When will I learn to embrace every moment,
to surrender everything to God?

I hear you waiting for an answer.
Perhaps when waiting
has also been surrendered
and there is only one
person writing and reading these words,
my Love will be complete.

Hear the children crying!
Hear the children helpless!
Hear the children calling!
Nne m o…, Iya mi o mama o!

How I wish the killers would have the human heart to hear this cry! Human flesh has become so cheap and the dignity of the human person no longer counts for those who kill themselves in order to kill a multitude. Suicide bombing is the highest form of terrorism in the world. Religion – the comfort and refuge of God’s children – has become a night mare because of religious fanatics. I think that the time is now ripe for Christians and Muslims to deliver Christianity and Islam if we really believe that no religion preaches violence! The time has come for everybody who cares about life to drop prejudice, preconceptions and suspicion to face the fact that we must now come out voluntarily to work for peace. A bomb that explodes in public does not know who is a Christian and who is a Muslim. We have the basis and support to do this. Do we not all profess faith in one and the same God?

Abraham our Father in Faith

The Jews, Christians, and Muslims lay claim to Abraham as a common father of faith. Like the Jews, Arabs regard themselves as a Semitic people. Some Christian and Muslim scholars trace the descendants of Shem to Abraham. Their claim is based on the submission of Abraham in the supreme test, the attempted sacrifice of his son described in the Qur’an by the verb aslama that appears to have provided Islam with its name “peace and salutation to Abraham!” (Qur’an, Saffat 109).

Some other scholars claimed that before the birth of Isaac, Hagar, an Egyptian girl had a child, Ismail, for Abraham (Genesis 16). Later Sarah gave birth to Isaac (Genesis 21:1-7). At the order of Sarah, Abraham sent away Hagar and her son Ishmael. The Bible says that Hagar wandered off into the wilderness of Beersheba (Genesis 21:15). “God was with the boy. He grew up and made his home in the wilderness, and he became a bowman” (Genesis 21:20). But the Qur’an says that Abraham brought Hagar with Ismail to Mecca. His descendants grew up in Arabia as Muslims whereas those of Isaac, who remained in Palestine, are Jews (Baqara 125-129, An’am 86, Maryam 54-55, and Anbiya 85).

If the Christians and Muslims really have a common origin, it means that they have every reason to dialogue in love and live together in peace and unity as a family. The contrary will make Abraham sad and weep in heaven. This belief in the one family of Abraham must have enabled the Abyssinian Monks and the Christians welcome, accommodate, and protect Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) followers. Abdullah Yusuf ‘Ali reports that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) encountered the Abyssinian and Nestorian monks. This encounter must have given rise to some dialogue of life and dialogue of theological exchange. In the introduction to the Holy Qur’an C.23, he says: “When he went in a trade caravan with Abu Talib to Syria, his tender soul marked inwardly how Allah did speak in the wide expanse of deserts…. Commenting on this Abdullah says that it was on such visits that he met and conversed with Nestorian Christian monks like Bahirah who were quick to recognize his spiritual worth.” The Holy Prophet while on a caravan trip with Khadija also encountered the Abyssinian monks who were very hospitable to them.

Abdullah says that after the reception of the first message “Iqra” (Cf. Al ‘Alaq 96) Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) confided in Khadija. “She went and consulted her cousin Waraqah, a devout worshipper of Allah in the faith of Christ.” The Holy Qur’an therefore provides room for inter-religious and inter-faith dialogue in the promotion of human value and peaceful co-existence.

This encounter of Prophet Muhammad with the Christians of Abyssinia is a strong basis for dialogue between the Christians and the Muslims in Nigeria. The Muslim who follows the teaching of Islam to surrender to the will of Allah and the Christian who is willing to follow Jesus by bearing any suffering patiently as a meeting point in the dialogue of life. The Christian must be willing to carry the Cross and tolerate others no matter their color, race, tribe or religion. The Christian must be prepared to work for peace as preached by Jesus Christ. “Blessed are the peacemakers, they shall be called children of God” (Matthew 5:7).

Conclusion

Religious leaders, what answer do you have to give to those who ask about the essence of religion if one cannot feel safe in the house of worship? To what extent can you defend the view that no religion preaches violence? Is it not possible for the religious leaders to find out who these terrorists are and let them explain exactly what they need from the government? Can we really deliver religion from being used as garb for terrorist activities? There is no alternative to peace through dialogue. Let us make the world a better place to live in.

Rev. Omonokhua is the director of Mission and Dialogue, Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria.

Funny though, sometimes while walking in the enchantment of the awakening nature around me, I run into a tree, and I hug it as if I met a friend. You can imagine how entertaining I am to the passers-by.

It was one of those days when I felt the presence of a second person near me. Strange enough, though, he wasn’t laughing at my hugging the tree.

“Hi fellow, what is wrong with you? Why aren’t you laughing at this lunatic who is in love with trees instead of people?” I asked.

I was shocked upon hearing his answer:

“The sight of people is of no value to me because I cannot see the light coming from them. But you are certainly shining through your voice.
“For me, people shine through their presence; they change my heart beat.”

I exhaled the air that was hiding in my lungs with anxiety, and teased: “So, I should be careful when I am talking to you since I cannot hide my true feelings from you!”

“You bet. But don’t worry; your voice is giving me positive signals.”

Then, I quickly returned: “I am happy to hear that. So, shall we play a game together?”

“Like what?”

“Alright. Only by listening, we are going to try to predict the coming of the next person.”

“I’ll take your challenge,” he said.

And, we kept silent in order not to miss the clues of an approaching person. Believe it or not, we waited for minutes and not a single person passed by. We could hear voices of kids running in the distance, wind rubbing the leaves, trunks of the trees squeaking as they swing, flies, birds flying or landing, etc., but not a single person passing by. Suddenly he said:

“Maybe we should play something else.”

“You know what? You are the ever first person with whom I can play the game of solitude. We are together but not like cans on a shelf. We are together like two flowers smiling at each other although we cannot see or hear one another. Outsiders may think we are lonely. But in essence, we are hand in hand in the depths of our hearts.”

“It is strange that you say this. Why should you enjoy solitude?” he asked.

I did not answer that question. Actually my silence was the answer; and I think, or hope, he got my answer. I didn’t want my discovery of a solitude-mate to disappear so abrupt.

“Here comes one!” he exclaimed. I could feel his joy of catching the first person. I smiled; and he felt it because I give out a warm and vibrating breath when I smile.

“It is so alive,” he said.

“What? The person?” I was startled. Why was he using “it” for a person?

“No, your smile. I don’t feel many smiles like yours. I usually hear frozen laughs and smiles of mass-production, which carry no sincerity.”

I was embarrassed by his compliment. Again I kept silent, but my face was burning up, and he felt that as well.

“Now you are as flushed as I was when we started talking.”

“Yeah, what had happened to you? Why were you so flushed earlier?” I inquired.

“I climb this tree often. I actually do this whenever there is nice weather. Sometimes, I feel the footsteps of someone, whom I want to catch. I rush down to the ground hoping not to miss the encounter. But always, I miss the person. Now, that spirit is standing before me.”

Once more, I was embarrassed. I didn’t know what to say. We both kept silent for a while. Then, I heard my daughter calling: “Dad, it’s time.”

She was the one predicted by my solitude-mate.

“Forgive me for disturbing your conversation,” she added.

“A conversation by presence cannot be disturbed by words,” replied my friend. We all chuckled.

