Abstract
Now days we see that mental illnesses like depression and being hopeless about future are spreading rapidly among masses. From a man living in the card box/shelter house to the man living in a luxury Mansion both are facing these types of mental illnesses. Therefore, I decided that it is a need of time to address these issue and give remedies for these problems through my research in a brief report. Maybe by my this little effort I can save someone life or maybe can give a man going to suicide a different perspective to think. The basic idea of the article is that in our society, materialistic success is considered as real success and true happiness while reality is opposite to it. We as a society ignores and don’t promote that a bigger success than materialistic success is to be satisfied with your life, be happy in your life, to show gratitude upon what we have.
And to achieve mental peace and true happiness in life, there are usually 2 ways for person. One is to mark your happiness strictly on achievement of goals and second is to set a goal in life and then be ready to face the music of life open heartedly and with enjoy. Later in article, both these psychologies are discussed in detail and result of adopting it are also discussed.
Introduction
Lets start from the saying of Alan Cohen, he states that “Be happy with what you have. Be excited about what you want”. This where most of the people gets confused and fell into the well of depression and other mental illnesses. They mess up these concepts and start believing that life happiness means to achieve something and without achievements there life would be a misery. They sacrifice their all joyful moments of life just for one thing considering it to be happiness but after sometime of achieving it they realize that it is not the true happiness, instead they had lost, ignored happiness in past for an achievement which was achievable also by living the life with joy. Here joy doesn’t mean waste of time, it means management of time and thoughts. I will later proved this by giving brief introduction and taking interviews of materialistic successful person who are going through mental illnesses.
From now on lets consider 2 types of persons, one a person who consider materialistic success as true happiness and the other who consider it that striving for more with enjoying the ups and down of life is happiness.
A materialistic person believes that matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and that all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materialism, mind and consciousness are by-products or epiphenomena of material processes without which they cannot exist.
While other person believes otherwise , his concept lies with idealism, where mind and consciousness are first-order realities to which matter is subject and material interactions are secondary.
From now on in this article, the persons we consider previously we will name them as materialistic and idealistic.
Hypothesis
According to my understanding I proposed this hypothesis,
“No matter how life hit us we just have to stick on what we aimed. And to achieve this we have to get rid of materialism and have to adopt habits like gratitude and Trust in God. People who don’t follows at least one of these qualities will surely face mental illness, which may lead to suicide”.
Literature Review
Materialism Leads to Depression
Materialistic approach in life will eventually cause sorrow. Getting rid of this approach can reduce your depression to a great extent. As Ameer ul Momineen Imam Ali as said,
“Loving the worldly life can cause grief and sorrow and abstaining from it causes comfort of the heart and body”. (Bihar ul Anwar, volume 76).
I will quote a recent incident of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh. He suicided a week ago, so what were the motives behind this. According to sources he was suffering from chronic depression due to nepotism in Bollywood industry. Why he can’t take depression, as he was a quite wealth man and with excess of materialistic belongings, it is because he was away from the concepts of trusting God and gratitude. As Jeigh Ilano quotes, “Its not about the materialistic things you have….Its about the good person you are.No one will remember you for things you had, But how you made them feel. Habits to achieve a happy life are detailed below,
Trusting God
First we have to understand that what is meant by trusting God, it means we should get up each morning believing for a good day , expecting favors knowing that God is directing our steps, as The Creator quotes in Quran, “ If one puts his trust in GOD, then GOD is Almighty, Most Wise”. (chapter#8,verse#49)
At same we should realize everything may not go perfect, maybe we will be mistreated by people, our plans may not stay on schedule but still we have to remain calm and peaceful and letting our burden on God. As if we are only going to enjoy the day if our plan works then we are setting ourselves for disappointments. In this context I will quote a biblical verse, “He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord”. (Chapter# ,Verse# ).
