Escaping the Matrix

[Since they have become oblivious of God] corruption has appeared on land and in the sea as an outcome of what men’s hands have wrought: and so He will let them taste [the evil of] some of their doings, so that they might return [to the right path]. [Qur'an 30:41]

Modern society has redefined the concept of sin by lowering the barriers for ethical and moral behavior to sub-pagan levels. It is difficult today to encounter an evil that is not somewhere justified, reconciled or rationalized. Genes, psyche, social environment are culprits but individuals are innocent. The relative has become the absolute so that few are willing to condemn anyone, not because of compassion or justice, but to be accessories to depravity and satisfy their own personal lusts.

God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie … For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly … Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. [Romans 1:24-27,32].

Compassion has been re-engineered, from an emotion emanating from the inner depths of conscious empathy to shallow echoes of advertising, public opinion polls and modern journalism. Our standards are mass produced by desensitized marketers and carried indiscriminately to our youth by media-made idols.

Justice is now commonly distorted to enhance political and commercial interests. Rudeness, gluttony, profligacy and crime have been romanticized into essential traits of the modern heroes. What once was a subculture has become the dominant ethos . . . or maybe just the latest fad. Where can self-restraint and moral values find a grip to steady themselves, to stand firm against the onslaught of an entire culture?

Without God, humanity is nothing more than worthless chemicals, instinctively responding to stimuli from a material world. Through ignorance, arrogance and willful disobedience, we compound our worthlessness by filling our minds with deceitful, hypocritical thoughts that ultimately produce evil and sin.

Nevertheless, even surrounded by moral perversion and intellectual degeneration, we inherently crave for the Divine. We may, at first, find only confusion and darkness in our search, but we are certain that a True Path exists. God offers His Mercy as light:

. . . O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of God: for God forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Turn unto your Lord repentant, and surrender unto Him, before there come unto you the punishment, when ye cannot be helped.

And follow the best of (the guidance) revealed to you from your Lord, before the punishment comes on you suddenly, while you do not even perceive;

Lest the soul should (then) say: ‘Ah! Woe is me!  In that I neglected (my duty) towards God, and was indeed of those who laughed in scorn;

Or (lest) it should say: ‘If only God had guided me, I should certainly have been among the righteous!

Or (lest) it should say when it (actually) sees the penalty: ‘If only I had another chance, I should certainly be among those who do good! [Qur’an 39.53-58]