Our brains consist of many different types of cells, including astrocytes, microglia, and neurons. These are the cells that people are indirectly referring to when you hear someone say that hitting your head can cause permanent damage even though the initial impact was a minor one. They are the primary cells that are responsible for signaling functions, and one can see this in their shape because they resemble an electric cord. The dendrites receive signals, process them in cell bodies, and send an output signal via the axons and synaptic terminals (Figure 1). These cells cannot multiply, and our heads never get larger, so it begs the following question: how do we continue to learn and store information? The answer is long-term potentiation (LTP).

LTP is when synaptic connections between neurons become stronger with frequent activation. Neuronal activation is an electrical signal called an action potential that emerges due to a change in ion locations resulting in electrical potential that generates a nerve impulse (Figure 2). When the same neurons keep getting activated, again and again, a shortcut is created. We have two crucial receptors that play a role in this mechanism: AMPA and NMDA. AMPA is activated first because a Mg2+ ion blocks NMDA. As AMPA gets activated, the neuron becomes depolarized (due to the previously mentioned electrical changes). Now, the neuron is more positive overall, which will push the Mg2+ ion out of the channel, which is called the Law of Attraction in physics (i.e., opposites attract). With the Mg2+ ion removed, calcium ions can move freely through the NMDA receptor, and this influx of calcium initiates cellular mechanisms that cause more AMPA channels to be produced and placed on the synapse of the neuron, making the pathway activated quicker and quicker (Figure 3). These pathways become a default, and this is called long-term potentiation. The opposite of long-term potentiation is long-term depression, a decrease in synaptic strength, so if “you don’t use it, you lose it.”

Long-term potentiation is thought to be a way in which the brain changes in response to experience, and thus may be an underlying mechanism for learning, retaining memory, and even overall physical health. With long-term potentiation our default pathways are formed; so if we train ourselves to be anxious and stressed individuals, then we will be at an increased risk for developing hypertension, heart disease, cancer, and almost any other physical illness. We often forget that stress itself is a risk factor along with other lifestyle choices such as diet and regular physical activity. An interesting article, “The Science of Happiness: Why Complaining is Literally Killing You,” delves into this point of view:

“When your brain is firing off these synapses of anger, you’re weakening your immune system; you’re raising your blood pressure, increasing your risk of heart disease, obesity and diabetes, and a plethora of other negative ailments… This is why it is so important to spend time with people who lift you up. Want to be happy? Surround yourself with happy people who rewire your brain towards love.” (http://www.curiousapes.com/the-science-of-happiness-why-complaining-is-literally-killing-you/)

Long-term potentiation is also the basis of cognitive-behavioral therapy, which is a form of psychotherapy treatment that is goal-oriented and takes a practical approach to problem-solving. Cognitive-behavioral therapy recognizes the underlying mechanism of long-term potentiation: neurons that fire together wire together and puts it to good use by trying to change default patterns of thinking and behavior. By changing these default patterns, the result changes how we feel. For example, a common practice in cognitive-behavioral therapy is to keep a daily gratitude journal. The therapist may ask their client to write three things they are grateful for each morning and each night, whether it be something as simple as having water to drink or a significant life event. Forcing yourself to make these connections continuously, and being in a default repetitive state of gratitude, has been scientifically proven to decrease rates of depression and other mental illnesses.

Another perspective we can approach LTP from is from the lens of faith and prayer since prayer has an element of repetition in it. In his book, Fethullah Gülen: A Life of Hizmet, Jon Pahl states that “Peacebuilders pray, and prayer is a nonviolent practice. Even more: prayer has power. The power of prayer is neither political nor miraculous. Personally, prayer builds confidence. The repetition of prayer comforts a troubled mind with the solace of the familiar. Culturally, prayer builds trust. Communing with God and others can make any challenge seem surmountable. Socially, prayer builds movements.”

Yes, if we could rewire our brains towards love and peace with each prayer, we could find comfort and peace, and build bridges with those around us. In 2019 alone, the Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen Hodjaefendi, mentioned the word “neurons” in his weekly sermons nine times, a fascinating statistic for a scholar who is neither a neuroscientist nor psychiatrist. Some excerpts from these sermons include:

“[when recited and listened to a couple times during the day and in the Tarawih Prayer] the Qur’an will establish itself better in our minds; our neurons will open their doors like the doors of a castle to the Qur’an and say ‘enter.’ Therefore, who knows how many times a day, a reunion will be established with the Qur’an.” (Ramadan: The Month of Mercy, Hope and Abundance on May 10, 2019)

“Bediuzzaman says: ‘Even if we had four hands instead of two, they would not be sufficient to do things we need to do.’ … In this case, we must send orders to the millions of neurons in our brain at the same to dedicate them all to the same task. … God opens you a window to exit. (Means for Serenity and Talk of the Beloved on April 4, 2019)

“[‘The entire universe is a great book of God; the meaning of each letter is nothing but God.’] Just as you … use all of your neurons to see the endless possibility of bounties, lined along like a gallery as if He is to say, ‘see and think as you walk this gallery.’ (Sorrow, the Spiritual Heart and Tongue on March 29, 2019)

To return to the biological aspect of neurons, one key component that is also valuable to synthesize all the information we have just covered, and that is the concept of “mirror neurons.” When we observe another person these mirror neurons start to fire and a kind of virtual reality simulation is formed in our minds, contributing to the construction of a theory of our intentions. For example, when someone smiles, you want to smile back; when someone gets a paper cut, you feel their pain; or when someone cries, you cannot help but cry as well. These are all phenomena explained by mirror neurons. Mirror neurons explain empathy on a biological level and are present even in animals.

From a multi-disciplined approach, including biological, psychosocial, and spiritual perspectives, one lesson becomes clear: we have the free will and responsibility to carve our default pathways. To make sure these default pathways are filled with love, peace, serenity, alongside discipline, patience, and resilience is paramount to our personal and collective health. By defining our own neural pathways, we will also be building our community’s networks since neurons mirror each other.

It was too early for Melanie to congratulate herself because the aliens would always be after her. They would always be looking over her shoulder, keeping track of what she did, trying to read her mind…

Melanie rolled around in bed and looked at her digital clock. It read: 7:39

She groaned to herself. That must mean it was time…

She got out of bed and looked around her room. Everything seemed normal. The sun appeared to be bright as it flooded through her window with the red curtains. Her clinical psychology text books on her desk were exactly where she remembered putting them. Her bed was in the correct position along the wall.

She deliberately avoided looking at the mirror.

She was safe for now; the aliens hadn’t come for her yet. But she knew her neighbor was a Russian spy so it was only a matter of time before he told the aliens about the key she had found…

…the key she had safely hidden under her bed in a Cheerios cereal box. No one could find it there.

Melanie carefully examined the floor she would walk on. She was certain it was safe to walk, but those aliens really knew how to set booby traps. She really had to be prudent-or else!

She carefully placed her foot on the carpet. The carpet had a collage of various, colored squares on it. Aliens always had a hard time getting into her room, but they had implanted sensors under the floor that sent them a signal every time she stepped on the red squares. They did this so they could tell how often Melanie was in her room.

But Melanie had figured out a way how to fight them. If she just avoided those red squares, they would never know.

Stepping on her toes, she tiptoed around the red squares and reached the other side of the room. She carefully checked the books on the desk, the position of her bed, the window and the curtains-avoided the mirror-and then came out of the room.

She quietly pulled her door shut and peeked over her shoulder down the hall.

Oh no! There were too many mirrors!

The mirrors stretched along the wall on either side, disrupted only by the occasional bedroom door. But there were only supposed to be one of them between the master bedroom door and the bathroom.

Hmmm; could this be the aliens?

In any case, she had to avoid the mirrors – the aliens must NOT find out about the key!

She got onto her hands and knees. If she could just slide under the line of the mirrors, she would be safe. Thus she scrambled to the other side, carefully avoiding the red squares on the carpet, and finally got up on her feet at the end of the hall.

