The majority of people today no longer think of anything complex because they are spoiled for indulgent technology and even explicitly imprison reason and dull reason. In this modern era, everyone wants something instant and practical because human nature loves it. Taking advantage of these human tendencies, technology exploits these tendencies for money.
Humans are exploited for possessing technology that spoils them. The world seems to arrange humans so that they no longer think about something complex, humans are formed into pragmatic creatures who only think about the world. As a result, in this modern era, there was a division related to the divine issue.
Humans who are immersed in the modern era that offers everything practically and instantaneously become lazy to think about God. From this tendency, the symptoms of fundamentalism and atheism are born.
Fundamentalism makes people allergic to think of God because according to them the way to reach God is only to obey what their ancestors, environment or people who understand religious issues say. Whereas atheism is even more extreme, they do not believe in God because of the dullness of their reason which is no longer capable of sharp thinking. These atheists only come to the stage of thinking by sense, of course, God cannot be reached through sensing.
This symptom of atheism takes people who believe in God to extremes. They think that technology has corrupted reason and destroyed the world, this symptom of atheism gave birth to extreme fundamentalists which I call radicalism. These radicals offer a solution so that people believe in God, namely by rejecting technological advances and modernization which they think have made humans forget their God. They feel as defenders of God and believe that their group will be rewarded with heaven by God, on this basis they often commit acts of violence in the name of God.
Humans need critical thinking in facing an era that is very different from the bearers of religions such as Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and others. Of course, it is very irrelevant if we reject the age and return to the time of the noble human beings who carried the religion. The pragmatic attitude inherent in humans today is what makes the religious phenomenon fundamentalist, atheist, and even radical.
None of the three groups can reach God because they no longer optimize the instrument or ladder to God. Thinkers conclude that there are two stairs to God, namely reason and love (feeling). The instrument of the reason is used by philosophers, while the instrument of love (feeling) is used by mysticism to reach out to God. Not a few seekers of God also use these two instruments such as Buddha, Plato, Plotinus, Ibn Sina, Al-Ghazali, Yahya Suhrawardi, Mulla Sadra, and many more.
The instrument of love (feeling) or the ladder to God that is embraced by mysticism cannot be described through words because the taste is more than words. If this instrument of love is described in words, it will certainly reduce the beauty of this staircase to God.
Philosophy as an instrument to reach God is also a beautiful instrument, although it is still under the indescribable beauty of the instrument of love. As a layman and I do not understand anything about divinity, I am always amazed when I read the theories of divinity from philosophers. Even without the guidance of revelations, philosophers before Muhammad even before Jesus such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle have presented teachings that are very by religious teachings. It can be seen that the ethical theories of Plato and Aristotle, almost everything they describe in their works have a value that is by the values contained in religion. Of course, it would be very long to explain the ethical theory of Plato or Aristotle here. It is better if the reader reads literature that specifically addresses this topic.
For example, Plato suggested that a leader is someone who is intellectually mature and no longer thinks about personal pleasure. According to Plato, a leader must be concerned with the benefit of the crowd or the people. Plato suggested that humans are more concerned with common interests than personal interests. Aristotle taught his students to always be fair because according to Aristotle only human justice could achieve a harmonious society. This example is only a small part of Plato's and Aristotle's moral teaching or ethical theory. Of course, the teachings of Plato and Aristotle are by religious teachings.
Reaching out to God is something that humans can do, even though it is impossible to reach God as a whole. At least humans can reach the accessible manifestations of God in this world. God can't create man and command to worship Him without giving the instrument to enjoy a little beauty Himself.
Allergic fundamentalists talk about God and believe in God through the teachings of their ancestors and their environment, it will be difficult to reach God. Religious preachers like Jesus and Muhammad are people who oppose imitation, they oppose the teachings of their ancestors and their environment. They are very critical in sorting things related to divinity. From this, I assume that the religious heritage of ancestors needs to be explored more deeply because the story teaches us implicitly not to accept dogma from ancestors and the environment. God touches his people personally, therefore we need to reach out to God personally as well and we must be grateful that God has provided facilities such as instruments of reason and love (feeling) and even to facilitate the human path to Himself, God sent a chosen human called a Prophet.
Atheists who do not believe in the existence of God will not be able to reach God. Maybe they are quite satisfied with their rationality, but it needs to be realized that reason or reason also has weaknesses and is very fragile. How can they be sure that the world is everything if when they dream in their sleep they feel like they are in the real world? Atheists have been drowning in a sea of the arrogance of rationality, so they are blinded by this arrogance. Thinkers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle alone believed in the existence of God (in their respective languages). Common sense will certainly reach out and believe in God, these atheists are among those who have unhealthy minds.
These radicals are among the most ignorant among others. They feel the most righteous and claim they are defenders of God. Is God so weak that it needs to be defended? These are religious people who are afraid and insecure because they don't want others to disagree with them. All terrorists are born from this circle, they are ready to suppress anyone different from their circles. These circles usually monopolize God and feel that heaven belongs only to their group. Attitudes like this insult God, they even take God's prerogatives such as determining who has the right to go to heaven - hell, disbelieving others and claiming absolute truth.
God is the Most Beautiful Substance, therefore any discussion about it must be coated with aspects of beauty. Unlike the image of God from fundamentalists and radicalises who understand God as angry, harsh, and narrow. The search for God is like a journey up a mountain which is full of obstacles but always accompanied by beauty.
Reaching God is one of the duties of humans as His creation whether through the instruments of reason, love, or even both. These instruments will be very optimal if guided by revelations brought by God's messengers. As long as they do not leave the corridors of revelation, of course, these instruments will lead people to reach God.
When humans have tried to reach God, they will automatically no longer be tempted by this mortal worldly happiness. Worldly happiness is only a means of reaching God or gaining more essential divine happiness. It is wrong for humans to think that tools (worldly happiness) are the goal of humans being born in this world as thought by the majority of people today. This mistake of orientation is what makes humans uprooted from their essence and makes humans look like animals that only live to fulfil physiological needs such as eating, drinking, sleeping, and mating. Humans who only fulfil such needs are no different from animals.
It is also wrong for people to think that tranquillity is the goal of worship. Many people who claim to be religious practice worship to seek peace. Quietness should only be a tool to reach God whose enjoyment must be far above tranquillity. Good worship is worship to reach God or seek God's true blessings. To reach God can only be done calmly because all forms of restlessness are indications of worldly thoughts. This worldly mind is an obstacle for humans to reach God Most High.
This article is only a personal opinion, which of course contains a high probability of wrong because I'm just an ordinary person who doesn't understand anything. Finally, let us optimize the facilities provided by God to be able to reach Him so that we can become beings by their nature.
