If only the experiential presence of good (pleasure) is good, I have not found a good that suffices
If only the experiential absence of good (disappointment/sadness) is good, I have not found a good that suffices
If only I can become aware of a good that remains present in my awareness when it is experienced and present in my awareness when it is not being experienced, then I have found a good that is good in itself, the source of all felt presences and absences, not subject to decline and always present for the awareness to look towards. It is the good that I should want in my life. To have it, I have to privilege awareness, intelligence and the mind over mere sensory experience, even my feelings. I must come to my body and my feelings through the awareness of the everpresence of divine goodness. Then, when I come to my body and my feelings, and I notice the presence of good, it reminds of the good of my awareness and awakens my awareness of that good. If I experience the absence of good, I am turned by that absence towards the face of the good that my awareness has access to even in the absence of its experience. In fact, the absence radically sharpens my awareness of that good and the need for that good in a way that experiential presence of that good may not (I get too comfortable too quickly to remain aware of the good and drown in the experience/pleasure of it, forgetting the origin and source of that good).
the good I want in my life is the source of good, the one that when I am aware of, when I am turned towards in my awareness and find safety (amana/imaan) with both in the presence and absence of experience of divine good. My experiences must be read in the name of the divine good that I am aware of as i experience the presence or absence of good through my material existence. I can’t be aware of the divine good without sensory experience of the good (both feeling its presence and feeling its absence) but I can’t be aware of the divine good merely by experiencing the good. I have to make the choice to experience the sensory good in the name of the divine so that when I experince it (or its absence), my awareness extends beyond the sensory to the divine. This awarenss of divine good is what makes me a human on the prophetic path and a follower of prophets of God. Mere experience of good (its abundance or absence) makes me a human not on the prophetic path and leaves me with such despair and insecurity (all experiences, whether of the good or its absence, disappear, leaving me with nothing at all) that i am turned to nothing.
Humans want good and dont want its absence in their life. This is in their nature. This nature can only be kept intact and without injury with awareness of the divine origin and ownership of all good, what is present to me and what i experience as absent/lacking. I conclude that I want to be turned to the divine at all times. Before each experience, my stance is that I see the face of the divine, which is all that is good – life, beauty, wisdom, love and so on. In this, I found a final safety. No message, and therefore no messenger, can tell me anything that brings me greater safety for with ‘no good/god but the Good/God’ and all things ‘glorify Him’ and ‘read all things in the Name of God’ and ‘wherever you turn and whatever you experience, there is the face of God’ and ‘turn your face to the sacred place of prostration (masjid al haram) and ‘everthing is a sign of God’ I have found ultimate safety and security. Because I find the message bringing me an ultimate safety, with all dreaded absences (like death and illness and poverty) bringing me to the divine presence/good, I affirm that no further help is needed by mind or soul to find what it needs i.e. non-declining good that never abandons and is never missing and never absent. This is why, and in this sense, I say that the one named Muhammad in the Quran is the seal of messengers for me. I don’t find in me any urge or need anymore to look for a higher truth.
i ask for security with God (imaan billah) as the only good i want in my life. This encompasses experiences of the presence of good and experiences of the absence of good in my life. all praise be to the Good, the One whose face only suffices my soul.
The Quran as Revelation 