It was too early for Melanie to congratulate herself because the aliens would always be after her. They would always be looking over her shoulder, keeping track of what she did, trying to read her mind… Oh no, she hadn’t thought about that! How should she protect her mind?

She would stick it out as long as she could. There was no way she would allow those aliens to get the key! Not while she was still alive.

She had to eat though, or else how could she have the strength to protect the key?

Melanie opened the cereal cupboard and confronted a bunch of boxes. There were Cheerios, Honeycombs, Pops, Fruit Loops, Apple Jacks and many more.

Pleased with the variety, she reached for the Cheerios.

Oh no!

She remembered something.

Last night, she had seen only Honeycombs in the cupboard. Yes, she’d Melanie had gone out with her mother, and they’d only bought Honeycombs. Where did all the others come from?

How could she not have understood? It was the aliens. They must know she had hidden the key in a cereal box. But they didn’t know which one, did they? So they put a bunch of cereal boxes here to see which one she would pick.

But Melanie would not lose!

“Oooooo!” she cooed loudly. “We have Honeycombs! Yum! I love Honeycombs!”

And that’s what she got out of the cupboard and put on the kitchen island. She had to distract the aliens.

She got out her bowl-not the red one; you could never be too careful-and a spoon. These she laid down beside the cereal box. When she had retrieved the milk from the fridge however, things had changed.

There were five sets of bowls and spoons on the island!

She calmed herself down.

This had happened before. It was the aliens’ way of saying they knew she was lying to them.

But she could always get around it.

She touched the first bowl and her finger slipped right through it. Nope, not this one.

Her fingers slipped through the second one but jammed into the third. Hah! That one was the right one.

She poured her cereal and milk into it. Suspiciously, the remaining two bowls somehow filled themselves.

But everything was alright. It didn’t matter how hard those aliens would try to intimidate her, she would be strong.

However, she was very sad. She didn’t realize at the time, but before she found the key – before the aliens and the Russian neighbor – everything had been so easy, so safe.

It was hard to appreciate a good thing when its loss was unimaginable. She had never believed in aliens and now they were in her life, changing things, manipulating her. They were always there.

Her breakfast finished, she finally pulled herself together. It would be alright. Everything would be alright. She was sure of it now.

As she re-entered the hallway, she saw that the mirrors were gone. There was only one, exactly between the master bedroom and the bathroom.

Before entering the bathroom, Melanie paused and looked at herself in the mirror. There was a snake coiled around her temple.

She instinctively reached up but couldn’t feel it.

“You’re not real,” She said to it. “No, none of it is real… the key? The aliens?”

The snake in the mirror bobbed its head in a nod.

It was a wonder why anyone would believe only what they could see when Melanie had to doubt everything in her life.

Something caught her attention and the recognition of her illness faded instantly from her mind. There was red smoke coming from her bedroom.

Oh no, the aliens must know! They must have understood about the Cheerios cereal box!

Yes, although created in the best stature, human beings also have a part of them open to negative feelings that can drag them down, feelings placed in their nature for a specific purpose and wisdom. Under the influence of these feelings, a person can at any time fall to the lowest of the low.

Our salvation from becoming the lowest of the low is through having faith and making good works.³ It is by means of faith and good works that while on one hand we can develop our angelic feelings and abilities on the other hand we can suppress and eradicate satanic drives.

There is a center point in our nature, like a seed, that is the seedbed for good and bad feelings. It is no doubt important to be born into a good family and be raised in the presence of good teachers; however, it essentially falls on our part to later channel our will to the angelic path, in Rumi’s words, in order to develop our nature in the direction of our purpose of creation, and this will become second nature to us. Yes, the human is like a piece of paper with a text invisibly written in its nature. A second nature is possible by applying on this paper a mix of good intention, freewill, good works, sincerity, determination, courage, and effort to reveal this hidden writing leading humans to become the celestial being they are destined to be.

A person appearing with such a true nature will at the same time have suppressed all his evil feelings. Probably in time what will remain of the carnal self and the devil will be a mere influence of the “nervous” system so it can do its duty until the end of a person’s life. A person coming to such a point will have no hesitations or doubts on issues regarding the pillars of belief and worship. Even if fifty thousand devils were to confront him, with God’s permission, they would not be able to shake that very profound and enlightened truth in his or her conscience. Given that struggle is by definition a natural part of our lives (considering this world is an abode of testing), the carnal soul or the nervous system might produce flames of irritability, sensitivity, violence, rage, and anger in their soul. For this is the human nature which encompasses multiple factors like ego, spirit, intelligence, tendency towards good and evil, and the human existence with its material-spiritual dimensions.

The human self is of the nature of a mirror reflecting the mystery of the Divine. Yes, if the human nature is both dark and light, how is it possible for a person to fully know God, to hold a light to the world of His names and attributes and to attain a level of perfect knowledge about the Almighty God?

People conceptualize a framework of existence for themselves by saying things like, “me,” “my will,” “my strength,” “my power,” and “my life.” In one respect, there is benefit in this conceptualization because the self, with one of its sides being in the dark, is in a position to be a mirror to God’s existence, a mirror in which the human becomes a witness. In Sufi terms, this is referred to as asrar-i khudi, the secrets of the self and how to attain them with which we determine for ourselves a domain of authority, a jurisdiction. This further requires a thorough review of our nature.

By way of such a review, the human can observe in the mirror of his or her own capacities of knowing, seeing, hearing, and wishing within his or her partial willpower, the reflections of the Divine attributes Seeing, Hearing, Great Willpower, Speech, and Creation – for all of these attributes exist in the human even if they are no more tangible than respective shades. Claiming and protecting these, we draw limitations of our conceptions. Then we realize that what we call “life” belongs entirely to another and that all the things that we thought belonged to us have been temporarily entrusted upon us.

With such a nature, the self is a prism reflecting the attributes of God. For the Exalted One is comprehended through His attributes. We describe Him as the One “known through His names and comprehended with His attributes, though His essence is unknown.” If He is described in this manner, then it is necessary for us to evaluate everything within this framework. René Descartes connects the finite to the infinite in the following words:

“Although I do not comprehend the infinite, and although there may be in God an infinity of things that I cannot comprehend, nor perhaps even compass by thought in any way; for it is of the nature of the infinite that it should not be comprehended by the finite; and it is enough that I rightly understand this, and judge that all which I clearly perceive, and in which I know there is some perfection, and perhaps also an infinity of properties of which I am ignorant, are formally or eminently in God, in order that the idea I have of him may become the most true, clear, and distinct of all the ideas in my mind..”

Said Nursi evaluates the matter in a similar way and says that with the existence of visible and invisible things, God’s existence is proven; with their becoming lost, His permanence is proven – just as the transient bubbles of water on a stream show the existence of an eternal sun by each being a mirror to its light.

All the creation is alive only with His power of Creation. It remains alive only with His Self-Existence, and when He destroys it, it perishes away.

Yes, with His putting an end to it, everything and everyone meets their end, for He is the only one who is eternal. The verse, “All that is on earth is perishable. But there remains forever the “Face” of your Lord, the One of Majesty and Munificence” (Ar-Rahman, 95: 26−27) expresses this truth.

Yes, with the annihilation and disappearance of these attributes in us, we can connect with the perfect attributes belonging to God. Our own attributes being flawed and deficient shows us that the attributes of the real Owner are perfect and complete.

Our human existence, to say the least, is dependent on necessities, like food, air, etc. However, we are not in control of even one percent of the entire process of, for instance, eating – from the growth of the wheat in the soil to its dependence on the sun light and heat, to all the digestive steps in our body. God Almighty is the One who makes the saliva glands work. God Almighty is the One who sends the food to our stomach, and it is He who sets and adjusts the mechanism. When occasionally something gets into our windpipe, we all know well how complicated the matter becomes.

