The problem I have with Religion and Gods is the hypocrisy. Supposedly 80% of the population of this planet believes an all knowing all seeing God created the universe in a matter of 6 days. Yet when I say I believe I can extract useful amounts of energy from the environment these same people label me as a delusional crackpot. When I say I believe there must be more advanced life forms in this universe because of the sheer number of planets and the unimaginable size of the universe these people label me as a delusional crackpot. When I say there seems to be a overwhelming amount of proof we are slowly destroying this planet by way of pollution and global warming they call me a delusional crackpot. When I try to live by the words I read in the bible as a child, to be a good person, to treat others as I would have them treat me. Many of these people who claim to believe in god lie and cheat and steal and judge and knowingly inflict harm upon others and kill other people for no other reason than someone told them they should. I hope you can appreciate the sheer scale of the contradiction if not hypocrisy I see on a daily basis.
For despite the earth's smallness and insignificance in relation to the heavens,
its being filled with intelligent beings and from time to time being emptied and then refilled with new ones suggests —indeed, states clearly— that the heavens too, with their majestic constellations like adorned palaces, are filled with animate creatures, the light of the light of existence, and conscious and intelligent creatures, the light of animate creatures. Like man and the jinn, those creatures are spectators of the palace of the world, and ponderers over the book of the universe, and heralds of this realm of dominicality. With their universal and com prehensive worship, they represent the glorification of the large and universal beings in the universe.
The nature of the universe surely points to their existence. For since it is embellished and decked out with uncountable numbers of finely adorned works of art and meaningful decorations and wise embroideries, it self-evidently requires the gazes of thoughtful admirers and wondering, appreciative lovers; it demands their existence. Yes, just as beauty requires a lover, so is food is given to the hungry. Thus, the sustenance of spirits and nourishment of hearts in this boundless beauty of art looks to the angels and spirit beings; it points to them. For while this infinite adornment requires an infinite duty of contemplation and worship, man and the jinn can perform only a millionth of that infinite duty, that wise supervision, that extensive worship. This means that boundless varieties of angels and spirit beings are necessary to perform those duties, and to fill and inhabit the mighty mosque of the world with their ranks.
Indeed, a species of the spirit beings and angels is present in every aspect, in every sphere, of the universe, each charged with a duty of worship. It may be said according to both the narrations of Hadiths and the wisdom in the order of the world that from lifeless planets and stars to raindrops, all are ships or vehicles for a kind of angel. The angels mount these vehicles with Divine permission and travel observing the Manifest World; they represent their praise and glorification.
It also may be said that certain sorts of living bodies act as aeroplanes for different kinds of spirits. From the birds of Paradise, called the Green Birds in a Hadith which says: "The spirits of the people of Paradise enter into Green Birds in the Intermediate Realm and travel around Paradise in them,"3 to flies, each is a vehicle for a sort of spirit. The spirits enter into them at a Divine command, and through the faculties and senses of those living bodies like the eyes and ears, observe the miracles of creation in the corporeal world. They perform the particular glorification of each.
Just as reality necessitates it to be thus, so does wisdom. For, with an intense activity, the All-Wise Maker continuously creates subtle life and luminous intelligent beings from dense earth, which has little connection with spirit, and from turbid water, which has small relation with the light of life. He surely then creates certain sorts of intelligent beings from the seas of light and even from the oceans of darkness, from the air, electricity, and other subtle matter suitable for spirit and appropriate for life. And surely these creatures are exceedingly numerous.
There were two men, one rustic and uncouth, the other civilized and intelligent, who made friends and went to a splendid city like London. In a distant corner of that civilized and magnificent city they came across a dirty, wretched little building, a factory. They looked and saw that the strange factory was full of miserable, impoverished men working. All around the building were beings with spirits and animate beings, but their means of livelihood and conditions of life were such that some were herbivorous, they lived only on plants, while others were piscivorous, they ate nothing but fish.
