Soul/ Conscious and its Training (1)

            

We have already seen in the article   http://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2011/11/reality-of-human-soul.html that “human being exists in the form of a pair of body and soul. Every human body is a true reflection of its soul; human body contains all the characteristics which are embedded in dormant form in its soul. The greater a human body actualizes these characteristics, the more it functions like a soul. Depending upon the level of actualization, a human body can be weightless like a soul; it can fly in the air like a soul (as our Aulia Allah do); it can travel with immeasurable speed like a soul; it can see beyond the limits of ordinary human sight as a soul can do; it can be so refined like soul that no shadow of it can be formed (Hazrat Muhammad’s (saw) body had no shadow).  Human body always acts according to dictation of its soul; if the soul gives good direction, the human body acts in good way; if the soul gives bad direction, the human body acts accordingly.  That is why when a human body expires, its soul is rewarded or punished according to human body’s actions. It is a misconception that soul always leads towards Allah; if it were so, why it should be punished for bad deeds of human body? Actually human soul’s trial is conducted through human body.

In the article   http://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2012/05/modes-of-human-trial-and-levels-of.html    we have seen that through this trial of human soul, everything good or bad in a human soul is made apparent to him /her.   Quran describes rationale of this whole creation as “it is so because you could be made apparent to yourself”. In other words, whole system of creation has been created to make human being’s inner goodness or badness known to him/her.

This goodness or badness is created in human soul/human body when at ‘youm-e-alst’ Allah asked all human beings whether they accept Him their Lord. Quran says:

“And when your Lord brought forth from the children of Adam, from their backs, their descendants, and made them bear witness against their own souls: “Am I not your Lord”? They said: Yes! we bear witness. Lest you should say on the day of resurrection: Surely we were ignorant of this” (al-aaraf-172).

From this above verse it is clear the witness was given by humans of blood and bones; it was not given by human souls. It is a misconception this witness was given by human souls. This verse clearly states that human beings made this witness when they had been created from backs of their elders; in other words, witness was made when human beings had been begotten by their parents. It is obvious that souls do not give birth to their children; it is human of blood and bones which gives birth to his/her children.

 Every human being/human soul gives witness to Allah’s Lordship when he/she has been created but still is within mother’s womb; when soul is paired with the body within the womb.

As the witness has been made by all human beings ever born and yet to be born, the question arises how all human beings can make witness together when they are not born together. The answer is that Allah is All Powerful; Allah is not bound to operate within frames of Time and Space within seven skies. Allah can combine all distant incidents and make all distant incidents happen in a single moment. (plz see for details article  http://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2012/05/contraction-of-time-into-single-moment.html).

 when Allah made all human beings give witness about His Lordship, all human beings gave witness to that effect. All human beings accepted/ submitted that Allah is their Lord, but the submissions by all human beings to Allah were not at equal levels; the submissions to Allah’s Lordship by more pious people stood at higher levels than those of lesser pious people.  Similarly every human being submitted to Allah’s Lordship variably in various matters/incidents which he was to face in future life. The objective behind Allah’s question was to know how much they would submit to Allah in their life matters; the reply by the people showed how much they would submit to Allah in various incidents in their life. These various levels of submission shown by individual(s) to Allah’s Lordship in various incidents of life are called intention/‘neyyat’; every individual/soul expresses these intentions when he/she is still within mother’s womb. When child takes birth, he/she forgets about his pledge of submission to Allah or his/her intentions of submission in various life matters. 

In psychological terms, these intentions are called unconscious level of human mind. These intentions or unconscious mind are not part of living memory of individual; these are part of forgotten memory. It is these intentions or unconscious mind which is made apparent to every individual during his/her life span. In other words, the levels of submission shown by individual on ‘youm-e-alst’ to Allah’s Lordship regarding future life incidents are made apparent to him in his life span. That is why every individual is liable to get punishment or reward for only such deeds which are based on his/her intentions, as our Nabi (saw) states that “ deeds are based on intentions/ ‘neyyat’.