Consequently, if a person could think of all these things, instead of saying “I ate,” he would know it is more appropriate to say “I was fed.” A believer who says, “I ate,” actually is saying this figuratively and means to say, “I was fed.”

As can be seen, when just one of a person’s voluntary acts is taken up, it becomes evident that he possesses a number of faults and deficiencies. This is the human nature and we exist within this framework. This being the case, the nature of man shows that there is the Most Exalted One who is perfect, without fault and free of weakness, who makes these things in man with wisdom. In this way, by means of every deficiency, a person will get to know the One without deficiency. Consequently, the nature of man is in the form of a mirror that reflects upon him the radiance of the Exalted One’s attributes. Man can always see the radiant attributes of God by looking at this mirror. The reality is that being able to see the attribute of God Almighty is the station of wonder; I do not know if it is destined for everyone, but this is the road to know the Exalted One.

We can increase our knowledge of our Lord by thinking of our helplessness in every action and behavior by contemplating on the aspects that belong to God; by becoming aware of our impotence and understanding that we are nourished by the blessings of our Lord; and by deepening our knowledge of Him more and in the guidance of four principles, i.e., awareness of our helplessness and impotence, offering our thanks and contemplation. Essentially, rising to such an exalted level (the highest of the high), and attaining the station of the “perfected man” should be every person’s goal. Following the path of the Prophets, and in a sense representing this reality, is the best direction a person can take.

To conclude, on one branch of the self are the Prophets and their loyal followers. They did what they did for the sake and pleasure of their Lord only. In another branch of the self are Nimrods and Pharaohs who boasted of their wealth, promoted themselves, and did things for their own interest.⁴

When it comes to speaking of God Almighty, we voice the Divine Oneness in the words of Erzurumlu Ibrahim Hakki:

He does not eat or drink; not bound with time, God is free from all of them,
Free from alteration, deterioration, colors, or forms,
He is all transcendent, these are His negative attributes.

Notes

1- “Ana” in Arabic.

2- “Surely We have created human of best stature as the perfect pattern of creation” (Tin, 95:4).

3- For further reference, see the chapters Tin and Asr in the Qur’an.

4- In a third branch, even among those who believe in God, there are some who act upon a false philosophy of self-deification by aspiring to be like Him, or playing God, in other words. And some of these people even stretch to an extreme, saying, “The ultimate purpose of the human is to be exactly like the Creator,” and they cloud up people’s pure thoughts with their own delirium.

“Now I’d like you to step forward over here. They’re not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they’re destined for great things, just like many of you; their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? …(1)

In order to emphasize the point, he brings them closer to the photos and whispers in their ears:

Carpe… hear it? …carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.”(2)

In this article, we will look at the phrase carpe diem in detail and find answers for such questions as: What is carpe diem? Why is it so important? What if we don’t carpe diem? and How can we live by this phrase?

Carpe diem defined

Carpe diem is a quotation from the Roman poet Horace (65-8 bce). It appears in the last line of Poem 11 in the first book of his Odes, which was published in 23 bce. The Latin word carpe refers to seize, and diem refers to day.

Carpe diem is a way of thinking, perceiving, and approaching daily life. It simply means to seize the day and to know that yesterday has already left you, and as for tomorrow, you have nothing to prove that it will be yours. In which case, your true life is the present day.(3) Thus, make the present day the most important day of your life. Seize the day, catch the wind, and use all of your potential before it is too late to reach your goals and to realize your dreams.

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why they call it the present. Babatunde Olatunji

Carpe diem does not suggest that yesterday was unimportant or that tomorrow is not critical. Rather, it means that today is the only day over which we have some control, and that today is the day during which we can introduce differences into our life.

This idea is stated clearly in a Sanskrit proverb:

Look to this day,

This very life of life.

In its brief course lie all

The realities and verities of existence:

The bliss of growth,

The splendor of action,

The glory of power.

For yesterday is but a dream,

And tomorrow is only a vision.

But today, well lived,

Makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,

And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this day.

The importance of seizing the day.

A Senegalese proverb says: If you wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes. If you don’t wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes. In other words, time marches on. However, we should not forget that every day is unique in itself, since each one of us has only one chance to live each day. No one has another life in the bank. Let’s ask ourselves: If I knew that today was my last day, what would I do? We most certainly would make good use of this day! This is what carpe diem means, and the reason why it is important.

The same idea can be seen clearly in the carpe diem cliché read by Prof. Keating to his students in the Dead Poets Society:

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may

Old Time is still a-Flying;

And this same flower that smiles today,

Tomorrow will be dying.(4) Robert Herrick

In addition, we should know that carpe diem is the key to understanding how nice, valuable, and important the current day is. When we realize this, we get a better understanding of what is really happening now, as well as a chance to respond to it with our full capacity on time so that we can make use of the opportunities provided by the current day. Thanks to this approach, we can live a more present-centered life, achieve our goals, and become more successful and happy. Richard Carlson’s formula for success illustrates this quite well: “When you focus your attention in this moment, instead of moments that are over or yet to be, you will maximize your productivity, creativity, and ability to accomplish your goals. Too many future-oriented or past-oriented thoughts cloud your vision and distract you from what you are doing. The more present-moment oriented you become, the easier it will be to stay on track, get focused, concentrate, and achieve your goals. In short, an undistracted mind is able to make wise, appropriate decisions.”(5)

No yesterdays are ever wasted for those who give themselves to today. Brendan Francis

What if we do not seize the day?

In this case, we never truly understand what is really happening around us. We either live in the past or the future – not today. If we do not capture the day and do not shape our life, we let other people and factors shape and direct our own life and so loose control of our own boat. We start making zigzags with every storm in the ocean that is our world. As a result, this vicious circle does not let us become who we really are and does not allow us to reach our goals and dreams, although we have the potential to do so.

Fr. Alfred D’Souza says: For a long time, it had seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.(6) source needed. Those who do not live by carpe diem will always face such obstacles. They will always get ready to live, but in reality, they will never live.

Furthermore, we must remember that every day is a new door with a new hope for a new beginning. If we do not seize the day, we think of today as past hardship and difficulty, as troubles and misfortune. Distressed, we imagine the possible future sorrows of disaster, become impatient and pessimistic, and feel unhappy. In being so, we resemble a foolish commander, who, although the enemy’s right flank joined his right flank and became fresh forces for him, sent a significant force to the right flank, and weakened the center. Then, while there were no enemy soldiers on the left flank, he sent a large force there and gave them the order to fire. No forces then remained in the center. The enemy understood this and then attacked and routed him.(7) As it is seen in this example, we ruin the center (the present day) by focusing more on past worries and future concerns than on the present day.

How to seize the day?

First, we should remember that “every day is a new door for new beginnings. And for everyone, every day has a private world out of this world, and its nature is dependent on the person’s heart, thoughts, and actions. [This is] like a splendid palace reflected in a mirror, [which] takes on the color of the mirror; if it is black, the mirror appears black; if it is red, it appears red. Also it takes on the qualities of the mirror; if the mirror is smooth, it shows the palace to be beautiful, and if it is not, it shows it to be ugly.(8) As we understand this and alter the shape of our own world with today’s heart, mind, actions, and wishes, we will make differences in our lives and acquire a more hopeful and positive perspective in order to achieve our goals and to become happy.

When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. Alexander Graham Bell

Second, we should perceive the past as destiny, which cannot be changed, and the future as a new place that can be built with today’s thoughts and actions. Otherwise, we will always be occupied with past worries and future concerns.

Today’s opportunities erase yesterday’s failures. Gene Brown

“As for future days, they have not yet arrived, and to think of them now and feel bored and worried is a lunacy like thinking today of future hunger and thirst, and starting to shout and cry out.(9) Since this is the truth, reasonable people will think only of today in connection with hardship, suffering, and so on.

