Fear the man that doesn’t fear God.

There is a saying, “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.” The converse is true. Without fear of God one becomes progressively degraded due to a false sense of independence. Everything we do is witnessed by God, therefore we cannot escape responsibility for our actions. I once visited a small town in Morocco called Marrakesh. While walking I saw a young boy about 13 years old smoking a cigarette.

I spoke to him, “Hey, young boy, what are you doing?”

“ Who are you and what business it is of yours, he said”

I said, “You are not allowed to smoke.”

He gave me a bad look and said, “I can do whatever I want, where I want.”

I asked, “Do you smoke in the mosque?”

He replied, “No.”

I asked, “Why not.”

Because Allah is there,” he said.

I looked at him seriously and said, “But Allah says in the Koran that He is everywhere.”

The boy looked puzzled. He thought for a moment, then dropped the cigarette. God is everywhere as the witness, therefore our acts must be consistent with the word of God both in the Mosque and outside. When our actions are prompted by love of God, it is more profound than fear of God.

However, for most people, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.

There is a French phrase (Je m’en fou - I don’t care) used often by careless ( not carefree) Frenchmen. It is the philosophy summarized by the phrase, “Je m’en foutisme” which means “I could care less-ism.” This is often used by Frenchmen to express their freedom from all authority and social restraints. It is an expression of persons who declare themselves independent and self reliant. Such an attitude usually results in foolish, anti-social, and self destructive behavior. People are meant to follow rules of social conduct to differentiate themselves from animals. Social laws try to regulate human behavior so that there is minimal violence and infringement on the life and property of other members of the society. Religion limits human behavior more specifically so that people have time to pursue spiritual goals for which human life is destined. When a person embraces the idea of “Je m’en foutisme,” they foolishly assert a false spirit of independence by purposely disregarding social and religious limits on behavior.

Je m’en foutism” is based on the false premise that “man (with his whimsical mind) is the measure of truth.” Inherent in this thinking is the rejection of the absolute authority of God, who establishes spiritual truths that are not subject to change and are eternally valid.

The more clever “Je m’en fous” try to change societal and religious laws to favor their whimsical tastes. Man made religions, imperfect philosophies, and speculative science change continually their theories and core beliefs. Such sub-standard religions, philosophies and science eventually condone sinful behavior such as massacre in the name of religion(footnote), abortion (infanticide) and a myriad variety of sinful acts resulting from insatiable lust and greed. “Je m’en foutisme” rejects all authority and affirms imperfect thinking as authority. (If I reject all authority, then only my imperfect thoughts remain as authority) The “Je m’en fous” ruin their own lives and position themselves to ruin the lives of many others.

Such self destructive behavior is considered an affirmation of independence. This is a hoax because such irresponsible behavior makes one more entangled by the laws of material nature (action and reaction or karma). A law means there is a lawmaker. The supreme lawmaker is God, who has established the laws of material nature such as the law of karma, the irreversible cycle of life namely the repetition of birth, death, old age, and disease. No one is free of these controlling laws. There is a simple logic to illustrate man’s dependent position in the universe.

If we, the living entities in this material world, were independent, then we would not be controlled. This is not the case as we are always under the control of other persons or ultimately the laws of nature. In fact, we can discern that there are many controllers leading up to the ultimate controller who is God the Almighty. Men exert control by their ability to organize the building and breaking of things such as structures, companies, political parties,etc. God manifests His ultimate control by organizing the building and breaking of everything man is capable of doing. For example, the human digestion which is essential for building up the body and maintaining it is not under the control of man. It is going on beyond the control of any individual. There are many things we use as humans without knowing how they function such as cars, computers, electricity, etc. There is however someone in control of those things such as manufacturers, the government and multinationals etc. We would be foolish to say that there is no creator or controller of computers, electricity and so forth. Similarly, we do not know nor do we control rationally the different processes of digestion that goes on in our body, yet we depend completely on its functioning. We can participate in the process by eating and defecating but we have no real control or understanding of how it is happening. Because we do not understand, can we say that no one is in control? In the same way, can we assume that no one is in control of the electricity we use or the internet or the roads we drive on? Such a statements would only reveal our ignorance and naivete. Therefore the conclusion is that at every step of our life from birth to old age to disease and death we are being controlled by a superior more intelligent power on whom we depend. If we were not being controlled then we would be the controllers ourselves and this is definitely not the fact.

Real liberation and self understanding entails surrender to the supreme controller. We surrender to our employer by accepting his conditions for work. We must arrive at a certain time and work in a certain way to his satisfaction. There is similarly a supreme controller of creation and our accepting to work according to His instructions is real wisdom, knowledge, and is the only way to achieve real happiness. Those people that advocate that men can become like God or equal or surpass His control through science, yoga, or whatever method are misguided and their intelligence is polluted and faulty.

Everything in life that is essential for our existence is supplied to us for our use. Either we learn to use everything correctly to achieve ultimate emancipation from birth and death or we fail and will be forced to try again and again until we succeed. Only God is the supreme controller and all living entities are controlled by Him. We can never be equal to God, but we have many of the same qualities as God, albeit not in the same quantities. If we try to become controllers in the material world and attempt to emulate God, we become more and more entangled by the laws of material nature. We lose our sense of being subordinate to God and being his eternal servant which is our real identity. We develop a false ego characterized by the thought, “I am matter, and material acquisitions belong to me.” This false ego will keep a person continually in material bondage birth after birth until there is an awakening that all things belong to God and should only be used according to God’s instructions.

A thief who persists in a life of theft will eventually be brought to justice to impress upon him that the property he steals does not belong to him. It belongs to someone else. As long as he steals others’ property, he will be pursued by justice and punished until his false mentality is corrected. The false mentality that “I am the controller and I am the enjoyer” must be corrected for one to be free of the oppressive laws of material nature that continually punish the attempt to usurp God’s property for selfish purposes.