Quest

A few days ago, we were having discussions about our existence, that is our
purpose to be. Some interesting concepts emerged from the discussion:

1. How do we see God?

I've asked this question from quite a few people and interestingly enough, I got
some very innocent answers. Some saw God as a fatherly figure, with white
beard, long hair, elderly....others believe that he is a light (this I believe comes
from the common religious definitions of God showing himself to Moses in the
form of light). Yet others believed that he is just there, and were not able to
describe at all.

So we sat down and tried to describe him. we started with simple questions. How
did it all come into existence? Who created all this (heavenly bodies)? How come
there is so much order in everything, even at micro level? If someone is to create
all this, then he has to have unimaginable powers. OR is it just a Cause & Effect
relationship between all that exists in the heavens and the earths. Difficult to
imagine, that it is a simple matter of 'Chance'. More likely hood, is that there is
some power out there that caused all this, the way it is. So what does it look like?
What form is it in? Or is it even necessary, that every entity should have a form or
shape. Is it our minds that refuse to accept or believe anything that cannot be
seen or conceptualized. Concept, is another interesting word, that came up. Is
God a concept? No, probably not.

So, what does God look like? I have somewhat come to conclusion that God is
'Life'. He is within us, around us, everywhere. This is the only definition that fits
the description of God. His relationship with every living organism in this
universe can be explained. It explains a lot of aesthetic concepts about God too.
But, then simple Life seems to be limited and confined to bodies and organisms,
yet it seems that his presence everywhere in this universe, kind of, extends the
definition of Life, in itself. Probably, life is not as simple as we think it is. Have we
been able to explain Life? At least I am not aware of any logical definition of life.
Its something that we take for granted every day. Something that is in us.
Something that cannot be seen, touched, felt; at least our 3 dimensional minds
cannot relate to the presence and existence of life. We know it is there. So coming
back to the extension Gods definition as Life. God is every where. That means he
is in us, around us, in space, in galaxies; he is every where. So he is like an ocean
of high energy waves, that go through us, we are engulfed in them, and there is no
limit or containment of this energy.

We feel its presence, and we see him as a sign in every living organism we come
across. You take away life from any thing, be it a plant, or an insect, or a human
being. Lifeless remains are insignificant, yet they support the very existence of
life.....thus God.
When did man become conscious of this existence and tried to put together a
concept that can be explained simply? Probably not so long ago. That, probably,
explains the big gap between the initiation of the concept of religion and the
scientific proof of humans existence on this planet for millions of years. Why does
scriptures go only so far as couple of thousand years. It only depended on the
abilities of our minds.

Yes, Mind. This is another interesting thing. Another good topic, probably talk
about it later.

So, now, lets say, we know what God looks like, and in what form he exists. How,
then, do we relate the religious concepts. Each religion looks at God in a different
manner. People in each religion have experiences with their God, and they have
perfect legitimate grounds to believe that their God is the 'Real' God. How do we
solve that problem? If 'Life' is what God is, and concept of 'Life' is and can only be
'Positive' therefore, all creatures on this planet, or maybe, in this universe have a
special relationship with God, in the form of life. If you are alive, you have a
relationship with God. You are special. So, how does it make the other not so
special? he is also carrying the same relationship? Even animals. They have that
relationship with God too...the only difference is that they cannot think, but does
that matter?

Next question. Does God intervene in our lives? This is where we get entangled in
our concepts and beliefs. It is probably difficult to have a simple answer to this.

Does God intervene in our daily lives?

This is a touchy question. I'm not really sure how to compromise on this one. If I
look at a routine day in my life, the only thing logical that I see in it, is 'Cause &
Effect'. The more I thought about it, the more I could explain the various chains
of action and reaction that occurs and have occurred in my daily life. We make
choices and decisions almost all the time. Some are insignificant, others can
simply change the course of our lives. But it is still it is probably 'I' that is driving
my life. So, where do I see God's intervention?

There are events that can not be explained. People normally reiterate their
experiences, each time they try to prove that God does intervene in our lives.