Third, we should recognize, accept, and appreciate who we really are and the conditions in which we live. Thus instead of complaining or admiring, we should look at those who are living in worse conditions than us and be thankful for the things that we have. In addition, we should use our wings of hope and determination to become like those who are living in better conditions than us. Doing so will help us to become more realistic and to live a more present-time-oriented life. Otherwise, our minds will be engaged with time-consuming, unproductive ideas and opinions. And, as a result, there will be no room remaining for carpe diem.

Fourth, we should be well-organized, systematic, and more focused toward our goals. We should not postpone anything, but rather should do things on time by making good use of each moment, for it is almost impossible to seize the day if we do not even know what to do, how to do, and when to do it. Such people can be blown from one coast to another by any little change of wind in their life.

You may delay, but time will not. Benjamin Franklin

Fifth, and last, we should not worry about anything; rather, we should make a serious effort to continue with a new eagerness and fresh enthusiasm each day.

Conclusion

Carpe diem is a way of life that makes people more successful and happier by helping them to live more in the present time. We should recognize that if we practice this idea, if we make today the best that it can be, if we can be attentive and sensitive to what is happening now, as well as make wise and appropriate decisions today, then we should be hopeful. Why? Because all of the efforts exerted and the hardships endured are like melodies of the happy future world in whose warmth the past and the future will be embraced and the present will unburden itself to its blessed friends.

Footnotes

1. Tom Schulman, 1989, Dead Poet’s Society Movie Script
2. Ibid.
3. Bediuzzaman, The Words, 21st Word, First Station, Fifth Warning
4. “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”, Robert Herrick
5. “You Can Be Happy No Matter What”, Richard Carlson
6. Fr. Alfred D’Souza, www.quotationspage.com
7. Bediuzzaman, The Words, 21st Word, Third Station, Fifth Warning
8. Bediuzzaman, The Words, 21st Word, First Station, Fifth Warning
9. Bediuzzaman, The Words, 21st Word, Third Station, Fifth Warning

In Snow White, the evil stepmother gushes: Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest one of all? Most people think that she is vain, and therefore being vain is bad. But there is more to it than that, and if this is all we can impart to our children then we are robbing them of meaning. Actually, I do not think this is about our children at all, but rather about ourselves as adults. When we read these stories again to our children, its very telling about ourselves if we finally understand these stories or not, now that we have grown up.

If you are searching for wisdom in life, a child’s library of fairy tales is a convenient place to begin. The imagery in fairy tales provides us with archetypes that we can use to organize the lessons that life teaches us.

The notion of the evil stepmother in Snow White talking to her mirror struck me when I was looking at myself in the mirror. We know that some mirrors do a better job for us then others. Mirrors that make us look horrendous put us off. Is it the lighting? Is this mirror warped or what? Do I actually look like that? What’s going on with my hair? How come my pores are so big? But what I really mean is: Am I the fairest one of all?

I wish I had a mirror that did the job like the one Snow White’s stepmother had. It was honest and reliable. But mirrors like that do not exist, at least not for our bathrooms. But we do carry such a mirror, and it is of great help if we know how to use it. To use it properly, we have to ask ourselves the proper questions. The evil stepmother asked the wrong question. She was not evil; she was unenlightened and lost in her own illusions.

Most of us ask the wrong questions but do not think of ourselves as evil. We ask if we are the fairest, the smartest, the happiest, the most contented. The stepmother was told that she was not the fairest in relation to Snow White. She was plenty gorgeous already though, the number two beauty in the land.

When we ask the wrong questions, we become as delusional as Snow White’s stepmother. Unfortunately, many of us do not stop looking for a mirror that will tell us that we are the fairest.

Mirrors only show us who we are, not who we would rather be. We think that a new car would be a good mirror, but it is not. We think that a new, attractive mate would be a good mirror, but it is not. Neither is a high paying job or a lovely home. Such things have nothing to do with finding a mirror that works because this inner reflection, this mirror that we carry, never fails to work. Unfortunately, we simply fail to look, all the while asking the wrong questions to the wrong objects.

To be fair, it is difficult to look straight into our honest reflections. Not only must we contend with our previous illusions of trying to be the fairest, we must now contend with very real failings of character and personality. Guess what? I realized this weekend that I am not such a nice guy. Something like that can be down right depressing, but not if we realize that it is all part and parcel of seeing ourselves.

When we can SEE ourselves, we begin to see others; that is, we see ourselves in others and others in ourselves. We also begin to question ourselves, not to doubt ourselves but to pose questions that require answers from us. That is, we make ourselves accountable. When we are accountable to ourselves, we are essentially free. We no longer look outside for the pre-digested answers so much as inward for both the questions and the answers.

“The subjective experience of emptiness represents a temporary or permanent loss of normal relations of the self with object-representations, that is, with the world of inner objects that fixates intrapsychically the significant experiences with others and constitutes a basic ego identity and, therefore, a stable integrated self and a stable integrated world of internal objects.”(3) Existential psychotherapists call this “existential isolation,”(4) an unbridgeable gulf between self and other, a separation from the world. Yalom asserts that even fully satisfying relationships with other people, complete self-knowledge, and a sense of wholeness cannot overcome this feeling.

Fromm agrees that existential isolation is inevitable: “The awareness of his aloneness and separateness, of his helplessness before the forces of nature and of society, all this makes his separate disunited existence an unbearable prison … The experience of separateness arouses anxiety; it is indeed the source of all anxiety. To be separate means to be helpless, unable to grasp the world-things and people-actively; it means that the world can invade me without my ability to react.”(5)

Yalom writes: “A defamiliarization occurs when meanings are wrenched from objects, symbols disintegrate, and one is torn from one’s moorings of ‘at homeness.’”(6) This is true, for the two concepts most closely related to emptiness and existential isolation are meaninglessness and alienation.

We have self-knowledge only when other things have meaning, and relations with them when their meaning is understood. Reinhardt describes the alienation caused by the loss of meaning as: “Something utterly mysterious intervenes between him and the familiar objects of his world, between him and his fellowmen, between him and all his ‘values.’ Everything which he had called his own pales and sinks away, so that there is nothing left to which he might cling. What threatens is ‘nothing,’ and he finds himself lost in the void.”(7)

Even if this is inevitable, Yalom still asks: “How does one shield oneself from the dread of ultimate isolation?” In his view: “One may take a portion of the

isolation into oneself and bear it courageously or resolutely.“ His second solution is relationship, for it alleviates-but does not dispel-the sense of loneliness and basic isolation. Psychology stops here. Said Nursi, author of the Risale-i Nur and one familiar with emptiness and alienation, goes further.(8)But how was this feeling of emptiness initially caused? Kernberg provides the most useful clue: 

What does he mean?

Internalization of Self and Universe

No person begins life with a tabula rasa.(10) “The infant is equipped with basic feelings, as well as the basic ability to communicate them through expressive-motor mechanisms that are mainly concentrated in the face system.”(11)

A baby’s existing senses must be developed. According to Said Nursi, animals are born already perfected, whereas we need years to acquire the same skills and knowledge.(12) He concludes that a person’s innate duty is “to be perfected through learning and to proclaim his worship of God and servitude to Him through supplication.”

For the first 6 months, infants live in an “undifferentiated” world, an “us” system formed with the mother, and are unaware of any “self” and “other.”(13) But they are not passive, for they perceive and respond to stimulants as a “we.” This engenders a strong sense of security, like being a drop in the ocean (ocean feeling). “Self” and “other” are seen as not completely distinct, but as closely joined-mainly biologically-within one system.(14)

When they are around 2 years old, infants become more aware of themselves and thus of duality. The first thing encountered is the “self.” Through this developing “I,” they gradually acquire an awareness of “self” and “other,” and divide the world accordingly.

Internalization and self- and object-representation formation now begin. Children experience countless interactions, mainly with the mother, and begin

representing their self and objects, as well as the self-image and the object-image.(15) When they are around 2.5 years old, they enter the “identification” stage and begin internalizing their own and the other’s image and function.(16) “Just as the world settles in the child’s inner world, so the child’s inner world starts to become established in the world.”(17) This stage ends with the onset of puberty.

