According to Nurettin Topcu What Does “to Exist” Mean?

Yıl 2020, , 579 - 602, 15.05.2020

Cenan Kuvancı

https://doi.org/10.28949/bilimname.685216

Öz

According to Nurettin Topcu, to exist is to think, to love and to perform the voluntary movements. Although Topcu explains “to exist” with these concepts, claims that only the concept “movement” can ultimately guide people on this matter. If an essence of human being is to be mentioned, the ability to perform the voluntary movements is his/her essence, because we can only understand human being and its dimensions through movement. Thinking is the partial essence of man at best. Therefore, the development of the ability of movement provides the development of thinking ability; in turn, thinking also contributes to the development of movement.

The existence and the continuation of human movements is dependent on moving towards infinity which is his/her goal. Indeed, man wants to go towards infinity, since s/he can only find peace in it. This move is guided by the responsibility that is a mobilizing force coming from within of man. According to Topcu, the tree of responsibility gushing from the core of mercy, saves people from being a finite and limited entity; leads to an infinite and eternal life. To put it more precisely, the consciousness of responsibility adds an extraordinary value to the human being, as it is a force that frees man from animal life and makes him/her dominate over his/her own feelings and tendencies. Everyone who can cross the narrow borders of feelings thinks that s/he is responsible for the world and the truth. Something that the individual`s conscious will reaches can can`t escape from this responsibility. Because the real responsibility is to be responsible for the events and the universe, the nature and the society, the past and the future, the dead and the children, the phenomenon and the transcendent. It is this responsibility that raise human being above other beings and the universe. Because, thanks to this awareness of responsibility, people rise above their low-level nature and ascend to the level of “ashrafu`l makhluqat” (i.e. the noblest of all creatures).

This driving force, that is, the responsibility raises the need to discover a new existence with different possibilities and dimensions. Human existence is not something that has already been determined in all its aspects. According to Topcu, the development of the distinctive features of human being and reaching a certain level of maturity is only realized thanks to the ideas and the movements set infinity. People`s attachment to the ideas and the beliefs that are compatible with their interests and acting in parallel with them will result in moral and spiritual decline. While grudge, envy and sedition strangle man, the soul saved by mercy begins to fly in the eternal sky of love and becomes eternal in the skies of morality. On the contrary, the ways of thinking and the modes of action that do not raise a person to a new level of existence, do not carry him/her to infinity, do not lead from plurality to unity are regressive. In fact, the thoughts and the movements that do not come from the depths of one`s self or personality, remain within the boundaries of the field of the flesh and the selfish desires, and cannot transfer him/her beyond the phenomenon. This person connects only with phenomenal facts; not with the transcendent.

Undoubtedly, human being is a biological and material being on the one hand and a spiritual and rational being on the other hand. In other words, in some respects, human being has both common characteristics with other living things and his/her own spiritual and rational existence. Human being must take his/her share from the world in order to maintain his/her biological existence; and has to also create a sphere of meaning-value to meet his/her mental and spiritual needs. As a compulsory consequence of this, human being produces the religious, the moral and the aesthetic values and shapes whole of his/her own existence and nature in accordance with them.

The main goal in religion, morality and art is to raise human being whose inner structure is full of desires, ambitions and desires which the banal creatures also have, to the high level of existence and then directing him/her to infinity and also is to purify him/her from all the qualities that are the source of moral misery. As a matter of fact, ambition, arrogance, jealousy and hypocrisy appeared as an obstacle in front of the individuals, prevent the birth of the spiritual movement. Based on the will to exist, human beings, by rebelling against people who are always running towards the satisfaction of their interests and passions, by using all the possibilities in the current order, by creating new and superior orders are moving towards God. The conscientious voice coming from within of the rebels saves them from being the prisoners of passion and interests and encourages them to turn their gaze into eternity. According to Topcu, truly ideal life is the job of “high values”. The objectives based on religious, moral, existential, aesthetic high values or ideals are superior in comparison to those based on “vehicle values”, that is, those that result from our bio-psychic structure. Indeed, to exist is the penetration of supreme values transforming, establishing, activating, filling us with a sense of responsibility such as the penetration of fire into iron.

As a result, human maturation is the work of will that goes beyond the current order. According to Topcu, it is as if our feet are tied to the ground, and our soul is in the heavens. Our substance piled up to the ground is the source of realism, and our soul flying to the sky is the source of idealism. Human being carries both the knots of material captivity and the wings of spiritual freedom in his own existence. Therefore, man should always direct his actions to a higher existence. This is the purpose of existence for human being. In the event that the journey to God and creativity in human life cease, our existence closes into itself. The personal pleasures and the social ties destroy the soul force while it is at its source. The path that must go to infinity ends in the dark boundaries of individual and the social circle that are devoid of creativity. This is the death of the human movement. Because the creativity of the human movement is in targeting to infinity and in heading towards it. For human being, to exist is to bear fruit like a fruitful tree, to present to others from his/her existence, to live for the others, to realize both the beauty and the good. Ethics cannot be mentioned in a place where our existence does not overflow and reach the other.

Nurettin Topçu`ya Göre “Var Olmak” Ne Demektir?

Öz

Nurettin Topçu`ya göre var olmak; düşünmek, sevmek ve iradî hareketler gerçekleştirmektir. Topçu “var olmak”ı bu kavramlarla izah etse de bu konuda insana tam anlamıyla sadece “hareket”in rehberlik edebileceğini iddia eder. Eğer insanın bir cevherinden bahsedilecekse, iradî hareketler gerçekleştirebilme kabiliyeti onun cevheridir. Çünkü insan varlığını ve onun boyutlarını sadece hareket sayesinde anlayabiliriz. Düşünmek ise, insanın olsa olsa kısmî özüdür. Bundan dolayı, hareket kabiliyetinin gelişmesi düşünme kabiliyetinin gelişmesini sağlar; sırasında, düşünmek de hareketin gelişmesine elbette katkıda bulunur. 

İnsan hareketlerinin varlığı ve devamı, gayesi olan sonsuzluğa doğru yol almasına bağlıdır. Nitekim, insan, sadece sonsuzlukta huzur bulabileceği için, ona doğru gitmek ister. Bu gidişi, insanın içinden gelen, harekete geçirici bir güç olan mesuliyet yönlendirir. Bu itici güç, farklı imkân ve boyutlarıyla yeni varoluş alanları keşfetme ihtiyacını doğurur. İnsan varoluşu, tüm yönleriyle önceden zaten tespit edilmiş başlı başına bir şey değildir. Topçu`ya göre, bir insanın ayırt edici özelliklerini geliştirmesi ve belli bir olgunluk düzeyine ulaşması, ancak sonsuza ayarlı fikir ve hareketler sayesinde olmaktadır; çünkü âleme ve sonsuza yöneliş, insan için varoluş imkânlarını çeşitlendirir. Bunun aksine, insanı yeni bir varoluş düzeyine yükseltmeyen, sonsuza ulaştırmayan, çokluktan birliğe götürmeyen düşünme biçimleri ve hareket tarzları ise, gerileticidir. Dolayısıyla, insanların, menfaatleriyle uyumlu fikir ve inançlara bağlanması, onlara koşut hareket etmesi, ahlâkî ve manevî düşüşle sonuçlanır. Yani, insanın benlik ya da şahsiyetinin derinliklerinden gelmeyen düşünce ve hareketler, ten ve iştahalar sahası sınırlarında kalır, öteye geçemez.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Din felsefesi, var olmak, hareket, irade, isyan, sonsuzluk

Kaynakça

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