‘Ene'l-Hak’
Did Mansur Al-Hallaj know that uttering these famous words would lead to his own execution? Born and raised in the chaotic Fars province of the year 858, this mystic, who transformed the world with his philosophy during his life's journey, was perhaps the most misunderstood and underappreciated Sufi in history. He said he is the Truth, meaning I am Him, I am the True One. What God is, I am that, what I am, God is that. There is no distinction whatsoever.
There are periods in human history when irreversible changes occur. In my opinion, the most striking and most pathetic of these periods is man's separation from nature. How can a creature belonging to nature break away from nature in an instant?
Many scientists, philosophers, and mystics have pondered this question for years. Osho, a.k.a Acharya Rajnees who is also a famous mystic still debated today, argues that all blame lies with the ego. According to Osho, man's physical inadequacies and his weaker position than other animals have made him fearful and avoidant; Over time, humans used their intelligence—which Osho argues is one of the side effects of the disease called ‘the mind’—to distance themselves from this natural order, which they found themselves unable to cope with and inadequate. Gradually, humanity, sequestered in caves and built shelters for self-preservation, experienced an inevitable separation from nature. Nature became a story, an imaginary world, existent independent of humanity, told by the seniors of the society around the nightly fire.
It was precisely after this separation that the exploitation of nature began. Perhaps a deep-rooted inferiority complex, perhaps the lie of superiority told to us by diseases of intelligence and mind, or perhaps the very pretensions of monotheistic religions that began to be constructed throughout this process, gradually separated us from nature, causing us to view it not as a part of ourselves but as a separate entity. A tool we can use to our advantage, bend, modify, and manipulate as we please.
Yet, what is forgotten throughout this process is that nature is not a tool but the ultimate goal.
If there is something Hasidism frequently repeats, it is that God is "in everything." In polytheistic religions and more ancient beliefs like paganism, animism, or shamanism, it is clear that God, nature, and humanity are a unified whole. God is, in fact, a part of us, while nature is merely a manifestation of God. Even in ancient Jewish texts, the word "nature" was not used for a long time, because nature does not represent an entity independent of the whole.
Nature is what we are. A part of the whole. Osho argues that religions emerged from man's effort to return to nature. By staying away from nature, man abandoned the one God he knew existed, and compensated for this by creating stories and believing in the unattainable God in the imaginary world he created within them. In all Abrahamic religions, God is always inaccessible and distant from humanity. Humans can neither fully understand God, nor fully feel Him, nor truly question Him. But ironically, the common teaching of all Abrahamic religions is the striving to reach this God, which resides in another dimension. If necessary, one must devote
one's entire life to this, forgoing worldly pleasures and striving to draw closer to God—even if one knows deep down that this will never happen.
In short, humans, unwillingly and due to his weakness, have been separated from nature—God—and since then, his sole purpose has been to return to it. He has done this under the guise of various religions, offering rituals and constantly repeated texts, but man has never been able to return to the Mother God he has sought for thousands of years. It seems that God is being sought in the wrong place.
People like Mansur al-Hallaj know that this separation from nature is an illusion. The pantheist Spinoza, who emerged from the Jewish community, also knows that God is everywhere, in everything. But it is known that these claims did nothing but cause him to be excommunicated by the Jewish.
Man either sees himself as inferior and feels anger towards nature; or, as particularly asserted in the Talmud, the Bible, and the Quran, he considers himself superior to nature and feels entitled to exploit it. As a result, nature is exploited and modified to benefit humanity. In modern times, sacred texts have sought to embrace a more positive understanding, making humans the protectors of nature. However, I believe that as long as humans are assumed to be a species separate from nature, this understanding will gradually lose its significance. Because separation breeds comparison, creates a hierarchy, and figures like Maimonides place humanity at the top of this hierarchy. I believe that such anthropocentric beliefs will one day lead to the end of us all.
In contrast, mystics like Mansur Al-Hallaj and Osho, who embrace an ecocentric perspective, always advocate for love. If God is one and God is everything, then love and respect should be shown towards everything. Hallaj says, "Everywhere I look beside God, I see God himself."
What can one feel other than love when they see God everywhere?
The Talmud and monotheistic books constantly comment on the imperfection of nature and, because they consider humans to be higher up in the hierarchy, argue that we are the ones who must improve it. However, calling nature imperfect is, in a sense,saying God is the one who is imperfect. The Talmud, Bible, or Quran assume that we humans are closer to God; we were created in His image, and therefore it is our job to correct this imperfect nature. Of course, one wonders, is nature truly being improved by the uncontrolled cutting of trees, the slaughter and torture of animals, and the pollution of water?We are clearly misinterpreting something.
However, like other mystics, Kabbalist souls are aware of the problem. While they do not speak of a complete totality like Osho or Hallaj, they do speak of two dimensions of God: Ein Sof—The Infinite God that cannot be perceived by humans—and Sefirot—God's reflection on the world, the symbolic God that can be conveyed through words. Ein Sof can be thought of as the sun itself, and the Sefirot are the sun's lights. Approaching the sun is impossible; you would perish, but the sun's light will heal you and lighten your path. Therefore, all these books should be read with the idea of symbolism and messages behind them should be well understood. However, it
should be known that beyond this, there is a God who cannot be put into words, and who has always existed and will continue to exist.
When we come to Osho, similar to the Kabbalists, argues that words can only be used symbolically and can help in conveying the mystical experiences he has experienced to others, but ultimately, there is more behind every mystical teaching. Therefore, there is a whole, a unity, but no matter how much one tries to describe this unity with words, it can only provide a small insight. Despite this, this experience should always be striven to be conveyed. Hallaj also attempted to give people this insight, and was tortured and executed precisely for this reason.
Consequently, for various reasons, humanity has separated from nature, and looking back, it seems as if both nature and humanity have suffered extensive damage since this division occurred. Nature has been destroyed in the name of religion and belief, wars have started and the world has been dragged into chaos. Perhaps the teachings of mystics like Osho and Mansur Al-Hallaj should be taken seriously, and humanity should return to the unity and wholeness to which it has belonged since time immemorial—to being God. I hope that, as Hallaj suggests, one day we can all become a loving and, as Nietzsche says, a dancing God.