I felt my daughter pulling my arm – an authoritative sign meaning “let’s go.” I grasped her hand firmly, turned back to my solitude-mate, and gave a goodbye silence, and he did the same to me. Then I gave him that lively smile, and he went through that shower of heat. I picked up my cane and started knocking on his ears again as I returned home with my daughter as my guide.

. . . emotions base, desire consuming

The meaning that flows over from the gaze is full of contempt for the subject of God.

Akif

Very few are exempt from such a turbulent point of view; no difference remains between what is collective and what is not, between capitalism, communism and liberalism. The distance in nature-between those who attach their lives to the considerations of eating and drinking, resting, and earning money, having a good time in general, and other beings who are bound to spend their lives in a similar way due to the unchanging character of their nature-becomes smaller day by day. The basic differences between the two sides vanish into thin air one by one, and humanity seeks new directions, despite its own nature.

Religion, piety, morality, free thought, our own perceptions of art are rarely given consideration; power has become so ulcerated as to be unrecognizable, fantasy has taken on the image of lofty ideals and these disagreeable ideas are being forced upon others. Indeed, I have to say that I have a hard time understanding the inner drama of such a terrible fanaticism. Nowadays, when enlightenment has become widespread, when intellectualism is at its apex, the fact that science and ignorance seems to meet at the same spot, contrary to the distance that one would expect to exist between them, suggests a dark complicity and makes the existence of a serious problem obvious. Such a contradiction gives us the impression that the emotional will of some people is miles ahead of their intellectual and logical will.

I believe that in such a dark period, when opposites have become intertwined, when in different sections of society chaos is heaped upon chaos, when shadowy acts of different origins have darkened the face of the Earth, when what is underground reigns over what is above, when polemics and dialectics have become so popular with so many, when hearsay, especially through the use of media, is welcomed as acceptable merchandise, when we have begun to feed upon the lives of others, when the soul of unity has been shaken and different groups are scattered everywhere, when hopes are shattered and wills are paralyzed, when souls give up the fight against desire, there is a burning need to turn toward our own spiritual sphere and listen to our own inner world, to tear ourselves from the dark atmosphere of the bodily realm and sail into the magical atmosphere of a hearty and spiritual life. Those who do not fall into lethargy and return to their usual state as soon as possible will feel the magic and charm of their own inner world; the unfortunate who fail to return and remain in between, or who remain on the other side, continue to resent, hate, slander, lie, and feel contempt, they continue in the dissolution and obstinate disagreement which they have practiced until this day, and even in climates where the sun continues to shine they will dream of dark things, they will mutter dark thoughts, always seeking dark places in which to hide and dark corners in which to live.

One hopes that they would be able to feel the joy of the blessed days and nights that we experience, when showers of light reach everywhere. One hopes they too would abandon the heresy, unbelief, dissension, and sedition in their hearts and that they would be able to respect the chosen understanding and stance of every single soul! Maybe one day these wishes will be fulfilled, but the self-proclaimed enemies of God, the prophets, religion, and piety-once having breathed nothing but materialism, having gone into a frenzy denying divinity, and having plunged into the quicksand of anarchy and nihilism-will never be able to breathe this reviving air. Oh dear Lord, had you only made yourself known to them and released the chains from their hearts!

In every community and society there are people who are inclined to abandon their faith and there have been many times when such people have spun out of control; other communities and societies do not have such powerful places to seek refuge when faced by these abysses and weaknesses as we have. Indeed, they have thoughts which soothe, beliefs which reconcile, days and nights which tremble with joy, festivals and carnivals; but, these days, these nights, these festivals, these carnivals are devoid of any holiness. They are like fireworks, shining for a moment and then are gone, giving only instantaneous pleasure; they are ephemeral and physical, not promising anything in the way of spiritual joy. Indeed, in their worlds you cannot feel the greatness of faith to God, nor can you feel that souls are free from the boundaries of time and space; everything starts with a false and transitory happiness, and takes place in a delirium of flesh. All is then transformed into painful memories, regrettable dreams, and disappointed hopes, and finally everything simply disappears.

In this spiritual atmosphere where we are closely bound to God, every sound, every word, every action is felt like a nursery rhyme and listened to like a melody. These shower down upon us like the rain; we soak up the bounties of these showers. The moon changes its form every night, as if signaling particular times and happy hours, the sun moves to a new spot on the horizon at every dawn, awakening our feelings and thoughts in a new period of time, causing our dreams to follow it, presenting memories to us that resemble the river Kawthar, promised to us in Heaven. The past becomes like a veil of many colors draped before our eyes, the happy future is the apex of our dreams, waiting for us with open arms and we, who have been freed from the narrow confines of time, live the multiplicity of yesterday-today-tomorrow simultaneously and, like the angels, feel all the joys of surpassing time. It is impossible for those who are not fed from the same source, those who do not share the same feelings and thoughts, to feel and understand the holy depths or the happiness and joy like the rivers of Paradise to the same extent.

Our faith, our horizons of thought, and our manner-characteristics of the fortunate, but at the same time belonging to a little-wronged nation of the world-have become, through being formed and re-formed in the mold of the collective personality, greatly refined and adorned with universal values. The truth is that in these characteristics the holy sadness of our hearts and the enthusiasm of our souls, like water running between the rocks, are felt and heard. Indeed, those who listen to what we have to say always hear the melodies of the pain of separation voiced along with hope; they hear the notes of reunion, of the sweet and eternal search for home in our intonation and manner. Indeed, while on the one hand we murmur “Oh, cup bearer, I have burnt in the flames of love, give me a cup of water,” on the other we say “I have dipped my finger in and tasted the honey of love, give me a cup of water,” and thus we are able to turn our grief into smiles. Our tongues speak sometimes of love and sometimes of weariness; though love and weariness cause pain to others, in them we always hear, like Rumi, the poem of longing for the realm that we have left to come here. Love and weariness to us are like a plea from the tongue of the soul, stemming from a sorrowful desire for eternity. Since our beliefs and feelings take us to the magical worlds of beyond, we almost always feel sadness and joy intertwined; we hear the sounds of crying and laughing as different notes of the same melody. We respond to the troubled heaving of our breasts with smiles on our faces, as our eyes overflow with tears, our conscience takes upon a red hue with the roses of the Iram gardens.

Even though it may not be easy for every individual, our connection to God is the most natural attitude that we can adopt; our relation with Him is like a spell that transforms all the moments of our life into enthusiasm and joy. Our hearts that beat with feelings toward Him fill and re-fill with the dream of this gaze; we are able to live through the bitterest autumns in our hearts because we have the joy of spring. Our souls adopt the most enviable attitudes with instincts of particular feelings and joy that are the result of our connection with the All-Glorious One; thus transformed, they make us feel a refreshed enthusiasm, a new opening and revelation, even at moments when we are filled with sadness and grief. Pleasure or sadness, revelation or sorrow, all these emotions undergo metamorphoses in our hearts, as they beat with faith and speak to us of the most natural pleasures and the most realistic expectations. It is a fact that we, too, experience interconnected moments of ease and hardship, sweet weeks and bitter days, light and darkness which come and pass, like day and night. However, we sip the unsurpassable benevolence and joys from the hands of all these tribulations, because we have our beliefs, our connection to the Just One and our hopes! Those who do not recognize the trials and pleasures to be the product of the same will writhe in never-ending agony, while in our own atmosphere we see clearly that everything will be transformed into deep compassion. We taste a whole life, with its bitter and sweet facets like Kawthar, the blessed water of Paradise, in everything that we eat and drink, at every place that we inhabit, with all the beautifully divine discoveries of our own inner world. With all of their different wavelengths, we feel our sorrows shrink in the face of happiness, feel our pain melt away in pleasure and feel how our lives flow into glazed cisterns in a spectrum of colors. Our mortality is transformed into eternity; we exude smiles even when we cry.

