The Bottomless Pit of Desires

In his book “The One Thing: The surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary results”, author Gary Keller emphasizes the importance of Living with a Purpose – or else, life will be an unfulfilling, endless pursuit of material possessions:

“One of our biggest challenges is making sure our life’s purpose doesn’t become a beggar’s bowl, a bottomless pit of desire continually searching for the next thing that will make us happy. That’s a losing proposition.

Acquiring money and obtaining things are pretty much all done for the pleasure we expect them to bring. On one hand, this actually works. Securing money or something we want can spike our happiness meter—for a moment. Then it goes back down. Over the ages, our greatest minds have pondered happiness, and their conclusions are much the same: having money and things won’t automatically lead to lasting happiness.

How circumstances affect us depends on how we interpret them as they relate to our life. If we lack a “big picture” view, we can easily fall into serial success seeking. Why? Once we get what we want, our happiness sooner or later wanes because we quickly become accustomed to what we acquire. This happens to everyone and eventually leaves us bored, seeking something new to get or do. Worse, we may not even stop or slow down to enjoy what we’ve got because we automatically get up and go for something else. If we’re not careful, we wind up ricocheting from achieving and acquiring to acquiring and achieving without ever taking time to fully enjoy any of it. This is a good way to remain a beggar, and the day we realize this is the day our life changes forever.” (End Quote)

It is interesting to view this from an Islamic perspective. What the author is highlighting is EXACTLY what has been described by the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ:

لَوْ أَنَّ ابْنَ آدَمَ أُعْطِيَ وَادِيًا مَلأً مِنْ ذَهَبٍ أَحَبَّ إِلَيْهِ ثَانِيًا، وَلَوْ أُعْطِيَ ثَانِيًا أَحَبَّ إِلَيْهِ ثَالِثًا، وَلاَ يَسُدُّ جَوْفَ ابْنِ آدَمَ إِلاَّ التُّرَابُ ، وَيَتُوبُ اللَّهُ عَلَى مَنْ تَابَ
“If the son of Adam were given a valley full of gold, he would desire to have a second one;
and if he were given the second one, he would desire to have a third,
for nothing fills the belly of Adam's son except dust. And Allah forgives he who repents to Him.” (Al-Bukhari)

In another hadith, the Prophet ﷺ said:

لَيْسَ الْغِنَى عَنْ كَثْرَةِ الْعَرَضِ وَلَكِنِ الْغِنَى غِنَى النَّفْسِ
The Prophet ﷺ said: “Richness (wealth) is not in having many posessions; but (true) richness is the richness of the soul” (Narrated by Al-Bukhari, Muslim)

How does one attain this richness of the soul?
By having a clear PURPOSE in life.

As author Gary Keller further states:
“A life lived on purpose is the most powerful of all – and the happiest.
I believe that financially wealthy people are those who have enough money coming in without having to work to finance their purpose in life. Without purpose, you’ll never know when you have enough money, and you can never be financially wealthy.
Purpose is the straightest path to power and the ultimate source of personal strength – strength of conviction and strength to persevere.
When you have a definite purpose for your life, clarity comes faster, which leads to more conviction in your direction, which usually leads to faster decisions. When you make faster decisions, you’ll often be the one who makes the first decisions and winds up with the best choices. And when you have the best choices, you have the opportunity for the best experiences.
Purpose provides the ultimate glue that can help you stick to the path you’ve set. When what you do matches your purpose, your life just feels in rhythm, and the path you beat with your feet seems to match the sound in your head and heart.” (End Quote)

As Allah states in His Book:

وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنْسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ
“And I have not created the jinn and mankind, except to Worship Me Alone” (Surah Adz-Dzariyat 51:56)

Ibn Taymiyyah provides a simple and comprehensive definition on “ibadah” (worship):

"Ibaadah is a collective term for everything which Allaah loves and is pleased with from among the sayings and inward and outward actions."

Recap:
Our purpose in life is THE solution out from spiralling into a bottomless pit of desires.

Let that sink in.

#ONEPurpose #TheBarakahEffect #BottomlessPitOfDesires