Living In A State Of False Hopes, Amounts To Self-Deception
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
7 February
2024
"Perhaps it is typical, and indeed
inevitable, that people who do not believe in the Creator or are indifferent to
the Creator will sooner or later become cynical and will lose hope in the face
of what they regard as bad things happening in the world. Perhaps the only way
one can remain sane and hopeful in the midst of the misery in the world is by
knowing that there is a God who is in charge of all things and who, in the end,
will ensure for there to be perfect justice for all. Only by having faith in
such a God can one be saved from becoming a prey to cynicism and despair in the
face of the troubles in the world."
Mary
"I never needed an imagined god to remain
hopeful. I cannot be foolishly happy in this (wretched) world expecting that a
blessed existence shall begin after this life. My concern is about this world
and life. My so-called cynicism is an outcome of my intellectual rigour and
existence. My thoughts are impacted by what I see and feel. I don't care for
what I cannot relate to......"
Mexican Nobel laureate Octavio Paz in his
celebrated book-length essay, ' The Labyrinth of Solitude ' (1950)
I hope Mary
has understood the point.
Octavio Paz
was a nominal Christian whose faith in Jesus bordered on doubts and
reservations and he discarded Trinity as pure theological drivel. That said,
living in a perpetual state of false hopes and imaginary benefits of an unseen
future amounts to self-deception, nay, delusion. You can jolly well believe in
some Creator. Call it god or Allah. That's fine. But don't delude yourself by
thinking that the miseries in this world have deeper 'spiritual' meanings and
ramifications. A person who has no belief in any supernatural power is more
deeply and positively involved in this world. He or she believes that only
humans can ameliorate the lives of other humans. We cannot resign ourselves to
the miseries we face in life as the ways of god and handiworks of providence.
That will make all of us fatalists. We must meditate upon the problems and
predicaments and find their solutions. Does that make one a cynic or naysayer?
Certainly not.
There's a
profound shloka in the Gita in which Krishna tells Arjuna,"You've every
right to deny what you don't experience. You can deny godhood. You can deny
even me. But you cannot deny your moral responsibility towards your fellow
humans. because you're a human." A non-believer is moved by the pain and
plight of his fellow humans despite having no faith in an imaginary being
called god. That's not cynicism.
Read
Friedrich Nietzsche's ' Beyond Good And Evil: Prelude To A Philosophy Of The
Future ' and Roman emperor-philosopher (what a bizarre combination!) Marcus
Aurelius' ' Meditations.' Though branded as cynical, both the books urge
you to be humane humans, sans any god-realization.
To quote, Yahya
Mujeeb, "Duniya Mein Hai Toh Kar Duniya Ki Fikra/ Kisi Ne Maut Ke Baad
Ki Duniya Nahin Dekhi" (If you live in this world, be involved in it/
No one has ever seen that 'world' after death).
----
A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in
comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed
articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including
Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/false-hopes-self-deception/d/131669
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