Spirit of Islam November 2017

13 Spirit of Islam Issue 59 November 2017 The only course open for all men and women is to accept the second best as the only available choice. This is the only way to have a tension-free life in this world. A WORLD OF SECOND BESTS Realistic Approach A CCORDING to religious tradition, God created the human being and settled him in Paradise. But after some time, man committed a grave error and was sent down to earth. In the beginning, God wanted to settle the whole of the human race in Paradise, but after man sinned, God changed His plan. Thereafter, only selected individuals would be allowed to enter Paradise. According to this story of creation, we lost our initial advantage and since then only the second best has been available to us. This story shows us the right direction for our lives. The human being is an idealistic creature by birth. Everyone tries to find his ideal goal, one that is the very best for him. But it is a fact that no one succeeds in doing so. If this is the case, what should we do? The only course open for all men and women is to accept the second best as the only available choice. This is the only way to have a tension-free life in this world. If you are not ready to accept the second best and you would prefer to keep straining for the ideal, the result could well turn out to be disastrous. For example, a certain lady, who was working in a multinational company, failed to get promoted for some reason. She fell into a state of deep frustration and ultimately committed suicide. There are many such cases of people failing to find what they think is optimal, and then they become deeply depressed. This kind of depression is due perhaps to a lack of awareness of the law of nature. If the lady in question, for instance, had been aware that according to the law of nature, only the second best was attainable for her and that she (or others like her) had already achieved that, the realization would have given her contentment and a tension-free life. This principle applies not only to individuals but also to nations. The best principle to adopt in life is: Try, try by all means to achieve the very best, but when you feel that you can only get the second best then