The modern era in which we find ourselves is unlike any other era in the
history of the world. From the very beginning of human history, the greatest and
most intelligent men of every epoch have given credence to the existence of
worlds and beings beyond this physical realm, and have posited an Absolute Being
who is at once the Origin and Destination of all things. It is only now—in the
last few centuries—that man has found not only “reason” to doubt the things that
his forefathers saw to be certain and sacred, but has also discovered the
“courage” to break from tradition and, by standing on his own two feet, has had
the audacity to deny the very existence of anything sacred. The roots of this
newfound “enlightenment” of man can be traced to his predilection to rebel
against his Creator—individually speaking, and to the effects of the Fall of
man—on the level of society and civilization. A thorough examination of these
roots reveals the fact that modern “reason” is nothing other than the
obfuscation of metaphysical insight and vision or, at best, the vestiges of the
sacred Intellect deposited in man; and the much touted “courage” is really
foolhardiness and merely the masked rebelliousness of Promethean man.
To understand the rebellious nature of fallen man, it is important to first
understand his “created” nature and the fact that he is not the cause of his own
existence. Man exists, but then so do dogs. What separates man from other
creatures is his ability to reflect and intellect his “own” existence. Upon
doing so he discovers that in himself and by himself he is nothing and that his
existence is nothing but the consequence of his connection with the Source of
all existence. Just as a ray of light radiating from the sun has no independent
existence, so too man is an effusion of Divine Being. But when man does not use
his intellect and does not see in this essential way, he begins to imagine that
his existence is real and that he is a “something” in its own right. Such a
skewed view of reality results in a corresponding deviation of human will.
Fallen man in this new and modern fashion of “seeing” now starts to appropriate
powers and rights for himself that he previously saw as a trust from Heaven
which he had to safeguard and be true to. As he is now the measure of all
things, he is also the sole criterion of human activity and henceforth only he
decides what is to be done and what is not to be done - a bona fide rebel
without a cause.
It is when man is rebellious and a renegade from heaven that he does not see the
need for mediums and conduits of grace that connect him with the Source of all
being and all grace. He balks at authority—spiritual or mundane—and hopes to go
it on his own. Unwilling to see anything beyond his own self, he fails to
transcend his limited and relative reality and becomes a prisoner of his body
and a slave of his carnal desires. Sensing this and the futility of his
situation he becomes desperate and in an occasional act of vulgarity, lashes out
at the very sources of grace and sanctity that could save him from himself and
his dire situation. Hence it is not a coincidence that profanity and blasphemy
aimed at holy personalities are commonly observed in our modern era. But
arguably that which is worse than the verbal or pictorial blasphemies is the
general attitude of indifference and nonchalance that modern men have adopted
towards religion and the sacred. It is one thing to vent “hatred” towards sacred
realities, it is quite another to totally ignore them. In this vein, the very
act of living a modern, liberal, secular life that is “untouched” by religion is
the greatest of blasphemies.
Turning now to the social plane, it is the general conditions of the Fall which
bear heavily upon modern man’s inability to have faith in God and the men of
God. To explain, in opposition to the cult of progress that modern man
subscribes to, traditional religious doctrines have always seen man’s entry into
this world to be a fall from a higher realm to lower and lower ones. They speak
of a degression, not progression. On the noetic plane, they hold that the former
generations of men had more of a direct access to Revelation and the vision of
the prophet through whom the religion was established, the latter — due to their
distance and the entropic conditions of the Fall — have more difficulty in
“seeing” the truth. They need to be helped from the outside, so to speak. They
require aids to achieve the vision and intellection of the former generations.
These aids and “artificial” constructs are providentially provided, and are a
part and parcel of the religious tradition as a whole. So while they are in
reality instruments which compensate for the overall decline, they are seen
ostensibly as “developments.” After the initial vision there is for instance the
development in the religious universe and orthodoxy of a doctrine, theology,
ideology, sociology, and political system.
For a time the constructs, ones that pertain to a discursive and rational
understanding of religious truths, were satisfactory and sufficient, as reason
was still based on higher levels of the intellect and the sense of the sacred
and holy was still alive and strong in traditional societies. Further on this
was not the case and reason was increasingly divorced from its higher
principle—namely the sacred intellect or al-‘aql al-qudsī — and a purely human
rationality came to take its place; a rationality that insisted that all aspects
of being fall within the pale of its discursive and deductive methods. This led
to the absolutization of the said constructs—things which are in principle
relative, leading to their solidification, irrelevance, and eventual impotence.
This in turn, opened the Pandora’s box of religious criticism and, after which,
there was nothing sacred left. All things were to be dissected by man’s rational
faculty and pronounced as dead after the event. Indeed, God himself was
pronounced as dead at the scene of the crime that modernity represents.
Man without a sense of the Absolute is a man that is bewildered and distraught
amongst countless relativities. In a world where there is no Sacred, everything
is profane. In a profane world, profanity is indistinguishable from true and
noble speech worthy of man and his divine origins. Without such distinctions,
man is free to bark everything and anything that comes out of his mouth. Not
realizing that the very freedom of will that he uses to express his profanity is
only made possible by the existence of the sacred and supreme will of his
Creator. Hence the profound statement of Meister Eckhart, “the more he
blasphemes, the more he praises God” rings true in our day more than in any
other. But the final word must be from the Master of Eckhart, Jesus, upon whom
be peace, who said:
“Woe to the world because of scandals. For it must needs be that scandals come:
but nevertheless woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh.” (Matthew 18:7)
Comments (4)
1. Written by Abu Rafi on 15-02-2008 20:27
One of the most beautiful pieces I have read in a long time.
Exceptional piece!
2. Written by Kawther on 15-02-2008 22:00
Amazing, Wonderful read.
3. Written by Jav on 16-02-2008 21:43
Alas for the servants! there comes not to them an messenger but they mock at him. Quran 36:30 Allah shall pay them back their mockery, and He leaves them alone in their inordinacy, blindly wandering on. Quran 2:15
4. Written by Marwa on 17-02-2008 03:15
Excellent piece, thanks for posting.
Write Comment
Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article.
Comments posted are the sole opinion of the author and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of AIM.