These intentions are first level of human consciousness. The Quran has mentioned this first level of human conscious in al-anaam-3 which states “And He is Allah , [the only deity] in the heavens and the earth. He knows what is concealed in you and what is known of you, and He knows that which you earn”.     

In this verse, three things have been mentioned: the concealed from/in the  individual; apparent to the individual; and actions of the individual. The concealed in individual is not only concealed from other people but also concealed from individual himself; it is intention/ ‘neyyat’ which is neither action nor apparent to individual. Another mention about the fact that intentions are primarily hidden and not known to individual has been made in sura al-taghabun-4.

When intention becomes known to individual, it becomes individual’s  wish. This is the second level of human conscious which is called sub-conscious or preconscious. Allah says:

“And you do not will except that Allah wills. Indeed, Allah is ever Knowing and Wise” al-insaan-30).

From this verse it is clear that individual’s wish comes into existence, only if Allah wills it so; in other words, without Allah’s permission, individual cannot come to know about his intentions. At sub-conscious level, human first time comes to know about his/her intention; at this level human intention becomes his desire.

When individual acts to actualize his/her wishes, the third level of human mind operates, which is called conscious. Human action may be physical action (performed through body) or mental action (thinking). The difference between sub-conscious and conscious is that at sub-conscious level, human first time comes to know about his intention without his conscious effort; but at the conscious level, human consciously thinks to act as per his desire or actually acts as per his desire. 

In short, there are three levels of human consciousness- intentions; wishes; and actions. Intentions in human being are developed on 'yum-e-alst'. The intentions become hidden from the concerned individual, when he takes birth. When Allah wills it so, He makes the individual knowing to his intention; when intention becomes known to individual, it becomes his desire/wish. When individual tries to actualize his wishes, he commits actions. 

We have also seen in the article http://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2015/01/ilham-intuition-function-of-human-mind-2.html#links  that human intentions/ideas which are inherently embedded in unconscious part of human mind have actually been developed by man, before his birth, in response to life events he has to face in his life after taking birth in this world. It means all events which act as stimuli to develop human intentions are actually shown to humans before their birth. In other words, not only human intentions/ideas but also all stimuli/ events which cause those intentions/ ideas to happen, are inherently embedded in unconscious part of human mind; not only human intentions/ideas but also human life incidents are pre-determined and are inherently embedded in the unconscious part of human mind. In other words, whole universe, and whatever happens in it, exists in human mind, and is inherently embedded in human mind and is predetermined. But it does not mean this creation is unreal/vanity; Quran says this universe and whatever exists in it is real (sad-27). It means though this creation exists in human mind but it is brought into being as well whenever Allah wills it so. When the things embedded in unconscious mind are moved by Allah from the unconscious mind to sub conscious or conscious mind, those things are actually brought into being in reality. In this way human intentions are made known to him. 

 From the foregoing, it becomes evident that actually it is trial of human conscious which is conducted through human body. On the other hand, we have already seen that human body actually acts according to dictations given by the soul, and this world is actually trial for the human soul and such trial is conducted through human body. It means human soul actually exists in the human body in the form of human conscious. Human conscious is the second name of human soul.

It may be appreciated if everything to be faced by an individual is inherently embedded in the individual’s mind/conscious and is predetermined, it does not mean that human effort is meaningless. Everything/ event embedded in human conscious is predetermined on the basis of stimuli generating that event. An event embedded in human conscious is nothing, unless and until, it comes into being externally; every event becomes a real event only when it comes into existence externally. As every intention/ event inherently embedded in an individual’ conscious has been developed in response to the events to be faced by the individual in his future life, and as every event in future life comes into being externally on the basis of relevant external stimuli, it means an event inherently embedded in conscious may be shaped on the basis of external stimuli. By creating certain stimuli externally through effort, we can ensure that intention developed on ‘youm e alast’ would be based on such external stimuli created through effort. In other words, we can train our soul/conscious to enable our conscious/ soul for making good deeds and right decisions in response to events/stimuli faced in the life (continued).