THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD (original) (raw)
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The Truth of the Life of This World
Adnan Oktar (Harun Yahya) This woman is in her seventies. Have you ever wondered how somebody her age would assess her life? If she recalls anything about her life, it is surely that it was a "fleeting life". She would simply remark that her life has not been a "long" one as she dreamed in her teens it would be. It probably never crossed her mind that one day she would grow so old. Yet now, she is overwhelmed by the fact that she has put seventy years behind her. Earlier in life, she probably never thought that her youth and its desires would pass so quickly. If she were asked late in life to tell her story, her reminiscences would only make a five or six-hour talk. That is all that remains from what she says was "a long life of seventy years". The mind of a person, worn out with age, is occupied with many questions. These are actually important questions to consider and answering them truthfully is essential to understanding all aspects of life: "What is the purpose of this life that passes so quickly? Why should I remain positive with all the age-related problems I have? What will the future bring?" The possible answers to these questions fall into two major categories: those given by people who trust Allah and those given by disbelievers who do not trust Him. Someone who does not trust Allah would say, "I spent my life chasing vain pursuits. I have put seventy years behind me, but to tell the truth, I still have not been able to grasp what I lived for. When I was a child, my parents were the centres of my life. I found all happiness and joy in their love. Later in life, as a young woman, I devoted myself to my husband and children. During that time, I set many goals for myself. Yet by the time they were achieved, each of them proved to have been a passing whim. When I rejoiced in my success, I headed towards other goals and they occupied me so that I did not think about the real meaning of life. Now at seventy, in the tranquillity of old age, I try to find out what was the purpose of my past days. Is it that I lived for people of whom I have only dim memories now? For my parents? For my husband whom I lost years ago? Or my children whom I see rarely now that they have their own families? I am confused. The only truth is that I feel close to death. Soon I will die and I will become a faint memory in people's minds. What will happen afterwards? I really have no idea. Even the thought of it is frightening!" There is surely a reason for why she falls into such hopelessness. That is simply because she cannot comprehend that the universe, all living things and human beings have predetermined purposes to fulfil in life. These purposes owe their existence to the fact that everything has been created. An intelligent person notices that plan, design and wisdom exist in every detail of the infinitely varied world. This draws him to recognition of the Creator. He further concludes that since all living things are not the consequences of a random or mindless process they all serve important purposes. In the Qur'an, the last surviving authentic revealed guide to the true path for humanity, Allah repeatedly reminds us of the purpose of our life, which we tend to forget, and thereby summons us to clarity of mind and consciousness. It is He Who created the heavens and the earth in six days when His Throne was on the water, in order to test which of you has the best actions. (Surah Hud: 7)
The World after the End of the World
In several late texts, Derrida meditated on Paul Celan’s poem ‘Grosse, Glühende Wölbung’, in which the departure of the world is announced. Delving into the ‘origin’ and ‘history’ of the ‘conception’ of the world, this paper suggests that, for Derrida, the end of the world is determined by and from death—the death of the other. The death of the other marks, each and every time, the absolute end of the world.
2021
When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes, they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home. - Tecumseh No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven do not want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. - Steve Jobs
Reviews the film, Noah directed by Darren Aronofsky (2014). The film is a reimagining of the biblical story of the Flood. It manages to elucidate some salient issues of environmental stewardship, faith, and fanaticism, despite nearly submerging them in a deluge of special effects and battle scenes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved) What is left of creation. Manier, David PsycCRITIQUES, Vol 59(43), 2014, No Pagination Specified. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0038251
The Theory of a Natural Afterlife: A Newfound, Real Possibility for What Awaits Us at Death
Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research, 2016
For centuries humans have considered just two main possibilities for what awaits us at death: a “nothingness” like that of our before-life or some type of supernatural afterlife. The theory of a natural afterlife defines a vastly different, real possibility. The natural afterlife embodies all of the sensory perceptions, thoughts, and emotions present in the final moment of a near-death experience. With death this dream-like moment becomes timeless and everlasting to the dying person—essentially, a never-ending dream. The relativeness and timelessness of the natural afterlife must be clearly understood to appreciate why it’s not supernatural yet indeed an afterlife and potentially the optimal heaven. The theory of a natural afterlife is now only a hypothesis; however, science, human experience, and logical deduction suggest that it’s extremely plausible and advances in science and technology could someday make it a scientific theory. This paper states the theory, describes the unconventional afterlife it defines, extensively analyzes its validity, and briefly addresses how it can significantly impact how people view death. Analytical tools, typically used for system modeling and language definition, are applied here to present an abstract model of a lifetime within time eternal. The model is used to support and explain the theory.
It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)
Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture , 2021
Preface to Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture 24:3 (Summer 2021): 5-21. In this essay, based on the spring 2021 Thought and Culture Lecture at the University of St. Thomas, I probe an increasingly secularized culture's fascination with endings, namely apocalyptic ones--despite the discordance with a secular outlook. I then turn to the various Christian apocalyptic visions of the last few centuries and examine what the Catholic teaching on the end actually is. Finally, I look briefly at Robert Hugh Benson's 1907 novel, *Lord of the World,* as a good example of a Catholic--though not infallible--apocalyptic vision. The essay also includes: a notice of the passing of editorial board member John Polkinghorne; information about the new podcast, Deep Down Things; and blurbs for the articles in the issue.
Answering the Question: "What is Life?"
This paper offers five reflections on the question of life as it is posed in the intersection between Percy Bysshe Shelley’s ‘The Triumph of Life’ and Jacques Derrida’s reading of it in ‘Living On/Border Lines’, which in its turn draws on Walter Benjamin’s speculations on translation in ‘The Task of the Translator’. The paper explores (1) how Shelley’s death lives on in the reception of his last work; (2) the afterlife of literary texts as theorised by Derrida and Walter Benjamin; (3) the relation between historical fact and figuration in critical writing; (4) the differences between survival and immortality, and, (5) the possibility that it is living on that destroys life.