words. What is the difference between
someone telling you something and
someone showing you something;
“hold on” versus a vertical flat hand
gesture indicating to hold on and
wait?
If a loved one gifts you a box of chocolates
and a bouquet of roses, there
is also an understood significance in
meaning. We do not simply understand
it as a transferal of ownership
of food and plant. We understand
from the gesture that there is a special
overtone.
As children grow up and become
more inquisitive, they start asking a
lot of questions. They want to know
the meaning of everything. “Why is it
raining? Why do I have to wait? How
does grass grow? Why don’t boats
sink? Why is our van silver?” They are
seeing millions of symbols in different
forms for the first time. They have
a built-in meaning scanner that is trying
to compute all these compounded
symbols. As these children get older
and acquire more first-hand experience
with the world, those questions
get answered and newer more complex
questions begin to arise. They
start questioning the meaning behind
the more significant events such as
waking up, going to sleep, achieving,
sacrificing and so on.
As we gain more experience with our
conscious interactions, we start to
ponder and question our own personal
existence and purpose. At some
point, life itself becomes one giant
compounded symbol and we begin to
ponder over the daunting question;
what is the meaning of life?
Many attempt to suppress this question.
They have entertained it before
and know it has serious implications
and may lead to a life-commitment.
It comes with the undeniable fact
that there is only a limited amount of
time to figure it out. On top of that, it
interferes with the plans and wishes
of own’s desires. They feel that if they
stop asking the question, it will go
away.
Others go a step further. They become
bold and assert that there is
no ‘meaning of life’ and there is no
accountability in a supposed “Hereafter”.
Allah mentions the attitude of
such people: “And they say: ‘There
is no life but our worldly life. We
die and live and nothing destroys us
except time” (45:24).
This mindset leads people to escapism.
They fill the gaps of a meaningless
life with bandage-fixes like
hobbies, drugs, alcohol, social media
etc. However, bandages need to be
re-applied until the wound is healed.
In their case, the wound will never
heal. It becomes a permanent-temporary
fix. Eventually, the façade of the
bandage cannot conceal the ugliness
that has developed, and it moves
them to a depressed state.
This mental conflict occurs when we
suppress the natural inclination towards
finding true meaning. We have
been designed to seek this meaning.
Just like total suppression of our traits
like hunger and thirst is detrimental,
placing this essential question on the
shelf can lead people to very dark
places. When you attempt to replace
it with temporal diversions, it can
create unimaginable depression and
despair when the fairy tale ends.
According to the World Health Organization,
there are close to 800,000
deaths by suicide every year. That is
roughly the population of Mississauga
in Canada. They also state that the
major causes of suicide are related to
depression and substance abuse. Such
people have a breakdown due to their
inability to cope with life. They weigh
their current sufferings and circumstances
and decide that it is not worth
living.
The case of Farhan Towhid starkly
illustrates this point. In short, he
suffered from depression which led
him to have suicidal tendencies. This
ultimately led him and his brother
to murder his whole family and then
commit suicide. In his Instagram
post that he submitted just before
committing this despicable act, he
briefly mentioned his reasoning:
“Let’s start with the meaning of life.
Everyone thinks the meaning of life
is this deep unsolvable mystery, but
the conclusion I came to is really
simple. The only reason for existence
is happiness… If the only reason to
live is for happiness, then logically,
you shouldn’t live if you aren’t happy.
That makes sense, right?”
This is a very popular “logic.” Truth
and meaning are determined by one’s
level of enjoyment and comfort.
On this basis, we stage our homes
with things that make us happy. We
attempt to work towards this goal
and assign nearly all our resources
to attain things which we hope will
increase our perceived contentment
and pleasure.
Reality does not seem to be congruent
with this idea. Among the countries
with the lowest suicide rates
in the world are Syria and Palestine
while the highest rates belong to the
more wealthy and secular countries
who trumpet their material success
and advancements. There is a very
strong case to be made that the opposite
is actually true. The more one
has, the less satisfied they are and the
less one has the more satisfied and
grateful they become.
Allah accurately describes the reality
of this life: “…The life of this world
is no more than the enjoyment of
delusion” (50:20). Trying to live a life
which is centered around personal
enjoyment does not seem to be conducive
to happiness, rather, it leads to
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