|
WHY
GOD HAS CREATED NATURAL LAWS AND CAUSES?
In
the next world, which is the realm of Power, God
will execute His Will directly without the ‘medium’
of causes so that everything will happen
instantaneously, the Divine Name, the All-Wise,
requires that in this world, which is the realm
of Wisdom, Divine Power should operate from
behind the veil of causes and laws. Because:
Opposites are mingled in this world where
man is tested how he will use his free will
and other faculties
Opposites
are mingled in this world: truth with falsehood,
light with darkness, good with evil, white with
black, and so on. Since man, in whose nature are
ingrained inclinations towards both good and evil,
is tested in this world whether he will use his free
will and other faculties in the way of truth and
good or otherwise, Divine Wisdom has required that
the veil of causes and laws should be drawn before
the operations of Divine Power. If God had willed,
He could be training the planets with His ‘hands’
in a way observable by us, or He could have them
administered by angels whom we could see openly, and
we would then not be speaking of the laws of causes
involved such as gravitation. Or, in order to
communicate His Commandments, He could, without
sending any Prophets, speak to each individual
directly, or, in order to compel us to believe in
His existence and Oneness, He could write His Name
with stars on the face of skies. But in this case
man’s earthly existence could not be, as it is, an
arena of trial. As a result of this trial, good and
evil have, since the beginning of man’s worldly
existence, been flowing through this world into the
next one to fill its two mighty pools of Paradise
and Hell.
God has made natural laws and causes a veil
before His acts so that some unaware of the
wisdom and good behind the things and events
disagreeable to them should not criticize
Him
Like
the two sides of a mirror, existence has two aspects
or dimensions, one visible and material, the realm
of opposites and (in most cases) imperfections, and
the spiritual realm which is transparent, pure and
perfect. There can be, and actually are, in the
material dimension, events and phenomena which
appear disagreeable to man. Those who are unable to
perceive the Divine Wisdom behind all things may go
so far as to criticize the Almighty for those
disagreeable events and phenomena. In order to
prevent that, God has made natural laws and causes a
veil before His acts. For example, so that man
should criticize neither God nor His angel of death
for the loss of his beloved ones or for his own
death, God has placed between Himself and the
phenomenon of death (among other ‘agents’ or ‘causes’)
diseases and natural disasters.
Again,
on account of the essential imperfection of this
world of testing and trial, man encounters, and
suffers from, many deficiencies and shortcomings. In
absolute terms, every event and phenomenon is good
and beautiful in itself or in its consequences.
Whatever God does or decrees is good, beautiful and
just. Injustices, ugliness and evils are only
apparent or superficial and arise from the errors
and abuses of humankind. For example, a court may
pass an unjust sentence on you; but you should know
that Destiny permitted that judgment because of a
crime of yours which has remained hidden. Whatever
befalls a man is usually because of self-wronging,
an evil he himself has done. However, those who lack
the sound reasoning and judgment necessary to
understand the Divine Wisdom behind events and
phenomena, may impute directly to God the apparent
ugliness or evils, the imperfections and
shortcomings, experienced in worldly life. Whereas
God is absolutely free from any kind of defect or
imperfection.
Therefore,
to prevent people from ascribing to God the ugliness
and evils they encounter in life, His Glory and
Grandeur have required that natural causes and laws
should be a veil before His acts, while belief in
His Unity demands that those causes and laws should
not be ascribed to any kind of creative power.
If God Almighty acted in the world directly,
without the ‘medium’ of causes and laws,
man would have been unable to develop
scientific knowledge, nor live even an
instant of happy life, free of fears and
anxieties
If
God Almighty acted in the world directly, without
the ‘medium’ of causes and laws, man would have
been unable to develop scientific knowledge, nor
live even an instant of happy life, free of fears
and anxieties. It is thanks to God’s acting from
behind natural causes and laws, that man is able to
observe and study patterns in phenomena. Otherwise,
each event would be a miracle. The regularity within
the flux and mutability of events and phenomena
makes them comprehensible to us, therefore awakens
the desire in us to wonder and reflect which is a
principal factor in the establishment of sciences.
For the same reason we are able, to some degree, to
plan and arrange our affairs in advance; consider
how life would be if we were completely uncertain
whether the sun would rise tomorrow!
If God manifested His Names and Attributes
directly without the ‘medium’ of causes
and laws, human beings could not endure them
Whoever
owns such attributes as beauty and perfection
desires to know them and make them known. God owns
absolute beauty and perfection and is independent of
all things, needing nothing. He owns also a holy,
transcendent love and therefore a sacred desire to
manifest His Beauty and Perfection. If He manifested
His Names and Attributes directly without the ‘medium’
of causes and laws, human beings could not endure
them. He manifests them from behind causes and laws
and by degrees within the confines of time and space
so that we can build a connection with them, reflect
on them, and perceive them. The gradual
manifestation of Divine Names and Attributes is also
a reason for our curiosity and wonder about them.
These
four constitute only some of the reasons why God
acts through the ‘medium’ of natural laws and
causes.
|
|
