beroq
04-23-2009, 05:48 AM
Man has the capacity of making choices among different options. He is also equipped with the ability to go back and forth between extreme points, as well as to choose the middle way, a quality which enables him to make his choices freely. If there is only one option, it is not a free choice. The creation of man is designed is such a way that it gives him every possible option to eventually hold him responsible for the results. Without this broader ontological perspective, we might have difficulty grasping the real nature of our faculties and the results of our actions.
Among these faculties, two of them come to the fore as the most basic definition of being a human of free choice. These two define us more broadly than the others as intellectual creatures, giving us the power of choice at its most extreme application: The abilities of killing and loving. Placed on the furthest left of the scale of human action, the act of killing stands for giving an end to the existance of a living being, which is considered to be the most degenerated form of free choice. On the furthest right of the scale, the act of loving is the strongest human instinct of creating, which is considered the most sacred form of free choice.
In an imaginary world of black and white, it would not be hard to make an easy differentiation between these two actions of intelligent being. However, the world we live in has always been comprised of large grey areas where human certainty is blurred and becomes unpredictable. Just like these, human mind and soul have grey areas where the extreme instincts meet and go together, somehow, in pefect harmony. Normally, the very creation of human being does not allow the extreme to come together, but still the idea of free choice prevails and lets man walk against his own nature and creation. From a religious person's point of view, this is not a fault in God's creation, but the result of the greatness of His trust in intelligent being's conscience and wisdom. Because we are expected to conform to our own nature even if we are equipped with the power to do the opposite. For a person who places nature or coincidance in place of God's creation, this amalgamation of the opposite faculties could be a phenomenon that is hard to explain in simple terms. Still there exist some explanations for them to understand it. Some might attribute it to the imperfectness of nature to create the perfect intelligent being.
The idea of the unity of love and murder in human being is still a strange combination that most of us are rightfully unable to grasp. If it is really possible, if a person is ready to kill because of the strength of his love, there must be an explanation to this. In the transcendental world of a Sufi dervish human being is capable of killing "himself" because of the depthness of his love for the Creator of the seen and unseen universe. Looking from the perspective of some esoteric Eastern and Western schools of thought, one's killing his own self in God's love is perfectly understanble. The beauty of such inner spiritual experiences is the quest of man to perfect himself by disciplining his imperfect attributes through self-destruction of the 'left' of the soul, which is considered the sinful part.
Still, in real life the reality of the existance of individuals that have killing and loving instincts inside one body is deniable. They exist. Any one of us can be that person. It is a greater likelihood for our age since people are losing meaning in their lives and becoming more and more intellect-driven, forgetting about the existance of their conscience and wisdom.
In conclusion, if we are ready to consider it a serious problem that our world is facing today, we need to adopt a holistic approach to the universe inside and outside of us and to try to rediscover the traditional meanings of what we call love and murder. Because even if just one of these is interpreted wrongly, the result could be catastrophic for us all. If the love for wealth is defined erronously, then it can be used as a pretext to invade countries and kill the innocent for the sake of that very love. Not to let humanity witness more bloodshed and injustice, we have to have a common understanding of our traditional values in their true holistic senses.
Among these faculties, two of them come to the fore as the most basic definition of being a human of free choice. These two define us more broadly than the others as intellectual creatures, giving us the power of choice at its most extreme application: The abilities of killing and loving. Placed on the furthest left of the scale of human action, the act of killing stands for giving an end to the existance of a living being, which is considered to be the most degenerated form of free choice. On the furthest right of the scale, the act of loving is the strongest human instinct of creating, which is considered the most sacred form of free choice.
In an imaginary world of black and white, it would not be hard to make an easy differentiation between these two actions of intelligent being. However, the world we live in has always been comprised of large grey areas where human certainty is blurred and becomes unpredictable. Just like these, human mind and soul have grey areas where the extreme instincts meet and go together, somehow, in pefect harmony. Normally, the very creation of human being does not allow the extreme to come together, but still the idea of free choice prevails and lets man walk against his own nature and creation. From a religious person's point of view, this is not a fault in God's creation, but the result of the greatness of His trust in intelligent being's conscience and wisdom. Because we are expected to conform to our own nature even if we are equipped with the power to do the opposite. For a person who places nature or coincidance in place of God's creation, this amalgamation of the opposite faculties could be a phenomenon that is hard to explain in simple terms. Still there exist some explanations for them to understand it. Some might attribute it to the imperfectness of nature to create the perfect intelligent being.
The idea of the unity of love and murder in human being is still a strange combination that most of us are rightfully unable to grasp. If it is really possible, if a person is ready to kill because of the strength of his love, there must be an explanation to this. In the transcendental world of a Sufi dervish human being is capable of killing "himself" because of the depthness of his love for the Creator of the seen and unseen universe. Looking from the perspective of some esoteric Eastern and Western schools of thought, one's killing his own self in God's love is perfectly understanble. The beauty of such inner spiritual experiences is the quest of man to perfect himself by disciplining his imperfect attributes through self-destruction of the 'left' of the soul, which is considered the sinful part.
Still, in real life the reality of the existance of individuals that have killing and loving instincts inside one body is deniable. They exist. Any one of us can be that person. It is a greater likelihood for our age since people are losing meaning in their lives and becoming more and more intellect-driven, forgetting about the existance of their conscience and wisdom.
In conclusion, if we are ready to consider it a serious problem that our world is facing today, we need to adopt a holistic approach to the universe inside and outside of us and to try to rediscover the traditional meanings of what we call love and murder. Because even if just one of these is interpreted wrongly, the result could be catastrophic for us all. If the love for wealth is defined erronously, then it can be used as a pretext to invade countries and kill the innocent for the sake of that very love. Not to let humanity witness more bloodshed and injustice, we have to have a common understanding of our traditional values in their true holistic senses.