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Maamar IV: On Obedience and Disobedience, Compulsion and Justice — Introduction
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I open with a preamble: when we see the many creatures, we need not be at a loss as to what purpose lies behind them.
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For there is a natural principle by which the purpose of all creatures is made clear to us — and when we examine that principle, we find that the purpose is the human being.
This is because custom and structure place every noble thing at the center of things that are not as noble as it.
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Starting from small things: the seed is at the center, within all the leaves — for the seed is nobler than they are, since the plant grows and subsists from it.
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Similarly, the yolk of the egg is at its center — for from it the chick and bird develop. So too the heart of a human being.
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— it is at the center of the chest, for it is the seat of the soul and the innate heat. So too the seeing spirit is at the center of the eye, for sight is through it.
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Since we find this principle distributed across many things, and we then find the earth at the center while the heavens and spheres surround it on every side,
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— it is established for us that the purpose of creation is on earth. Then, surveying all its parts, we found soil and water to be inert, found the animals to lack speech, and nothing remained but the human being.
We consulted the scripture and found God's words: 'I made the earth and created man upon it' (Isa. 45:12).
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Section 1. Our Lord made known to us through His prophets that He distinguished the human being above all of creation with the words: 'And have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens' (Gen. 1:28).
And that He gave him the capacity for obedience and placed it before him as a deposit, entrusted it to him, made him its guardian, and commanded him to choose the good — as it says: 'See, I have set before you today life and the good' (Deut. 30:15).
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Then we reflected with careful reflection on what distinguished him — and we found that his distinction lies in the wisdom God placed in him and taught him, as it says: 'He who teaches man knowledge' (Ps. 94:10).