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The Tomorrows of Our Dreams

The Lead Article
What we now feel as hope and excitement will presumably, by pouring forth upon us directives pertaining to our future life, turn the hills of our heart into golden pastures wherein love, affection, and acceptance flourish.
| M. Fethullah Gulen | Issue 144 (Nov - Dec 2021)

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The Tomorrows of Our Dreams

In This Article

  • Dreaming or even feeling of a world of calmness and peace is contingent somewhat upon our pulling away from the atmosphere engulfing us.
  • Reliving the dreamy days of the past will be possible to the extent that we live up to the tranquility and sense of security inherited from our past.
  • In a very near future, virtually everyone will run to tranquility, security, and repose more than to anything else they seek.

Feeling and understanding the future with its own particular profundities, even if it seems only a fancy at present, is a reality, albeit one nurtured with belief, hope, resolve, and determination. The most salient characteristic of this reality of our dreams is perhaps the return of the calm, contentment, and tranquility that we have let slip through our fingers over the past several centuries. I have referred to these collectively as “the salient characteristic of the future,” for they are the most sough-after in our day. In our society which is riddled by the clamor of engines, torn by the sound of car horns, splintered by the screams of media, and cowering beneath the sound of gunshots amidst the yelling of murderers and the suffering of victims, the feeling which perpetually makes itself most keenly felt in the tenderness of our bosoms is this lost peace, tranquility, and repose. For years on end, we savor the moments of our wishes and dreams to unite with what we lost, inhale them like beautiful aromas, and relish them like music.

I am of the opinion that almost everyone nourished from the same source is awaiting such a time of calm which at times can even be more healing than music. Such a favor would be as blissful as entering the Garden, and although it may look impossible in our day, I have no doubt that in the future this – by God’s will and leave – will be our natural and constant climate. For some who are looking from the dark atmosphere of our day, such a future is nothing more than a reverie – and yet when such a future comes, they will be imbibing that tranquility, but will fail to appreciate it. Who knows, perhaps they will even continue to see and think of darkness and be forever haunted by the demons of their inner worlds.

In effect, dreaming or even feeling of a world of calmness and peace is contingent somewhat upon our pulling away from the atmosphere engulfing us – the noise and din, the hatred and hostility, the blood and pus and tears. With respect to our present situation, so deprived are we of that tranquility, security, and stillness that it is not possible for us to feel it without having spent a few months of the year in a grove, a cove, or on an ocean liner in the middle of the ocean. Moreover, sometimes even such seclusion is not enough to remind us of true serenity. It seems to me that in order to feel it completely, and thus yearn for it, we are in need of more serious seclusion within environments that enthuse and give flight to our conceptions of humanity.

Such otherworldly tranquility and security prevailed for years on end in our society: mornings with their sleepy vivacity akin to white buds coming into bloom; forenoons with their passion for work wherein a frantic activity and hustle and bustle was felt; evenings with their festive air in our homes that were cozier, balmier, and livelier than bird's nests; and nights each a stream of Divine inspirations effervescing with the feeling and fervor of infinity. In short, every moment cascaded with an overpowering tranquility and repose, carrying unique color, taste, and accent.

In point of fact, we also had a great many deficient, flawed aspects that were in disrepair; nevertheless, every unit of life – village, town, and city; female and male; young and elderly; intelligentsia and the masses – displayed the semblance of being sectors of a society devoted to tranquility and promising security. No confused clamor, no aimless screams, no crazy thrills ruined or were able to ruin our ode of eternal serenity; no alien voice could penetrate the atmosphere of its serene world, and delicate breezes of peace smelling of communal spirit were felt all around.

Reliving the dreamy days of the past will be possible to the extent that we live up to the tranquility and sense of security inherited from our past; I am very hopeful about this. At that happy time of the future, I believe there will be neither collision nor quarrel between the different segments of society. Nor will there be the uproar of the oppressor or the wails and cries of the oppressed. There will not be screams defiling our spirits, or weeping penetrating into hearts, or blood, pus, and tears. Nor indeed will there be the terror and anarchy that presently stifles society. Subsequently assuming such a fabled state, we will then experience a stage of tranquility and repose with the rays of love and acceptance coming from beyond the heavens and pouring into our hearts.

On that day, hatred and enmity will be silenced, or at the very least they will trail off into the distance. An otherworldly joy will permeate our hearts from every scene we behold, every sound that we hear, and all creation will be felt and experienced with the elation of music. In the shadow of the beauties enveloping our entire being, we will see the good side of everything. We will contemplate the good, practice the good, and interpret everything in accordance with the goodness of our inner world. We will do so by drawing upon all the advantages of being a believer and thus design our temporary lives according to the everlasting. Who knows, perhaps we will proclaim to our spirits exceedingly intimate meanings unbound with sound and speech, and which words cannot express. Filled with pleasure in our souls, we will attain a mysterious time and atmosphere, hued with the profundities of our true humanity, and will be able to appreciate and perceive all human beings, and even all creation. Closing ourselves off completely to offensive words and displays arising from human nature, we will make our lives a symphony of delight, as though we were walking in the corridors of Paradise. This tranquility and repose were already present in every part of the culture we have inherited from our past, and it constitutes an important dimension of our character.

There have been certain values and achievements that were unique to each period in history and upon which that period saw a certain advancement. Each of these values, achievements, the way possessors of these values understood the creation, and their diverse interpretations that brought depth to the meanings, have a distinct immensity of delight and a unique taste with a sweet memory permeating our spirits—we feel and experience all of these in their entirety. And it is our belief that we will feel and experience these in the future that will come to fruition. We have a firm conviction that our spirits will overflow with tranquility and repose anew, our hearts will open to the realities beyond material existence, and that naked truths will surpass causes and whisper to us more than they have ever done before.

In a very near future, virtually everyone will run to tranquility, security, and repose more than to anything else they seek. They will breathe these far and wide, and compose their innermost melodies around them, for since the beginning of their worldly existence, humankind has managed to survive every kind of deprivation, and yet never could do without tranquility, security, and love. It is not possible for human beings, who are growing increasingly interdependent, to remain indifferent to this, in a world entering the threshold of globalization.

In any event, these thoughts and feelings have already taken root in the souls of some among us to such a degree that I entertain not even the slightest doubt as to the coming years serving as their seedbed. These meanings have been embroidered in our hearts in such a way that even today we have begun to experience them as a taste upon our tongues and a sensation within our hearts. What we now feel as hope and excitement will presumably, by pouring forth upon us directives pertaining to our future life, turn the hills of our heart into golden pastures wherein love, affection, and acceptance flourish.


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