The Impression.
- Study shows that man learn 92% of the time through visual. We are impressed the most by visual stimulation, those beautiful flowers in the garden, that beautiful girl that used to be at the back of our class, these things impressed us the most. thus they stay the most in our memory when we have developed fondness of such beauty. From this fondness, we have develop a desire for it, we want it, for ourself, to have something of beauty is a trophy, and not everybody can have a trophy, it does mean feeding our ego's , separating ourself from the norms, being on top, being honored . So do we think, teen's are the perfect example of such situation, they want to have the best looking girl/boy to accompany them, to have the best dress,to study the in the best universities. to own the best car, to look the best, to be adored by other and being approved by the society. For the older crowds, they want the best car, the best looking children, the best house, the best position/job and the biggest number in their bank accounts.
The Intention
- From impression, we evolve it into desires, again, question ourself why is the thing we are impressed on change into a a desire,
1. We don't have all of this beauty
2. It promises a better life (so do we think)
3. To gain social recognition
4.To be the best and beat the rest.
these are the most common answer to the basic question asked. the first one is honest, while the rest, depends on the intention of the person. Take a minute, answer this question quietly in your heart.
Why do i want to be wealthy?
Why do i want to be known?
Why do i want to be successful?
Now, take a look at your answer, all of this reason, do you think of your own benefit alone first, or the benefit of the people around you first? If your answer is the former, you are a selfish bastard! if your answer is the latter, you might gone through hell and want hell to change or you just had a guilty conscious after knowing that you are actually among the former.
The great philosopher, HAMKA, said in his book saying " it is better to live in mediocracy thus its only right to have mediocracy in your dreams and ambition" . At first reading this line, i was infuriated , it is as though saying that man should limit their dream and not to aim high in life which was against my belief, i believe man should have high aims and ambition, success is only the second creation of man after his first creation, that is , his dream . After reading the book further, he finally explain what he actually meant.
In the final chapter of his book, he explains that something that left me thinking and in a soul search mode. Finally he enlighten me with an answer that left me questioning myself even more. so. what was is it that he said?
Before a man should dream and set out his ambition, to be the best, to have everything he ever wanted, to be the king of kings. A Man, should rather focus on his Intention of having all of this dream and ambition, for what will he fulfill after having achieving all of this? will it do any good on this world and the people on it or will it only feed his ego, his greed and his selfishness? That finally will lead to his own demise. Rather than focusing your time on developing your dream, it is better for a Man to seek his own heart to understand his real intention for his dreams and ambition.
I was blown away with this tiny piece of writing and kept me thinking for days , learning who I really am. within. this is What i demand of you, ask yourself and your desire, who is it for, your moral compass will show it to you.
The Enlightenment.
Man are created to be selfish, it is through this that we ensure our own survival, then we evolve , we grow in groups, community and finally society, so thus our selfishness, we will protect the interest of our group first before helping other group. These are actually natural response to protect our own existence. Animalistic character that help us survive in this world, but we do , sometimes get carry away with such character that we have become unjust to other and the worst, to our own self.we want to become rich,famous and successful because we want to be seen as rich, to be respected, to be look up upon, and living the best life. All for our own bloody benefit! and we demand others to give us the respect and adoration while we have been selfish ! They too are selfish as well.
So , here am i, saying that, as long as your intention is selfish, everything you want is only a lie. How can you earn the respect of people, when you are the rich who acts snobbish in front of them? how can you be perceived successful when you make them feel that you are not in the same plane as them? When your heart is selfish, so will your character, thus it will be shown without your own conscious through your actions.
What i want to stress on this post is that, yes, without a doubt, we should have a big aim, big dream , we all should or our own sake, but for the most of the part, for the sake of the people around us, instead of saying my success, we should be saying our success. As far as i remember, A trophy won alone is remembered alone, But a trophy won by a team, remembered by the whole team, Your success is not your happiness alone, but also bring about the happiness of others. Material things, they will decay and slowly destroy itself through time, no matter how hard we try to conserve it, it will never say anything to you or smile back at you, it will bring no value to your heart and soul. Compared to the happiness you provided to others, it will turn into memory, a beautiful memory in which they adored, like the memory of a mother, in which one could never forget, Will bless you and fulfill your heart and soul with smiles and adoration that you have much wanted before.