Question 4. Does Longing prove there is something beyond us? Why should our longing for God mean that Transcendent actually exists? Could belief in God be actually be humanity response to mortality, suffering and the fact that life otherwise will be meaningless. Human beings possess a profound longing for something beyond the finite world, a Reality that is eternal, perfect, beautiful and free from the limitations of time, space and mortality. We long for eternal life because we are conscious of our mortality, perfect justice, because we witness injustice and suffering, unconditional love because human love is fragile and imperfect, absolute truth and goodness, because the world offers conflicting truths and moral uncertainties, infinite meaning because finite achievements often leave us asking whether there is something more.
Longing may be psychological if it arises from our fears, needs, imagination and awareness of mortality, it maybe existential, if it expresses our search for meaning and purpose of existence and it may be spiritual, if it is in response to an attraction to a Transcendental Reality. If our longing for God is only a human invention, why does the human heart so often seem to desire not merely happiness or survival, but an ultimate truth and an unconditional love that no finite thing can fully provide? If Allah be the ultimate reality, could Allah be humanity’s response to mortality, suffering and the fear that life might otherwise be meaningless. Yes, that is a possible explanation of religious belief, but our awareness of mortality does not produce the idea of eternity and we feel the need to search for answers, whether the finite world is the whole of reality or there is something of what is beyond the known realm. Both interpretations can begin with the same human experience. The believer sees longing as an opening towards Transcendence; the sceptic sees it as a product of human vulnerability.
Sufism offers a unique perspective, which is wholesome and all encompassing. Drown yourself in the ocean of love, seeks union, intimacy and overcome separation through symbiosis of God. In Masnavi Mevlana Rumi says, “If a drop of vision could rinse your eyes, everywhere you look, you would weep with wonder.” There is a need is to examine philosophical arguments about our reason for existence, the nature of consciousness, the objective moral truth, mortality and suffering and the credibility of religious and mystical experiences. Reason for Existence. It is apparent from the Qur’an that one of the essential purposes of creation is to produce from this subset of humanity, a group of people that will freely enter into a relationship of love with God. They will not only experience the beauty of other relationships in their lives, but the love they experience with God is a sublime experience. Allah is described as abiding closer than man’s jugular vein on one hand implying His nearness; while on the other, He is described as being like nothing else in all creation.
The Nature of Consciousness “Every human being longs for a relationship. To be in relationship to another conscious being, who is present with us, is one of the greatest experiences of life. This Infinite Being is someone operating in all the events of life, in all the manifestations, an intelligence, that nurtures, guides and educates us all. This comprehensive awareness can encompass our thinking, emotions, bodily perceptions and even our behaviour.
The Objective Moral Truth. If purpose is to develop a relationship with Allah and come closer to Him what do we share with Him? We share with Him what Qur’an tells us he gave when we came in this world. He breathed into us something of his spirit, the sea of qualities we can either stunt them or cause them to grow. We experience the infinite beauty, the infinite peace, the infinite truth and all that what comes from the infinite perfect source of all these. The more we grow in mercy the more we experience Allah’s mercy, the more we grow in compassion the more we experience Allah’s compassion through prayer and contemplation. The more we grow in truthfulness, the more we grow in our ability to experience Allah’s truth, because all truth comes from Allah.
Mortality and Suffering. In the Sufi understanding, the longing for God is not a desire for protection from death, but something to embrace willingly, as it helps them to achieve union with God. The tribulations also has a serious purpose as part of divine test. These awaken the heart, help us to grow, develop patience, strengthen faith, purify the soul and reveal the moral character of a human being. The concepts of sabr (patience) tawqal (trust) and rida (contentment) are not merely religious obligations; these are stages of inner transformation. This does not imply that suffering is always good rather it means that suffering may not be spiritually meaningless. Credibility of Religious and Mystical Experiences. One of the recurring theme of Qur’an is that people ignore God and corrupt religion because they do not use reason. Will you not see reason(14times)? God reveals signs, lessons and admonitions so that perhaps you will see reason (8such statements).Those who benefit most from Qur’an are persons of insight (16 such statements), firmly rooted in knowledge(8 such statements).Qur’an quizzes the reader and asks, “What you think” (18 times). Have you considered this(13 times).Do they not ponder? (2 times). Do you ever think?(18 times). The friends of God, who have experienced mystical experiences, are tongue tied because there are no words to describe it, even though it has been expressed in the market place by Al–Hallaj and he had to die for it.
In the Final Analysis, Transcendent is not necessarily a distant being, invented to compensate for human weakness, but an Intimate Presenceal-Haqq (the Real).Longing is the awakening to that Presence. The seeker gradually learns to recognize a Reality that has been present all along, a Transcendent Creator through whom the meaning of life, love, death and existence itself is realized.
—The writer is author of seven books including three on Spirituality, ‘The Islamic Spirituality and Mysticism-The Path and Destination, ’The Philosophy of Rumi and its relevance in the Present Times,’ ‘Longing for Transcendent-Teachings from Islamic mystical Traditions.’
