
Our Lord,
and raise up in them a Messenger from among them who shall recite to them
Thy messages and teach them the Book and the Wisdom, and purify them. Surely
Thou art the Mighty, the Wise. (Q.2:129)
The answer is that human beings have no
knowledge of the future, the proof being the way people
always try to predict the future using the patterns of the past. As a result,
they unwittingly dig their
own grave, or in other words live by values which are overly worldly.
O you who
believe, enter into complete peace and follow not the footsteps of the
devil.
The burden of responsibility has been
laid on the shoulders of us participants in this era of globalization
which is said to have the potential to save the world from the threat of
doomsday. But how can that hope be fulfilled
if the roar of human advancement is limited to the
physical side, and rejects God's participation?
Surely heis your open enemy. (Q.2:207)
