My Journey Towards God.

[Mahasvapna]

This fear as expressed in English is not exactly the fear we are talking about. If u want to tranlate it better which is Taqwa. The word Taqwa is derived from Ytaqi, this means to avoid, to stay away from, to protect one against more than fear. But because the arabic language is so <b>(I don't know enough about the arabic language to know how this sentance was intended to end...)</b>


However, let me tell u how I fear Allah, I fear that Allah Would See me or look at me while i doing something that does not Please Allah.

Well, of course I fear the consequences of my actions and words which I might do without thinking... but this is part of the act of Mindfulness - to pay attention to what one says, thinks, or does.


I think the only difference here is a misalignment of words. I think I understand what you mean - correct me if I have not interpreted properly - that one must know in one's heart that God will Judge one's actions, and should act correctly out of fear of this Judgement; you should not do what does not please God, because you must then fear the loss of his protection.


As I said, I believe the difference is simply a misalignment of words. To me, philosophical 'Fear' - vs. emotional fear - is more like Aversion. Avert oneself from those things which do not please God, from the actions and words and intentions. In the face of these things, though, either in ourselves or the world, the reaction that I feel one should have is not fear, but courage, conviction, and purity of intention.


No where in my understanding is there room for Fear. The reason for this is perhaps only that my vocabulary is more specific - certainly there are a lot of extra words in english in the first place.


in the face of God, I feel humility - that is, a deep understanding (even in the emotional sense here) that God is vast, and that I can no more oppose his will than I could oppose my own. It is expressed necessarily through every thought or action. And so I feel humility (as opposed to my own definition of fear), under that which is the highest Authority, coupled with Faith that this Authority does not abuse me, but rather guides and enlightens me.


I do not Fear Hell - not because I do not believe that there are negative consequences to our worldly actions; I do, but I also believe that we experience after this life the same pain and suffering that we put into the world. I have already discussed in, I think, a different thread my basic belief in reincarnation. I do not fear hell, because I have faith that by God's guidance I need not fear hell. I had thought that this was the meaning of Salvation. I have no fear that my soul will fall, because I have no intention of letting go of my faith. To be sure, there has been much to distract me, and much to try and hamper my faith. But, when such a thing happens, I simply remind myself that it was INTENDED to break my faith, and so I must face it down and protect my faith. I think that this is supposed to be a constant battle, and here enters my warrior's mentality.


in the service of God, one must be a warrior. We are given armor - faith, hope, love, and those things which strengthen them - and we are given weapons - knowledge, wisdom, understanding, devotion - and with these things we must be ever vigilant against doubt, fear, hopelessness, and suffering. I use the word warrior, because it is an attack, it can harm you, and you must both defend yourself against it, and cut through it to it's source to stamp it out.


if this business of the Fear of God is not aligned yet, then we must perhaps begin talking of it without using the word 'Fear' - I have found that by altering the way we express an idea, it's label or word, we can ellicit the true nature of the concept itself, free of labels and their restrictive boundaries.


namaste


Mahasvapna