The Romans, Part 2
Quran 30:7 - They ˹only˺ know the worldly affairs of this life, but are ˹totally˺ oblivious to the Hereafter.
This is relevant to the previous post about the impermanence of 'things' in life. Material possessions are mortal.
In another verse, from the Chapter of The Cave (18:46), Allah says - 'Wealth and children are the adornment of this worldly life, but the everlasting good deeds are far better with your Lord in reward and in hope.' This is a repeating motif in the Quran - the world is impermanent.
Confucious, considered by some to be a Prophet to China, said, 'There is nothing more real than what cannot be seen and there is nothing more certain than what cannot be heard.' Meaning - the reality is beyond what we see and hear. We have to distill what the senses sense (hear, see, taste, touch, smell), in order to make sense of this world. (Am I making sense?) The senses we have, are far more developed in animals. A shark can smell blood in water from miles away. A horse can hear the faintest sounds. A bat can fly blind at night (not that night and day matter for the bat!), because it has sound waves bouncing off its head. Elephants can sense faint vibrations with their feet. But animals do not possess the higher functions to distill what they sense into something bigger. Humans have the brains to develop a deep consciousness and plug into a deeper reality of this world - a reality that is truly hidden if we just use our senses without a deeper purpose.
Quran 30:8 - Have they not reflected upon their own being? Allah only created the heavens and the earth and everything in between for a purpose and an appointed term. Yet most people are truly in denial of the meeting with their Lord!
Here is a deep searching question to mankind. What is a human being? Our body is in a constant state of flux, living off the earth, until we die, when we become one with earth again (ashes to ashes, dust to dust, derived from Genesis 3:19, Bible). Is that the sole purpose of existence? Is that the sole purpose of Creation? An endless life cycle of birth and death? Shouldn't the in-between count? We will meet our Lord. And we will be asked of our deeds. And we will be asked whether we saw Him in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the animals that are subjected to us, the plants that follow our instructions, the infinite galaxies (because if the stars didn't come out at night, and show the infinite creative power of the Creator, we would think about where the Created stops), the sun, the moon (and how the moon became the first calendar, and how we still follow it!), and, and, and...