Part Four

Miscellaneous Matters

 

The testimony of human conscience to God the Almighty

Conscience is human conscience is human conscious nature, the point of the intersection between the Unseen and the visible, corporeal realms, where the tides between these two realms meet. Concerning its testimony to God the Almighty, consider the following four points:

THE FIRST: A thing’s innate drive or its God-given nature does not lie. For example,  a seed’s urge to grow says: “I will grow into such-and-such a plant and produce fruit,” and then it does so. An egg’s urge to life says: “I will be a chick,” and then becomes a chick. Water’s urge to freeze says: “I will take up more space,” and then it does so. Hard and solid iron cannot contradict it; rather, when frozen, water splits it. Such drives and urges are manifestations of the Divine commands of creation that issue from the Divine Will.

THE SECOND: Apart from their five external senses and certain other inner ones, a person also has many windows that open unto the Unseen world, and many other, imperceptible senses. We have a sixth sense of drive or urge and the seventh sense of enthusiasm. Those two senses cannot lie or mislead.

THE THIRD: An imaginary thing cannot be the origin or cause of an external fact or reality. The existence of the point of reliance and the point of seeking help in human conscience is an undeniable reality. Without it, the human spirit, which is the most refined extract and noblest of creation, would be the lowliest and most wretched creature. But the wisdom in the existence of the universe and its order and perfection refute this probability.

THE FOURTH: Even if reason abandons its essential duty and sees and judges wrongly, human conscience cannot forget its Maker. Even if it denies its own existence, the conscience thinks of Him, sees Him, and is turned to Him. Intuition, which is a power of quick, lightning-like grasp, continuously provokes it. Inspiration, which is doubled intuition, constantly illuminates it. Desire, which is doubled inclination, yearning, doubled desire, and love of God, the doubled yearning, always stimulate it toward knowledge of the All-Majestic One. The feelings of attraction and being attracted felt in one’s innate human conscience are due to the attractive power of this substantial truth.

The human conscious nature, which we call conscience, and which distinguishes between what is good and evil, which feels pleasure and exhilaration in what is good, and suffers from and is grieved by what is evil, consists of four basic elements, namely the spiritual intellect, the willpower, the mind, and the power of perceptiveness. These four elements are also regarded as the senses of the spirit. In addition to their different duties and functions, each of these senses has an ultimate purpose for its existence. The ultimate purpose for willpower is worshipping God; for the mind, it is having knowledge of God, for the power of perceptiveness, it is love of God, and for the spiritual intellect it is vision of God. What we call taqwa (piety and righteousness), which is the perfect form or degree of worship, is the result of the functions of all these four senses. The Shari‘a nourishes them so that they develop, equips them with the necessary material, and directs them to the ultimate purposes for the existence of each.

(From Noqta [“The Point”])

 

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi