Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

Living Purposeful life

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Living Purposeful life

Man is the highest fruit on the tree of evolution. It is for man to realize his position in nature and understand the true meaning of life. To know the purpose of life, one will first have to study the subject through his experience and insight. Then, he will discover the true meaning of life. Knowing the purpose of life simplifies it. It defines what a man should do and what not. The purpose becomes the standard that a person uses to evaluate which activities are essential and which are not. Without a clear purpose mankind have no foundation on which they base decisions, allocate their time, and use their resources efficiently. Therefore the man probably tends to make choices based on circumstances, pressures, and his mood at the moment. People who do not know their purpose try to do too much-and that causes stress, fatigue and conflict. Furthermore, knowing the purpose focuses one’s life. It concentrates his effort and energy on what’s important. He becomes effective by being selective. Without clear purpose, he will keep changing directions, jobs, relations or other externals-hoping each change will settle the confusion or fill the emptiness in his heart. He thinks, maybe this will be different, but it does not solve the real problem-a lack of focus and purpose.
There are several prerequisites to the discovery of the purpose of life. First, everyone must understand the nature of man and the nature of life. Next, they keep their mind calm and peaceful through the adoption of a religion. When these conditions are met, the answer will come like the gentle rain from the sky.
The nature of life
Most people dislike facing the true facts of life and prefer to lull themselves into a false sense of security by sweet dreaming and imagining. They mistake the shadow for the substance. They fail to realize that life is uncertain, but the death is certain. One way to understanding life is to face and understand death which is nothing more than a temporary end to a temporary existence. But many people do not like even to hear of the word “death”. They forget that death will come, whether they like it or not. Recollection on death with the right mental attitude can give a person the nature of existence. In addition, thinking about our own death surprisingly has a lot of practical advantages. One those benefits is that it forces us to zero in what’s actually important in our lives and what’s just frivolous and distracting. Besides understanding death, we need a better understanding of our life. We are living a life that does not always proceed as smoothly as we would like it to. Very often, we face problems and difficulties. We should not be afraid of them because the penetration into the very nature of these problems and difficulties can provide us with a deeper insight into life.
The nature of religion
To understand the real purpose of life, it is advisable for a person to choose and follow an ethical-moral system that restrains a person from evil deeds, encourages him to do good acts, and enables him to purify his mind. For simplicity, we shall call this system religion. Religion is the expression of the striving man: it is his greatest power, leading him onwards to self-realization. It has the power to transform one with negative characteristics into someone with positive qualities. It turns the ignoble, noble; the selfish, unselfish; the proud, humble and the cruel to kind. Religion teaches a person how to calm down the senses and make the heart and mind peaceful. According to Islam the purpose of life is worship of One True Almighty God of the Universe [Allah in Arabic] as a primary goal or aim in life provides a believer with everything he needs to succeed in both this life and life after death. Further, it states that this life is a one-time opportunity to achieve everlasting happiness in the Hereafter. Every moment has a great potential if positively utilized to raise status in the sight of our creator. Strong faith and good deeds bring peace and comfort in this life, in the grave and hereafter. On the other hand, coming from spiritual meaning of life to somatic one, the aim in life varies among individuals, as an artist may aim to paint a masterpieces that will live long after he is gone. A scientist may want to discover some laws, formulate a new theory, or invent a new machine. A politician may wish to become the president. Or another person aims to serve humanity by creating something. However, when if asked that why they aim such, they will reply that these achievements will give them a purpose in life and make them happy.
Human Nature
One has to learn how his/her mind can be developed to its fullest potential so that its true nature can be realized. As yet, human being is still wrapped in ignorance. He/she does not know who he/she really is or what is expected of him/her. As a result, misinterpreting everything and acts on that misinterpretation. It is not conceivable that our entire civilization is built on the misinterpretation. The failure to understand existence leads to assume a false identity of a bloated, self-seeking egoist, and pretend to be what isn’t or is unable to be. Human being must make an effort to overcome ignorance to arrive at realization and enlightenment. One can be enlightened if he/she wakes up from the dream that is created by his/her own ignorant mind, and becomes fully awakened. He/she must realize that what he is today is the result of an untold number of repetition in thoughts and actions. He/she is not ready-made: he is continually in the process of change that his/her future lies, because it means that it is possible for to mould character and destiny through the choice of actions, speech and thoughts.  
To sum up, there is nothing quiet as potent as a focused life, one lived on purpose. The men and women who have made greatest difference in history were most focused. If a man wants his life to have impact, he should focus on it, and does the things which are based on his values and can bring a genuine outcome in his life as well as in his fellowmen’s life.

Ahmad Shah Karimi is the newly emerging writer of the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at ahmadshah.karimi12@ gmail.com

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