In our world, the beliefs and the expectations that emerge from the heart of those beliefs are so intertwined with our lives that each chapter of our lives lends us the wings of the station of prayer and takes us to the gate of the Hereafter. It takes us there and lets our hearts drink of the beauties of heaven. In this way, we feel as if we are inhaling the scents of heaven. Even if we should let ourselves be swept along by our daily lives, the calls for prayer, songs that exalt God, the various sounds of prayer, the recitation of the names of God, those who give Him thanks, calling out His Uniqueness, letting this spill from the windows of the mosques, all draw us to their climate; they paint our souls with their hues, they give a tambour-like voice to our hearts, they make them sigh like a flute and excite them with the happiness of music. These sounds excite our souls and we are charmed by the mysteries pertaining to God, the charm of these mysteries which comes galloping from the depths of our inner world and which spreads to all our senses, this charm which tints the gardens of heaven in our thoughts and which flows past our lips like cascades of inspiration. Thus charmed, we stand awe-struck.

This charm, this recognition of the mysteries pertaining to God, reaches a higher level on the blessed days and nights when limitless abundance and bounty are showered upon us. This is true to such an extent that everything around us ascends in a state of joy, every corner takes on a spiritual hue and the excitement of our souls, aiming at metaphysical destinations, reaches its apex, or in Sufi terms, our souls reach the highest heaven of maturity. To the degree that we can hear and listen to what is all around us, we too rejoice like children who feel as if they are in the fair grounds of joy; thus we experience the happiness and joy of a feast day.

In such a world, the dawn flows into our houses from the doors and windows like an awaited guest; the evening comes into our private chambers like a lover; the night clings to us with its associations of reunion with the Confidant; and in every valley hands are raised up toward Him in prayer, ready to receive the gifts that will come from Him, assuming a state of metaphysical tension with the power of the soul, sighing, saying “Hold my hand dear Confidant, hold it, for I cannot do without You.”

In such a world, prayers roar like the booming voices of Gulbang hymns and echo like the voice and breath of the divine depths; the warm solitude of the night envelopes our souls like silk; our pulses beat with the excitement of one who has received good tidings. Perhaps some of us keep singing His praises, come rain or shine, like the nightingale that breaks its heart in an effort to express the ideal rhythm for its emotions with the most touching of sounds. In a word, everyone is humming a melody with never-ending agony and joy, never-fading love and excitement, listening to the shivering of their souls and letting others hear it, too. Everyone sighs with the fever of love and makes other people feel it. Yes, as they reflect on the excitement in their souls and the inspiration of their hearts, expressing themselves one last time, they become the mouthpiece for the feelings shared by all and they are able to speak of the hidden meanings that they want to speak of but fail to verbalize.

The horizon of living yesterday-today-tomorrow at the same time with such a degree of faith and hope, of love and recognition of the mysteries that pertain to God, gives such a depth to life that each heart in the orbit of the hereafter finds itself wrapped up in the melodious harmony of emotions and ideas and is freed from the limiting, stifling effects of matter. I believe that the strongest basis of all human relations, the purest source of all pleasures, and the fountain of all love, longing, attraction, and gravity is this faith and hope. Every disciple of the heart who attains this faith and hope can experience and feel the state of being outside of time, with the ability to sense all of its depths.

Indeed, to the extent that one can attain this view, one can feel existence in a different manner, evaluate things in a different way and melt in on oneself with the color, taste, aroma and accent of manifestations from the Eternal; these attributes pervade everything, and people can reach a second existence with a new “birth after death.” During such joyful hours, when the internal gaze is focused on that which is behind the visual scene of existence, one feels all the joys of being. One feels as if one has taken a shower in wisdom, as if one is freed from the weight of all things that are alien to one. The distant heavens shower blessings down upon these hearts, hearts thirsty for love and galloping with longing and affection; all hearts that live in fear of drying up are quenched. Celestial flowers flourish in these showers adorned with dreams!

Some of us may not be able to comprehend this state-a state which becomes a succession of struggle (to overcome the darkness with its all connotation) and dawn-of these people of faith and horizon; but all these are phenomena of the heart, soul and emotions. Living through the countless revelations of life, no one but the active heroes of the dawn and of the great strife can understand this love, enthusiasm, poetry, and music poured into our souls by the Eternal One. Those who do not understand this will not be able to understand these heroes, either. Those who remain distant to this fine and delicate life live in the darkness, while the comprehension of those who have found a position from where they can view the truth in such a way that it appears as obvious as it really is always feel this gift in all its wavelengths, sip it like the rivers of Paradise and live their earthly lives as if in Heaven.

Who knows how many more times we will speak of this never-ending pleasure and joy, in the delight of a festival, of a feast day! How ever many more times we may speak of it-the faults of the speaker’s mode of expression aside-we will still listen with pleasure and try to share it with others.

Notes

1. A place mentioned in the Qur’an (al Fajr 89:7-8), “. . . the city of ýram, with lofty pillars; the like of which were not produced in all the land.”
2. Hymns sung in the mosque in unison by the congregation .
3. The change communicated along these lines is not to be related to reincarnational notions.

Life without me is only silence

Every artist wishes to present his work to admiring eyes. In the whole universe, from atoms to star systems, God shows all the details of His art to you, a conscious being; and among His works, He has installed the most splendid ones in your body. He has given you reason and knowledge so that you can easily see and understand them. With knowledge, you can appreciate the meaning and different qualities of existence. However, you need another tool, your five senses, through which you will look at and learn about the material world around you and then turn this knowledge into an appreciation of the meanings behind God’s creation.

If you were not able to perceive light and color (by your eyes), your knowledge of material existence would be insufficient. Similarly, if God had not placed me in your skull, you would not be able to hear and know the songs of birds, the rustling of trees, the babbling of water, or the whistling of wind, which are each a note in the divine musical harmony throughout the universe. Indeed, everything speaks in its own tongue in order to introduce God to people. You use your eyes to perceive the things that speak with the wavelengths of light. You use me to perceive other wavelengths called “sound,” which is caused by the vibration of molecules.

The wavelength of the sounds that I can perceive ranges between 20 and 20,000 Hertz. I am unable to sense frequencies of sound that are above or below those limits. Indeed, it would be better to call this an advantage given by God rather than an “inability.” If the Creator of everything in the universe had not created me with this limited capacity, you would be facing unbearable pain in your head. If He had made me work with a wider range of hearing, you would be disturbed by the footsteps of a little ant, the moaning of an insect laying eggs, the buzzing of beehives, and the sound of the fluttering birds. Therefore, the fact that I have sufficient sensitivity for you to meet your needs is an advantage and an indication of God’s mercy. After all, my Creator gives everybody exactly what they need in a most suitable way and in the best measurements; He never does anything absurd. Do not ever want to have an ear like that of a bat. I am the best one for you.