The two men watched the scene. Then they saw in the distance thousands of adorned palaces and lofty castles. Among the palaces were spacious workshops and broad squares. Because of either the distance, or the defec-tiveness of the men's eyesight, or because they had hidden themselves, the inhabitants of the palaces were not visible to the two men. Moreover, the wretched conditions in the factory were not to be seen in the palaces. In consequence of this, the uncouth country-bumpkin, who had never before seen a city, declared: "Those palaces have no inhabitants, they are empty, there are no beings with spirits in them," uttering the most ignorant garbled nonsense. To which the second man replied:
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O you miserable man! This insignificant little building you see here has been filled with beings endowed with spirits, with workers, and there is someone who continually employs and replaces them. Look, there is not an empty space all around this factory, it has been filled with animate beings and beings with spirits. Do you think it is at all possible that there would be no high-ranking and suitable inhabitants in that orderly city, in those wisely adorned palaces so full of art which we can see in the distance? Of course they are occupied, and the different conditions of life there are appropriate for those who live there. In place of grass, they eat pastries, and in place of fish, cakes. Their not being visible to you because of the distance, or your weak eyesight, or their hiding themselves, can at no time point to their not being there." The fact that a thing is not seen does not indicate its nonexistence.
Another claim I cannot quite understand is that science and religion are somehow compatible with one another. As if to say I believe in science and facts and proof and the conservation of energy because I am a logical and intelligent person however I also believe an entity I call God created everything in the universe from nothing in no less than 6 days. Which begs the question, if something cannot be created from nothing which seems to have some weight among the intellectual then how can God do it?. Not simply a few KW from a device most cannot seem to understand but a whole universe full of trillions upon trillions upon trillions of stars not unlike our Sun which radiates more energy in 1 second than all of humanity has dissipated since it's very existence?.
I cannot rationalize how science and religion could be called compatible in any sense of the word. The contradiction is that if we believe the whole universe was created from nothing in six days by a God then logically we should have no right to judge anyone for believing anything one way or another because anything is possible. Free energy, anti-gravity, transmutation, cats living with dogs in supposed harmony... it is literally a free for all. Anything less is blatant hypocrisy in my opinion and if anything is possible then obviously anything is possible which is kind of cool in my opinion.
Also, the One Who will bring it about is powerful to the utmost degree.
There is no deficiency in His power. The greatest things and the smallest are the same in relation to His power. It is as easy for Him to create the spring as to create a flower. Yes, One so powerful that this world together with all its suns, stars, worlds, particles, and substance bear witness to His sublimity and power with endless tongues. Does any doubt or misgiving have the right to consider bodily resurrection remote from such a power?It is plain to see that every age within this world an Ail-Powerful One of Glory creates a new, travelling, orderly universe. Indeed, He makes a new,
well-ordered world each day. He perpetually creates and changes with perfect wisdom transient worlds and universes one after the other on the face of the heavens and the earth. He hangs on the string of time regular worlds to the number of the centuries, years, indeed, days, and through them demonstrates the tremendousness of His power. He attaches to the head of the globe the huge flower of spring which he adorns with a hundred thousand embroideries of resurrection as though it was a single flower, and through it displays the perfection of His wisdom and the beauty of His art. Can it be said of such a One, "How can He bring about the resurrection of the dead, and how can He transform this world into the hereafter?"
The verse,
Your creation and your resurrection is but like a single soul
proclaims the All-Powerful One's perfect power, that nothing at all is difficult for Him, that like the smallest thing, the greatest presents no difficulties for His power, and that it is as easy for His power to create innumerable individuals as to create as a single one.
We have explained the verse's essential meaning briefly in the Conclusion to the Tenth Word, and in detail in the treatise entitled Nokta (The Point), and in the Twentieth Letter. In connection with the discussion here, we shall elucidate a part of it in the form of three 'Matters', as follows:
Divine Power is essential, in which case, impotence cannot intervene in it. Also, it is connected to the inner dimensions of things, so obstacles cannot become interpenetrated with it. Also, its relation is according to laws, so particulars are equal to universals, minor things are like comprehensive ones. We shall prove these three matters.
