APPEARANCE AND REALITY

see that these are some of nature’s greatest masterpieces. He does not give a single thought to the long and infinitely complex development of the entire universe which made it possible for such things to come into existence. The man who has his eyes open to the truth thinks in quite a different way when the same set of eatables is set before him. He is intensely aware at all times that these are the products of nature’s ‘factory’. He reflects upon how cattle eat grass and then convert it into milk. He thinks of how the tree takes in water and nutrients from the soil and then converts them into flowers and fruit. When he ponders upon how such ‘factories’ could come into existence, the system of the entire universe begins to unfold itself before him. He considers how it was only after this limitless universe had evolved for millions and millions of years that the system of the present world could be established. The present world, vast and varied as it may seem, accords with the systematic organization of the universe in every detail. It is only because this is so that the tree can yield fruit and the cow can give milk. When he thinks of all this, he experiences a strange kind of thrill and a sense of wonder and awe. Now, when he drinks milk, or puts a piece of fruit into his mouth, he feels that it is a unique blessing from God. It is obvious that eating, as a normal human activity, is not the same for the ‘blind’ as it is for the ‘seeing’. Neither can the consequences be the same for both. In the Hereafter, that which we receive shall be in direct proportion to what we have discerned behind the veil of appearances. Those who have never torn that veil apart can expect to receive nothing. o Faith in the unseen means the realization that the things which we seem to receive from the hands of men, come in actuality, from the hands of God. USA Centre for Peace and Spirituality 2665 Byberry Road, Bensalem, PA 19020 kkaleemuddin@gmail.com