Do not ever think that my outer, visible part is too simple. My outer ear, which sometimes turns red when you are nervous, is placed in the best position according to the shape of your head so that it can receive sounds in a most efficient way. Because it is made up of elastic cartilage, my outer ear (A) is very flexible, and it won’t break when you lie on it. The curves on me (known as the helix) and the hairs inside my channel are not made without a reason, either. My cartilages have the perfect shape to channel the sound down towards my middle ear according to the intensity of the sound and the direction it comes from. Because this special shape is formed according to the genetic code of a person, it is different in every person. The hairs in the canal serve to protect me from foreign objects like insects or dust. The canal that connects my outer part to my middle part is pretty wide, but if too much fatty wax accumulates here, I might experience temporary hearing loss.

My outer part is followed by my middle ear, which begins with the ear drum (tympanic membrane) (C). Attached to this thin ear drum are three bones: the malleus (D), the incus (E), and the stapes (F), which are all placed in order. These little bones are jointed to each other at an angle of 105 degrees. With an action like a piston, they amplify even the smallest sound vibration coming from the ear drum and transmit it to the middle ear. My middle ear space is connected to your pharynx by a very thin canal called the Eustachian tube (G). In order to protect my ear drum from rupture, I recommend that you open your mouth during an explosion or an intense sound. In that way, the sound waves that enter through your mouth will balance with the sound waves in my canals so that my ear drum is protected.

My inner part, followed by my middle part, is the most vital and sensitive area. Therefore, it is surrounded and protected by the bones of your skull. This inner part, which is an amazing piece of art and technology, comprises two wonderful receptor components. Those two little parts are placed in the same narrow area inside the temporal bone, but they perform different tasks. One of them is the cochlea (H), which is involved with hearing. The other part is the balance (vestibular) canals, which consist of the semicircular canals (I), the saccule (J), and the utricle (K). This balance organ enables you to stand straight and walk, run, or move without bumping or falling.

Like carved marble or forged metal, those parts are crafted out of bones that form a beautiful and intricate whole. My cochlea is divided widthwise by a bony tube. The upper compartment above the tube is connected to an oval window, which is an outlet to the middle ear. The lower compartment below the tube is connected to a round window. My inner part is a labyrinth of fluid-filled tubes. The fluid in the bony labyrinth, between the bone and the membranes, is called perilymph, and the other fluid within the membranous structure is called endolymph.

Situated on the basilar membrane (L) of my cochlea is a very small and special organ that you call the organ of Corti. The organ of Corti contains the hearing cells (or hair cells), the receptors (M) that are sensitive to sound waves, and other supporting cells. Because the length of the cells in the organ of Corti varies, different parts of my cochlea are sensitive to sounds of different wavelengths.

The sound waves travel via the malleus, the incus, and the stapes and through my oval window, agitating the perilymph of my cochlea. After that, the sound waves cause Reissner’s membrane (N) in my cochlea to vibrate, which then results in a wave movement in the endolymph. The wave movement continues along this membrane until it reaches my organ of Corti. The special receptor cells (or hair cells) of the organ of Corti are the ultimate vibration receptors. Their surfaces consist of very small strands (cilia). Those little strands bend and twist when the sound waves are received. Right at this point, a very important event occurs: it is the movement of these strands which converts the mechanical energy (that is produced by the vibrations of the sound waves) into electrical impulses. Those electrical impulses are then sent to your brain via the auditory nerve (nervus cochlearis) of the brain, where they are perceived as “sound.” The same sound waves continue their way to the perilymph and pass into the round window, the section between the middle ear and the inner ear. The round window pushes out to dissipate the sound vibrations in the perilymph and thus lessens their pressure.

The speed of the hearing depends on the speed of the sound that travels through my membrane and little bones. However, once the sound waves begin to pass to your brain as an electrical impulse along the auditory nerve, the hearing process increases its speed. Then your brain immediately interprets and reacts to the sound waves. You are not aware of all these rapid activities which are done perfectly in fractions of a second. You only say that you can hear something ordinarily. Have you ever thought before about how hearing takes place? Do you think you would have a clue about the sounds and music in the universe if God had not created me as your hearing organ?

Think about it, Peter! God knows exactly what you need for your life and equips your body accordingly. If there were no God, would such a complicated organ as your ear form by itself in your skull? Can it be a simple “coincidence” where some biological mechanisms take place successfully and in order without any plan or project and they produce such a splendid organ as me with all my sections? Like every reasonable and thoughtful person, you now understand that I cannot be the result of simple coincidence but only a creation of our God Almighty, don’t you?

Maintaining your balance

So far, what I have told you about is my duty to hear. Now I must also tell you about my duty of balance, so that you can better understand how miraculous I am.

Have you ever seen an acrobat walking on a rope or a mountain climber in action? Or shall I give a better example that might be more familiar to you? Remember what you do on your bicycle to keep from falling off. At the slightest mistake, the acrobat might topple from the rope, the climber might slip off the cliff face, and you might fall off your bicycle. While you are making unconscious (reflex) movements to keep your balance, have you ever thought about what busy operations are going on in my system? I have been equipped with very sensitive receptors which help you stay stable during your continual, different movements. Those receptors immediately recognize the changes occurring as a result of your slightest motion; they warn your body to adjust to your new position by sending out information to the spinal cord and to the brain about the new situation.

You may wonder how these two processes, hearing and balance, can take place in such a small area of the body, the inner ear. It is our Creator, God, who puts microscopic cells in a narrow place and runs the most sensitive and important operations via those little cells.

How do you feel the sensation of balance and how do you react with the right reflex action? To find an answer to that, you need to re-examine my anatomical structures mentioned before. At the base of my semicircular canals is a bulb-like enlargement which opens to the saccule and the utricle. My three semicircular canals are situated at 90-degree angles to each other in three-dimensional space.

My semicircular canals contain few sensory hair cells but there are plenty of them in the bulb-like enlargement. The strands of these cells, which are placed delicately, have enough elasticity to twist and bend during a movement. The receptors for balance in the saccule and the utricle are covered by a thin membrane which contains a gelatinous layer and tiny calcite crystals (cupula terminalis). Depending on its density, the endolymph fluid in my semicircular canals moves against the direction that your head and body move in. Similar to the uncontrolled movement of passengers in an accelerating or moving vehicle, depending on the speed and the direction, the movement and the speed of the endolymph differs from the general movement of your body. For example, when a car turns right, the passengers move to the left with the turning acceleration, and when a fast-moving car brakes suddenly, the passengers are thrown forward. Similarly, depending on its acceleration and momentum, every change in your movement causes the fluid in my semicircular canals to move. Triggered by the movement of the endolymph fluid, the gelatinous mass with the calcite pieces is displaced, causing the strands of the receptors to twist. Every movement of your head warns the cells of different parts, and via the vestibular nerve (nervus vestibularis) the nervous system is notified of changes occurring in your balance.

Thankfulness and contemplation

You have now seen what amazing works my two compartments, the balance and the hearing organs produce. All through your life, the former serves you by maintaining your balance without missing any of your movements, while the latter enables you to learn about the thousands of types of sounds in the world. Once you consider all of your movements in your life, you will see that my two organs perform their duties perfectly without ever getting tired, giving up, or complaining. We do not ask for any fee from you in return for those benefits, either. In fact, when God Almighty created you, placed us in your skull and set up our connection with the related center in your brain, He did not ask for any fee from you. All He wants you to do is to think about those blessings and be thankful to Him.

