From one perspective, some think, the entire world is in chaos—it is not possible to speak of any beauty or goodness, nor is there room for faith, divine knowledge, emotions, love, or enthusiasm. In this world, feelings are confused, thoughts are bizarre, and life overall is like hell. Voices are obscured by static and are on a hopeless bandwidth; words are allergen, heartstrings snapped, the plectrum broken. Souls that used to foam with tranquility and satisfaction, friendly conversations that used to buzz like a beehive and taste like honey, are nowhere to be found. These voices, breaths, homes like a warm, bubbly bird nest, and leadership that worked like a clock are gone only to be replaced by a scary silence, a maddening loneliness, homesickness, grief, longing, and disappointment that fill people’s hearts drop by drop. This is how pitiful the world is from one perspective.
The world of faith, however, is one with hope and has its doors open to eternity. All the beauties of existence come in torrents that appear in the exhibition of this world and inspire us with feelings for an eternal life. In this magical realm, thoughts about this life and the next are intertwined so closely that those who can preserve their roots of meaning and perceive this world with its various dimensions would never wish to leave it.
In a world of faith, what appears to be a state of stillness hides vitality and dynamism, and under what appears to be a muddy snowy surface lies a liveliness that strives for spring. As we close our eyes to observe this world with our hearts, we witness the best bouquet of songs, sounds, and sights of sweet babbling waters, a soft breeze, colors, and scents flowing in from everywhere.
In this world, life revolves on the axis of purpose—a life that reaches an unforgettable state of being in terms of faith, love, devotion, and spiritual pleasures, filling our subconscious with the seeds of otherworldly joy. This is especially so during the blessed hours and minutes, days, weeks, and months when faith embraces our core with light and softens our physicality in favor of spirituality—that is when we feel everything around us to be otherworldly, and our feet are off the ground soaring in the skies. In such an expansive mood of the spirit, our curtains are unfurled to eternity in times unbound by time; as the colors of the other world and the voices of those who have passed on come fill our souls, we feel freed from spatial boundaries and soak under a rain of blessings—blessings that we cannot even imagine.
When comparing our world of faith to other systems of belief, thought, and worldview, I cannot think of one that is more magical, colorful, fulfilling, rational, and that does not allow gaps for any vice. Lights from beyond this physical realm stream in a variety of wavelengths and embrace our spirit, turn our vision in the heart to the beauties of the beyond, connect our feelings to eternity, and have us drink its magical elixir. Our concerns are calmed in our world of faith; our fears are gone; traumas resulting from assumptions of non-existence and oblivion are removed; and our hearts are soothed.
At times, one can see this world to be overshadowed by ash-like colors—people disconnected and heartbroken. But these are never permanent, and they never originate from the human spirit. These times of constriction and darkness are immediately followed by faith in the form of a heavenly tree, filling up our failing points and reviving our willpower.
Everyone can sense this pleasure and joy in their own depths of spirit as if they are coming directly from the Beloved. For them, in everything they touch, in every yearning they keep, and in every word they utter, there is a color of eternity and a sip from the spring water of life. This is such a state of being that even the spirits of the invisible world feel the need to clear their sacred path for you.
In this world of faith, hymns of peace and contentment and the music of enthusiasm never go fully mute. This world’s silence is but to tune up, and its musical compositions flow as a heavenly river sent to help us make sense of this life.
The real music, poetry, and beauty of this world have their roots in the hearts of its inhabitants who embrace everything and every person with love. This beauty sprouts from the light source of their hearts, from the consciousness and awareness that overflow this source, and from their efforts to search for it and the fact that they become the ones searched for in the heavens and the earth. Who knows what sacred secrets and songs from the beyond are whispered to these spirits and which naked truths are shown to them?
Yes, this world of faith provides, on the one hand, nourishment for all the desires and dreams of our spirits, awakes us to all the secrets worth waiting for, and opens doors for new aspirations and perceptions; while on the other hand, it delineates the boundaries of human horizons, reminding us that we cannot be independent from what is eternal—or rather, from the source of eternity. Anyone who can lend an ear to their conscience can hear and comprehend in the form of a humming sound the whispers and signs from these secret and mysterious realms—maybe without words and letters but still clear, deep in their soul.
The human soul is always awake; yet, their conscience is like a computer programmed to decipher certain secrets, waiting for specialized hands to tap on its keyboard. This is true for every human being. The world spins, centuries come one after another, time transforms, events change color, yet the richness and harmony of the human’s inner world never changes. How does this richness penetrate eyes and hearts? What kind of an impact does it have on the soul? How does it change our perspectives? And how do we perceive this heavenliness?
In order to answer these questions, we need to run a self-reflective analysis and reach a synthesis in the laboratories of our heart and soul. If we can manage to do this, we will be able to observe how much we are impacted by things and events. Then, we will realize how our spirit is a witness to and an interpreter of existence and the worlds beyond. This joyful recurrence of awakening and acceptance over many years will leave such indelible traces that for those sincere servants of God, life will be experienced in the sweetness of a song and in the uniqueness of being human. Many crooked standards of measurement of our age, however, put us in a position that contradicts the self, causing us to experience a chaos which, in fact, does not exist in our soul.
Our world of faith manifests in the depths of a dreamy land, in the compassion and comfort of a private heavenly mansion, and in the incomprehensible magic of contentment.
All the stars and the skies they glide in, all the heavenly realms and the colorful eternity that lie beyond, are present as beautiful decorations in our world of faith.
In our world of faith, heavens interweave with the earth; the afterlife is an eternal abode of rest from this world—but only after a long journey herein. Death is a means for reunion; and the time of death is like a “wedding night” (shab-e arus).
Humankind has as many aspirations as there are grains of sands on earth and stars in outer space. With its enchanting beauties, signposts, and guides that point to the beyond, this world of faith offers to humankind a land of magic filled with light, color, meaning, spirit, and pleasures. This world opens its gates every day with thousands of blessings, settles in our spirit with a different taste, delights us by putting on an exhibition of the most precious meanings, and sets up bridges between knowledge and thought as if presenting to us a book for our review. This world constantly nourishes our mind and never leaves us alone, even for a moment.
Voices and words in this world are heard like the most touching songs. Roses and all other flowers spread the best of their fragrances without holding back any of it. Living things are friends; non-living things are loyal companions. Everything is born, grows, and moves on with a paradisical consistency.
* The Qur’an 21:69: “‘O fire’ We ordered ‘Be cool and peaceful for Abraham.’”