FIRST MATTER: Pre-Eternal Power is the necessary inherent quality of the Most Pure and Holy Divine Essence. That is to say, it is of necessity intrinsic to the Essence, it can in no way be separated from It. Since this is so, the Essence which necessitates that power clearly cannot be affected by impotence, the opposite to power. For if that were the case, it would entail the combining of opposites. Since the Essence cannot be affected by impot-ence, self-evidently it cannot intervene in the power which is the inherent quality of that Essence. Since impotence cannot intervene in that essential power, clearly there can be no degrees in it. For the degrees of existence of a thing are though the intervention of its opposites.
For example, the degrees of heat are through the intervention of cold, and the degrees of beauty through the intervention of ugliness; further examples can be made in the same way. Since in contingent beings these qualities are not true, natural, and inherent, necessary qualities, their opposites may enter them. With the existence of degrees, diversity, variance, and change arose in the world. Since there can be no degrees in Pre-Eternal power, of necessity, those things decreed by it will be the same in relation to it. The greatest will be equal to the smallest, and particles the same as the stars. The resurrection of all mankind will be as easy for that power as the raising to life of a single individual; the creation of spring as easy as the giving of form to a single flower. Whereas if attributed to causes, the creation of a single flower would be as difficult as the spring.
It has been proved in the footnote to the last section of the Fourth Degree of 'God is Most Great' in the Second Station of this Word, and in the Twenty-Second Word, and in the Twentieth Letter and in its Addendum, that when the creation of beings is attributed to the Single One of Unity, all things become as easy as one thing. If they are attributed to causes, the creation of a single thing becomes as difficult and problematical as that of all things.
SECOND MATTER: Divine power is related to the inner face of things. Yes,
the universe has two faces like a mirror. One is its external face, which resembles the coloured face of the mirror, the other is its face which looks to its Creator. This resembles the mirror's shining face. Its external face is the arena of opposites. It is where matters like beautiful and ugly, good and evil, big and small, difficult and easy appear. It is because of this that the All-Glorious Maker has made apparent causes a veil to the disposal of His power, so that the hand of power should not appear to the mind to be directly concerned with matters that on the face of it are insignificant or unworthy. For majesty and dignity require it to be thus. But He did not give a true effect to causes and intermediaries, because the unity of oneness requires that they have none.
As for the face of beings which looks to its Creator, in everything it is shining, it is clean. The colours and distortions of individuality do not intervene in it. This aspect faces its Creator without intermediary. There are no chains and disposition of causes in it. Cause and effect cannot intrude on it. It contains nothing contorted or askew. Obstacles cannot interfere in it. A particle becomes brother to the sun.
In Short: Divine power is both simple, and infinite, and essential. The place connected to Divine power has neither intermediary, nor stain, nor is it the scene of rebellion. Therefore, within the sphere of Divine power great does not take pride of place over small. The community does not take preference over the individual. Universals cannot expect more from Divine power than particulars.THIRD MATTER: Divine power's relation is according to laws.
That is to say, it regards many and few, great and small as the same. We shall make this abstruse matter easier to understand with a number of compari-sons.
In the universe, Transparency, Reciprocity, Balance, Order, Disengaged-ness, and Obedience are all matters which render many equal to few, and great equal to small.First Comparison: This explains the Mystery of Transparency.For example, the sun's image and reflection, which are its radiance and manifestation, display the same identity on the sea's surface and in every drop of the sea. If the globe of the earth was composed of varying fragments of glass and exposed to the sun without veil, the sun's reflection would be the same in every fragment and on the who
le face of the earth, without obstruction or being divided into pieces or being diminished. If, let us suppose, the sun acted with will and through its will conferred the radiance of its light and image of its reflection, it would not be more difficult for it to confer its radiance on the whole surface of the earth than to confer it on a single particle.
