If we had the means of going back in time and having a look at the lives of the people, we would be fascinated to see how we differ from them in ways incalculable: our era has swathes of depressed people, theirs had steel souled; ours wallow in meaningless, theirs found meaning even in an act as simple as meal-sharing. Where things went wrong?
With embracing modern atheistic narratives, it has snatched from us our millennia-cherished treasure, which is to say, religion. When one fails to have something that acts as a stopper to our thinking, we fail to distinguish between the bad and the good.
Our wishes turn selfish. Wish to become too competent to care about those who are in pressing need. Wish to gain constant hits of dopamine by indulging in immoral activities. Wish to go to any extent to our satisfaction. And so forth.
From as simple as moving out of our homes to visiting markets to causing harm to someone should our ego get hurt, humans turn into unrestrained animals.
And that’s where we stand at the moment. Fist-fighting, the scene not uncommon in the alleys. Groping, the case reported so often. Sucking blood out of the blood-depraved, the deed we least turn our attention to nowadays.
On the spiritual level, we suffer from the severe consequences. Unbridled rage over subtle issues, leading either to regret or more rage. Nihilistic tendencies, we find no meaning in anything whatsoever, leading to suicidal ideations or sluggishness.
Setting way high expectations of things, which are hardly met, one doesn’t feel satisfied with day-to-day life, thus meaninglessness takes on its form. Depressive inclinations, when there’s no end to our selfish wishes, our psyche suffers disturbances.
Life gets worse beyond imagination.
Religion, contrarily, sets a boundary to our thinking and acting tendencies. It gives us a caveat before we consider something. It’s an oft-repeated statement that God hates those who are slothful.
In the absence of any authority checking up on us, we can easily think ourselves into paying homage to slothfulness. And when we become slothful, our inner-self turns weak – consequently giving birth to our psychological and emotional issues.
There is wisdom in everything that God tells us. Obeying the commandments of the lord means saving ourselves from impending danger.
Offering Salah is a reminder to restrain from actions and thoughts that are disastrous to us. Showing mental calmness in times of rage means saving ourselves from regret. Finding joy in what we have, means saving ourselves from becoming nihilists. The sooner we realise this, the better.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.