Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan was the online guest of the monthly seminars organized by Ankara Culture and Education Foundation (AKEV). In the program broadcast on Youtube and followed with great interest by the audience, Tarhan made striking statements on the topic of 'Life and Death'. Stating that worldly happiness is not enough to make a person happy, Tarhan emphasized the truth of death. Tarhan added that an ideological perspective prevents seeing the truth, and also noted that the world has three faces.
'In the modern age, death is seen as a bitter truth'
Underlining that death is seen as a bitter truth in a time when worldliness is prevalent, Tarhan stated that the world we live in is a simulation. Tarhan said: 'Today we will talk about bitter truths in a time when worldliness is prevalent. There is a beautiful parable about life and death: 'Life said to death, 'People love me so much, but they don't love you at all.' Death replied, 'That's true. Because you are a false story, and I am a bitter truth.' 'You are a false tale,' it said. It has begun to be scientifically accepted that the world is an illusion. The world is a simulation, just like the Metaverse is a simulation. We have written a simulation here, and people are playing in it. It's quite beautiful and cheerful. After a certain time, they will leave there and face reality. Allah created the world as a test simulation. In human history, worldliness has never been as prominent as it is in this century. Feelings like forgetting death and the afterlife, only thinking about the world, and selfishness are at the forefront. There has never been a period in human history where pleasures, civilization fantasies, luxuries, and entertainment were so glorified. We are living in an interesting time that greatly matches the descriptions of the end times."
'An ideological perspective prevents seeing the truth'
Stating that worldly happiness is not enough to make a person happy, Tarhan emphasized the truth of death. Tarhan said: 'The world has three faces. One is the face of the world looking at itself, which we currently call secularism. I looked it up in the Turkish Language Association, and the word secularism is a purely philosophical term. It means worldliness. But interestingly, it is used instead of secularity/laicism. It has nothing to do with it. Secularism means worldliness; laicism is a form of governance. Secularism is a way of life; laicism is a form of political governance. A person can adopt laicism as a form of governance but does not have to be secular. They can live the afterlife, religiosity, and Allah simultaneously. Therefore, liberal laicism does not contradict religiosity. The world has 3 faces. One is the face of the world looking at itself, which we call secularism. The other is the face of the universe book that looks at the divine names (Esma-i Ilahiye). The third is the face of trial, which is the field of the afterlife. We are only looking at one of three perspectives. In psychology, this is called ideological blindness or doctrinal blindness. When you look at a subject with an ideological eye, you cannot see the great truth. Those with a secularist philosophy, with the prejudice of 'there is no God and no afterlife', become one-winged because they think this way. They only have worldly happiness, not happiness in the afterlife. Worldly happiness alone does not make a person happy. Because there is the truth of death. That illegitimate metaphorical pleasure, meaning worldly pleasures, if we look at songs and folk songs right now, they are all related to metaphorical pleasure."
'Truth is reached through the balance of heart, mind, and body'
Tarhan made statements about the dilemmas of modern humans; 'The biggest causes of suicide in Europe stem from existential crises. That's why the famous American psychiatrist says, 'Man could not solve his fear in four areas. This is the anxiety of modern man.' These are freedom, the search for meaning, death, and loneliness. Because he cannot solve these 4 issues, a person living in fear cannot be happy. He says that he will be happy when he solves this. If he gives himself to entertainment, he ignores it, like an ostrich burying its head in the sand, not thinking about death coming. If the heart finds the truth, and there is patience in the body, a person reaches truth and peace. The heart will understand the truth, but the truth is the existence of Allah and that the world is temporary. The heart will say this with emotions, but the body will be patient, and the mind will assist the person. Then they find the truth. Then metaphorical love is transformed into real love. Yes, if, like in error and heedlessness, one forgets oneself, gets lost in the external world, mistakes the general world for a private one, and falls in love with it, they fall into a swamp and drown. This is used as a symbolic thing, a representation, simile, and in a metaphorical sense. Hacı Bayram Hazretleri uses symbolism. Symbolism is a method of persuasion. Symbolism is one of my reasoning methods. Explaining a subject with symbols leads to symbolic thought, conceptual thought, and abstract thought. There are 3 important types of thought. Here, he uses symbolism to help the person understand the concept."
'Worldly life is a reality that appears like a dream'
Tarhan made statements about the transience of the world; 'What we do in the world is recorded. So, you will say that if I do good things in this life, I will take good things there. I will fill my memory with good things, so there is a reality that currently appears like a dream to me. This is called unseen reality. An intelligent person sees these abstractly through reasoning. This is abstract reasoning, but you cannot understand heaven and hell with concrete reasoning. If we loved our world, our world is transient and unstable like our life, because it is built upon our life. Some things are beautiful in themselves, and some things are beautiful by their outcome. The greatest beauty of the world is beautiful by its outcome. If we can keep that mirror clean and beautiful, it is beneficial, but if we keep it dirty and ugly, the mirror shatters because there are too many negative records. In fact, it is important to see everything in the world as the karma of the afterlife and to sow and reap good things. As in the verse in the Quran: 'They forgot Allah, so Allah made them forget themselves.' So what is the secret here? Not to forget Allah. What does it mean not to forget Allah? To connect with Allah. For this, it is necessary not to forget Allah; we will always open our hearts to Allah; if we are eating a meal, we will start that meal with 'Bismillah' (in the name of Allah). It is necessary to pay attention to what is lawful and unlawful. If we are doing a job and we are doing it just to earn money and not with faith, it becomes meaningless. It is very important to be able to do that job with the thought of the afterlife, paying attention to what is lawful and unlawful."
'Worldly life is like a hell for a believer'
Tarhan stated that it is possible to accept worldly life as a test and achieve happiness even amidst difficulties; 'It is possible to be peaceful even in the worst conditions. In psychology, this is called 'authentic happiness'. Achieving happiness even in prison, achieving happiness in a palace, providing this in every environment. When Prophet Yusuf was imprisoned, he turned his living place into a paradise. He transformed the chaotic, dirty environment into a place of education, a school. He did not say, 'Why did these things happen to me?' He said, 'There is wisdom in Allah's will, how can I make this place better, more beautiful?' Since we are in this world, how can we make the world more livable? Of course, it's not easy to look at things with this perspective. He looks at the divine names (Esma) behind the things in the world, sees tremendous blessings, looks at the beauties there, sees a magnificent art. This worldly life is like a hell for a believer. Worldly life is so empty, so simple compared to the afterlife. The most delicious hour in the world does not equate to an hour in paradise. There is such a pleasure. This is transforming metaphorical love into true love and building a bridge between the world and the afterlife. That is, looking at the temporary, transient face of the world with the Divine Names (Esma), looking at the face of the book of the universe, and in the third, looking at the face of retribution."