Second Comparison: This concerns the Mystery of Reciprocity.For example, let us suppose there is a vast ring composed of living beings, that is, of human beings, each holding a mirror. At its centre is an individual holding a candle. The radiance and manifestation reflected in all the mirrors surrounding the central point will be the same, and its relation will be without obstacle, fragmentation or being diminished.
Third Comparison: This concerns the Mystery of Balance.For example, there are an enormous set of scales which are extremely accurate and sensitive. Whichever of two suns or two stars or two mountains or two eggs or two particles are placed in its two pans, it will require the same force to raise one pan of those huge sensitive scales to the sky and lower the other to the ground.
Fourth Comparison: This concerns the Mystery of Order.For example, a huge ship can be turned as easily as a tiny toy boat.
Fifth Comparison: This concerns the Mystery of Disengagedness.
For example, a nature disengaged from individuality regards all particulars from the smallest to the greatest as the same and enters them without being diminished or fragmented. The qualities present in the aspect of external individuality do not interfere and cause confusion; they do not alter the view of a disengaged nature such as that. For example, a fish like a needle possesses such a disengaged nature the same as a whale. Or a microbe bears an animal nature the same as a rhinoceros.
Sixth Comparison: This demonstrates the Mystery of Obedience.For example, a commander causes a single private to advance with the command "Forward march!" the same as he causes an army to advance. The truth of the mystery of this comparison about obedience is as follows:
As is proved by experience, everything in the universe has a point of perfection, and everything has an inclination towards that point. Increased inclination becomes need. Increased need becomes desire. Increased desire becomes attraction, and attraction, desire, need, and inclination are each seeds and kernels which together with the essences of things conform to the creative commands of Almighty God. The absolute perfection of the true nature of contingent beings is absolute existence. Their particular perfections are an existence peculiar to each which makes each being's abilities emerge from the potential to the actual.
Thus, the obedience of the whole universe to the Divine command "Be!" is the same as that of a particle, which is like a single soldier. Contained all together in the obedience and conformity of contingent beings to the pre-eternal command of "Be!" proceeding from the Pre-Eternal will are inclination, need, desire, and attraction, which are also manifestations of Divine will. The fact that when subtle water receives the command to freeze, with a refined inclination it may split a piece of iron demonstrates the strength of the mystery of obedience.
If these six comparisons are observed in the potentialities and actions of contingent beings, which are both defective, and finite, and weak, and have no actual effect, without doubt it will be seen that everything is equal in relation to Pre-Eternal power, which is both pre-eternal, and post-eternal, and creates the whole universe out of pure non-existence, and being manifested through the works of its tremendousness leaves all minds in wonderment. Nothing at all can be difficult for it. Such a power cannot be weighed on the small scales of these mysteries, neither are they proportionate. They have been mentioned to bring the subject closer to the understanding and to dispel any doubts.
Result and Summary of the Third Fundamental Point:Since pre-eternal power is infinite, and it is the inherent, necessary quality of the Most Pure and Holy Essence; and since the stainless, veilless inner aspect of everything is turned to it and faces it, and is in balance with respect to contingency, which consists of the equal possibility of being and non-being; and since this inner face is obedient to the order of creation and the Divine laws of the universe which form the Greater Shari'a, the Shari'a of Creation, and it is disengaged from and free of obstacles and different characteristics; certainly, like the smallest thing, the greatest cannot resist that power, nor expect more from it than the smallest. In which case, the raising to life of all beings with spirits at the resurrection is not more difficult for Divine power than raising a fly to life in the spring.
Thus, the decree of:
Your creation and your resurrection is but like a single soul
is no exaggeration; it is true and correct. And our claim that "the Agent possesses the power" has been proved true in decisive fashion; there is nothing to hinder it in this respect.
