I wonder... is it enough to be good?
Being a "good person" is something that is difficult in today's world. It is quite hard to consistently act in a manner which can be construed by the majority of people as "good" (there will always be some people whose personal interests lie opposite the "good" of the majority, so it is truly impossible to please everyone). But, having said this, it is not exceptionally difficult to be a "good person" the majority of the time.
I personally believe that all of us have more goodness than not within us. This may be idealistic, but based on personal experience, I feel that the majority of people want to do what they perceive as being "good" in the majority of cases. The difference lies in where the common good lies, vs. the individual.
So, I do not feel as though being a good person is an incredibly difficult feat, I feel that most of us already do act in a "good" manner in most situations.
So, assuming that my previous, potentially idealistic assumption of human nature is correct...is it enough to be good?
What does it mean to live in our world? I believe that there must be some purpose to our existence here on this Earth... many would say that the purpose is to eventually go to heaven... To those individuals I would ask if it is enough to be good?
Heaven is a conceptual "place" where a soul would travel to if it has lived a "good life"... Is that the only purpose of our existence here on this Earth? To be good people, help others, live fulfilled lives and eventually die and have a part of our essence travel to heaven?
Even if heaven is filled with joys I cannot at this time fathom... it still seems an empty prize for a task that is not exceedingly difficult. Rather, I feel we should strive not to exchange the prison of our souls from the body to a heavenly one... we should each strive for a truth... something deeper that lies beyond.
Why are we here? Is it enough to simply be good? Or is there more to this life?
For some reason, I cannot accept the fact that life could have such a simple goal... that the entire purpose of creation is to live within a subjective framework of "good" and "bad" and through living within this framework to obtain a reward which seems to be quite limited in it's scope.
Why say yes to heaven, when the true goal is a truth that lies beyond it? The truth of why we are truly here.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
The Day of Judgment
One of the most common questions I get asked deals with the Day of Judgment.
Now, many people believe that one day there will come a day of reckoning for each of us, when each and every one of us will have to account for our actions. The difference stems from what is literal and what is not literal.
No one truly knows what the term Day of Judgment really means, it is talked about in the Qur'an as being the end of all days, and many philosophers and theologists have attempted to decipher the truth behind what this term means.
Theories behind what it refers to include it being a literal day where the world as we know it will cease to exist and God will judge each individual whether they are presently alive or dead based on their deeds. Other theories state that there are multiple forms of the Day of Judgment, each of us lives through this every day of our lives, we are judged every day by our conduct, we are judged when we die and we are judged when our species will eventually die. Yet another perspective states that the Day of Judgment is a metaphor in it's entirety. Actions are constantly accounted for, however, the Day of Judgment as a physical day does not happen...
All of these probably have some truth to them, but no one can really know what will happen or what this phrase refers to.
I believe that accountability is an important aspect of being human. I feel that we must answer for the wrongs we have done and be acknowledged for the good we have done. However, my perception of God must also play a role in my personal understanding of the Day of Judgment. When I think of God, I think of an entity beyond anything the human mind can conceive... as such, God is beyond the concept of time.
When I think of a Day of Judgment, I feel that there are 2 perspectives... from the human perspective, when we are judged for our actions (whether it be at the end of each day, or at the end of our lives, or at some other time interval), that "time" when we are judged would be the Day of Judgment... from the perspective of the Almighty, the concept of a single day would be irrelevant. God is in all places and times. The God who exists today is the exact same God from millenia ago and will be the same in millenia to come.
I would venture to say that the concept of a Day of Judgment would be flawed because it would be isolated to a Day, when God, who is doing the judging, lies beyond time.
Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong, I guess only time will tell.
Now, many people believe that one day there will come a day of reckoning for each of us, when each and every one of us will have to account for our actions. The difference stems from what is literal and what is not literal.
No one truly knows what the term Day of Judgment really means, it is talked about in the Qur'an as being the end of all days, and many philosophers and theologists have attempted to decipher the truth behind what this term means.
Theories behind what it refers to include it being a literal day where the world as we know it will cease to exist and God will judge each individual whether they are presently alive or dead based on their deeds. Other theories state that there are multiple forms of the Day of Judgment, each of us lives through this every day of our lives, we are judged every day by our conduct, we are judged when we die and we are judged when our species will eventually die. Yet another perspective states that the Day of Judgment is a metaphor in it's entirety. Actions are constantly accounted for, however, the Day of Judgment as a physical day does not happen...
All of these probably have some truth to them, but no one can really know what will happen or what this phrase refers to.
I believe that accountability is an important aspect of being human. I feel that we must answer for the wrongs we have done and be acknowledged for the good we have done. However, my perception of God must also play a role in my personal understanding of the Day of Judgment. When I think of God, I think of an entity beyond anything the human mind can conceive... as such, God is beyond the concept of time.
When I think of a Day of Judgment, I feel that there are 2 perspectives... from the human perspective, when we are judged for our actions (whether it be at the end of each day, or at the end of our lives, or at some other time interval), that "time" when we are judged would be the Day of Judgment... from the perspective of the Almighty, the concept of a single day would be irrelevant. God is in all places and times. The God who exists today is the exact same God from millenia ago and will be the same in millenia to come.
I would venture to say that the concept of a Day of Judgment would be flawed because it would be isolated to a Day, when God, who is doing the judging, lies beyond time.
Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong, I guess only time will tell.