He is Guided by Contentment, not Pleasure

He is Guided by Contentment, not Pleasure

Happiness is either addictive or fulfilling, immoral or pure and destructive or constructive. This is what differentiates between pleasure and contentment. In a world where happiness is often equated with sensory pleasure and fleeting stimuli, a significant disparity exists between the secular and spiritual conceptions of fulfilment.

The modern man often seeks happiness in transient, material achievements, which offer momentary satisfaction but leave an enduring void. In contrast, the spiritual man seeks contentment in the eternal, recognising that true fulfilment stems from a connection to God, which transcends the temporal and finite. This distinction explains why the spiritual man's contentment is rooted and enduring, as it aligns with the inherent human yearning for something boundless and everlasting.

Pleasure can be described as the sensory response or stimulation wrought by man’s desires, often called the ‘dopamine rush’ that so easily manipulates the feeble human brain toward action. At times this can be useful, prompting him to win, to beat or to be the best, often tied to one’s animalistic and competitive nature.

Contentment, on the other hand, does not induce the same chemical response, but instead, eases one’s heart and soul,

allowing man to accept life as it comes, and approach all problems with a positive and hopeful (in God’s Mercy) mindset, accepting his place in this world, and the greater reality thereafter.

The Boon of Contentment

Contentment comes from the spirit and is tied to objective eternal realities. Coming from God, it has the feature of filling the contours of what one desires, providing the satisfaction one yearns for. It covers what even the modern man considers to be ‘perennial’, that what lasts or exists for a long or apparently infinite time; enduring or continually recurring.

Contentment is born out of wisdom and universal truths. Building strong, loving relationships; accepting one’s weaknesses and seeking not a worldly goal, but to lead a life on the path of truth. Contentment encapsulates many things that elude many in the modern secular world. It is to challenge injustice; to stand firm on the truth, regardless of those on falsehood; to accept reality, regardless of the consequence such brings. It is to intently seek perfection, while recognising one’s limitations, thus hoping for God’s Mercy.

“Whoever does righteousness, whether male or female, while he is a believer, We will surely cause him to live a good life, and We will surely give them their reward (in the

hereafter) according to the best of what they used to do.”¹⁹³

With contentment, the shackles meticulously wrought by society to chain one down with pleasure are effortlessly removed, allowing its wielders to free themselves from the tomb of this world, appreciating what transcends it. These things are not measurable, nor quantifiable within the physical realm as they transcend it. They are thus not quantified by dopamine levels in one’s brain, but rather relate to man’s eternal and infinitely greater self. Contentment allows man to feel warmth in a blizzard, to see light in the darkness and to smile with hope, even in the face of calamity and despair.

The Vice of Pleasure

Pleasure, on the contrary, does the opposite. It brings no benefit to one’s soul, one’s true self, but serves to distract the body, the animalistic lesser self that operates upon its whims and lesser desires. Pleasure cannot help but bind one to this world, as it is, in fact, simply defined by the limited nature of the world.

In small doses, pleasure is not evil, but when taken any further than its intended, natural purpose, it is toxic and destructive. Pleasure cannot fill the hole left by a life without contentment; it only serves to distract oneself from the

emptiness and futility of one’s life. Sometimes, even surrounded by loving people, he cannot feel more alone. And it never stops. Not until it destroys him. It is like a parasite, only festering and growing, feeding off the materialistic craving of man, seeming impossible to subdue, until it becomes part of him, until it defines him.

Just as pleasuring oneself creates a further need to experience that rush, the need left by pleasuring oneself cannot be addressed by the same, but only by something more, easily spiralling out of control. Does the drug abuser consciously enjoy his lifestyle? Though he knows how desolate he has made himself, he continues, because of the ‘kick’ or the ever-unfulfilling pleasure the drugs give him. Such allows him to escape reality, even that bit longer. He sees himself as nothing without it, and once again, by removing contentment, he finds himself empty, as spiritually hollow as the mannequins lining shop windows.

Achieving Contentment

Pleasure comes from following one’s material desires, his need for food, sex and stimulation. As contentment transcends the physical, the means of achieving it will too. By accepting God’s power and absolute dominion over all things, one frees himself from the world. Who is there to fear, but God. What is there to worry about, when it is all in the plan of the Most Wise, God?

“Verily in the remembrance of Allāh do hearts find rest.” 194

The vice of paranoia is dispelled, as he surrenders his trust in God, just as a baby surrenders itself in the warmth of its mother’s embrace, feeling nurtured, cared for and protected. It frees him from succumbing to others, as he knows his opponents, or oppressors hold no real power, that any consequences they bring are only temporary, and that reward will come for those who stand firm on the truth.

And it frees people from pleasure. No longer is he controlled or enslaved by his desires. He enslaves himself to God, not his insatiable hunger for this world, living by the verse:

“Indeed, my prayer, my rites of sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allāh, Lord of the worlds.”¹⁹⁵

There is no oblivion in his soul to escape. And he may see the things of this life as they truly are: trivial, many a time meaningless, too often harmful. The need to escape emptiness is subdued, one regains control over himself, and can partake in his wants in a controlled manner, if he so wishes.

By making himself a slave to the transcendent, the spiritual man removes the shackles of this temporal world, and

therefore becomes free of it. When he immerses himself with God, God guides him, meaning that his desires will eventually well and truly align with all of God’s wishes, so he frees himself on two counts, he becomes not bound by the world, and then not tested by himself.

Humans are both emotional and logical creatures, God is the only reality that fulfils both of these. If one simply decided to turn himself off from the world, to try and ignore the crushing desolation that encompasses all he does, then he will not survive. Depression and suicide rates for irreligious people, Atheists and nihilists speak for themselves. God is the only salvation, the Higher Power that ordains all things, from Whom comes all strength and knowledge, and to Whom return all things.