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The Undiscovered Greatness Of Our World

M. Fethullah Gulen

Apr 1, 1998

For those who have attained the happiness of knowing this world from within faith, hope and an experience of the realms beyond this world, there is still an undiscovered greatness and magic in this world. For those who have felt and lived its vastness, it is not possible to leave it behind. Those who have known and experienced the realms beyond still find our world's beliefs and their harmony so magical that they forget about themselves and become enthralled its divine mysteries. We who live only on the earthly plane see everything as commonplace, and behave according to our familiarity with it, taking it for all granted. But those others find it so magical and extraordinary that, as if they had risen to the metaphysical station of amazement, they view it all with a broad, encompassing delight and experience one joy after another.

From these words it should not be understood that we never can or will understand the value of this world. What I want to emphasise is that our collective customs and habits overwhelm our individual consciousness, knowledge and conscience. There are some people in this world who see our values through the prism of their refined consciousness and knowledge and feel in the vastness of their spirit pure emotions undimmed by customs and habits. They experience their own lives as passing through corridors of heaven and live like those in paradise.

Whether they be newcomers who travel on the horizon of new awareness and pleasure or old-timers in these affairs who have gained the secret of staying young and take advantage of all its benefits, they feel intoxication each day with the beauty of our world just like the exhilaration of the rising sun on a brand new day. They think about and breathe the constant faithfulness of this world and the things in it and the skies and whatever lies beyond. They stretch out their arms with love under the light waves of faith and the eternity promised by faith, and they tremble with reverence and dignity.

Almost always this realm, where the earth and skies open to one another and are at peace with each other, penetrates our spirits like the inclination of God Whom we love with all His creatures. It becomes enshrouded in such beauty that we believe these divine manifestations, which pass the limits of the physical world and can't be contained in it, to be dreams. We tremble with concern that well awaken from this sweet dream and everything will disappear.

In fact, sometimes at moments and hours that are wrapped with a special aura that we don't fully understand. day or night things suddenly become different. The general atmosphere becomes so enchanting that it seems to compete with the heavens. In this atmosphere of light, spirits that reach to heights beyond the physical plane and feelings that go beyond all space extend their minds beyond the boundaries that separate us from the spiritual world. They live in the shadow of the Prophet Muhammad's miraculous ascent to heaven. This sea of dreams sometimes, in the form of a whisper of pleasure and delight, encompasses those hearts that are open to the beyond. The breasts of those who reach this vastness expand enough to hold the whole universe including the moon, the sun and the stars. They pass beyond all limits and become a shining mirror to the throne of mercy. The appreciative angels run to watch those who have become like stars scattered upon the earth. Those special ones on earth in the language of animated silence watch this delightful scene and, as if listening to the most divine poetry. go back and forth between this spectacle and pleasure. thus weaving the eternal lacework of life.

Wherever you are in this fantastic calm, the beyond and creatures of the beyond are always with you: wherever you go you gather pearls from the beyond and you always feel like they're being showered on your head.

Yes, at home, at work, in seclusion or in the company of others you'll see that the coloured lights are spanning your horizon just like a rainbow. You'll feel like you're constantly walking under a celestial arch. That special light together with love, as if filtering from a silver lantern floating in love's union, surrounds you. Much greater than the lights of the physical and material realms, it is a flood releasing enchanting and dream-filled beams of light. Everything becomes immersed in the colour of its own wave.

For those who can always contemplate their surroundings with faith and consideration, the universe in all four directions is a marvellous exhibition adorned with spiritual pleasures. It cannot be seen with physical eyes nor heard by physical ears; it can only be sensed with conscience and vision. The universe is a song bursting with eternal notes and an encyclopedia whose every line is full of meaning that could fill books. Those who hear it seem to have awakened to heaven: those who listen to it can be said to have listened to a chorus of houris; those who read it reach the happiness of sharing the four Holy Books' points of concurrence and accord.

The Creative Power has spread the earth before our eyes meaningfully filled with knowledge. affection and love like a breathing, animate creature changing the colours of its skirts according to the seasons. In the earth's bosom running streams have sprung up whispering eternal melodies to our ears and quickening our hearts with murmurs of eternity. A spell has been cast on our thoughts and feelings, our heads are spinning. The heavens full of colour and light, like a magical, mysterious ball, incite us to poetical inspiration. The earth is adorned like a bridal suite, and life, without being a difficult puzzle, can be lived, breathed, smelled, and felt as a delightful, constantly sought-after enjoyment, the continuation of which is hopefully awaited, Life has been raised to a level of spiritual pleasure and tranquillity.

This magical world, as much as we have been able to see and perceive it, is an unbelievable dream world. The things in it appear like a slope of heaven with their essential beauty displayed before our eyes. With the aid of this different view and perception, in order to go beyond the limited pleasures of our temporary lives and to receive our share of the unfading beauty of all creation, we always open our perishable souls to eternity and, as if we were tasting eternity's pleasure and hearing eternity's dialect, we can change the fleeting seconds of our lives into years. Due to such luminous moments, every spirit can gain immortality, of course, to the extent that it can internalise such situations, and benefit generously from eternity's inspirations.

If one day the sound of everything is silenced, if all of creation swallows its tongue and doesn't say anything to us, or if we hear but don't understand, still, with the traces of this temporary light that has filled our hearts, our spirits will constantly pursue those luminous moments. On every new horizon our eyes will seek those seconds of illumination and shine brightly with the torches of truth and hope burning in our hearts.