Nihilism Is the Nullity of the Self

I show my students that in the history of Western philosophy how the “inner” and “the self” have gradually been nullified into genes, pleasures [of body and mind and beauty], and external forces, and consequently into nihilism. So, all the genuine terms like justice, doing good, not to do shameful, blameworthy, and oppressive deeds, gradually have lost their meaning or have become historical inventions. This is where we are: look around yourself! Only those who have released themselves from this destructive path can understand following verses: “God commands justice, doing good, and generosity towards relatives and He forbids what is shameful, blameworthy, and oppressive. He teaches you, so that you may take heed. Fulfill any pledge you make in God’s name and do not break oaths after you have sworn them, for you have made God your surety: God knows everything you do. Do not use your oaths to deceive each other– like a woman who unravels the thread she has firmly spun– just because one party may be more numerous than another. God tests you with this, and on the Day of the Resurrection He will make clear to you those things you differed about. If God so willed, He would have made you all one people, but He leaves to stray whoever He will and guides whoever He will [“those who turn towards Him” (13:31)]. You will be questioned about your deeds. Do not use your oaths to deceive each other lest any foot should slip after being firmly placed and lest you should taste the penalty for having hindered others from the path of God, and suffer terrible torment. Do not sell for a small price any pledge made in God’s name: what God has [to give] is better for you, if you only knew. What you have runs out but what God has endures, and We shall certainly reward those who remain steadfast according to the best of their actions. To whoever, male or female, does good deeds and has faith, We shall give a good life and reward them according to the best of their actions.” (16:90-97)

Happy Birthday Our Lovely Garden & Gardener Marianne

You are doubly in birth and blessed.
In incessant sacred beginnings.

They say: wave of cellular transformations,
And particles and parts,
Where is the Same?

Whose identity is gone,
In the whirlwind of impermanence,
And the delusion of time?

Whose dream is the mirage of everlasting stability,
In desolation of loss and sacrifice?

And birth in embracing insecurity?
And joy through pangs of birth?

Whose constant change?
Whose sacred birth?
Who possesses this Sameness?
Whose pronoun?
When everything is the verb:
To wither away.
What is the Same,
In the sight of evanescence?

This is your chime:
Mortal transfiguration,
In perennial sacred beginnings,
To be disposed to dispose of everything in time,
To give birth to the eternal wellspring.

You are the constant natality,
Within the rigidified senescence,
You are the puzzle of Eternal Becoming of the Same,
From defilement to innocence.

10/14/18

                  Interconnected As a Whole to the Source

I bring the following verses in the beginning and the end of this commentary:

“Do not kill your children for fear of poverty [at the time of Prophet some poor people killed their daughters for the fear of poverty]–– ––We shall provide for them and for you––killing them is a great sin.  And do not go anywhere near adultery: it is an outrage, and an evil path.  Do not take life, which God has made sacred, except by right: if anyone is killed wrongfully, We have given authority to the defender of his rights, but he should not be excessive in taking life, for he is already aided [by God].  Do not go near the orphan’s property, except with the best [intentions], until he reaches the age of maturity. Honor your pledges: you will be questioned about your pledges.  Give full measure when you measure, and weigh with accurate scales: that is better and fairer in the end.  Do not follow blindly what you do not know to be true: ears, eyes, and heart, you will be questioned about all these.  Do not strut arrogantly about the earth: you cannot break it open, nor match the mountains in height.  The evil of all these actions is hateful to your Lord.” (17:31-38)

In surah The Night Journey, God reveals: “The seven heavens and the earth and everyone in them glorify Him.  There is not a single thing that does not celebrate His praise, though you do not understand their praise: He is most forbearing, most forgiving.” (17:44).  Before that in the same surah God reveals: “Whoever accepts guidance does so for his own good; whoever strays does so at his own peril.” (17:15)

Worshiping God, thus, is being in the state of gratitude to the Source of existence, our existence—not only nature, the visible, but to the creator of everything in the universe, the invisible.  It is like a cell in our body disconnects from our body and the flow of blood and doesn’t open itself graciously to food and spirit and declares that it is physically and metaphysically “autonomous” and complete independent.  We need prayer, not God.  Everything in the universe praises God for their own survival, harmony, and blessing.  It is the condition of their existence in grace.  However, in the same surah, God reveals:

“If anyone desires [only] the fleeting life, We speed up whatever We will in it, for whoever We wish; in the end We have prepared Hell for him in which to burn, disgraced and rejected.  But if anyone desires the life to come and strives after it as he should, as a true believer, his striving will be thanked.  To both the latter and the former, We give some of your Lord’s bounty, your Lord’s bounty is not restricted—see how We have given some more than others—but the Hereafter holds greater ranks and greater favors.” (17:15-21)

