Finding Truth

By haris rani

This book deals with the issue of who are we? and why we are here in this world? It aims to find the universal truth about our existence, the purpose of creation and the purpose of our lives. Questions which are crucial in today’s environments as we are living in times of ever increasing immoral practices, corruptions, oppression, greed and other destructive behaviours prevailing throughout the world.
It attempts to present a simplistic approach in order to give a universal answer to these questions as well as our relationship with God. With the hope that it will offer a more logical and practical solution that portrays better of our love towards God, mankind, wildlife, environment and most importantly, towards ourselves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: haris rani
• Release date: Jun 22, 2016
• ISBN: 9789671375709

haris rani

I am a law lecturer with a local public university in Malaysia. Currently pursuing PhD with the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Jalan Semarak, Kuala Lumpur in the area of Ocean Governance (Maritime Law, Energy Law and Law of the Sea) related to Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) under the Malaysia Japan International Institute of Technology, UTM.

Book preview

Book title: Finding Truth

Copyright © 2016 by Haris Rani

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information, storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner. The author, however, welcomes translation works to other languages to be conducted with the written approval from the author.

ISBN: 978-967-13757-0-9

First Edition: June 2016

Published by:

Haris Rani

For my loving wife, Nurnazida Nazri.

Thank you for being my loving angel on this earth.

Preface

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful.

Getting older normally means that you are more mature in thinking and wiser than when you were young. You have more time because your body has less physical energy to burn now than before. Growing old simply means everything seems to slow down, your attitude towards life is getting more relaxed; you enjoy it with a reduced amount of joy, less passion and less eagerness.

You now spend more time pondering about things you had done or stuff you might have missed out in life, whether you have indeed accomplished your goals or if your life is heading towards the path that would make you truly happy. You’re constantly wishing your life to be as meaningful possible. After all, happiness in life is, indeed, the ultimate aim of every single person on earth. Thus, you might constantly second guess yourself, whether you can keep the happiness at a maximum at all times.

Sometimes your mind goes even further than that, like for myself, not only my own happiness but the happiness of others. It develops into a quest for ‘Happiness in life and the relationship with God’, thus an appetite of yearning to know more about my God and why I am here on this earth. My religion has clearly stated who He is, and I could easily say that until now, I am deeply satisfied with my religion’s arguments about my God and of His existence.

But there are still some answers missing. Those answers, which are very crucial for me, have not been satisfactorily answered. Like why we are here in this world, what is the purpose of life and purpose of creation itself? These questions makes me want to think and rationalise more, keep lingering in my mind, constantly seeking my attention for real answers. They are mostly not about who or how, but more about what and why. For example, I believe that there should be a universal answer on human’s life issues. Because if I do rely on my God as being the answer to the reasons of why I am here in this world, then there should also be a logical universal answer to life’s problems irrespective whether one believe in God or not. With it comes the unending urge to make it rest. I need to find the answers to this question and the ones related to it before it is too late. Before I don’t have the energy and time to do so, before death comes to visit me.

I have tried on many occasions to find the answers but the results were not satisfactory. Since these questions persist to exist, it makes me feel rather alone in this quest. I long to have closure and I sincerely believe there might be others who are also undergoing the same predicament. The tipping point where I need to desperately continue despite such loneliness came when I was introduced to the word ‘ontology’ (study about the nature of existence or being) and ‘epistemology’ (how we can gain knowledge of it) by my PhD research methodology lecturer, Dr Akbariah. Thanks to her, since then, it has taken me away from my thesis writing and, surprisingly, has opened up new doors of knowledge and sharpened my inquisitive nature as a researcher. At least I like to think it as such. ;-)

This book is the final outcome of my simple inquiry, with my limited knowledge in the area of philosophy, to answer all or some of those questions in a simple manner as much as possible. It tries to make sense of our existence and what we need to do, thus, God willing, bringing closure to our minds. It is my sincere hope that it will provide some satisfaction and make sense of our lives and offer a reasonable perspective to it. On the contrary, it might not be the actual answer that you are looking for, but if it is, then I am glad to be the person playing this role, with the hope that you would soon progress into embedding it into your daily life.

Please don’t have your 'mental guards' up. Otherwise, it might be difficult to grasp these simple assertions of mine. In my legal philosophy classes, I used to say to my students to set their minds free whenever entering the class; to leave their conscience and belief at the door. This would compel them to free their minds, thus, enabling them to evaluate new ideas and rationalise for themselves, independently and sensibly, before comparing and contrasting it to their own beliefs; either to accept or to reject those ideas being investigated. This is crucial whenever undergoing any type of investigation, to be impartial in order to see the other person’s point-of-view. That’s what judges do... causing them to stand impartial and without prejudice when deciding cases. Similarly this also goes to the scientists in conducting their researches.