People, being alive and conscious, have relations with all things. Living but unconscious beings, such as birds and trees, also have relations but are unaware of them-only consciousness “illuminates” life and makes the being aware of its own existence.(18)

The sentence “a human being is able to move through the rooms of his house through his consciousness and mind, which are the light of life,”(19) means that we can internalize ourselves. We become aware of our existence through consciousness and mind, and come to know our spirit, consciousness, body, intellect, senses, and feelings. Conceptualizing and reaching conclusions about ourselves and values, we gain a “self” whose image is reflected and represented in our spirit’s mirror.

But we do not stop here, for “that conscious and animate being may go in spirit as though as a guest to those worlds [and].… those worlds too come as guests to his mirror-like spirit by being reflected and depicted there.”(20) Our consciousness and intellect convey the things with which we have relations to the spirit’s mirror, where they are reflected and their representations are formed. Thus each person becomes “a universal within particularity, and a world within … insignificance,”(21) a being who internalizes everything to understand His Names and experience His bounty. Each person first was given life, then consciousness, and so gained the comprehensive nature needed to “understand and take pleasure in the Divine Names.”(22) Such comprehensiveness enables us to have relations with the universe, for it makes each person “like a tiny index and miniature specimen of the universe, and so displays the embroideries of all the Names.”(23)

These representations make us reflect the manifestation of Divine Oneness and function as the Creator’s vicegerent on Earth. This manifestation is the simultaneous manifestation in one thing of the Creator’s Names, which are manifested in everything. It also includes the duties of beings, which constitute representations by forming images in our spirit’s mirror.(24) Since we are conscious, the universe can be “established” in us. Our representation of all beings’ glorifications and worship, realized primarily as an inner duty, means that we must know, be aware of, and internalize them.

Duality and Loneliness

The more self-aware we become, the more we are differentiated from the “other,” for “consciousness is an aspect of existence according to which beings are distinct from one another.”(25) The “ocean feeling” disappears, and each child becomes “aware of being alone, of being an entity separate from all others. This separation from a world, which in comparison with one’s own individual existence is overwhelmingly strong and powerful, and often threatening and dangerous, creates a feeling of powerlessness and anxiety.”(26)

Unconscious beings cannot expe-rience separation, for they are unaware of duality. Consciousness engenders individuality, yet recaptures and joins what has been separated. Consciousness and intellect want to establish relations with everything. Since “the realms of beings in the universe are so interwoven they have made the universe into a totality,”27 we seek reunification within a framework of meaningful ties between self and other in order to live as part of the universe’s system.

We search for that lost “ocean feeling,” hoping to establish relations with our self and all things. We do not want this biologically, but within the framework of meaningful ties.

Kernberg and others conclude by saying that a person’s inner world is filled with self- and object-representations. Said Nursi, however, presses onward.

Said Nursi’s Analysis

Said Nursi mentions three sorts of representation or reflection.(29)

First Representation: The reflection of dense, physical objects, such as a tree (“other”) reflected in a mirror, water, or a shining surface. Said Nursi says such reflections are “other than the thing reflected …without life. Their only quality is their apparent identity” [emphasis added]. This is how such people see and then represent the tree in their spirit.

In this case, we deny creation by claiming to be self-created, self-owning, powerful, and able to realize our own existence. We give ourselves and others whatever meaning we wish.(30) Our “I” functions in its own name, seeks to satisfy its physical desires, and wants no connection with its true Creator. Thus the self’s internal representation has no connection with its real, created self. The reflected image and the self’s representation are dead. We see a tree as owning itself, and therefore meaningless and limited to providing fruit.(31)

Our consciousness and intellect convey the self and the other to the spirit’s mirror, where their reflections form representations and images. As the tree’s reflection and representation are separate from its reality, its form is dead and meaningless, and there is no communication. The spirit remains unnourished, for mere similarity in appearance cannot nourish it.

This results in alienation, for both remain unknown to each other, as well as anxiety and fear, for fear of the unknown is intense and keeps us alert to danger. Thus alienated, the “I” sees itself as meaningless, the internalized and reflected self becomes dead and meaningless, and we feel pain. The absence of relations causes pain, and the object-representations continue to disappear.

This view fills our world with loneliness and emptiness. The lack of relations between the self and the object-representations engender feelings of nothingness (existential emptiness) and distress, of non-relation to the external world, for both are dead and thus unable to communicate. So, we cannot connect with reality.

Second Representation: “The reflection of physical luminous objects,”(32) such as the sun’s reflection in shining objects. The sun and its reflection are neither identical nor completely different. They do not resemble each other in essence, but the reflection has most of the sun’s characteristics and may be considered as living and having some of its attributes (e.g., light and its seven colors, and heat radiations).

In this case, our “I” accepts that it is a work of the Creator’s art,(33) tasked with recognizing and knowing Him, and serving as a mirror for His Names’ manifestation. Its representation in the spirit’s mirror is like the sun’s representation in a mirror, meaning fairly close to reality.

This “I” sees the tree as meaningful and created, and so forms a relation with its Creator to “read” it. This relationship gives the tree meaning, enabling it to be read as a mirror reflecting His Names and to be related to all beings. As the reading is close to its reality, the tree becomes something living and charged with duties. Our intellect and consciousness convey it to the spirit’s mirror, where its representation and reflection are like the sun’s reflection, for the reflection is neither the tree nor different from it. The tree’s representation, now a living missive, tells us of His Attributes and makes Him known. As they can communicate with the Creator, the tree becomes luminous like the sun, its representation gains luminosity, and it nourishes the spirit.

Through the Creator, all representations are related to each other. Here, the representation is formed of the tree’s meaning within itself-its function (role representations). The spirit feels no pain when the tree dies, for its representation remains alive. As the tree is not independent or existant in its own name, but only through and in its Creator’s name, its role/function representation persists in the spirit. The object-representations are never lost, for if the Creator exists, everything exists, has meaning, and exists as representations and role representations.

Our personal universe is full of living representations, neither identical with nor different from the actual things, that nourish the spirit. Thus we feel no existential emptiness, for the actual things form relations with the living representations. We cannot be nourished by a fruit’s reflected image, but just as the sun’s reflection may warm and illuminate us, living and meaningful object-representations may nourish our spirit and heart.

Not seeing ourselves as self-created or divine, we experience a warm feeling of belonging. We see ourselves as living in a friendly, stable,and interconnected world in which the “other” conveys His messages to us.

But something is missing. Our “belief consciousness” enables us to read the Creator’s art, but the unconscious “other” cannot read us.

Third representation: The reflection of luminous spirit beings belonging to unseen worlds. These reflections are identical to-and thus are-the beings themselves.(34) Said Nursi places angels, other spirit beings, and Prophet Muhammad in this group. He also emphasizes that the reflections in such representations are living. However, since the representation appears according to the mirror’s capacity, he sees a difference between the spirit being and the representation: The reflection and the thing are not the same in essence.

In this case, the third person is the second person’s articulation. This solves the following two problems: First, if people are unaware of the Creator’s Names, if their consciousness cannot understand them, or if they are aware of but cannot read them properly, the manifestation seems to be unnecessary, for all beings’ decorations, beauty, and inscriptions “require the gazes of thoughtful admirers and wondering, appreciative lovers; it demands their existence.”(35) Second, there is no real relationship, for the unconscious other is unaware of the conscious person.

