This article was automatically translated from the original Turkish version.
One day, your breath will leave your chest for the last time. The world will continue to turn, but over time those who remember your name will fall silent. But the real question is: Did you truly exist in this world? Did you make your presence felt through your own identity, your actions, and the value you added to those you loved?
Existence is not merely breathing or taking steps; it is knowing where you are walking, being aware of whose presence you are in, and giving meaning to the life entrusted to you. Nonexistence is not merely returning to dust; it is living and leaving without leaving a trace or adding meaning.
According to Al-Farabi, a person’s existence is not built through the body but through the intellect and the heart. Seeking knowledge, deepening thought, and placing morality at the center of life are the foundational stones of true existence. For a person becomes “existent” not merely by living, but by understanding what it means to live. If your life is an emptiness untouched by knowledge and wisdom, unshaped by goodness and justice, then even if you pass through this world, all that remains is a faint trace.
In Al-Farabi’s understanding of wisdom, to exist is to comprehend the harmony of the universe and maintain inner balance with it. When a person transforms the intellect and will granted to them into good—for themselves and for others—they transcend the limits of mortality. Those who waste their days without purpose live without direction, without turning inward to ask themselves questions. Yet true existence begins with holding fast to a cause. That cause is the meaning assigned to you by your Creator. You fear nonexistence because you know death is certain. But believers know that death is not an end, but a beginning; it is the closing of one door and the opening of another. True nonexistence is arriving at that door with empty hands.
Today, what steps are you taking that will become light for someone tomorrow? What are your words accumulating in your heart? What will your work, your effort, your love, and your existence leave behind after you? If your existence finds meaning not merely in breathing, but in goodness and surrender, then you need no longer fear nonexistence. For then you transcend mortality.
Now I ask again:
"Are you so existent that you fear nonexistence?"【1】
Farabi. “Var mısın ki yok olmaktan korkuyorsun? - İlmin, aydınlanmanın ve anlamın felsefesi.” Prepared by Mesud Topal. Istanbul: Destek Yayınları.
[1]
Farabi. “Var mısın ki yok olmaktan korkuyorsun? - İlmin, aydınlanmanın ve anlamın felsefesi.” Hazırlayan: Mesud Topal hazırlayan. İstanbul: Destek Yayınları.