ACCOMPLISHMENT OF INNER PEACE FOR A M ODERN MAN

Written by: Deeba Chaudhry

Source:  Calgary Ahmadiyya Muslim Examiner

  non-believers however, dismiss this universal testimony as mere psychic illusion. Of course, psychic illusions cannot be ruled out, but the evidence of Divine revelation is so distinctly different from ordinary psychic ravings that one should not confused with others. The difference is as wide and clear as that between life and death or between light and darkness. However, it is also true that the evidence of genuine revelation becomes rarer to find as the modern man is more away from the age of prophet and growing influence of materialism acts upon the mind of man in different ways. Faith in Divine revelation dissipates by the same proportion. An ice age of scepticism eventually sets in and an era of spiritual death begins. Truth practically vanishes from all spheres of human occupation. Doubt, even disbelief, begin to encroach upon the territories of faith. Godliness beats retreat. Yet the communion between God and man never ceases altogether. Revelation continues to resuscitate faith. As for those who glow with His love, even amidst total darkness, God reveals Himself to them with unmatched brilliance. Revelation enlightens belief, illuminates the soul and blows the breath of life into faith. In the pitch darkness of materialism, when despondency is compounded by non believers, it is revelation which sheds the light that turn despair into hope and the night of disbelief into a day of belief. What is the sun is to the day, a prophet is to religion. What stars are to moonless night, revelation is to the obscurities of faithlessness.

In the seventeenth century people turned to the discoveries of astronomy to demonstrate what they consider the irreconcilable conflicts between science and faith. In the eighteenth century, to Newtonian physics; in the nineteenth century, to Darwin; in the twentieth century and still today, modern scientific materialism is at odds with this basic religious bias in human nature. It preaches that the whole universe is by itself and is in no need of a Creator or an Intelligent Being, who attends to its constant needs. According to BBC survey more than one billion people world wide are suffering from anxiety and depression. The idea of “inner peace” is something which is not properly defined to modern man. Unless it is well defined no one can attempt to attain it. Peace is a concept which differs among the different schools of philosophies. Present day field of psychology does not provide any adequate explanation for human conscience. What ever incomplete explanations it offers by removing God from the picture ensures that people consider conscience as only an illusion arising from childhood experiences, a barrier in the wish fulfilment and an agency to be ignored . The natural consequence of this is that it does not recognize universal Moral Code in humans and contributes to the lawlessness of the modern man’s society.

by ignoring ‘the Soul at Rest’ denies the fact that humans are in constant need of consolation. By taking away consolation from the mosses, it leads to the self fulfilling prophecy of a billion people in the world suffering from anxiety and depression. Some

Psychology

 

Islam means 'peace'. Therein lies the soul and spirit of Islam. Islam is not only peace in name, but peace pervades all its teachings, and works as the key to its understanding. If translated literally, the second meaning of the word Islam is 'submission'. So the words 'peace' and 'submission' create a complete picture of Islam. While peace is in relation to the Muslim's attitude to his fellow human beings and also in relation to the deep content he finds in Islam, the word submission describes the attitude of the Muslim to God. So, in one single word, the entire philosophy of this religion is summed up. It is interesting to note that according to Islam, every true religion must have these two requisite features to indicate its divine origin. All religions, according to Islam, endeavoured to bring man back to his creator on the one hand, and to establish an ideal relationship with his fellow human beings on the other. Firstly, one should not do anything which creates a distance between man and the Creator. Secondly, Submission to the will of God is the only means of attaining peace with God and this is a declaration which is proven by human experience. This Islamic concept of peace has a profound wisdom which is universally experienced by man. If children are at peace with their parents, it is impossible for them to defy their orders and wishes and yet be at peace. So, according to Islam, the journey to peace begins with the attainment of peace with the Creator. The founder of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah (as) says:

“Man cannot make even a foot of an insect; how then

can it be easy for him to create the Divine Light?”