If a tree’s attributes (e.g., art, beauty, order, perfection, knowledge, power, intention, and care) are unperceived or denied, they become meaningless. If they are not recognized by consciousness and read properly, they serve no purpose: “[C]reatures exist for, find their perfection and rejoice through, and are saved from futility through conscious beings.”(36)

However, angels understand the unconscious beings’ duties of worship and glorification, utter and represent them in the inner worlds, and offer them to the Divine Court. Like people, angels are “spectators of the palace of the universe, observers of the Book of Creation, and heralds of the sovereignty of dominicality.”(37) Their activities save unconscious beings from meaningless. Since angels present the duties of beings “knowingly at the Divine Court,”(38) all beings perform their functions consciously.

Angels and spirit beings, inhabitants of the unseen worlds and who necessarily exist, change our concept of the “other.” They “are not restricted to this manifest world, and existence is not limited to it,”(39) and remind us that we cannot perceive all levels of existence. Angels are created beings-not creators-who convey the Divine Names to our world.

This expanded definition causes visible beings to gain consciousness. An angel makes its tree meaningful and conscious, and its duties known and recognizable. Thus the first problem is solved, for angels and spirit beings have consciousness in the inner world. Each being’s angel observes and gazes upon the Divine Names manifested on that being, and represents its duties in the name of beings that formerly appeared to be unconscious.

This transforms all formerly meaningful missives into conscious envoys who visit our spirit and speak to us. No longer are they go-betweens waiting to carry our reply. The tree is the angel’s words in this world, for “the All-Wise Maker causes all the realms of beings in the universe to speak.”(40) The second problem is solved, for “the universe is seen to be full of angels, spirit beings, and intelligent beings.”(41)

Since we can internalize, be aware of, and experience relations with the other, we want the other to know and internalize us and so form a stable two-way relationship. As angels also want this, the relationship moves into further dimensions. Angels love us, pray to their Compassionate Sustainer for us, seek our forgiveness, and call blessings upon us.(42) There is a real relationship, for both sides are aware of, and can communicate with and “read,” the other.

Since an angel’s or spirit being’s representation is identical with its actual being, a tree is represented in the spirit as it actually is. Belief in the Creator gives life to a representation; belief in angels gives it consciousness. The tree’s reflection serves as a mirror to its Sustainer’s Names, glorifies Him, and is conscious; its angel offers its manifested Names and glorifications to the Divine Court. As both the actual thing and its reflection are conscious, our spirit is filled with reflections of conscious beings. Finally able to establish conscious relations with all beings, we represent their duties while their angels represent their reflections.

This is a basic existential need, for each person searches for the “ocean feeling” of infancy.(43) In order to say “us creatures,” all beings must be able to say “we.” The tree proclaims its createdness through the tongue of disposition only. However its angel, who is conscious and aware of and proclaims that the tree is created, enables it to say “us.”

The resulting relationship, mutual recognition, and knowledge of each other’s duties gives a sense of “us” without removing any individuality. We become friends with everything, for now they are conscious beings. Knowledge of God and belief in angels have removed all dualism. The universe remains the scene of all beings’ constant renewal, transformation, disappearance, and replacement, and yet our spirit suffers no pain. As its angel’s representation never dies, it continues to represent the tree’s glorification, even after the real tree’s death, and be light and sustenance for our spirit.

Our companionship with angels continues after death, for Azra’il, the angel of death who represents the glorifications offered at the moment of death, becomes our companion on our journey after death.(44)

Footnotes

1 I. Yalom, Love’s Executor and Other Tales of Psychotherapies (New York: 2000), 3.

2 T. Zeldin, Insanligin Mahrem Tarihi [Turk. trans.] (Istanbul: 1998) 67, 68.

3 O. Kernberg, Sinir Durumlar ve Patolojik Narsisizm [Turk. trans.] (Istanbul: 1999), 192.

4 I. Yalom, Existential Psychotheraphy (New York: 1980), 355.

5 E. Fromm, The Art of Loving (New York: 1956), 7.

6 Yalom, Psychotheraphy, 358.

7 K. Reinhardt, The Existential Revolt (New York: 1957), 235.

8 Said Nursi, Letters 1928-1932. 2d ed. [Eng. trans.] (Istanbul: 1997), 42 ff.

9 Kernberg, Sinir, 192.

10 V. F. Guidano, The Self in Process (New York: 1991), 17.

11 Ibid., 18.

12 Said Nursi, The Words. new ed. [Eng. trans.] (Istanbul: 1998), 324.

13 N. G. Hamilton, Self and Others: Object Relations Theory in Practice (London: 1988), 36.

14 Ibid., 38.

15 O. Kernberg, Object Relations Theory and Clinical Psychoanalysis, (London: 1995) 29.

16 Ibid., 38.

17 D. M. Orange, G. E. Atwood, R. D. Stolorow. Quoted by C. Ardali and Y. Erten, Psikoanalizden Dinamik Psikoterapilere (Alfa, 1999), 88.

18 Nursi, Words, 523.

19 Ibid., 524.

20 Ibid.

21 Ibid., 338.

22 Said Nursi, The Flashes Collection. new ed.

[Eng. trans.] (Istanbul: 2000), 456.

23 Ibid., 458.

24 Nursi, Words, 523-24.

25 J. Kovel, Tarih ve Tin: A–zgurlesme Felsefesi Aœzerine Bir Inceleme (Istanbul: 1991), 95.

26 E. Fromm, Escape from Freedom (New York: 1941), 29.

27 Nursi, Flashes, 415.

28 Guidano, Self, 15.

29 Nursi, Words, 210; Said NursA, Mesnevi-i NA riye [Turk. trans. Abdulmecid NursA] (Istanbul: 1977).

30 Nursi, Words, 560.

31 Ibid., 560.

32 Ibid., 210.

33 Ibid., 320.

34 Ibid., 210.

35 Ibid., 522.

36 Ibid., 98.

37 Ibid., 191.

38 Ibid., 531.

39 Ibid., 528.

40 Nursi, Letters, 339-40.

41 Ibid., 342.

42 Qur’an: 33:56; 40:7-9.

43 Yalom, Psychotheraphy, 362.

44 Said Nursi, The Rays Collection [Eng. trans.] (Istanbul: 1998), 277.

O worshipper of causes! Imagine that you see a splendid palace being built of different, marvelous jewels. However, some of these jewels can be found only in China, others in only Andalusia or Yemen, and still some others only in Siberia. Would you not say that only one who controls and owns the whole world, who can have anything he wants brought to him whenever he wants it, can build that palace? 

[its jewels”particles or atoms”are gathered from many worlds: the worlds of spirits and symbols; the Supreme Preserved Tablet¹ and from the worlds of air, water, earth, light, and fire]. Human needs are infinite, and human desires encompass the heavens and Earth. As human beings have connections with everything in this world and the Hereafter, they have no right to pray and worship that which is not the One Who

dominates Earth and the heavens and holds the reins of the world and the Hereafter.

Second Sign

O my heart. The most ignorant people are those who do not recognize the sun while seeing its image in a mirror, but rather love the mirror and seek to preserve it so that they can hold onto the sun permanently. If only they understood that the sun does not perish or disappear when the mirror does, they would direct their love only to the sun itself. A reflection does not depend on the mirror for its permanence; rather, the mirrors permanence depends on it, whereas the original object is self-subsistent. The permanence of the mirrorsliveliness and its shining [with the sun in it] are possible only through the permanence of the suns manifestations and the mirrors facing the sun.

Your heart is like that mirror, and the love of permanence implanted in your nature must be directed only to what is manifested in it. So, say: O Permanent One, You are the Permanent, and turn to Him so that you may become permanent. Then let mortality do as it wishes, for we do not mind whatever befalls us.

Third Sign

Know, my friend, that the All-Wise Creator has implanted within human nature a strange characteristic: Since the world cannot contain you, you frequently utter, as if in a suffocating dungeon, a sound of disgust. Yet something as small as a mustard seed, a cell, a memory, or a minute of time so absorbs you that you are lost in it and passionately attracted to it. The Creator has given you such faculties that some of them would not be satisfied even if they could swallow the world. Others are bored with microscopic particles and cannot tolerate even a hair out of place. You know that your eye cannot work properly if there is a hair in it.

