Mimic Interaction of Universe

What is inhibiting the Self can be deterred by the gratitude to God

Interaction among various types of energy in the universe seemed fascinating since my childhood. The basic idea of particles of an atom, as I can remember, are protons, neutrons, and electrons. To build up the galaxies, I understand these atoms together would create molecular substances little by little with the help of some interaction with other forces such as gravity, electricity, magnetism. On the other end, energy in the human body forms elementary particles, which then interact to create protons and neutrons. The electromagnetic force is responsible for keeping these together. It causes the electron to interact with the other two to create an atom and build a molecular entity. In essence, there is a similarity in how a human body, at an atomic level interacts, and how the universe interconnects to exist. What is inhibiting the process of interaction in the human Self?

Evil Distraction from Four Angles

Human freedom of choice could lead them to disobey God, but few still obeyed Him through that choice. None can inhibit them in making either of these choices. However, there will be influences from the surroundings to keep the struggle continue till the end of life. This undiminished fight within the arena of mind will portray how many times the strength of the heart got highs and then lows on the Day known as Judgment Day. Interestingly, Qur’an (7–17) suggests devil speaking to God mentioned that he’d approach humans (to allure towards evil) from all sides — front, back, right, and left. Reflecting on how it works to let me be controlled rather than my Self fighting off the constriction as the decision-maker on its merit generated the following scenario in mind:

Front: (Pushing backward)

a) Using emotions to think less about consequences and to have fun right now.

b) Worry too much about the unknown future.

c) Lose sight of purpose — means to goals become the goal.

Back: (Pulling backward)

a) Using the sense of reasoning to compare the past evil deeds and convince the Self there is nothing wrong in returning to those briefly.

b) Blaming God for the grief from the past and deny own responsibility to stand up and amend.

Right: (Beautifying goodness)

a) Using the sense of reasoning to glamorize the goodness in the Self and let it show off how right it is and promote absolutism, letting it believe everyone else is wrong.

b) Letting the Self feel complacent thinking it has done its part, God has mercy, and He’d understand — not giving 100% in doing its part. This callousness also slows down the pace of whatever goodness the Self is capable of implementing on earth.

c) Seeing differences in opinion, the Self can start backbiting and initiate groupings and create anarchy in life.

Left: (Beautifying evil)

a) Using emotions to lure the self to greed so that it keeps wanting more beyond its needs.

b) Tempting the Self to immerse in evil deeds so much that the slightest hope of returning to amend itself feels hopeless, forgetting the forgiving God.

c) Initiating a change in the definition of good, saying that it is relative and progressively letting evil be a part of the definition of good.

A Valuable Remedy

The same Qur’anic verse (7:17) above ends with what Devil’s challenge mentioned to God about its human targets, “And You will find most of them ungrateful.” Qur’an is providing the solution Gratefulness to God in the same verse. The sense of appreciation covered with emotion would cause an overflowing effect in the heart. That overflowing stance of the heart creates that gratefulness. Providing food to eat, creating beasts with usefulness and making the humans their masters, bringing in rain from the clouds and keeping it palatable (not salty, for example) — all these blessings from God invite the Self to reflect whether His graciousness imposes any responsibility on it or not. Love for God is the result of this gratefulness, and it finds the clue at the intersection of myriads of impulses fitted together in the moments the Self passes by (explained in an earlier post). The clue found out of love for God lets it progress towards the path the Self deserves.

It seems if the vibrant galaxies are the end product of all the electrons waiting to interact with all the protons and neutrons to build up a tiny atom in there, then the Self would be blending its exorbitantly positive emotion with neutralizing sense of reasons. And to complete the process, its intellect (acting just like electrons) would wait for a tranquil heart embraced by nothing other than gratefulness to God and start interacting with that blend and shape up the end product as the best creature on earth. No matter what inhibits the interaction, Gratefulness to God sounds like the catalyst for the Self to believe the impossible is possible. Because God has shown the tension in holding the sky up despite the gravity of the universe — Self thus reflects God striving to bring out compassion when standing by someone in need of help keeping up with any associated humiliation. God has shown another tension zone where He does not let the sky and earth vanish away from each other — this may have indicated the electromagnetic force in the universe. If this mesmerizing interaction ceased to exist, no Self would be living — breaking down into sub-atomic particles. Self would manifest God in its deeds depicting forbearance when someone close keeps ignoring and annoying; the sense of reasons would pacify the exploding emotion justifying the loss in the long term might be more significant than the inherent gain in the present.

This entire thinking about how the Devil is portrayed in the Qur’an as an inhibiting force within the struggle of the Self — to keep God in mind through gratefulness — is an eye-opener. It demonstrates where a Self stands in terms of nurturing gratitude and observing the universe to replicate the way God has shown how He deals with His creation. He gives away, and none can push Him back, and we learn strength in there and replicate that strength in our compassion as we do not hesitate to fight hardship and stand by what is true, for example. He withholds mercy for a better time, and none can pull it out of Him then, and we learn there is some wisdom. We portray that wisdom when we bring out forbearance, for instance, and be wise to manage emotion for a better outcome. This also delineated that the tension zone or the struggle is necessary for the existence of the Self just like without the interaction of the electromagnetic force no molecular item would have existed in the universe. Genuine sincerity in carrying out the blend of emotions and sense of reasons interacting with the intellect seems to be vital to justify the eligibility for success on the final Day.

This is in response to the amazing Friday prompt from Diana C.