I hope that this book will convince you on what is, for me, the ultimate truth. With much anticipation that it would do justice to the time you will spend on reading it and, hopefully, remain glued to it till the end. I also hope that this book will provide you with that needed closure, enabling you to ‘reboot’ your mind into a completely new outlook on the direction and purpose of how to live your life on this earth.

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Contents

Preface

Introduction

Who are we?

Why are we here?

What is the meaning of life?

What is the purpose of creation?

Can GOD really exist?

God is Majestic, the Greatest

Why does GOD seem to be unfair?

How can a just GOD be unjust?

What is the purpose of life?

The Purpose of life

Ethics (Moral Philosophy)

Ethical Dilemma

Morality

Free will

Choice

Justice

Social Justice

Moral Justice

Legal Justice

Court of Justice

Crime

Civil wrongs

Equality

Egoism

Altruism

Animal Cruelty

Environmental Ethics

World Economy

World System Theory

Science

Big Bang

Time

Evolution

World Disasters

Doubts?

The Law of Identity

Law of Non-contradiction

Faith

Religion

Afterlife

Revelations

Conclusion

Al Mutakabbir

"Then did you think that We created you uselessly and that to Us you would not be returned?"

Al Quran 23:115

Introduction

Everyone will come across these questions sometimes during their life span; why am I here in this world? What is the meaning of life? What is the purpose of creation? What is the purpose of life? And how do I fit in with everything else that exists?

Still, there are not many people who want to spend time discussing these questions. Maybe because they realise that by talking about them, it would just be a waste of time since there are no real answers. Plus, it usually produces conflicting opinions, thus, generating further uncertainty. Not to mention the anxiety that goes along with it tends to prevent a relaxed and meaningful investigation. And since there are no clear answers, perhaps it is better to stick to more realistic and manageable questions like ‘What do I want to do with my life?’ or ‘What is my life’s purpose?’

To others, not only do they see these questions as simply a waste of time, but even consider them as being completely unnecessary. This might be due to their ignorance or maybe because they are just so busy with their life, either in surviving it or in enjoying it, for which they feel it’s not worth contemplating. That is why they might sometimes view individuals who ask these types of questions as odd or weird.

Perhaps, because of these situations, it led people to not indulge in these ‘difficult questions’ by simply leaving them to scholars and thinkers to find the answers for them. They later accept these philosophers’ findings as reasonable and developed them into popular opinion. Finding answers merely based on popular opinion on something that is very significant without ever wanting to investigate it for yourself is rather appalling, isn’t it?

The irony is that these questions which eventually fall into an exclusive domain of philosophers where they are constantly debated, and have until today, been unable to convincingly provide comprehensive answers that could change the declining social, economic and political state that is prevailing everywhere around the world.

Either way, we end up becoming ignorant about these questions. We are forced to believe something that is so fundamental in our lives without giving much thought to it. We are like those children who are 'coerced’ into accepting something that is not actually true when they ask tough and awkward questions about life and nature. Thus, making what was initially difficult to become more difficult than before. And with the passage of time, it would eventually create additional layers of difficulties where the task of discovering the truth would be more laborious than before.

In the end, no matter what we do or what people say (or don’t), the questions shall always remain with us. Due to the incompleteness of current existing explanations, we continue to seek reasonable and logical answers. This is because we are truth seekers. We go in and out of unresolved issues over and over again during our lifetime because we need to find answers and bring about the truth, so that we will be able to put them to rest and have closure, and with closure comes peace. Without peace, we can’t move on to the next level because these questions will always linger in our minds; in our conscious and subconscious minds. They are only waiting to resurface again until the real truth prevails.

So the crucial questions still remain. It is quite embarrassing to imagine living without ever knowing the purpose and meaning of life. Especially to those who never question them at all. Which, for me, is like going somewhere and not knowing where it is that you are going, not knowing what and why you are doing them. Being lost in the journey of life without purpose and without directions, is quite unimaginable and downright eerie. We must therefore somehow strive to find it. After all, it is our own life that we are living not someone else.

What I found from my own previous investigations was that most of the answers to my questions seemed to be scattered all over the place, in bits and pieces. What I did was basically gather and compile all of them together into a simple coherent answer which made sense of everything I have been looking for.

This was accomplished, despite those who have a set idea that you don’t have to look for answers. Don’t argue and accept everything as it is, with no questions asked. Well, that is not for me. For me, that is stupidity! We should never be parrots who blindly utter and follow without ever knowing or having a deep understanding of why we do things. I guess it has to be my legal education that substantially contributed to this state of mind of questioning everything. God created us with beautiful minds, to think, to reason and to rationalise and not becoming like