If you visited a hospital, you might see a lot of scenes which would lead you to think about God’s blessings on you and thank Him. Serious ear illnesses include middle ear infection (otitis media), which is frequently seen in children; otosclerosis, which is the limited ability of the stapes to transmit sound waves because its base becomes fixed to the oval window; and several hearing disorders which might be present at birth or occur later in life, depending on the level of damage to the auditory nerve. Witnessing the effects of those illnesses, you would understand how important it is to be able to hear and stand straight and balanced, and so see how blessed you are. At every step you take, when you are lying down or standing up, or every time you hear the twittering of birds, a nice melody, or the sweet voice of your parents, you will now appreciate the greatness and the mercy of our Lord God Almighty, who has engraved the meanings of all those sounds in your mind.

Peter! Until now, you have used me to listen to others, but today it was my turn to be listened to while I told you about myself. However, I must admit that I have only been able to explain to you the details of about one-hundredth of the beauties displayed in me and my delicate anatomical structure. If I attempted to present you with all the details about me discovered by developing technology and science and the meanings attached to them, there would not be enough pages in the magazine that you are holding now. Indeed, you do not need that much information either. My main aim here is to draw your attention to me, and thus let you know our God and bring you closer to Him. I hope I am successful in that. From now on, you will hear my ringing occasionally and remember me so that you will be saved from your heedlessness once again.

Irfan Yilmaz is a professor of biology at Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey.

No institution is better suited to preach clean air, water, and land than the institutions that profess a love of God and God’s Creation, Bingham says. There’s no place in the New Testament where it says we should use energy-efficient appliances. But everything we know about Jesus says that he identified with the poor and the marginalized and that he loved his neighbor. Global warming is hurting creation at a rapid rate and will soon cause great harm to the developing nations, who are as usual hit harder and sooner than the rest of us. Already we are seeing more severe storms, disease, drought and floods leading to famine and malnutrition.

Along with Steve MacAusland, a video producer from Dedham, Mass., Bingham founded the Episcopal Power and Light ministry, and later spin-off interfaith programs in states ranging from power-strapped California to oil-rich Texas. In California alone, the group persuaded 27 churches to install solar panels and 61 churches to switch to a renewable power company called Green Mountain Energy. By consolidating the purchasing power of the state’s churches, EP&L was able to secure green energy at a great price.

Unfortunately, the chain of events surrounding deregulation of the state’s power industry forced Green Mountain Energy to pull the plug on their California customers. In turn, churches had no choice but to again power their sacred spaces with fossil fuels. We carry tremendous guilt knowing that we are polluting out neighbor’s air every time we turn on the lights. We have been forced into sinful behavior that frightens us. We may end up in a place so hot it will make global warming seem like a cold shower.

Bingham: I am a member of the Episcopal Environmental Network, a national group of people that come together once a year to talk about the issues that the church wants to get involved in. I’ve been a member of it when the national church first formed this organization It’s also kind of a support group for those of us around the country who are feeling pain over the degradation of the environment. We kind of lament and pray and support each other. If you feel like you’re the lone person crying in the wilderness, it’s important to have a group come together and talk about these things.

A man from Massachusetts, Steve Causland, came on the committee in about 1996. We were on a long hike one day and talking about our committee, and we decided we really wanted to do something to make a difference. So we had to figure out what we saw as the most important issue facing the world today and it was climate change.

So over the next year, he and I founded Episcopal Power and Light (EP&L). I had already founded a 501 (c)(3) called the Regeneration Project, an interfaith ministry to link people of faith with their ecology. I hadn’t done anything with this yet I’d been in seminaryso it was just waiting there for a project.

Thompson: What denominations have been working on this?

Bingham: Well, here in California, the California Council of Churches is all the Protestant churches across the board. And then we have a member of the board of rabbis and a member of COEJL, which is Coalition for Environmental Jewish Life, and a fellow down in Los Angeles who is Muslim. So it truly is interfaith. And each one of us has a responsibility to get our constituency on board. We have a congregational covenant which you can download from the Internet. There are all these different areas where you can check off the things your congregation are willing to do. It’s targeted at the leadership of the church, whether it be the director of a Presbyterian church or a rabbi of a synagogue, because it asks them to educate their congregation on global warming. I’m in the process now of putting together materials that they’ll be able to use to take this education into their congregation.

Thompson: How does your message differ from that of environmentalists who address the issue from a secular point of view?

Bingham: We bring the moral component. We see energy conservation and efficiency as a responsibility for people of faith, as loving one’s neighbor. So it comes from the heart rather than the pocketbook. Conserving energy with the consciousness that what you say, someone else might be able to use is putting your faith into action.

Thompson: I like your update of a familiar parable: Harder for a wasteful consumer to get into heaven than an SUV to pass through the eye of a needle. You’re preaching some messages that are pretty uncomfortable for people to hear, messages people have heard many times in many forums but not necessarily taken to heart. What do you think it will take to shift thinking away from overconsumption and consumerism?

Bingham: It’s true. I think they need to hear the message more than once, but with our ministry we plant those seeds. With our train the trainer program, more people will be able to articulate the message, and I think we’ll have a huge impact. The more people out there preaching this kind of thing, the more effect it can have.

Last Sunday was the first time I’d given an environmental sermon at the 11 o’clock service. There was such a positive responseeveryone was clapping at the end that doesn’t happen here very often. That told me that people are ready to hear this message. It was affirming to folks who are already beginning to think that way because of what they’re reading in the newspaper about energy and global warming. Now they hear this and think Oh my God, the church is with me on this.

We’re still on the cutting edge of the ministry. I don’t know if there were 400 or 800 people in that congregation on Sunday, but I know that probably half of them are hearing this message for the first time. But they’ll hear it again.

And it is such a perfect thing for the church to do. Often what we read in the paper about religious organizations is the bad newssome clergy member who broke his or her vows in one way or another. This is good news about the church. Here we are at the forefront, doing a positive thing that’s going to hopefully save the planet.

Thompson: It’s one thing to preach to a liberal, environmentally-minded congregation in San Francisco, but how do you see your ministry winning conservative Christians who support Bush’s energy policies? Have you done any work in the Bible Belt?

Bingham: One of the interfaith programs is in Texasit isn’t founded yet, because we’ve just started our work, but I have been an advisor to the dioceses of West Texas on renewable energy, and we are planning a launching event there in October. In June I flew into Corpus Christi, Texas, which is the heart of the oil country, and talked to the bishop there about powering their council meeting in February with wind. They haven’t agreed to do that yet, but I think they’re going to. Green Mountain has already agreed to buy the wind and resell it back to the dioceses council.

The Episcopal Church powered its 15,000-person convention in Denver last July with wind purchased from the border of Wyoming and Colorado. It was the first convention in this country to be powered by renewable energy. Then we challenged the Democratic and Republican conventions to do it; the Democrats did. At the Episcopal convention, the National Renewable Energy lab, which is in Boulder, Colorado, set up a display right next to the EP&L booth. We also a little bucket on our booth and asked everybody to contribute one dollar to the extra cost of wind (it was literally 10 cents per day per person to have wind for the ten-day conference).

The idea blew the general convention. When we got back to our offices, we started getting calls from people all over the country. A woman in Tennessee was so eager to switch to renewable power that she did the research herself and made it happen. Now we’re going to Tennessee to do an event there in November, and we’re going to Detroit to do the same thing. The reason I was in Texas was that the women down there decided they wanted to power their convention with wind. So it really started something. In Nashville, the first big cathedral there (get name) is buying green power from the Tennessee Valley Association.

Thompson: What has inspired you personally to do this work?