If a person just stick to its hard work and let all results on God then God will not surely bring him out but bring him out better. To give my opinion a strong support I will again quote a verse of bible, it is stated as, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose”. (chapter#8,verse#28)
Trusting God is like a partnership with god , we have to trust him and he will works out everything good for us. As it is stated in Quran, “To GOD belongs the future of the heavens and the earth, and all matters are controlled by Him. You shall worship Him and trust in Him. Your Lord is never unaware of anything you do”. (Chapter#11,Verse#123)
Similarly for my Christian and Jewish readers I will quote from Bible,
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths”.(chapter#3,verse#5-6)
Gratitude
Abraham Lincoln quoted in his speech and writing, “We can complain that rose bushes have thorns or we can rejoice that thorn bushes have roses.’ Abraham Lincoln”. (The Lincoln-Douglas Debates)
It is our perspective that how we see this world, aiming and wishing for next level is mandatory for development but being unsatisfied and unhappy on our current situation is a bad thing which ultimately leads to depression and sometimes suicide. As it is stated in Quran, “If you are grateful, I would certainly give you more; and if you are ungrateful, My chastisement is truly severe.” (Chapater#14:verse#7)
Lets recognize the incredible blessings in our lives. Just for a moment, pause, look up and see the awesomeness of everything around you and within you, now just think that from how much people you are more blessed. So therefore we thanks God every time as Bible states,
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”(Chronicles 16:34)
The best example is that you the one who is reading this is blessed more than 100 crore people, as 100 crore people in this world are unable to read and write.
The type of gratitude we discussed above is for Almighty God and discussion on it cannot be summarize even we write till even the Doomsday. We should thank our Almighty till our last breath for his blessing upon it, as stated in Torah,
“Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!”.( Corinthians 9:15)
It is like an obligation upon me to share words of Lady Zainab (as) in the court of Yazeed, after the tragedy of Karbala, she still started her sermon with these words “In the name of Allah, The most Gracious, the most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds”. So that’s shows that whatever the situation is we have to show gratitude to our creator.
Now lets discuss another type of gratitude which we have to show our fellows, teachers, family and people around us. It is not just to say thank you, instead it is the feel your heart felt for someone which benefices you in any aspect. In this context I will quote a hadith, “Whoever does not thank people has not thanked Allah.” (Sunan Abī Dāwūd 4811)
Methodology
In this research qualitative methodology has been used in order to theorize and understand the real concept of true happiness.
Now there are brief interviews of some persons who have different personalities according to me, I asked question randomly from them so they can’t fake it, their interview are listed below,
Interview with my Friend
Here is the interview conducted with him,
What you meant by happy life?
Life mean is the struggle. So man who is struggling for something that he thought that is good. Then he felt joy and satisfaction in his struggle. So in simple words a person who don’t expect any rewards for his struggle form any one is the happy person in life. Which any one can achieve by just listening to his inner voice
What is success according to you?
Success is an feeling of something that we felt in our life after achieved that we want.
Are you satisfied with where are you in life?
Well I have a dream in my life. Which I want in this world more than any thing. So this dream want me to be expert in international relation. At this time I thought that I am getting prepare for that’s great causes. So this feeling gave me full satisfaction in my soul. So I can say I am happy. With this inner peace.
How a man can succeed?
Everyone have different meaning of success in practical life. Some may want to get job, become a politician etc…… But anyone can achieve if he really want that. Hazrat Umar said in this world every thing is tough for man if he don’t want to do that. So what I have learned form that in this world everything in world is easy if he want…. So 1 thing is how desperately he want in his life something. Is he truly want then of course he will do hard work which will be not tough for him.
Interview With a Relative
Here is the interview conducted with him,
What is success?
Success is to become rich before the age of 40.
What you consider as happy life?
At this stage of life I would say that when your children are respectable and loving towards you, your relatives likes you than your life is happy.
Are you satisfied with your life?
No I am not satisfied with my life…my life can be much better, because I spend all my life in earning money while I ignore the real wealth …my loved ones…. I respected them but due to my work I can’t show them my love. I believed that I was very successful person but now at the age of 65 years I realizes that my sisters,nieces,brother and other they just respect me but no one loves me because I don’t give them love in childhood !!!! and No more questions please.
Interview With District Officer
Here is the interview conducted with him,
What is success?
