Become big!| Ali Reza Panahian

The essence of all goodness is becoming big.
==============================
Follow us:
Facebook:   / panahianen   ...
Instagram:   / .  .
Twitter:   / panahianen  
Telegram: https://telegram.me/Panahianen/
==============================

Surely we are from God and to Him we shall surely return.” [Qur’an 2:156] We are returning to God. We are going to meet God. “O human beings, surely you must toil toward your Lord a hard toiling, until you meet Him.” [Qur’an 84:6] You are going to reach God and meet Him.
God is big. So before meeting God, you need to become big. The mystics sum up all goodness in one thing, “existential capacity.” Afflictions pull a person and one becomes bigger. The essence of all goodness is becoming big. Who is a bad person? One who only loves himself and not his family. See your family too! Become bigger. Who is a bad person? One who only sees his own family and not other people’s families. Who is a bad person? One who only sees the people of his own nation and not the people of the world. The bigger you become the bigger your soul becomes.
Who is a bad person? One who only sees the present time. Who is a good person. One who sees the future too. Who is a better person? One who sees the Hereafter too. Who is a bad person? One who sees the present. For example, he only sees a few prominent blessings that he is now in need of. Who is a good person? One who sees all the blessings. As you see, in all of these there is a kind of becoming big. You won't find a goodness that doesn’t have becoming big in it.
A person’s effort to become a better person is an effort to expand and make his soul big in terms of time, emotions, intellect, and everything else. “The wisest person is the one who considers the outcomes more.” [Imam Ali, Ghurar al-Hikam, vol. 1, p. 217] Considering outcomes means becoming big. Becoming big is a person’s main need.
Let’s talk about prayer. In praying, why do you say, “God is greater” and not “God is beneficent”? Why don’t you use His other names? Asking for this greatness is a person’s main need. A person who likes to become big, if he tries to become big in a wrong way, he will become arrogant. While he hasn’t yet become big, he thinks he is big. So he is arrogant. So a person’s main need is to become big. And a person’s main fault is to think he is big.
Why do people think they are big? Because these poor people have been created to become big! But they’re in a hurry to become big, so they make a mistake and become arrogant. God wants to make human beings similar to Himself. An infant is unable to eat a heavy meal. His digestive system is not ready for it. When we want to meet God [in the Hereafter], the digestive system of our soul should be in such a way that we are able to taste, see, drink, smell and hear God.
We have to become big. “O human being” this is your certain destiny that “surely you must toil toward your Lord a hard toiling, until you meet Him.” A hard striving is needed! What is the relationship between toiling and meeting God? Toiling makes a person big. It expands a person’s soul and increases his patience. What does expansion of a person’s chest mean? “Have we not expanded your chest?” [Qur’an 94:1] Becoming big is our wish and our main goal. Becoming big exists in all goodness.
Naturally, I like to become big. But I hurry and think I’m big. I hurry and I want to become big in a wrong way. Your soul should become big. A person buys a bigger car and thinks he can
become big in this way, so he is arrogant. If you want to be big because of your car, position and other such things, you are arrogant. You should become big by your soul becoming big. If a person has a big car, if he gains a higher position, or if his wealth increases but his soul is small, these won’t make him big.
Our main request and wish are to become big and to grow. Children too. They constantly say they want to grow up. A child wears grown ups’ shoes and copies their behavior. He constantly says, “I’m grown up.” No one has taught this to him. This is his own wish and it’s in a person’s nature. A person who likes to become big is exposed to two big mistakes. One mistake is if he thinks he is already big, “I’m big!” No, there’s more to go. This is a contest. There are many people ahead of you. You haven’t become big yet! The second one is worse. It’s when a person wishes to become big using a wrong method. Both of these are called arrogance. Since a person’s main need is to become big, he is constantly in danger of becoming arrogant.
Therefore, one should perform the daily prayers for his arrogance to be removed. Do you know what the relationship between arrogance and jealousy is? When a person considers himself to be big, when he wants to be big, he wants to become bigger in a wrong way. When he sees another person is becoming big, he become jealous.