Bingham: I grew up down in Woodside, Calif., which is a pretty rural communityor used to be, before Silicon Valley started building all these huge houses down there. I spent so much time alone in nature that I developed a very strong sense of divine companionship in the wilderness. Then way later in lifeabout 1985, and I was living in New York, and I was a trustee for the Environmental Defense Fund. Every one of board meetings has a presentation by a staff scientist. For 10 years I listened to the threat of global warming, overfishing, dying coral reefs, and deforestation. I just at one point began to think: Where is the religious community in this problem? Why don’t we hear the religious voice? These are the people who sit in the pews on Sunday and say they love God and probably deep inside them love what God loves, and therefore love Creation, but they just haven’t paid attention.

Thompson: You’ve preached about the effects of global warming severe storms, disease, drought, floods, famine…Sounds like the Apocalypse.

Bingham: It’s interesting that you say that. My 21-year-old son answered the door yesterday, and some Bible-toting folks were out front. He said: You don’t have to talk to us because my mother’s a priest and she preaches about the environment. Right away the woman started quoting Revelations and the end of the world.

I don’t know. I don’t pretend to have knowledge of God’s intentions. But I’m more hopeful than thinking about the end of the world. Because I think that human hearts can and will change, and that we will stop this destructive way and bring things back together.

Thompson: What obstacles have you faced in this work, and how have you overcome them?

Bingham: The internal ones are relatively minor today. Ten years ago, it was great turmoil, because I felt alone in this work. There were not other clergy who would agree with me on any of this. They thought that I was mixing politics with religionit wasn’t seen as something that involved human souls, which was what the church all about. People would say isn’t the church about people? Those first few years were very difficult, and this is why I believe that there is so much hope. The change between a few years ago and today is just phenomenal. People are there; they understand the connection between faith and the environment and religion.

I stillbut not anywhere near as oftensometimes meet people who say that global warming isn’t real. In fact, yesterday I got an e-mail from someone who heard my Sunday sermon saying that I was wrong in saying that human behavior was causing global warming. He said it was actually being caused by a volcano in Hawaii.

Thompson: How do you respond to that?

Bingham: I haven’t, and I’ll tell you why. I used to get all wrapped up in one person’s view. If there were a hundred people in a room and 99 of them stood up and clapped, and one person said, you’re demented, I would go and spend hours with that one person. I just don’t do that anymore. I’m sorry they’re not better educated, but it isn’t worth my time. I may in fact recommend a couple books for this fellow to read, like The Heat is On, by Ross Gelbspanit’s a wonderful, very readable book about global warmingor something by Michael Oppenheimer, a scientist and climatologist, who has a lot of good work and a book by Steven Schneider, who’s at Stanford. I could put this person in touch with some of this literature and ask them to read about it and then come back and tell me that global warming is happening because of the volcano in Hawaii. If that was the case, I’d probably say, I don’t think you know what you’re talking about.

Thompson: How do you personally experience God in nature?

Bingham: I ask them to be mindful, really conscious, of every single one of their behaviors. The cups we use, the cars we drive the clothes we buy. I don’t condemn people who have the means to buy what they need. But when you buy ten times more than what you need. I live in a neighborhood where the recycling bins are sometimes just shockingin one week the amount of packaging that comes from Saks Fifth Avenue and Wilkes Bashford? You think how can these people possibly wear all these clothes? That’s where I draw the line. Now I know there are folks who will say, well if we didn’t go in there and buy all these clothes, think of the jobs these people who are selling the clothes wouldn’t have, and the people who are making the clothes and on and on and on down the chain. But I think there’s plenty to go around in this world for all of our needs. I think wealthy communities have to change their ways.

Thompson: What does the Bible have to say about protecting the environment?

Bingham: As you know, the Bible has lots and lots and lots of stories. I tend to take a metaphorical, not literal, interpretation of the Bible. Throughout Scripture, there are various teachings of restraintnot taking more than you need, loving your neighbor, giving to other people. People often ask me Was Jesus an environmentalist? Jesus identified with marginal people. And probably today he would identify with endangered species and coral reefs and forests, because he identified with pain and suffering, and right now creation is in pain and suffering. So I would go so far to say that if Jesus were here, he would not drive an SUV. He’d be on the White House steps with you. Do you see a relationship between America’s spiritual and environmental crises?

In Al Gore’s book, The Earth in Balance, he said just thatthe environmental crisis is a spiritual oneand I think it’s absolutely true. We’ve forgotten where we came from. We’ve forgotten our connection to all Creation. Children walk through the supermarkets and think that the bananas grow right out of the shelves there. Working with my compost, and planting the garden and eating food that comes out of itit’s a spiritual experience. It connects you to the land and teaches you the whole cycle of life. We’ve lost that.

Can we get reconnected to it? I hope so. I think that when we were an agricultural world, it was a lot easier, but being in cities, it’s hard to do. I think that some of those summer programs that take teenagers out into the wilderness are probably amazingly life-changing. And I think our parks and national recreational areascity parks and street treesall those things are really important. Everybody should have a backyard. It’s very deep inside of us, that connection to the land. But it needs to be awakened. We’ve gotten so far from the land that something has to reach out and stimulate us.

There are some wonderful teachers now that are starting to teach ecology in schools, and I think the church can play a magnificent role in this. Imagine if Sunday school classes started teaching about the different ways that God made birds’ beaks, that they eat the different kinds of seeds because the way their beaks are shapedI think all those kinds of things will help children get the sense that God is bigger than they aresomething that we have to live in awe of.

Thompson: Where do you see this ministry in 10 years?

Bingham: We’re getting ready to launch a program out of the Cathedral that’s going to be magnificent. Five years from now it will be, I hope, one of the best faith-based programs in the country. We want to have a curriculum that will link theology and ecology for all faith groups and train facilitators from different regions. If we can raise the money and that actually happens, you can imagine we need a bigger budget, we need more people. If it all happens, ten years from now, I see it as a viable ministry coming out of the Cathedral or perhaps the Regeneration Project, which is the home for Episcopal Power and Light will be its own 501 (c)(3) and we’ll be teaching this all over the world.

It’s hard to say. We’ve only been in business so to speak for three years. We’ve tripled our budget. A year ago, nobody was on staffmy partner and I were working for freebut this last year, we’ve been able to pay ourselves a salary and hire an assistant. We’re also looking for an office manager and a development director. So I see this getting huge.

Thompson: Can you leave us with a good quote from the Bible that relates to your work?

Bingham: It’s so simple. It’s the one I talk about all the time. The first and great commandment is to Love God. The second is like onto it, which is to love your neighbor as yourself. Therein lies this ministryif you love your neighbor, don’t pollute your neighbor’s air and water. You don’t trash something that your neighbor could use. That’s really it.

Sight: When we look around, we see several shades of colors and hundreds of thousands of images. Human beings, and several animals, are able to see images when light enters the eye and releases an electrical signal through our the nerves to the brain. These signals are then transformed into the images, or pictures, that we see. All creatures see these images differently; some see images in different outlines in shape, color, clarity, circumstances, and distance.

Dogs, because of their hunting needs, see twice as much as do human beings. In addition, dogs have an outstanding ability to follow movement and to perceive direction, speed, and trajectory. Trajectory is what gives dogs the innate ability to plot an angle and predict an angle of movement. For example, dogs have an astonishing ability to know the exact spot where a moving object will land and know from which angle it will be coming. This is the reason why dogs are such good ball and Frisbee catchers; because they visually know the exact point of impact of an object as it falls back to the ground. Cats, on the other hand, have a different reason for being such good jumpers. Cats’ faces are flat between the eyes, a rare feature in the animal world, which makes it easier for them to work together. As a result, a cat can focus sharply and three-dimensionally, an ability that allows it to visually judge distances with great accuracy before jumping.

