I begin in the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
As usual, I've been wanting to blog for a VERY long time, but I just didn't have anything worthy in mind (not that this is worthy...but hey, I've missed writing).
I have learnt a massive lesson in this last year; stagnation IS regression.
Sometimes, we become content with our position in some important aspect of our life, knowingly or unknowingly. I might perform Ziyara or Hajj, come back sin-free and I'm content with that. Or I might have performed the A'mal of Layalil Qadr or taken advantage of any of the other countless opportunities that Allah so generously provides us with, and wiped my slate clean, and it feels great. It feels great that now, all I have to do to get by is avoid sinning anymore. And why not? What's wrong with being content with being in such a state?
There's nothing wrong with contentment- I'm not encouraging ungratefulness or undervaluing, but there's definitely something wrong with aiming to 'get by'.
Success and perfection are measured according to the purpose something or someone serves. Nobody judges a footballer according to how well he cooks, or a doctor according to his or her artistic skills. So, what's our purpose as human beings? Countless times Allah exalts out status- we (human beings) are the best of creation, our purpose is to worship Him, the angels were ordered to prostrate to Adam (a.s), etc, etc. In other words, we have been created for much, much more than to merely get by. We've been given potential that no other creation has been honoured with. Imam as-Sadiq (a.s) sums it beautifully- when asked if human beings are greater than angels, he responded,
"Allah endowed angels with intellect without desire, animals with desire without intellect and man with both of them. So he whose intellect manages to conquer his desire, is greater than the angels, and he whose desires overcome his intellect, he is lower than the animals."
To get by means to put in minimum effort- as I said, in the example that I gave, it would mean avoiding sin. While a lot of the time this isn't easy, it's still mostly a list of 'must not's. It's like keeping a clean sheet but not actually scoring any goals, or having a Lamborghini and not crashing or wrecking it, but driving it at 30mph everyday. It's the difference between surviving, and actually living.
To stagnate is to stop, to cease to move in any direction, but to regress is to actually move backward. We know the definition of these two words and clearly they're not the same thing. But for us, for creatures designed and created to PROgress, move forward, achieve, reach great heights and accomplish great feats, stagnation IS regression, because we are not fulfilling our purpose. We are not meeting the highest standards, we are not making use of the potential gifted to us. For us, anything other than progression, is regression.
Parenthetically, it's interesting to ponder on why we short-change ourselves. While I was writing this, I began to think that all this talk of avoiding sins being something minimal might be taken the wrong way or sound very demotivating- we already struggle to do the bare minimum...what hope do we have to do anything more? But I realised that it's this very clever, yet self-destructive habit of playing safe that holds us back. Sometimes (not always), we don't think beyond the minimal goals, not because we fear missing our potential and disappointing God, but simply disappointing ourselves. It's not a good feeling to have an un-ticked box on the to-do list.
Recently, Forbes published an article explaining why only 8% of people achieve their new years' resolutions. One of the main reasons given was that the resolutions weren't simple or achievable or realistic enough. But I don't think that's the problem. Anything is achievable. Our problem isn't our high goals, it's US! Why do those few people somehow manage to set themselves seemingly ridiculous targets and still reach them, while the rest of us give up before we even start? It's easy(er) to set goals, but the real challenge is to devise a plan of action, and to follow through consistently and check up on our own progress regularly. When a lot of these articles tell us to set 'realistic' goals, I don't think they're entirely accurate (not to mention that it's slightly insulting that a magazine is (not so) subtly hinting that I will fail my current targets!). Instead, I think we should set goals as ambitious as we like, but to BE realistic about how we will achieve them- know what we're getting ourselves into, be ready for a long, hard struggle, and all the rest of it.
I heard a narration of the Ahlulbayt (a.s) a while back which I still haven't found the exact wording for but will post as soon as I do, where the Imam tells us to aim high, because even if we don't end up reaching our huge goal, we will still have achieved something pretty big in a league of greatness not too far off from what we originally set out for.
May Allah grant us all the tawfeeq to fulfil our highest potentials! As always, these entries are merely reminders for myself- it's useful to articulate thoughts once in a while :)
