Habibur Rahman on 28th January: Thank you Tarifa and Maqsoodul Haque for your excellent and inspiring comments. It seems, there is another point raised: Whether Lalon was a humanist or not. In the course of my discussion I will also come to this point what actually Lalon's humanism means. At the moment, I am describing the seeker's journey to clarify the necessity of method or procedure, and also to determine our own present status in the path; along with finding some appropriate epithet for Lalon. But at a later stage, we will again come to the points what at last the seeker finds. We see, at the death bed of the philosopher, born the theologian. The Greek word theo means God, Logy means discipline (শাস্ত্র). Question may naturally arise : Why theologian? We see before, philosopher died at the juncture of the two world: the Known and the Invisible Unknown World.
From the experiences of the previous life, the philosopher knows everything in the known world follows certain laws and regulations, some are static, some dynamic and some are also evolutionary. But all these laws are determined by the Unknown World. Thats why s/he born with a believe that there is a higher reality behind/beneath the phenomenal world. That believe makes him/her the theologian. And thats why Quran starts with the statement that the Book is for those persons who believe in the [existence of the] Invisible Unknown World. (Sura Baqara, ayat 2,3). There is also another more vital reason for that, and which is more relevant in relation to our present discussion, for our actual topic was about the technique, method, procedure or course of action. All the Religions stand for the Invisible Unknown World, about which every religion has not only something to say but also provides some technique, method, procedure or course of action to follow as well some Moral Codes and Ethical precepts.
And the first task of the theologian is to choose a particular tradition, here Islam proposes Shariah, and you see Maqsoodul Haque already explained in detail some of the technique of the Shariah in the previous comment. However, as a philosopher, his/her task was knowing, but as a theologian his/her task becomes doing or not doing. But why Shariah provides all these exercises? The sole purpose of the Shariah at the theological stage is to prepare the Soul of the adept/novice for the upcoming more arduous and painful journey or odyssey. To see the visible world we need to clear our vision, in the same way, to see the Invisible World we need to purify of our soul, so that the faculties of the soul may work properly.
At this stage, the soul prepare itself for the journey or odyssey, but this theological stage itself is not progressive but static because the stage is full of fear, confusion, failure, frustration and inner struggle. Most of the seekers die at this stage before getting preparation, the few who are able to continue find themselves at the Theosophical Stage, in Islamic Tradition, we can term this stage as the Tariqat. The journey begin with the realization that we are carrying within ourselves a divine spark, and to carry that spark back to its source is our ultimate mission in the world.
Thank you for the moment,
to be continued...
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