Be alert and careful of what you do so that you will not ruin yourself and your most subtle faculties. An (unlawful) morsel or a word, an (illicit) glance, beckoning, or kiss can ruin you. Everything has an aspect of non-existence that can ruin and swallow you. Look at the mirror in your hand, and see how the sky and its stars are contained in it. See how the Truth inscribes most of your acts or deeds and even most of your life in your mustard seed-sized memory. Glory be to Him, the All-Powerful, the Self-Subsistent.

Fourth Sign

O you who worship the world! Your private world is a narrow, grave-like place. But since its walls are made of glass, and therefore reflect one within the other as far as the eye can see, you see it as spacious, as wide as a town. With respect to this worldly lifes material dimension, the past (the right wall) has finished and the future (the left wall) does not exist. However, as your worlds two mirror-like walls face each other, they come together at the point of your present time and make it difficult for you to distinguish between what is real and what is reflected [in them].

The line of your present extends into [your past and future] and becomes an area. When misfortune moves you, you strike your head against the walls, suffer disappointment, and lose sleep. You see your world as narrower than a grave and a bridge, and your life moves faster than a river and even lightning.

Since this is the nature of worldly life, and of life lived on the level of the flesh and animals, free yourself of animality, leave corporeality behind, and enter the level of life of the heart and spirit! You will find therein a sphere of life and a world of light more broad than the world that you imagined to be so broad. The key to that world is to make the heart utter the sacred words: There is no god but God, which express the mysteries of Divine Unity and knowledge of God, and to make the spirit work them.

Footnote

1. The Supreme Preserved Tablet: This Tablet contains the originals of everything in Divine Knowledge, as well as the principles and laws of creation, and never changes. It has two aspects. One is known as the Supreme Preserved Tablet (85:22), and the other as the Manifest Record (36:12). The Quran states: Nothing befalls us save that which God has decreed or preordained for us (9:51), such as our complete personal characteristics, particularities, and future life-history, and: All moving creature on Earth and flying creatures are communities like humanity. God has neglected nothing in the Record (6:38).

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
Whoever has been given the Wisdom, certainly he has been given much good

The following consists of a brief comparison between the sacred wisdom of the Wise Qur’an and human philosophy, and a concise summary of the instruction and training which the Qur’anic wisdom gives to man’s personal and social life, and also an indication to the superiority of the Qur’an to the other Divine Words, and to all speech.

This Word comprises Four Fundamentals.

FIRST FUNDAMENTAL

Look at the differences between the Qur’anic wisdom and human philosophy through the lens of the following parable:

Once, a religious and skillful, renowned ruler wanted to write the Qur’an as beautifully as required by the sacredness of its meanings and the miraculousness of its wording. He wanted to do this so that he might adorn its wonderful words in a worthy array. So, the artist-ruler wrote out the Qur’an in a truly wonderful fashion. In writing it out, he used all kinds of precious jewels. In order to point out the variety of its truths, he wrote some of its letters in diamonds and emeralds, and some in pearls and agate, and others in brilliants and coral, while others he wrote in gold and silver. Also, he adorned and decorated it in such a way that everyone, those who knew how to read and those who did not, were full of admiration and astonishment when they saw it. Especially in the judgement of the people of truth, since the outer beauty was an indication to the brilliant beauty and striking adornment within, that Qur’an became a most precious artwork.

The ruler showed the artistically wrought and bejewelled Qur’an to a foreign philosopher and a Muslim scholar In order to test them and for reward, he commanded them: ‘Each of you write a work about the wisdom of this!’ First the philosopher then the scholar, composed a book about it.

However, the philosopher’s book discussed only the shapes and decorations of the letters and the relationships between them, and the properties of the jewels and the way they were used. He did not make any observations at all about the meaning, for that foreigner had no knowledge of the Arabic script. He did not even know that the embellished Qur’an was a book having a meaning. He rather looked on it as an ornamented art-object. He did not know any Arabic, but he was well-informed about engineering and chemistry. He also had a great ability to describe things and much knowledge about jewellery. So he composed his book according to these skills.

As for the Muslim scholar, on seeing the book, he understood that it was the Clear Book the Wise Qur’an. So, he – this truth loving person – neither paid any attention to its outward ornamentation nor busied himself with the decorations of the letters. He was rather engaged in something else which was millions of times more exalted, more valuable more worthy of respect, more useful and more comprehensive than the issues with which the other man was occupied. Therefore he composed an interpretation in which he described the sacred truths and secret lights behind the veil of decorations.

Both men – the foreign philosopher and Muslim scholar – presented their works to the renowned ruler. The ruler first took the book of the philosopher, and saw that conceited man had worked very hard but not written anything about the true wisdom of his work. He had not understood its meaning at all, and holding that work, which is a source of truths, to consist in meaningless decorations, showed disrespect for it. Therefore, the wise ruler refused his book and expelled the man from his presence.

Then, the ruler looked through the book of the truth-loving, meticulous scholar, and seeing that it was a very beautiful and useful interpretation, a wise and illuminating composition, congratulated him. It was pure wisdom and the one who wrote it was a real scholar, a genuine sage. The other man was an impertinent artificer not knowing his place. Then, he willed that, as reward, for each letter of his work should be given ten pieces of gold out of his inexhaustible treasury.

Now; if you have understood the meaning of the parable, reflect upon its real meaning:

The embellished Qur’an is this artistically fashioned universe. The ruler is the Eternal Sovereign. As for the two men, one represents the line of philosophy and philosophers, the other, the way of the Qur’an and its students. Indeed, the Wise Qur’an is the most exalted expander, a most eloquent translator of this macro-Qur’an of the universe. It is the Criterion, which instructs the jinn and men in the signs of creation Divine laws of the creation and operation of the universe, inscribed by the Pen of Power on the sheets of the universe and pages of time. It looks upon creatures, each of which is a meaningful letter, as bearing the meaning of another, that is, on account of their Maker, and remarks, ‘How beautifully they have been made, and how meaningfully they point to the beauty and grace of the Maker.’ Thus, it shows the real beauty of the universe. As for philosophy, it is absorbed in the design and decorations of the ‘letters’ of creation and, in bewilderment; it has lost the way to truth. While it ought to look upon the letters of this macro-book as bearing the meaning of another, that is, on account of their relation to God, it does the reverse. It looks upon them as signifying themselves, and remaks, ‘How beautiful they are’, not ‘How beautifully they have been made! By doing so, it insults the creation and causes it to complain about itself. Truly, materialistic philosophy is a falsehood bearing no truths, and an insult to the creation.

SECOND FUNDAMENTAL

This is a comparison between the moral training which the Wise Qur’an’s wisdom affords to man’s personal life and that afforded by philosophy:

A sincere student of philosophy is a Pharaoh-like tyrant, but one who abases himself so far as to bow in worship before the meanest thing to serve his interest: That materialist student is also a stubborn, misleading one: unyielding, but so wretched as to accept endless degradation for the sake of a single pleasure; unbending, but so mean as to kiss the feet of devilish people for the sake of some base advantage. That student is conceited and domineering, but since he can find no point of support in his heart, he is an utterly impotent vainglorious tyrant. That student is also self-centred egoist, who strives to gratis’ his material, carnal desires and pursues his personal interests after certain national interests.

As for the sincere student of the Wisdom of the Qur’an, he is a worshipping servant of God, but one who does not degrade himself to bow in a worship even before the greatest of the created. He is a dignified servant who does not regard as the goal of worship a thing of even the greatest benefit like Paradise. Also, he is a modest student, one mild and gentle, but he does not lower himself voluntarily before anybody other than his Creator beyond what He has permitted. He is also weak and in want, and aware of his weakness and neediness.’ Yet he is independent of others, owing to the wealth and munificence the Infinite Power, of his Master. He acts and strives purely for God’s sake, for-God’s pleasure4 and to be equipped with virtues.

