How to Avoid Tension | The Sunday Guardian | May 30, 2010 | Page 14
How to attain a tension free life? It is a question asked by every person. The Quran gives us a simple solution, which is mentioned in the following verse: Those who believe and whose hearts find comfort in the remembrance of God -- surely in the remembrance of God hearts can find comfort. (13:28)
The formula given in this verse is: contentment in this world is only for those who willingly accept the Creation Plan of God.
According to the Quran, the present world was created for only a limited period and also for a temporary purpose -- that is, to develop your personality so that you may become eligible to enter the next world called Paradise. Now the problem is that although man was born with an ideal nature, and is an ideal seeking animal, the present world was not created for this purpose. In terms of personality development, the present world has enormous scope, but in terms of material achievement, the present world is very limited in its scope.
Those who want to fulfil their material desires in the present world will very soon find that they have failed to build the edifice of their dreams. Anything that they achieve seems to them less than ideal. This is a source of all kinds of tension and stress. The formula given in the Quran is: try your best to evolve your personality in terms of spiritual and intellectual development. But, as far as your material requirements are concerned, adopt the need based formula and not the greed based formula.
The problem is that people judge things on an ideal yardstick. This is unrealistic. The realistic formula is: use the ideal yardstick when judging your personality development but for material needs, use a different yardstick.
For a tension- free life adopt the realistic approach.