Rabbits, for example, are one of the few animals that can see all around them (front and back) without turning in either direction. Their eyes are located on the sides of their head, which enables them to see in all directions. Rabbits, frequent preys for predators, are always on the alert, and their eyes are located in the best place to help them see their enemies.

Human beings and wildlife animals have two kinds of vision cells that are located inside the back of the eye: cones and rods. Cones detect colors in bright light, including black, white, and gray. Rods provide sharp vision in dim light, but do not detect colors. Night creatures have more rods than cones, which provide them with sharper vision at night-but with only shades of gray. Also, to assist these creatures in the dark, they have a special layer in the back of their eyes, called the tapetum, which acts as a mirror when light passes through it. If the rod does not detect the light during the first passing, the tapetum reflects the light back to the rod, thus giving the rod a second chance to pick up on the light and see an image. It is this layer that makes some animal’s eyes shine in dim light.

An owl’s eye, for example, is so sensitive in picking up light, that research shows that an owl can follow a trial lit up by a candle 1,000 feet away (3,600 meters).1

Another amazing sight feature is found in predator birds: “telescopic” eyes that allow them to see by making a far away distant object appear larger. Birds such as the hawk and eagle have the sharpest sight of any animal. These birds have about 1.04 million vision cells in the back of their eyes, which that enables them to see a mouse from as far as one mile away.2 (Human beings have only about 130 million vision cells.)3

Although animals are believed to see colors similar to the way humans do, scientists are not sure how bees and insects see color. Scientists believe that, among some other creatures, bees, birds, and insects can see a color that human beings can not: ultraviolet colors. In addition to red, blue, and yellow, flowers often have ultraviolet patterns that show these birds and insects the way to the plant’s nectar and pollen. Such sight makes it possible for these creatures to find and feed on the flowers’ nectar and pollen.

However, not all animals have only two eyes. Jumping spiders, for instance, have eight eyes. There are two big eyes in the front, and six smaller eyes on the top of the head slightly toward the sides. The two front eyes are very well developed and act as a pair of binoculars that give the spider a clear image of objects up to one foot (30 cms) away. The little eyes are called secondary eyes. These eyes can spot moving objects and have a built-in reflecting layer that helps the spider to see objects in dim light. The secondary eyes are the eyes that actually measure the distance the spider needs to jump to catch its prey.

Hearing: Just as with other senses, human beings and animals have different levels of hearing. Most animals have only two ears, which helps all of us locate the origin of a sound. Having two ears helps us locate where a sound comes from. Since sound reaches the ears at slightly different times, this makes a sound louder than in one ear. This difference in volume and arrival time in one ear is an indication as to the origin of the sound. Sound is expressed in hertz (cycles per second), which are repetitive vibrations per second. Adult human beings, with a normal hearing ability, can hear from twenty to twenty thousand cycles per second. Amazingly, wolves can hear up to eighty thousand cycles per second, and dogs can hear up to thirty-five thousand cycles per second, almost twice as many as humans.

Cats have a surprising hearing of between fifty to one hundred thousand cycles per second-three to five times than what human beings can hear. In addition, a cat’s ear has thirty muscles that control the ear muscles that can rotate 180 degrees. This give cats the opportunity to hear its surroundings without moving its head.

An owl’s ear, however, are located at different heights. The difference in height enables an owlit to determine if a noise is coming from a high distance or from the ground. Another interesting feature of many owls is a flat heart-shaped face. The shape of its face functions as a reflector that makes faint sounds louder. These two features enable owls to be the great hunters they are and helps them to hunt in the dark.

Not all animals and insects have “ears”; some have holes in either in their head or in another part of their body, and others have eardrums, such as birds, insects, and fish. Fish’s ears, for example, are located under its skin behind its eyes. This way, a fish can pick up on vibrations that pass their skin under the water. Other fish makes some of these noises by vibrating an internal organ or by rubbing their fins together. Fish use these vibrations to communicate with other fish, to mate, to warn other fish, or to swim together in groups.

Smell: Animals with different smelling needs have been created with different noses and different smelling abilities. Among the different abilities and noses, an elephant’s nose stands out in many individuals’ minds; at least mine. These animals’ noses are so amazingly equipped with different functions, it is surprising. An elephant’s nose (trunk) and upper lip weighs, on average, 300 lbs. (136 kgs.), and can take up and hold more than one gallon (3.7 lt.) of water at a time for spraying on another animal’s back. The trunk is also strong enough to pick up large logs, yet functional enough to gather thin blades to eat. In addition, an elephant can raise its trunk high in the air to smell if any predators are in the area. Another function that I grin at, is that elephants weighing so heavy sink to the bottom of a rivers when they try crossing it; however, they use their noses as snorkels when crossing a deep river by lifting their noses high above the water line to breathe.

Dogs have an astounding sense of smell; they are one of the animals with the best sense of smell. Dogs can pick up odors in concentrations of one part per trillion. A book called Scent, published by veterinarian Dr. Hugo Verbruggen, and dog trainer Milo D. Pearsall, mentions an experiment that illustrates how well dogs can pick up odors. It mentions that if a single gram of butyric acid, a chemical constituent in human perspiration, were released in a ten-story building and evaporated, a human being might be able to smell the odor for a very short moment by sniffing at a window. A dog, in comparison though, would be able to pick up the odor in the same amount if it were to spread over a city the size of Philadelphia anywhere within the city up to an altitude of three hundred feet (90 meters).4 It also mentions that if humans had only ten percent of a dog’s smelling ability that dogs have, we would have a totally different understanding of our world we.

Camels are desert animals that have been created with special channels that can hold moisture in the dry desert. Also, when the wind blows, a camel can close its nostrils to keep out the sand and dust.

Ants also fascinate me. These tiny creatures use odors to identify if an ant belongs in their colony or if it is an intruder. In addition, when an ant dies a certain odor is released, and other ants in the colony will carry the dead ant to a burial site. An experiment has been performed by scientists that placed this “dead” odor on a healthy ant. Although the marked ant was struggling and kept returning to the nest, other ants constantly carried this marked ant to their burial grounds in the belief that it was dead.5

Taste: Taste and smell are chemical senses. Although scientists can only guess what an animal can and does taste, they do know that animals have different taste buds. Taste buds are made up of tiny taste cells that enable us to taste sweet, sour, bitter, and salty substances. Mammals have the most taste buds, while birds have the fewest; insects have none. However, these animals and insects have special taste cells to detect the certain foods they need for survival.

Touch: All animals have a sense of touch. Many scientists believe that touch is the most important sense. The sense of touch indicates if we are hurt, cold, hot, and much more. Blind and visually impaired individuals rely on the feeling of touch to read Braille. Many animals and insects, however, have built-in antennas that help them avoid too close physical contact with other insects and help them detect food and surrounding conditions.

A blowfly (any fly that deposits its eggs on meat or wounds), for instance, uses its antennas to determine if the wind conditions are best for flying. If the wind is blowing too fast, the blowfly will wait until the wind calms down. This is an important feature, for this insect would not be able to survive flying in a strong wind.

Many animals and insects rely on the sensing of vibrations. For example, a spider relies on the shaking of its web to understand if it has caught food or if another spider has come to mate. A spider feels the vibrations through its long legs by waiting at the edge of its web. It is understood that when a spider returns to its web, it shakes the web to see how it vibrates. The results will let it know if something has been caught.

