Just for the sake of argument, suppose one day you win a lottery of millions of dollar. On the very day the love of your life calls you up and says that he/she can’t think of anything else but to grow old with you. Also the top employer of the world insists you to be a part of their company and offer you senior management position. Your family and friends get ecstatic about your position and are honestly full of praise for you. In a nutshell everything gets perfect. Infact it even gets better and better every day for eternity. You also become a big kurt cobain fan. Now given your situation, if you were maintaining a daily journal then my best bet is that it would look something like this:-
Day 1
WOW! What a day!!!! , Easily
the best day of my life. My friends and family were totally cool with me. My
workplace is awesome and everyone cooperates with me. My wife can't
stand to be two feet away from me and so can't I. My pockets are running deep
and next week I’ll be going on a Eurotrip!!!!! :) The best part about the trip
is that my boss has no issue with me taking a long absence. Infact he wants me
to have a time of my life :)
Day 10
I've seen so much about
Eurotrip in movies but this is even better than I thought!!!!! The
food tastes spectacular and cinemas are so much amusing!!!!!!! I
don't know the name of the hotel but if there ever is a 17 star hotel than this
would be it. Man! and I thought Day 1 was the best day of my life!!!!!
6 Months
I SIMPLY CAN'T BELIEVE
IT!!!!!!! Out of 6 months, I have spent 2 months vacationing with my family and
friends and my boss is totally cool with it. On top of this, I have been awarded
the employee of the month!!!! I JUST LOVE MY LIFE!!!!!!!! :)
1 Year
Vegas is unbelievable! I can
never get used to the glamour and attraction to this place. On the other hand
it may sound crazy but it feels like that the thing am getting used to is
happiness....hhmmmm......anyways my birthday is coming up and my friends and
coworkers are arranging a party for me back home so ill be heading back soon.
3 Years
Work was fantastic as usual
and got another pay raise. Wife is great as always with me. Paradoxically I've never had a single fight with her in 3 years and unfortunately she doesn't seem to get into one for a
long time to come. Wait a minute.......I wonder why I wrote unfortunately ?.......hhhmmmmm........anyways
my boss is sending me to another trip to Switzerland so i guess that will be
exciting.
8 Years
Even though I just came back from
Paradise island, Bahamas (which is my 7th trip here) along with my friends and
family.......... something doesn't seem right.......I mean things are all so
perfect all the time......sadly I can't even remember the last time I was in any
predicament.........I guess the problem is that there still isn’t enough
happiness in my life......or not enough enjoyment or perhaps
pleasure....................or maybe there just isn't enough PAIN!!!!!!!
10 Years
It’s better to burn out than
to fade away.................................
Like I learned and wrote
before, excess of everything is bad and indeed happiness is no exception to it.
We mostly try to get the perfect job, spouse, friends, salary etc not knowing
what exactly are we asking for. Essentially the point am trying to make is that
to strive for perfection in life is not a bad idea but if you can't attain it
than it's ok.
Now we all know too much pain
is very dreadful aswell so if it’s not a friend than it’s neither a foe. We all
have our predicaments and problems in life but that doesn't mean we should cry
over it all the time and relapse into reactive mode. Both pain and pleasure are
complements to each other and we need them both to function properly. Besides
more pain gives you more opportunity to be happy in future. Also we feel
happiness only because of pain and vice versa.
To sum it up, ALLAH has given
us the perfect system to execute our choices and fulfill our purpose in life.
So the next time you suffer from financial pressure, loose loved ones, shown
contempt at workplace, fail in exam or sports , suffer from health issue's etc,
you can let pain have the best of you for couple of days max but then
remember to RISE UP to tell yourself with a smile that.................the
show must go on...............
Endnotes
1. This blog is not
applicable on everyone. Any ifs and buts applied to it can be taken up on the
comments section.
2. Those of you who are not familiar
with the phrase "It’s better to burn out than to fade away", it was
written in kurt cobain's suicidal note.
3. Without purpose, objective
or goal in life, pain can cause upheaval and also there can be a danger of
ending up into a limbo.
Up next: The Curse of Bollywood
Up next: The Curse of Bollywood
I'd like to make a certain analogy here. The video-game analogy. I've been thinking about writin an article on this but I guess your comments box is the place where I'm going to finally lay my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI used to play a lot of video games when I was a kid. I still do. And the games which are too easy, disappoint me. I've always enjoyed a bit of good challenge. But I enjoy it only if its a do-able challenge. Games that are way too hard also disappoint me. Coz it sucks when you try and try and keep on trying but still fail. Same goes with life. Challenges are good. But way too many challenges is not. Excess of happiness is bad. But so is excess of pain.
Yet there are people whose lives are full of setbacks and failures. Even the strongest of hearts has to breakdown at a certain point. So don't you think God should consider this while throwing in the carrots and setting up the maze?
I agree with you just like I did in my blog. When we feel pain we realize its not a friend and when we feel pleasure we realize pain is neither a foe. But yes there are times when the ratio of pain is much higher than that of pleasure but consider my example of pain here e.g. I don’t have money to eat, I live in closed walls and never get to go out, I want to study but am stuck in this autoshop for ever and treated with no remorse, I wonder what a pizza tastes like? etc. If such people come to me and tell me that I have no darn idea about pain then I’ll listen to them quietly without uttering a single word. Only these people are exempted from my blog.
ReplyDeletePeople like you and me have so much to appreciate…… So what if he can’t have our desired salary and job?......so what if we cant have our desired spouse…….So what if we can’t have an Iphone, laptop, abroad trip etc?......look at the number of unfortunate people below us.....and YOU zoheb…….YOU!!!......you’re a bloody PAF PILOT OFFICER, you’re a musician and also you are an IBA GRADUATE(MBA)….tell me what % of our population get to have that opportunity?.......so the next time you talk about setbacks and failure, am gonna start calling you by ur nickname :P……(btw you owe me for slyly publicizing you :)
On a serious note you should have been the 1 writing this blog....perhaps part 2 of ODE TO PAIN is never too late....only this time without sarcasm.
well thanks for the publicity mate. I feel so flattered that my ability to disagree with you has been magically taken away. Lol.
ReplyDeleteAnyways I can never appreciate pain for what its worth. I just can't man. I believe in happiness. And I think the guy in your post is living a perfect like. Its a pity how he thinks pain would add color to his otherwise happy but dull life.
excess of everything is bad indeed happiness too. right. how can one appreciate this excess in happy state? n then what one must do to get out of this state?
ReplyDeletekindly rephrase your question.....i'm having an idea about your question but not the clear picture.
Deletei want to ask that to whch thing u r labelling as excess in case of happiness ???
ReplyDeletehow can one know this? means can a person become self aware that if he getting at extreme side of happiness? suppose that guy in the above mentnd story realized at the end that sumthing was missng inspite of havng money luxury life n relatnshps. can this guy know earlier about himself that at the end he would be unsatisfy inspite of all doing this?
good question. well ofcourse there is no way to quantify the state of happiness so ill explain with an example. suppose you are hungry and you eat a burger. you fulfill your satisfaction but not enough so you eat one more burger. Now your satisfaction level is at pinnacle so what happens if you eat one more burger. That burger will go down your throat but the satisfaction would not be the same like before. Infact what you loved on first attempt(burger) is hated now. Therefore excess of happiness is that state when the stuff that is supposed to make you happy doesn't work anymore. Such a state is recognized gradually by a person(just like the person mentioned above).
ReplyDeleteI guess a person has to go through excess of happiness in order to truly understand the worth of pain. Such things cannot be known before unless you engage yourself into deep thoughts and visualize.