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82. Tragedy and adversity are not obstacles, but rather openings, to finding GOD before we die.
83. We find Him when we realize how great ‘We’ (the Seeker and the Sought) are when ‘I’ am lost.
84. This realization ‘saves’ Us for a higher form of Life, symbolized by the Garden.
85. Faith, the active cultivation or exercise of this higher Life, is the primary concern of the Qur’an.
86. Our faith in GOD represents our fitness for Him. Religions are facilities to promote that fitness.
87. Submission, i.e., Islam, is the building code He has prescribed to facilitate complete faith in Him.
88. But His infinite justice and compassion always elevate true faith over mere religious adherence.
89. Evolutionary ethics explains religion as a strategy derived from another kind of fitness – survival.
90. Survival, however, is just a fact, unable to explain the values, e.g., truth, informing our universe.
91. Science aims to reduce everything to ones and zeroes. Values always point upwards . . . to GOD.
92. Religion works as a unifier of values to become our personal and social interface with reality.
93. Religion both describes the values we have and prescribes the values we need for lasting success.
94. It thus must be practical and flexible while also fulfilling our hunger for the meaningful and ideal.
95. The lure of scientism consists in its showing us what is easiest and most reassuring to see.
96. But the yearning to see is an inner, immaterial quest, and nothing external will satisfy it.
97. Experiences, the raw subjective element in our lives, precede facts, and reveal a Light within.
98. The work of this Light is conveyed analogically in the parable of Sulaiman (in the 27th Surah).
99. As the active intellect, he commands forces that explore knowledge, parse it, and then integrate it.
100. The purpose of this life-long campaign is not ant-like survival but gratitude and service to GOD.
101. Within each soul is a devilish realm of ambiguity and confusion that must be faced and mastered.
102. Ruling over this kingdom of shadows is the confused intellect, with its own façade of authority.
103. This counterfeit throne, like scientism today, is based on the love of power, wealth, and comfort.
104. The active intellect must conquer these passions and dispel the ignorance they present as noble.
105. Severe determination is required for this, but calm and careful demonstration is most effective.
106. When the confused intellect sees the incoherence of its claims, the way to submission is open.
107. Resistance to Divine Guidance arises from a gradual attachment to things – reificatory slippage.
108. By entering the Palace of Truth, we rise above the flow of things to spiritual unity and peace.
The GOD You Already Know 