An event that I personally suffered, was a motor bike accident, 20 years ago. I
had a fractured limb, and during treatment I developed gangrene. My leg had to
be amputated. This particular event occurred on the day my right leg was to be
amputated above knee. I was being prepared for the surgery, and suddenly the
pain started becoming so intense that one of the doctor had to give me a shot.
That shot was the beginning of an experience that I may never forget in my life.
The moment that injection was administered, I felt a calm, that I used to feel at
other times, when I would get these shots during extreme pain situations. This
time, it went a bit farther. My mind was fully alert, and there was a certain calm
that came to me. That was a bit unusual too. Well, next thing that started
happening was, the slow and systematic disappearance of all feelings of my body.
As if something is slowly and gradually being sucked out of your body. It started
from my legs and moved towards the upper body. By the time it reached my
upper body, my breathing started to slow down. My eyes were open and as I was
going through this, my close relatives, including my father and uncles were
standing by me. I could see them, and hear them as well. My mind was fully
active and I was fully conscious. Once my breathing slowed down to a stop, I felt
my heart beat also slowing down, and by the time I had lost the body feeling till
my head, my heart had stopped, and I saw black spot right in the middle of my
sight, that expanded and I could not see anymore, although my eyes were open.
My father says that, that was the moment, when they panicked, because my eyes
did not seem to have any life in them. While they were calling the doctors/nurse,
I was continuing to lose all senses and feelings of life. I knew then, that my time
has come. When I think back today, I find it a bit comforting that after all death is
not that terrible.

From the point, when I lost my sight, my heart had stopped, and I was not
breathing any more, my hearing was gone too, but my mind was still fully alert
and I was 'thinking'. I am a Muslim, and it is in our belief system that when you
are dying, you have to recite 'Kalma' a verse from Quran three times, that goes
like this...'la ilaha ilallah, muhammad ur rasul allah'...meaning, 'There is no God
but one God, and Muhammad is his messenger'.

The moment I lost my sight, I had realized that I was dying, so I need to recite the
'Kalma'. At that very instance I started reciting. Now as I am reciting, I am
continuing my journey out of the body. After losing the sight, I started to feel a
sudden fast movement, as if the whole process was now moving at a fast forward.
I am now reciting the second time. During this time, I felt as if I was travelling
fast beyond and in that process I saw two 'Golden Lion Heads' pass by me, as if I
was travelling in a car that was going almost a 100 miles an hour. Now I was
reciting for the third and last time. I was now beyond the body and travelling in
dark at a very high speed. My mind all this time was fully conscious. I was now
completing the recitation for the third and last time. The moment I completed the
recitation, as if somebody switched on my body. I felt a sudden swoosh feeling,
and I was back, my sight was back, I was breathing, my heart was back, and first
thing I saw was sounds of people rushing towards me. I had come back. What
followed was even stranger. I started speaking in a very authoritative, loud and
energetic voice to my father. What ever was being said, it was 'Not Me'. I was not
saying it. I still remember the strangest feeling, that I can never explain to
anyone. This was a patient, who had been in the hospital for the last two and half
months, and totally drained of all energy. It used to be difficult for me to even
talk for long. So I was very weak at the time of surgery. I told my father to take
'Naved' (me) to the operation theater. I told him that the operation of a child was
successful and over, and now it is time for 'Naved' to go in. Nobody in the room,
at that time, knew that there was a child being operated upon, after whom, it was
my turn. Interestingly enough, right at that instance, the nurses came in told my
father that they now need to take me to the theater. Besides this, there were other
nice things about my mother that were told to my father. Meanwhile, Doctors
who were called in emergency, had come and left after making sure that my vital
statistics were fine.

I was taken into the Surgery room. What happened then, was even more baffling.
The guy who was preparing for the surgery, before the doctors came, asked me if
I could try to move my upper body on the operation table. Even before I could
reply to him, that it was impossible, because all this while, it was excruciatingly
painful to even attempt to move. My body, as if someone else was moving it, slid
from the bed to the operation table, including my legs. Which, I could not have
even imagined to move. Without any 'pain' at all. It was a very smooth and
painless move. First my upper body slid, and then lower. It was totally uncalled
for. Even the guy was surprised, but didn't say anything. I cannot have any
explanation for this. There were certain other hand motions, which I could swear
that I didn't move my self, and it was all happening itself. I did not have any
control on my body, or what I was saying, and felt my voice to be very strange.