The training the Qur’an and philosophy give may be understood through this comparison of the two students.

THIRD FUNDAMENTAL

The training philosophy and the Qur’anic wisdom give to human social life is this:

According to philosophy, the point of support in social life is ‘force’. The aim is the realization of self- interests. Conflict is the principle of life; Philosophy holds that the bond that unifies communities is racism and negative nationalism. The fruits it gives are the gratification of carnal desires and increase of human needs. Whereas force calls for aggression; seeking self-interests causes fighting for material resources. Conflict brings strife. Racism feeds by swallowing others and therefore paves the way for aggression. Thus, it is for these reasons that mankind have been deprived of happiness.

As for the wisdom of the Qur’an, it accepts ‘right’, not ‘force’, as the point of support in social life. It holds, in place of the realization of self-interests, virtues and God’s approval as the aim. The principle of mutual assistance is the principle of life it holds to, instead of conflict. It accepts, not racism and negative nationalism, but the ties of religion, profession and country as the bonds between communities. Its aim is to put a barrier against the attacks of lusts and, by urging the soul to sublime matters and satisfying man’s exalted feelings, to encourage him towards human perfections and make him a true human being. Right calls for unity. Virtues bring solidarity. The principle of mutual assistance means coming to the aid of one another. Religion secures brotherhood and attraction. Restraining the corporeal self and urging the soul towards perfections, it brings happiness in this world and the next.

FOURTH FUNDAMENTAL

If you want to understand why the Qur’an is superior to all the other Divine Scriptures and why it is supreme over all speech and writings, then consider the following two parables:

The first: A king has two forms of speech, two forms of address. One is that he speaks on his private telephone to a common subject regarding some minor matter, some private need. The other is that he speaks, on account of being the supreme sovereign, supreme head of the religious office and the supreme ruler of people, to an envoy or high official of his with the aim of promulgating his commands; he speaks through an exalted decree manifesting his majesty.

The second: A man holds a mirror towards the sun. He receives, according to the capacity of the mirror, light containing the seven colours by which he establishes a connection with the sun. When he directs the light-filled mirror towards his dark house and his roof-covered garden, he will benefit from the sun, not in accordance with the quality of the sun’s light, but according to the capacity of the mirror to reflect it

Another man, however, opens up broad windows out of his house or out of the roof of his garden, thus securing the way for a direct benefit from the sun. He gets the light of the sun directly and continuously and speaks to it in gratitude as if to say: ‘0 fine sun, beauty of the world and beauty of the skies who gild the earth with your light and make the flowers smile! You have furnished my little house and garden with your heat and light the same as you have done for the flowers.’ Whereas the man with the mirror cannot speak to the sun like that. He has to be content with the light and heat of the sun reflected by his mirror.

So, look at the Qur’an through the lens of these two parables and see its miraculousness and understand its holiness. The Qur’an declares: ‘If all the trees on the earth were to become pens and all the seas ink, and if they were to write the words of Almighty God, they would never finish them.’ The reason why the Qur’an has been given the greatest rank among the infinite words of God is this:

The Qur’an has originated in the Greatest Name of God and in the greatest level of every Name. [That is, each Name of God has infinitely different levels of manifestation. For example, the manifestations of the All-Colouring and the All-Decorating in springtime are not the same level as in wintertime.] It is the Word of God on account of His being the Lord of the Worlds. It is God’s decree on account of His being the Deity of all creatures. It is a Divine address on account of God’s being the Creator of the heavens and the earth. It is a speech of God in regard to His absolute Lordship. It is an eternal address in regard to I-us universal Divine Sovereignty. It is book of the favours of the All-Merciful One from the point of His all-embracing comprehensive Mercy. It is a collection of communications at the beginnings of which are sometimes ciphers in respect of the sublime majesty of His Divinity. It is a wisdom-infusing Holy Scripture which, having originated from the all-comprehensive ‘field’ of the Greatest Divine Name, looks to and examines the all-embracing domain of the Supreme Throne of God. It is for these reasons that the title of Word of God has been given to the Qur’an as it deserves it perfectly.

As for the other Divine Words, some of them are of the kind of Divine Speech which is manifested for a particular regard under a minor title and through the particular manifestation of a particular Name; it results from a particular manifestation of Divine Lordship, or of Divine Sovereignty, or of Divine Mercy The Divine Words vary in degrees with respect to particularity and universality. Most inspiration is of this kind, but it varies greatly in degrees. For example, the most particular and simple is the inspiration God sends to animals. Then comes the inspiration occurring to ordinary people. Then the inspirations coming to ordinary angels, to saints and to greater angels, respectively. It is for this reason that a saint who offers supplications without mediation directly through the telephone of the heart ‘connected to God’, says: ‘My heart reports to me from my Lord’. He does not say, ‘It reports me from the Lord of the Worlds’. Also, he can say, ‘My heart is the mirror, the throne, of my Lord’. Never does he say, ‘My heart is the throne of the Lord of the Worlds’. This is because a saint can receive of the Divine address according to his capacity and to the degree of how many of the seventy thousand veils between a man and God he has been able to remove.

Thus, just as the decree of a king which he issues on account of his being the supreme sovereign is higher and more exalted than his insignificant conversation with a common man; and just as directly benefiting from the sun in the sky is very much greater than benefiting from its reflection in a mirror; so in the same degree is the Glorious Qur’an superior to all speech and all books. After the Qur’an, at the second level, other Divine Scriptures- Divine Books and Pages – are superior to all other speech and hooks, each according to its own degree. They have their share from the same point of superiority as the Qur’an has. If all the fine words – epigrams, wise sayings – of all men and jinn which do not issue from the Qur’an were to be collected, they still could not attain to the sacred rank of the Qur’an.

If you want to have some understanding of how the Qur’an has originated in the Greatest Name of God and in the greatest level of every Name, consider the universal, sublime statements of Ayat al-Kursi and the following verses:

With Him are the keys of the Unseen… (6.59); O God, Master of the All Kingdom… (3.26);

He covers the day with the right, each pursuing the other urgently… (7.54);

Earth, swallow your water; and heaven abated!.. (11.44);

The seven heavens and the earth, and all within them extol I-Jim… (17.44);

Your creation and your upraising are as but as a single soul.. (31,28);

We offered the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains… (33.72);

On the day when We shall roll up heaven as a scroll is rolled for books… (21.104);

They measure not God as is due to Him. The earth altogether shall be His handful on the Day of Resurrection… (39.67);

If We had sent down this Qur’an upon a mountain, you would indeed have seen it humbled, split asunder out of the fear of God… (59.21).

Also, meditate upon the initials of the Surahs beginning with al-hamdu li-llah (All praise be to God), or yusabbihu (glorifies Him), and obtain some grasp of this significant fact. Further, look at the openings of the Surahs beginning with Alif Lam Mim, Alif Lam Ra and Ha Mim, and understand the Qur’an’s importance in the sight of God Almighty

If you have understood the significant kernel of this Fourth Fundamental, you can understand that revelation mostly came to the prophets by mediation of an angel, and inspiration is mostly without mediation. You will also be able to understand why even the greatest of saints cannot attain to the level of any prophet. You can also understand the Qur’an’s grandeur and its sacred glory and honour and the source of its sublime miraculousness. So also you will be able to understand why Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, was honoured with Ascension, why he ascended to the heavens, to the furthest lote-tree, to the distance of only two bow- lengths, offered supplications to the All-Majestic One, Who is closer to man than his jugular vein, and in the twinkling of an eye returned whence he came. Indeed, just as the splitting of the moon was a miracle of Messengership whereby he demonstrated his Prophethood to the jinn and mankind, so too, the Ascension was a miracle of his worship and servitude to God whereby he demonstrated to the spirits and angels that he is the Beloved of God.

O God, bestow blessings and peace upon him and his family as befits Your Mercy and his deserving.