It is also interesting that some animals seek and show affection through touch, just like human beings do. Cats, dogs, monkeys, seals, and lions are some examples that show love and affection. As a cat owner, it is interesting to see the understanding of affection through touch. They enjoy being petted and seek for affection. A question asked by people, who have a cat or have been near a cat, is that why do cats purr and what causes this noise. Scientists believe that purring is produced by blood in a large vein in the chest that vibrates and is then magnified by air in the windpipe.6 Someone petting a cat can actually feel this vibration. Cats usually purr when they are happy or when being shown affection. However, the cat’s purr is more than a sign of content. Kittens, unlike many animals, are born blind and deaf. The vibration of their mother’s purring is a physical sign that the kittens can feel; it is somewhat of a signal to the kittens to be close to the mother and nurse. Also, the kittens’ purr is a signal back to the mother that their kittens are getting their milk and are healthy. This is an extraordinary survival mechanism.

“Super-natural senses”: There are several sensing abilities that scientists can not explain or categorize due to the several unique senses possessed by several animals and insects. Among them is the mosquito’s remarkable sense of heat that leads them to their victims. Female mosquitoes follow have several, however, the most remarkable one is that they can sense temperature differences of less than 1/250th of a degree Fahrenheit. This amazing sense of temperature enables them to land on the warmest and best vein of blood for food.

Another sense scientists have difficulty explaining is that birds, bees, and some other creatures have magnetism. Just as a compass has a magnetic needle that points north, these creatures have natural magnets that help them migrate and find food by using the earth’s magnetic field. They have natural tiny crystals of iron oxide, or also called magnetite, made front iron found in their blood. This enables these adorable creations to still find their way even when they can not see the sun.

People for many years have been puzzled how animals can sense an earthquake before its any “obvious” signs. One of the explanations is that animals, as described throughout the article, have unique and even, in some cases, better senses than human beings. Therefore, they are able to pick up on vibrations, sounds, and odors that humans physically can not, which may indicate to them that a disaster is about to occur.

A final note: Besides their senses, animals have a uniqueness and wondrous superiority over other animals the other with their physical attributes and characteristics. For example, some animals see or hear better than other animals, and some animals have unique physical attributes that other animals do not have. If you look at the beautiful and majestic kingdom of animals, you will find that each animal has a different beauty and awe that deserves much appreciation. This is a component that makes this world a fascinating and perfectly created one.

REFERENCES

1. The National Wildlife Federation “What do Do Animals See, Hear, Smell, and Feel?” (1990).
2. Ibid
3. Ibid
4. Roger A Caras, A Dog is Listening. Summit Books. 1992.
5. The National Wildlife Federation” What do Do Animals See, Hear, Smell, and Feel?” (1990).
6. Arline Bleecker, “Why Do Cats Sulk?” Globe Digests. 1998.

This ‘book’ or exhibition was once much more dazzling; like a magnificent vessel sailing in the ocean of love and ecstasy or a chandelier with one thousand and one lights, it was beautiful beyond imagination. With its emerald hills and slopes and exhilarating valleys and plains, with its forests inhabited by thousands of kinds of cheerful animals and paradise-like gardens, fields and orchards, and with its singing birds and merry-making insects, this ‘book’ was the realm neighboring the other world. Divine mercy poured onto it in the form of rain to make the earth more fertile and, in return, hands were held open towards it in profound gratitude.

Those who sensed nature in that manner could not help but establish a deep heartfelt relation with the sound, melody, taste, smell and beauties which issued from it by the Hand of Power. For they were so intimate and familiar with it that whenever they gazed on it, they felt different things pertaining to the worlds beyond.

Like the elegance and grace in the architecture of a palace inspiring in us different things beyond the palace itself, nature, this exhibition of the miracles of Divine art, inspires in our hearts an intuition of the existence of One who, being the real source of all harmony and beauty, has brought it into existence and designed it, One who, although He makes us feel Himself through every work of His, is beyond the capacity of direct human perception.

The natural world and the heavens are as if in each other’s arms. It is as if in response to the strong desire of mountains to meet with heavens which they show by making their peaks lean on their skirts, heavens hang their skirts down over them. Like bees flying from one flower to the other, human imagination travels through the reflections of the Creator’s beauty and goes as fas as the horizon. When it reaches the horizon, thinking that the road goes on far into eternity beyond heavens, it sets out for a new journey and man begins to hear the melodies belonging to the worlds beyond. Those who, through their imaginations, can stay in those worlds for a long time, succeed in meeting the true beloved, with the love of whom they are consumed and for the union with whom they long.

For those who have resolved to make a journey through this realm of nature which provides knowledge of God for the traveller and where the heart, spirit and conscience overflow with innumerable kinds of pleasures, with its exhilarating spectacles, multi-coloured hills and slopes, impressive mountains that lead one into day-dreams, amorous gardens, awe-inspiring forests, streams and rivers murmuring in their way to union with seas-it is especially in spring and summer, a realm of joy, pleasure, peace and imagination. 

There is a magnificence, a charm, and a poetical harmony in every corner of this ‘book’ or exhibition. It is as if-with all its variety of beauty diversified in colours and forms, and the sheer charm of its general appearance, such that one would say, It is impossible for it to be more beautiful than this!-nature were in a sort of beauty competition. Those who have awakened to those beauties observe it differently and hear from it melodies of unimaginable beauty. Those ‘intoxicated’ spirits see trees dancing mentioning His Name and flowers announcing Him in the languages particular to themselves, and they hear everything in nature whispering peculiar messages from that symphony of beauty.

There are parts of nature which know of neither winter nor autumn. They are so dazzling and charming that you feel near the pont of touching the ultimate reach of beauty where this and other worlds are as if concentric with each other. The slopes of those places give you the impression that you are in gardens of Paradise, the rivers flowing through them bring to your mind the rivers of Paradise, and the swaying of their trees bring you a gust of breezes in gardens of Paradise. In short, in the beauties exhibited in those places you feel and observe the eternal beauties and, thinking that the worldly life is too short to experience all those beauties perfectly, you feel an earnest desire for eternity and turn to the Infinitely Powerful One so that that vital desire of yours may be realized.

What a pity it is that this magnificent book, this charming exhibition, which the Infinitely Merciful One has created and presented to man to observe and study and to be exhilarated by, is no longer given any more care than is given to a heap of junk or rubbish. Worse than that, it is more and more becoming a wasteland and like a dunghill.

Today, air, that magnificent conductor of Divine commands, is a suffocating smoke and a perilous ‘whirlpool’. Water, that source of life and other Divine bounties, is either a hazardous flood or forms desolate expanses of pitch. And earth, that treasure of Divine grace and munificence, is a wilderness no longer productive and a ruin without any ecological balance.

Like everything else entrusted to us, we have deplorably treated this ‘book’, this magnificent exhibition, which is an embodiment of Divine grace and mercy. How deplorably and awkwardly we have treated plains and residential places, which we have changed into deserts and heaps of ruin. How deplorably and gracelessly we have treated seas and rivers, which we have polluted. Again, how deplorably and awkwardly we have treated air and water, and fields, forests, and gardens, which we have made unfavorable to any life. Truly, by changing this Paradise-like world to a hell, how deplorably and awkwardly we have treated ourselves!

Unless we improve this world, whose order we have destroyed and which we have polluted, and restore it to its essential beauty and magnificence, it will inevitably collapse on us in heaps of wreckage.