I had to go through the details of the this event. It might help the reader to
understand where I am coming from, and what do I mean.

How do we explain all this. I've tried to come up with various reasoning. First one
being. I was drugged, and all that followed was an experience that my mind went
through. This is where I sometimes think that we should address the 'Mind' entity
as well, but probably later. For now, it will suffice to say that our mind has certain
powers that probably we are not aware of, and some people are able to train their
minds in doing things that cannot be explained, at least by ignorants like myself.
So mind has its own powers. Could that be, that the pain killing drug ignited
certain mind reactions that lead to those events?

One of my friends, a psychology major, and a practicing self hypnosis, tells me

that he has experienced out of body experiences, and similar sensations, simply
through meditations. So, he could easily understand my out of body experience
too, but the self body movement and voices, was not congruent to his
understandings. It can be defined as hallucination, if it is only experienced by
ones own-self. But if other people can testify to it, then its a different ball game.
Mind is not playing tricks, it is actually doing it. Or, is it the Mind? Or is it God's
intervention.

Like me, every other person may have gone through some strange experience
during their lives, that is difficult to explain. So, what do we conclude from this?
Is there, or is there not, a possibility of intervention by God, in our lives?

That was one instance in my life, that I cannot explain. But all others, I think i
can justify through 'Cause & Effect' relationship. I am, what I wanted to be. What
I do today, will affect my tomorrow. Decisions and choices I make, will also affect
other people around me. I may be affecting an outcome of an event related with a
friend or a relative, without them even realizing that. An indirect relationship. If
we investigate each event, we should be able to find a 'Cause & Effect'
relationship in each event. In programming language, we call it an 'instance' that
can also be defined as 'occurrence'. It does have a logical pattern. It is up to us,
how we lay it all out, and create and link the dots.

So, is it up to us? Then, how does God affect our lives? Why would he give us
freedom, and yet put physical limitations on us? What is the divine 'Will'? Why
are we here in the first place? What is our purpose? Do we know how big is the
universe? We can't even measure space? We don't even have the exact size of his
domain. And if we try to establish a relevance with his other creations in the
universe and ourselves, we probably are insignificant. Just a dot. Are we living a
make belief life? Why do we have to give ourselves so much importance that, to
me, it seems, that the only business for God, is to mind our business. All heavenly
bodies are made fur 'us'. All meanings lead towards us. He has created us to be
his most loved and cherished creation. How do we know that he may be having
other creations existing in world un-be-knownst to us? As far as my reading goes,
scientists have mathematically defined the existence of twenty nine dimensions.
In their view, it is possible to have a dimension parallel to ours, that we may not
be able to perceive, yet it exists. Our mind is designed to perceive only in three
dimensions. Its our limitation. As powerful as our mind is, it still has a
limitations. However, it then also supports the claims of some people who, using
the same 'mind' have been able to cross into other dimensions. What is all that?
Is our sight, just a perception? Is a square, really a square?

So, where do we stand in this complex setup of dimensions and space? What is
our significance? What is our purpose? It is surely difficult for me to conclude
that our purpose is simply to worship the creator. If that is the case, then it seems
to me that it is some kind of a game in the sight of God. He has let these creatures
of his lose, giving them a certain power, and now he wants to see who does what?
It doesn't make sense. If everything that happens is 'God's Will', then God is not
all 'Positive' because nearly every day, we see bad things happen around us.

I see a lot of problem with prevailing concepts. They don't add up. There has to be
a reason and explanation. Does any body know? Probably not. It might not be
possible for our meagre minds to fathom the simplest definition and reasoning
behind all this. What is the 'Absolute Truth'? It may be incomprehensible.
Beyond our abilities to even attempt to understand it. We live on a tiny planet,
'somewhere' unknown to 'others'. Yet, beyond the physical bounds, there may be
parallel 'worlds' existing besides us. So what are we talking about, here? Our
Lives? What is the significant of 'our' lives in comparison to 'others'? . We have
just begun our journey towards discovery of some very basic elements, and we do
have a long way to go. The 'end' may only come because of our choices. But then,
a large meteor may be on our course and end the game, that way? Who knows.

So, in the end, I'd say, it is in conclusive, as usual. If someone has a better answer,
I'd love to know.