“How truly unfortunate is the person who still does not know that he has a God Who has power over everything. Our Paradise is in our God, our highest delight is in our God, for we have seen Him and have found every beauty in Him. This wealth is worth procuring even it is be at the cost of one’s life; this ruby is worth purchasing though one may have to lose one’s self to acquire it. O ye who are bereft! Run to this fountain, for it will satiate your thirst. It is the fountain of life that will save you. What shall I do, and how am I to impress this glad tidings upon the mind? By what drum shall I make the announcement so that people might hear that this is your God? What remedy shall I apply to their ears so that they hearken?” (Kashti-e-Nuh)

Peace of mind cannot be achieved without reference to the infinite Providence of God. To accomplish peace, one must understand the attributes of the Creator. If there is a God, He has to be an external reality. If He is an external reality, then He must introduce himself to man and that is what actually happened in all the divine religions - it was God who revealed himself to mankind. It was never man or woman who by his/her own efforts reached God, without help from God. After the understanding of the Creator, it is easy to understand the latter part of the concept of inner peace, peace within a person and peace between people. Why is it that no inner peace can be established without returning to God? God is ultimate reality who has created human beings according to his own attributes and peace means a complete balance between man’s attributes and the attributes of God. When there is no friction in any aspect of human behaviour caused by being at variance with God’s attributes, this then is the ultimate peace. No other definition of peace can hold good but this one which can be explained and demonstrated. Man’s attributes can only find peace when they find themselves at one with God’s attributes. Whenever the two join, they become alive and there is peace. Whenever, there is friction and there is disturbance, psychological as well as otherwise. It is the disturbance which is created within humans which causes all the disturbances in human relationship with each other and in the international relationships between people and between states. God is defined alike in his attributes, alike in almost all religions. They differ with each other in other things, but the concept of God is expressed as perfect goodness. No flaw can be attributed to God’s attribute or behavioural conduct, in the concept of God in any religion. All tell universally that God is true. All claim, without variance, that God is compassionate, merciful, forgiving. These are the attributes of God. Therefore, human attributes should must come at one with God’s attributes and man can never be mistaken about peace.

“Man has not been created but for the one purpose of
becoming an imitation, an image of God.”

Only when man becomes true can he find peace with himself; otherwise man will claim to be something while deep inside he knows he is not that something. There will always be contradiction between and his soul as long as he is not true. So, truth is the most important fundamental first step towards peace and this is the meaning of becoming like God. You can not be God but you can imitate God in all the good attributes of God which man has also received from God as his creation and when man become true to himself only then will man be able to become true to his children, your husband, your wife, your relatives and your society. By enlarging the role of this single factor people and nations can become true to each other. Even if man only become true, then he will realise that the peace within him is not a confined, isolated experience of a person within himself. The moment he reaches peace through imitating God, he is immediately introduced as a true servant, as a humble creature of God. He is introduced as such, through his attributes, to all his surroundings, whether someone is related to him or not. If someone is true he will be identified as godly person by all whether they believe in God or do not believe in God because the attribute of truth is in itself a godly character. So to the godlike but in humility, to try to achieve his attributes is the only passage to inner peace which can be advised and which does not become a confined experience within man. It becomes a universally shares experience between people in the same society and between people of different nations.

Finally, this is the only formula for creating universality in man. Without creating universality in man it is impossible to dream of peace and this universality can only be achieved through the image of God which is universal. Through Him, man can achieve such characteristics as are universally loved so that the human community, the human race, can become a single species if the human race submits to the will of God and becomes or attempts to become like God. Herein meet the two different meanings of peace, that is, peace in the ordinary sense, and peace in the sense of submission.

There

are many people who have no inner peace and they want peace in their beautiful lives. The idea of inner peace is something that need to be defined. For instance, the idea of Yogic peace has a different meaning. It only means that by exercise or by delving deeper into one’s soul, a person finds himself to be without any agitation. According to Yogic point of view, the absence of agitation in man’s desires is called peace. There is also a similar concept of peace is found in some Chinese religions and Buddhism, such as, peace means delving deeper into one’s own soul until one strikes the fountain-head of truth. It means truth that is found in every nature, when one reach the truth, finds peace. This is a unique view of peace which is found in various oriental religions. However, in the major divinely revealed religions of the world, which are Judaism, Christianity and at the end, Islam, peace is not just one dimensional or individual concept. Peace is, first, to be at rest with one’s desires and ambitions and having a balance, which is an internal affair. Secondly, to have a peace with the world around and to assure everyone that one poses no threat of danger to them - ‘no danger will emanate from me in the other’s direction’. It is this wilder concept of peace which is found in major religions. In this concept of peace, no one can be at peace with someone until he is also at peace with neighbours and others. This is also the concept of peace in Islam.