THE REALITY OF LIFE.
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough” is a quote by Mae West.
Life is a journey that is meant to be embraced to the fullest every day. However, that doesn’t mean you always wake up ready to seize the day, and sometimes need a reminder that life is a great gift. On the other hand, life is not a bed of roses as all we wished for. It does not always go as planned. There are ups and downs, good and bad, happiness and sorrow.
Nearly everyone feels insignificant at one time or another.
You may be great on the football field and terrible in a chemistry lab. Maybe you are the star of the show with one group and totally ignored in another. Insignificance has more to do with how we feel about ourselves than our real value as people. It is easy to feel totally worthless when people ignore us. It’s hard to stand up and be counted when we feel alone against the crowd. So, where can we discover our true value is a question left to us to find an answer to…Feeling insignificant really hurts but regardless of our feelings, we do have real value, created for great things, life chips away at our souls, but God sees us as priceless.
We need not to surrender our future to our feelings at the jeopardy of our goal. With determination, extreme hardwork and consistency, our promise land is not a place that far for us to reach. Humans tend to conclude when the unwanted happens submitting it to be fate or as God had wanted it to be. It is true that everything that happens to either humans or jinns (spiritual creatures) has been predestined or destined to happen.
As mentioned in the scripture, God says:
“Whatever befalls you of the good is from Lord, and whatever befalls you of the evil is from yourself. And for the people as a Messenger and God is sufficient as a Witness.”
We must believe in the predestination of God about the events and the fate (Qadar) according to His will. If God wishes it occur then it will be, but if He doesn’t then it does not occur at all. God knows what people do not know, nothing occurs except His will. However, God gives the human free will and destiny does not cause the influence in human choices. Also God does not judge for the action and event of human beyond his control. Humans have been given the free will to decide what is the best of life but God defines.
Equally important is to note that life is not just about materialism, that is, gathering of clothes, acquisition of wealth, craving for positions amongst others that seem to be worldly things. Many lives totally believe their existence should be devoted to the untiring pursuit of increasing material wealth, or the aim of acquiring and enjoying as many material wealth as possible, either because the individual has no greater life pursuit than to acquire wealth, or probably because the individual hoped that through these never lasting means he may attain lasting everlasting contentment, freedom from difficulty, and ultimately happiness but at which the desire for acquiring it cannot be quenched. However, man can struggle to attain heart peace and joy through the accumulation of material ownership or material experiences, he would discover this lasting contentment he seeks will continually elude him. With this growing desire, he would not attain peace with this mentality that the criteria of knowing an individual who had lived a fulfilled life is how he had been able to gather wealth.
Material progress can be regarded as an aspect of human life but, it is not the essence of the creation of human. Accumulation of wealth has never satisfied and would never satisfy the human spirit. This greedy action of man blindfolds the eyes with which nothing is seen as the real essence of creation upon earth which is to know and recognize his creator and reach spiritual height. What shapes our purpose of existence is the situation alongside the environment we find ourselves in a particular time or period. The settings of our environment, our background and ancestral beliefs are major keys that determines and shape our belief.
Identifying our ultimate purpose from the lesser purpose in life is essential in human life as there are multiple purposes than a single purpose in each existence of man. The ultimate purpose is to worship our creator and everything that comes after it are the lesser purpose, gradually develop his soul and other souls and eventually find his way to where he originates from.
In conclusion, God willing, every creation in his or her wonderful and precious lifetime will attain the purpose for which they were created, and certainly attain the joy and honour of finding nearness to their Creator. God’s attributes are seen in different degrees in the world of creation, however in each era God reveals Himself in His greatest intensity in the form of a perfect man. The meaning of life is just not to be alive but beyond being alive, it is so plain, obvious, simple but with complexities. Yet, everybody rushes around in great panic as it was compulsory to achieve something beyond themselves. Ultimate purpose on earth should be our priority followed by lesser purpose of life!
written by Alade Farouq
