Exploding Myths Which Block Our Minds

Every moment of our brief and transient lives is precious beyond price. Why then do we keep wasting this time in trivial and meaningless pursuits which do not bring us any benefits in this world or the next? The barriers to success lie in a thousand myths that we have swallowed in the course of our so-called education — (see link to “Getting A Real Education” to understand the difference).

Liberating our minds requires, as a first step, understanding the difference between our friends and enemies. We must look beyond the smiling faces and attractive gifts to understand the purpose and intentions hidden in the hearts. The capitalist market economy within which we all live, is based on money — Businesses are run for profits, and human beings are trained to think of money making as the purpose of life. The purpose of our education is to turn us into cogs of a machine to manufacture (products for) money. Our individuality, personality, history, and unique talents must all be suppressed in order to convert us all into inter-changeable parts which can function together smoothly within the capitalist machine. See my post on “Recovering from a Western Education” to recognize and counteract myths planted in our minds by a Western education.

The Primary Myth of Capitalism is that everything (including human lives) is a commodity for sale, and the value of a commodity is what people will pay for it — that is, the market price. Although it affects all minds, economists are especially vulnerable to this myth. When we talk about the labor market, human capital, human resource, and many other similar terms, we are thinking of human lives in terms of their ability to produce goods for sale.

Myths function by placing block on our minds to prevent us from thinking certain thoughts. Exploding myths requires removing these blocks by imagining the opposite truth. To help this process, we must understand that human life is built on paradoxes — two things which are opposites of each other, but are both true.

The first paradox is that our human lives are trivial, insignificant, “dust in the wind”. There are billions of people among which I do not count for much. My life started a few moments ago, and will end very soon. Within the mechanics of the mighty and massive universe, and the momentum of history created by the actions of millions of people, my efforts can only be feeble and insignificant. BUT there is also another truth which we can use to counter this. For me, the universe exists only in the picture of it that I have created in my mind. This universe will cease to exist when I do. The Quran testifies to the preciousness of our human lives — If you save a life, it is as if you have saved the entire humanity. So my life is worth a billion lives in the eyes of God. Every action that I take can make an immense difference — remember the “butterfly effect”, a very small action, the flapping of wings of a butterfly, can cause a chain reaction eventually leading to a huge thunderstorm. Ultimately, my life is all that matters — even if all other people find the path to paradise, if I fail to do so, then my life is wasted. On the other hand, I can find the way, then even if all the remaining billions of human fail to find the path, it makes no difference. As Rumi puts it:

You are not a drop in the ocean, You are the ocean within a drop.

A capitalist education works to convince us of the first truth, that we are trivial and insignificant, because once we accept this, we will be prepared to sell our lives for a few dollars to the highest bidder. We will be proud if we can earn higher salaries than our fellow students, not realizing that we have been deceived into selling a product precious beyond price for pennies. If we wake up to the opposite truth, that our lives are so valuable that all the gold in the world cannot pay for one moment of our time, this realization will enable us to escape the mind-traps created by capitalism. To break free, we must meditate on the following undeniable truths.

My life is a completely unique event — there has been no one else born like me, ever before or ever after. I have been exposed to an environment, history, circumstances, which no one else has ever seen. My Rabb has put me through a specially designed test, completely and perfectly personalized, to see if I can find my way to Him. The whole world is a distraction and a temptation — all that exists, all that matters is the relationship between Allah T’aala and myself. If I can learn to recognize my Rabb, then I have achieved complete success, and if I fail to recognize him, then the wealth of Qaroon cannot save me from failure.

Every human being is like a seed — within him or her, there is the potential to grow into a majestic tree, a rare and beautiful creation of Allah, with roots firmly planted in the Earth, and branches spreading out to the skies. Just as the seed is insignificant and trivial, and does not give any hint of the amazing wonders hidden inside it, so the seeds of recognition of God, contained within our hearts, can produce spectacular results when watered with our blood. This is the job, to achieve spiritual growth, and the Ma’arifat of God, for which we have been sent to this Earth. If we succeed in this task, we will be rewarded in ways that we cannot imagine. Failure also carries a dreadful cost.

The purpose of this blog is to wake up the youth to the infinite potential that lies within them. Do not sell yourself to the capitalist machine. Some posts which provide an idea of how you can realize the potential within you are listed below:

1. The Ways of Eagles — explains how we have been raised among crows, and made to forget our ability to soar majestically like the eagles.

2. Reaching Beyond the Stars — How we can learn to set high targets, in order to achieve great results.

3. Unlock Your Infinite Potential. (9m Urdu talk to graduating student, with English summary)

As this post clarifies, we need to take TWO steps towards knowledge. The FIRST step involves shaking of all of the false knowledge that we have been given by our Western education, which teaches us how to become commodities for sale in the Capitalist labor market. The SECOND step involves understanding what it means to be human, and how we can develop our hidden potentials by learning to communicate with our Creator. Some posts which deal with the first step of UNLEARNING what Western education has taught us are given below.

4. Shifting Paradigms: The West teaches us one way of looking at the World, while Islam teaches us a radically different way. Moving from one paradigm to the other is not easy. How to do this is discussed here.

5. Countering European Myths about Knowledge: According to the Western education, the only type of valuable education is what the West offers. This is true if we want to learn how to become cogs in the capitalist machine for making money. But if we want to learn how to achieve our hidden potential, how to become human beings, Western education has nothing to offer.

6. How to Inspire and Motivate Students: Practical tips for educators on how we can reach the hearts of our students, which is the basis for an Islamic education, while Western education is based on reaching their minds.