"Did you suppose, then, that We created you frivolously, and that you would not be returned unto Us?"
Quran 23:115
After yesterday's crazy long post I suspect this one will be pretty brief. This passage is drawn from surah 23, al-Mu'minun, often rendered as "The Believers." People of faith will often opine that if there is no god (no matter how you define the concept) then what's the point? Atheists will respond, and I think logically, why is that a valid point? Can't we create our own intellectual stricture and be just as moral and live lives every bit as meaningful? And, for that matter, if you're creating your own system based on human potentiality isn't that a more impressive/important contribution because you're not simply operating within a system handed down to you? I'm not here to argue that point, because I understand the argument. Plus, as I've said, I didn't become a Muslim because I was afraid of returning to God. Rather, I converted to Islam because I needed to be a better person, and I felt that the faith gave me the best intellectual and moral tools to follow that quest; and I want to emphasize that I sincerely mean me, in that I think it's the best fit for me, but I don't it is for everyone, and I do sincerely think that there are many, many paths to God.
Having said all that, I'm actually drawn to the part of the passage that reads, "Did you suppose, then, that We created you frivolously . . ." I don't think we should live our lives frivolously, no matter the creator. I think we have a very limited amount of time and space and ability and potential to make the world a better place, and I don't think we get there by living frivolously. And by frivolously I don't mean having one too many beers or getting that tattoo or being forced to make the walk of shame back in college, but rather a life bereft of guiding principles. I think this is why I've always been drawn so passionately to Marcus Aurelius's Meditations, because it provides that sense of overall intellectual and moral purpose, and it's funny how often I find myself writing notes in the margin of the Quran relating back to something Marcus Aurelius had proposed. Last night I watched Jimmy Carter's famous Crisis of Confidence speech, which may be the last truly profound thing that an American president said (shortly before Reagan became president and we began our great national dissociation with reality), and I think Carter was getting at many of the same points. A life based on greed and consumerism and vanity is not a life lived with purpose, and is instead a life truly lived frivolously.
According to Nasr in the Study Quran, "The Quran often asserts that God created the world in truth (e.g., 29:44; 30:8; 39:5; 44:39), not in play (e.g., 21:16; 44:38) or in vain (3:191)." I want to revisit the meaning of in truth in greater depth later.
Quran 23:115
After yesterday's crazy long post I suspect this one will be pretty brief. This passage is drawn from surah 23, al-Mu'minun, often rendered as "The Believers." People of faith will often opine that if there is no god (no matter how you define the concept) then what's the point? Atheists will respond, and I think logically, why is that a valid point? Can't we create our own intellectual stricture and be just as moral and live lives every bit as meaningful? And, for that matter, if you're creating your own system based on human potentiality isn't that a more impressive/important contribution because you're not simply operating within a system handed down to you? I'm not here to argue that point, because I understand the argument. Plus, as I've said, I didn't become a Muslim because I was afraid of returning to God. Rather, I converted to Islam because I needed to be a better person, and I felt that the faith gave me the best intellectual and moral tools to follow that quest; and I want to emphasize that I sincerely mean me, in that I think it's the best fit for me, but I don't it is for everyone, and I do sincerely think that there are many, many paths to God.
Having said all that, I'm actually drawn to the part of the passage that reads, "Did you suppose, then, that We created you frivolously . . ." I don't think we should live our lives frivolously, no matter the creator. I think we have a very limited amount of time and space and ability and potential to make the world a better place, and I don't think we get there by living frivolously. And by frivolously I don't mean having one too many beers or getting that tattoo or being forced to make the walk of shame back in college, but rather a life bereft of guiding principles. I think this is why I've always been drawn so passionately to Marcus Aurelius's Meditations, because it provides that sense of overall intellectual and moral purpose, and it's funny how often I find myself writing notes in the margin of the Quran relating back to something Marcus Aurelius had proposed. Last night I watched Jimmy Carter's famous Crisis of Confidence speech, which may be the last truly profound thing that an American president said (shortly before Reagan became president and we began our great national dissociation with reality), and I think Carter was getting at many of the same points. A life based on greed and consumerism and vanity is not a life lived with purpose, and is instead a life truly lived frivolously.
According to Nasr in the Study Quran, "The Quran often asserts that God created the world in truth (e.g., 29:44; 30:8; 39:5; 44:39), not in play (e.g., 21:16; 44:38) or in vain (3:191)." I want to revisit the meaning of in truth in greater depth later.
No comments:
Post a Comment