Oprah Winfrey while delivering Herry’s last lecture at Stanford University said, “The only way to live a meaningful life is to know your SELF and to know WHY you are here”. She went on to say “Open your heart and say the only prayer, which is ever needed, THANK YOU God for this moment, for another chance to make life better for ourselves and for others.”
This inward journey to discover the ultimate reality has been discussed and shared by many thinkers and philosophers. Sigmund Freud called it super ego, while for Malow it was self-actualization. Allama Muhammad Iqbal coined the term of ‘Khudi’ for it. Putting this concept more explicitly, Nick Begley wrote that it’s not hedonism – seeking personal pleasure – which makes us happy, rather its eudaimonia – living a life of virtue and striving for human excellence, which raises us from human to humane.
But is this so easy to sacrifice one’s own desires for greater virtues and the welfare of others? No, it not because science and theology both suggest that in order to reach the status of righteous human, one has to be in a constant struggle with the desires of subjective gratification on one side and nurturing of desirable positive qualities on the other. But this conflict between opposites, is not bad in itself, because it implies embracing ourselves as who we are and then making a conscious choice to opt for the more positive outlook, emotions and traits.
This inward journey to discover the ultimate reality has been discussed and shared by many thinkers and philosophers. Sigmund Freud called it super ego, while for Malow it was self-actualization
Carl Jung was among the psychologists who strongly believed in the presence of opposite and competing emotions and desires in a human. He coined the term Entropy in psychology, which is derived from the thermodynamics. Jung believed that human is a combination of opposites, and a conflict between opposites creates the energy which can be used to develop new attitudes and learn new behaviours. According to him, if there is no conflict within a person, if he has achieved everything, there is no urge to get something more, there is no energy – no life. It means conflict between opposite desires is natural and to some extent desirable. It depends on the individual, how he creates a healthy balance between subjective good and objective good.
A fascinating branch of science that helps us in understanding the human nature and emotions is psychology. Before the Second World War, psychology aimed at prevention, therapy and enrichment. But after Second World War, somehow the enrichment part got over shadowed by the higher demand for restoring and maintaining a good mental health. It was about a decade ago that psychologists again started working more on the positive traits which make us happy and more satisfied as a human and overall as a society. It talks about positive experiences e.g. happiness, joy, satisfaction and positive traits like honesty, truthfulness, nurturing. Positive psychology basically implies that by discovering, enhancing and practicing positive traits one can become happier and can also spread positive vibes in the society.
Dr Ilona Boniwell wrote in an article that happiness and wellbeing seems to have very limited link with worldly possessions, rather it is more relevant to having a meaning in life. If we look around, we can see that many great people like Abdul Sattar Eidhi, Mother Teresa, and Dr Amjad Saqib actually found a meaningful purpose for their lives and brought unimaginable revolutions in the world.
Our Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) demonstrated the righteous life of meaning for us. He guided us towards a positive and happy life by serving others and protecting the rights of others. He said “Allah is gentle and He loves gentleness. He rewards for gentleness what is not granted for harshness and He does not reward anything else like it (Muslim)”. Fourteen hundred years ago, he shared the formula of success in following words, “Whoever relieves a believer’s distress of the distressful aspects of this world, Allah will rescue him from a difficulty of the difficulties of the Hereafter. Whoever alleviates [the situation of] one in dire straits who cannot repay his debt, Allah will alleviate his lot in both this world and in the Hereafter. Whoever conceals [the faults of] a Muslim, Allah will conceal [his faults] in this life and the Hereafter (Muslim).” Essence of another Hadith was shared in the form of lyrics by Sheikh Saadi in his book Gulistan in following words:
“Human beings are members of a whole
In creation of one essence and soul
If one member is afflicted with pain
Other members uneasy will remain
If you have no sympathy for human pain
The name of human you cannot retain”
In this blessed month of Ramazan, please do not forget that caring and sacrificing for others is the essence of humanity. In prevailing socio-economic and psychological challenges due to COVID 19 pandemic it becomes more relevant to spend on others from what Allah has given us. We should all go an extra mile to “Damay, Dermay , Sukhnay ” support our fellow human being.
The writer is director of programs & projects with Rising Sun Education & Welfare Society