A happy feeling on achievement of your aim is called as success.
How a person can happy in his life?
By achieving your aim is called success but happiness is not just to achieve your aim it is the way you achieve you it.You can categorized it by making a time table, you should sleep 7 hours a day and then dedicate 10 hours to the work you aim. And the time remain is what decides your happiness. If you give it to your Allah, your spouse and to other family members then 90% chances are their that you will spend a happy life.
Did u you consider yourself as a happy person? If yes, then tell about your habits which lead you to happiness and if not then what are the regrets in your life?
Yes I consider myself a very happy person as I achieve my goal without disturbing my personal life. My brothers, sisters, wife, children ,my friends all are part of my life . I also tries to perform my religious obligation as best as I can. Maybe I can be a bit weak in Haqooq Allah but I never ever show any weakness to be humble with people and help them for the sake of Allah, as I believe that the more you help people and thanks Allah the more you blessing you get in life.
In the end quoted Sonya Parker, “Never forget what’s important in life. Material things can be replaced, but important people can’t”.
Conclusive Remarks
Few more interview were conducted but these interviews represents them so no need to quote them, so if I talk about interview with my friend, so my opinion before the interview about him was that I find him quite interesting and unique personality. He asks questions till he is satisfied and I always see him roaming happily, he never look tensed to me. So same his answers reflects in interview, but the only thing which I will advise him will be that he should not compare himself with others. Give your best and then leave results on Allah.
Now at second the interview which I conducted with my relative was quite difficult as I had ask him question in a way that he gives natural answers. This relative according to my understanding gets on the top from bottom in his life, but still he doesn’t seems happy as much he should. And my opinion is now verified with the answer of him in interview. This relative left his parents, sister to earn money. He visited them seldom but in his life of 65 years he never stayed to his parents or sister house for more than a week. As he always said that I need happy life so I want to earn money. Now he realizes that he spend his all life in materialistic approach and now the real happiness of life the family ,peace of mind and contentment is missing and never can be achieved again while materialistic accessories can be earned again.
Now at third I interviewed a person with repute of successfulness among the family. Everyone says that he is the one who lives his life with full enjoy. The views expressed in interview shows that why he is a happy person. It all due to follow the rules to be happy, which are discussed earlier in report that to stay happy we have to show trust on God, be a grateful person and follows the quote of Alan Cohen to achieve success, his words are as “Be happy with what you have. Be excited about what you want”.
Suggestions
My suggestion to find true happiness will be based on my personnel experience. In which I found that by Trusting God and by showing gratitude to God and every person in your life you will surely attain happy life. So my experience start with a fight of my father with MPA. After fight he teases us in every aspect he can. When he hits us with financial attack I was not able to continue my studies due to lack of funds , In this time I went into depression but one day was reading Quran and notice that ayah in which Allah orders us to be grateful in every time and one day your difficulties will be finished. I followed this and Allah makes ways for me and now I am again studying and a plus point is that I am enjoying study now.
As a renowned international speaker and author Joyce Meyers said in her speech,
“God knows every turmoil going in our hearts ,nothing is surprise for him.
Sometime we feels very insignificant, at that we have to realize that he don’t see us the way we see us but as we will become”.
In the end I would say that the only thing we will taking back to heaven from our earth is our character. Materialistic success, money, fame nothing will go with us. So we should just take out pressure of our lives and just surrender against God’s will. As most of the time growth is only possible when we flow with the flow.
Bibliography
- https://quran.com/?local=en
- https://www.biblica.com/bible/
- https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/63255/jewish/The-Bible-with-Rashi.htm
- https://youtu.be/2_vPRfVMPE8
- https://youtu.be/7vKiXj6WFbc
- https://youtu.be/EVt4rcevr2s
- https://youtu.be/8fcLxYLJdCI
- https://www.quotemaster.org/Materials+Things
- https://www.aish.com/sp/pg/10-Quotes-on-Cultivating-Gratitude.html?mobile=yes
- https://www.ibelieve.com/faith/bible-verses-about-trusting-god.html
- https://www.masjidtucson.org/God/trust_God_verses.html