So, there is no escape from the Source of existence.  One cannot, like that cell, says, okay I withdraw and exit.  There is no exit.  There are only two ways: to disconnect from the Source and keep on living in ingratitude, or to pray and connect and to be thankful.  One does not wither away.  The disgraceful cell doesn’t vanish or die forever.  God has set something eternal in all of us, grateful or ungrateful. The only way to receive light and harmony is to connect through worship, love, and prayers.  Not only prayers, without good deeds.  The love of God, the prayer to God must come along with doing justice and what is right.  These are the conditions of harmony with oneself and with God in grace.  In the same surah, God reveals the path to this harmony:    

“Set up no other god beside God, or you will end up disgraced and forsaken.  Your Lord has commanded that you should worship none but Him, and that you be kind to your parents. If either or both of them reach old age with you, say no word that shows impatience with them, and do not be harsh with them, but speak to them respectfully and lower your wing in humility towards them in kindness and say, ‘Lord, have mercy on them, just as they cared for me when I was little.’” (17:22-25)

Is it not strange that immediately after warning about the consequences of being ungrateful to God and disconnecting from the source, in the very same place that God invites us to re-connect and live in worship and love, this love of God is joined to the love of your parents?  The cell in my body that agrees to open up to the body and to my spirit but doesn’t open up to the cell beside it and the flow of blood can’t be saved.  Therefore, we are not a bubble of nature, a subclass of death.  We are in complete harmonious oneness in our thoughts, words, and deeds with cosmic values.  The worship and love of God, and the way we think, our very intentions and will, every action and step we take are interlaced together in one coherent whole.  At-one-ment is this getting back to our primordial oneness.  So, immediately, in the same surah we have the following moral codes, with clear rationale for them connected to the Source and cosmological values: 

“Your Lord knows best what is in your heart. If you are good, He is most forgiving to those who return to Him.  Give relatives their due, and the needy, and travelers– do not squander your wealth wastefully: those who squander are the brothers of Satan, and Satan is most ungrateful to his Lord–but if, while seeking some bounty that you expect from your Lord, you turn them down, then at least speak some word of comfort to them.  Do not be tight-fisted, nor so open-handed that you end up blamed and overwhelmed with regret.  Your Lord gives abundantly to whoever He will, and sparingly to whoever He will: He knows and observes His servants thoroughly.” (17:25-30)

Pay attention to the following successive verses, especially to the verse: “Do not follow blindly what you do not know to be true: ears, eyes, and heart, you will be questioned about all these” (17:36):

“Do not kill your children for fear of poverty [at the time of Prophet some poor people killed their daughters for the fear of poverty]––We shall provide for them and for you––killing them is a great sin.  And do not go anywhere near adultery: it is an outrage, and an evil path.  Do not take life, which God has made sacred, except by right: if anyone is killed wrongfully, We have given authority to the defender of his rights, but he should not be excessive in taking life, for he is already aided [by God].  Do not go near the orphan’s property, except with the best [intentions], until he reaches the age of maturity. Honor your pledges: you will be questioned about your pledges.  Give full measure when you measure, and weigh with accurate scales: that is better and fairer in the end.  Do not follow blindly what you do not know to be true: ears, eyes, and heart, you will be questioned about all these.  Do not strut arrogantly about the earth: you cannot break it open, nor match the mountains in height.  The evil of all these actions is hateful to your Lord.” (17:31-38)

****************************************************

With his permission, I add Joseph Gerard Lynch's status to my post today: Today I had an interesting conversation with a student in class. We were discussing various arguments why God (very probably) exist.

Sally, a student, raises her hand. She prefaces her remarks by noting that she is a Christian.
Sally: " I sorta like God, Joseph. He takes me out of my head."
Me: " And what do you mean by that, Sally?"
Sally: "Well every time I become 'full of myself' I pray, talk to God. He is what matters. And I only matter because he matters."
Me: "What an interesting insight, Sally. Could you tell me a bit more."
Sally: "Well, the way I see it, so much of the bad stuff in the world is caused by believing that only our life matters. And if our life doesn't matter, then life doesn't matter. God tells me that my life matters only because life matters. Without life, I wouldn't matter."
Jeffrey, another student, raises his hand, turns towards Sally, and utters, "My life matters, Sally!"
Sally: " And what makes you believe that?"
Jeffrey: "Because I just know...that I matter."
Sally: "Think about the air we breathe, Jeffrey. Does the air matter just because it keeps you alive. Or does it matter because it keeps all things alive?"
Jeffrey did not respond.
Class time was quickly running out. 5 minutes left to go.
Sally raises her hand again.
Sally: "I believe that God exists because I believe that life matters. How would I know life matters? Where would I find the answer? Buried in my heart? In my brain? No, I have to look without. To God. And when you believe that life matters, you love all life, no matter the life."
I left it that, thanking Sally for her insightful comments.