The other day I was reading an article on how one could spur one’s own confidence level when approaching a novel situation. At one point, the author quotes Albert Einstein’s famous line “imagination is more important than knowledge”, and interprets it in a rather unique way. He says that by imagining that one is well-prepared and ready to face a challenging situation, one might be able to pre-empt any knowledge to the contrary. He even goes on to say that often, he himself would just convince himself of his abilities, and then find that it actually raised his level of performance.
How accurate the author is in his demands, or how authentic his experiences might be, is a matter of debate. I would say that the author may well have something of considerable importance. Nevertheless, that is not what is on my mind right now.
My primary concern is how beautifully the author provides a novel interpretation of an age-old adage. The concept of multiple possible interpretations, each making perfect sense, has always intrigued me. I am very spiritual, if not religious in the usual sense. In my faith, Islam, we believe the Al-Quran to be Divine Revelations. It is often re-iterated that the verses in this book often leave room for more than one interpretation. As a teenager, I would frown upon this and wonder – why would God’s word be so fuzzy? Isn’t an omnipotent being perfectly capable of delivering his message unambiguously?
Then as I grew up, read more and spoke to more people about these issues, I learnt something very integral about faith and the need for this vagueness in words of The Holy Book. I realized that just as an all-powerful God could eliminate all ambiguities, he could just as well eliminate all doubts from the hearts of men. Then, everybody would become an ardent believer, complete with all the traits and beliefs that God desires in one of His creations. But God does not want that. He wants everyone to immerse themselves in the things He has provided us with, the words that He has sent to us. That’s right; Almighty God doesn’t want us to accept his say-so. He wants us to convince ourselves of all the gifts we have been vested with and then arrive at a decision about how to use them best.
Here we arrive at the need for fuzzy borders. If the words are clear-cut and allow only one rigid interpretation, then no one can make a mistake in following the directions they give. Then, as one of my teachers once said, there would be no test. Everyone would understand exactly what to do, and try to actually do those things.
But God doesn’t want that either. He wants people to reach a state of spiritual perfection, not a state of being mindless automatons. God wants people to constantly face the choice between right and wrong, to constantly end at crossroads. Once they are there, God wants people to stay focused, recall God’s mercy and The Prophet’s message, and then decide which path to take, keeping these things in perspective. Because eventually, while multiple interpretations are possible, if one remembers that God is always judicious and His Prophet always righteous, one realizes that very few of the interpretations are consistent with this knowledge. That is the stage where man realizes which interpretation to truly embrace. That is the stage God wants all of us to arrive at, through a great degree of pain and torment. The stage where we surrender to God, do it peacefully and sincerely, and make sure that surrender to Divinity doesn’t result in being detached from the rest of humanity.
