"The weak lose themselves in God; the strong discover Him in themselves." ~ Allama Iqbal

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

There are only ego-sustaining and ego-dissolving acts


"Life offers a scope for ego-activity, and death is the first test of the synthetic activity of the ego.  There are no pleasure-giving and pain-giving acts; there are only ego-sustaining and ego-dissolving acts.  It is the deed that prepares the ego for dissolution, or disciplines him for a future career.  The principle of the ego-sustaining deed is respect for the ego in myself as well as in others.  Personal immortality, then, is not ours as of right; it is to be achieved by personal effort.  Man is only a candidate for it.  The most depressing error of Materialism is the supposition that finite consciousness exhausts its object.  Philosophy and science are only one way of approaching that object.  There are other ways of approach open to us; and death, if present action has sufficiently fortified the ego against the shock that physical dissolution brings, is only a kind of passage to what the Quran describes as 'Barzakh.'"

~ Allama Iqbal (from The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam)

6 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Dear Ranu,

      Thank you for your visit and comments!

      All good wishes,

      robert

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  2. The most depressing error of Materialism is the supposition that finite consciousness exhausts its object, can you please explain this to me when you get the chance. I don't really understand this

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    1. Hi,

      Thank you for your question. I'm no Iqbal expert (even if I do very much admire him). From my limited understanding, though, I would say (in this context) that Iqbal proposes (in slightly different terminology than others) that it is one's ego which can grow (and grow), and that the dissolution of the physical body (i.e., death) need not stop this growth. Physical death is not necessarily an impediment to the continuing expansion of the ego. How *I* understand this is something akin to a continuing evolution of consciousness (aka: God-Realization).

      From my understanding, Iqbal's use of the word "ego," and his statements about it's development, are not like common references to the ego and its growth which can imply arrogance, etc. His is different.

      I don't know if this helps. Perhaps others can contribute to a more accurate description.

      All good wishes,

      robert

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  3. Iqbal holds this unique view that the immortality or the after life is not our right, we are just candidate for it, and the test lies in our creativity that would decide who gets what he gets!

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    1. Sir,

      Thank you for your visit and comments. Might you have an answer to Ayman's question? As I'm not expert on Iqbal, I have some ideas, but nothing of which I'm confident.

      All good wishes,

      robert

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