My Whole Being
All the problems faced by humankind are rooted in the fact that we failed to know who we were or where we stood in the universe! We saw the Earth as a round planet in a huge galaxy where we could eat, drink, have fun, get married, gain knowledge, and so on. After a while, whether we lived a good or bad life, we would pass away.
We did not realize we were not just men or women, but rather spiritual beings. We did not realize that the Earth, this round planet is a temporary place like a motel that is hosting us for certain period of time in order to help us gain spiritual perfection, just like a zygote which undergoes development into an embryo, fetus and then into a whole human being in its mother’s womb and is born into the world at the end of 40 weeks when he is ready to make full use of all the worldly possibilities of his life.
We became older and in every stage of life, followed every imperfect role model we met and went astray. We forgot that we were like a little apple seed that is potentially able to grow, turn into a vast apple orchard and produce a bumper harvest if an avid gardener takes care of it. We grew older and forgot that we potentially possessed all Allah’s attributes and that we could grow and become as compassionate, generous, fault-covering, merciful, comforting and consoling as Him. We forgot that we were eternal like Allah, and if we trusted an expert guide who had taken the route himself, we could achieve everlasting peace and happiness.
Our connection with Heaven was lost when we ignored the need to grow and develop to be a perfect human under the guidance of a divine agent who knows the nature of our beings. We forgot Allah’s words in the Holy Quran saying, “and breathed into him of My spirit” (29:16). We doubted and questioned the existence of the hidden Savior the moment we doubted our true essence as a human being and identified ourselves with the body, satisfying only our animal desires such as eating, working and getting married.
This is while we are more valued than these inferior things in the eyes of Allah. In fact, He has created us just to love Him. This is so important that the main message of His messengers was that “there is no beloved but Allah.”
That is to say, remember that your heart is the only worthy thing you have; therefore, do not let anyone dwell in your heart but Allah, the only One who deserves to reside in your heart.
Allah is the Beloved for whom only our higher self is important and only our spiritual heart, not the heart of a man or woman, can truly love him. The Beloved that frees us from small and petty matters, from jealousy, grudges, arrogance, erroneous judgments, and worldly pressures.
If we believe we are an immortal soul, we need a plan to nurture and grow it. Actually, this is the ultimate end of religion. Actually, religion is meant to make plans for the person who wants to go to the end of this path, that is, “there is no beloved but Allah.” It came to make plans for man to be united with his Beloved in whose arms he will be free from all the pressures caused by dishonesty, negative thoughts, sights, sounds and actions.
Our Creator knew that it was impossible for us to reach the end of this unknown path! Man cannot tread the path to Allah without the help of a guide who knows the path, a guide who is aware of all the hazards and diversions along this route and helps us every step of the way to be perfect enough to get ready to have intimacy with Allah, our only Beloved. It is at this point that we deeply feel the need for the “perfect man” to be here to guide us.
It is at this point where we become intellectually perfect and feel the need for higher love and intimacy rather than earthly ones.
Such a feeling means
I am a human being,
Love is my profession,
My Beloved is Perfect,
and I need a mentor to learn how to love.
and I am imperfect without him!
The “perfect man” Art Festival seeks to achieve this aim. The main theme of this event begins with “Who am I? ” And ends with “Who is the perfect man?”
We invite all artists who wish to use their art to serve humanity to participate in the event. Human art would be incomplete without him!
