Is Whatever Destiny Determines Good?

 

Whatever is determined by Destiny is good, and that even if some events appear to be evil, they are actually good, and ugly things are in essence beautiful. If this is opposed by arguing that calamities and misfortunes that befall man contradict this, the answer will be as follows:

Even though you, my carnal soul and my friend, feel agonies as a result of your strong connections with existence and affection toward beings, existence is entirely good since it generates every beauty and perfection, whilst non-existence is purely evil since all sins and misfortunes originate in it. Since non-existence is evil, those circumstances which have a suggestion of non-existence in them contain some element of evil. Therefore, life, the most brilliant light of existence, grows in vigor as it revolves in different circumstances. It is purified  and perfected through experience of contradictory events and happenings, and it produces the desired results through taking on different qualities, and thus gives testimony to the manifestations of the Divine Names. It is for this purpose that living creatures go through many states, and experience situations in which they suffer misfortunes and hardships, so purifying their lives. During each one of these hardships, they renew the light of their existence, and depart from the negative darkness of non-existence. Idleness, inertia and monotony are in quality and as conditions all some aspects of non-existence. Even the greatest pleasure is reduced to nothing by monotony.

In short:  Since life displays the manifestations of God’s Beautiful Names, everything which occurs in it is beautiful. Let us suppose that an extremely rich and infinitely skilled clothes designer employs an ordinary man as a model to display his works of art in return for  wages. He requires the man to dress up in a bejeweled and artistically fashioned garment which illustrates the works of his art and his invaluable wealth. He works the garment on the man, giving it various forms. In order to display every variety of his art, he cuts it, changes it, and lengthens and shortens it. How bizarre, then, it would be for this employee to say, ‘You are causing me trouble. You are making me bow and stand up. By cutting and shortening this garment which makes me more beautiful, you are spoiling my beauty’! Does he have the right to tell him, ‘You are acting unkindly and unfairly?’

In the same way, the Creator causes living creatures to put on the garment of existence, bejeweled with senses, and reason, intellect and heart. He cuts out the pattern of that garment to give it new shapes, and adds to it beauties, and displays the magnificence of His Beautiful Names. Those circumstances which appear to cause misfortune and pain are actually flashes of the Divine Wisdom which reflect rays of compassion and contain subtle beauties.

 

This article has been adapted from Risale- i Nur Collection.